Masherbrum, Northwest Face. Our expedition consisted of Michael Larcher, Andreas Orgler, Hans Bärnthaler, Christoph Rimml, Thomas Burtscher and me as leader. After leaving Skardu on June 17 with 63 porters, we got to Base Camp on June 25 at 4300 meters on the Mandu Glacier via Askole and the Baltoro Glacier. The route to Camp I was very technical (rock up to 5.9 and ice up to 85°). We established Camp I at 5500 meters on June 30. The route to Camp III was on a ridge and a slope of 55° to 60°. We placed Camps II and III at 5950 and 6300 meters on July 5 and 10. A summit attempt reached 7000 meters on July 12. Burtscher and Rimml left the expedition on July 17 because of the enormous danger of falling rock and ice. On July 21 we other four started another summit try. Bärnthaler had to give up at 7000 meters on July 23, but Orgler, Larcher and I bivouacked at 7200 meters. From there to the summit (7821 meters, 25,660 feet) the route was mostly rock climbing (5.7 to 5.8) with some ice couloirs. We reached the top on July 24, 22 hours after the Japanese. We fixed a total of 600 meters of rope.

Robert Renzler, Österreichischer Alpenverein