Gasherbrum II Attempt. The members of our expedition were Peter Karla, leader, Gerhard Czipri, Wolfram Cosmus and I. Our ten-day approach march got us to Base Camp on June 17. On the 19th, we all climbed to Camp I at 5850 meters on Gasherbrum I. Our porters carried again the next day before we dismissed them. On June 21,I climbed to Camp I and the next day I left a load on the Gasherbrum La at 6350 meters, the site for Camp II. We then decided to change our objective to Gasherbrum II as Czipri was altitude sick and had to leave and Karla was acclimatizing badly. On June 24, Cosmus and Karla went to Camp I on Gasherbrum II while I followed the next day. We occupied Camp II at 6500 meters on June 27. On the 29th, Cosmus and I tried to climb to Camp III but got only to an uncomfortable camp at 6750 meters. On June 30, we two were overtaken by the Polish expedition. We again passed them and climbed to where we two set up Camp III at 7000 meters, along with Rüdiger Lang and the Pakistani woman climber, Shad Meena. The other members of the Polish expedition camped at 6900 meters. We two left the camp at 3:30 A.M., expecting that Lang and Shad Meena would follow, but they delayed until six o’clock. They made it only to 7500 meters before descending. This is, however, the altitude record for Pakistani women. We kept on in hip-deep snow, but eventually also had to turn back. The Poles, meanwhile, climbed to pitch Camp IV at 7400 meters. Cosmus and I left Camp III at two A.M. on July 2 and got to Polish Camp IV at six o’clock. Along with the Poles, we two continued on and reached a very dangerous cornice some 30 meters below the summit at two P.M.

Claudia Carl, M.D., Deutscher Alpenverein