Gasherbrum I (Hidden Peak) Attempts and Ascent. The international team led by Pole Krzysztof Wielicki, the first expedition to Gasherbrum I in 1992, is described above. A four-man Spanish Basque group led by Mikel Egibar attempted the Messner route but got only to the Gasherbrum La at 6550 meters, which they reached on July 17. Bad weather and inexperience were to blame. It is reported that during the approach one of their porters was drowned in a stream. A Japanese pair, Masatoshi Todaka and Hirofumi Konishi, had hoped to climb the Messner route alpine-style but they abandoned their attempt at the Gasherbrum La on July 25 because of bad snow conditions. Later, they joined the route of a large Japanese expedition on the west ridge and got to 7100 meters. A ten-member Japanese expedition led by Eiho Ohtani had Nazir Sabir as liaison officer. These two had reached the summit of K2 together in 1981. The expedition was attempting the Slovene route on the west ridge. They established Base Camp on July 8, Camp III and IV at 7100 and 7500 meters by the end of July and by mid-August. The weather was generally bad. Their last try failed at 7900 meters after which the Japanese called off the attempt on August 23. While the Japanese were preparing their return, Nazir Sabir and Hunza porters Rajabh Shah and Mehrban Shah started to climb from Base Camp in good weather. Nine hours later, they were at Camp III. The following day, August 25, they reached the summit in exceptionally clear weather and returned by nightfall to Camp III and the next day to Base Camp. Nazir Sabir becomes the first Pakistani to have climbed four 8000ers, all in the Baltoro region. It was the second ascent of Hidden Peak for Rajab Shah, who has also climbed Nanga Parbat.

Xavier Eguskitza, Pyrenaica, Bilbao, Spain