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GASHERBRUM I "Killer Mountains" - an ExplorersWeb series
12:04 p.m. EDT Sep 9, 2003
In ExplorersWeb's new series we investigate messages hidden in unique statistics compiled by AdventureStats. We look at fatality rates for the 14 8000+ mountains, starting with the dreaded Karakorum/Pakistan giants. But we are not stopping there. We compare modern and old fatality statistics, trying to determine the effects of the arrival of commercial expeditions in 1990s. AdventureStats is providing the research and later, will also look into the causes of deaths.
Today, Everest has hosted close to 2000 successful summits. 179 people have perished giving a fatality rate of 9.3% (fatality rate is defined as successful summits compared to fatalities). However, since 1990 there has been an explosion of summiteers and fatality statistics have changed. Up to 1990 the Everest fatality rate is a whopping 37%, yet from 1990 until today the rate has dropped to 4.4%. So how does that compare to the rest of the 8000+ peaks? Let's check it out.
Today, we look at Gasherbrum I (8080m)
Gasherbrum I, also known as Hidden Peak and GI, is the highest of the Gasherbrum Peaks. Americans Peter K. Schoening and Andrew J. Kauffman scaled GI for the first time on July 5, 1958. A second successful ascent did not occur until August 1975, when Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler introduced alpine style climbing to the Himalaya. Without prior route preparation, ropes, or supplemental oxygen, the pair accomplished what is considered to be the first true alpine style ascent of an 8,000m peak when they summited GI in a dashing two-day climb.
Since 1958, only 195 climbers have summited Gasherbrum I and 21 climbers have died. The overall fatality rate is thus 10.77%, which is higher than Everest’s overall fatality rate of 9%. Comparing statistics since 1990, however, shows that GI’s rate of deaths to summits diminished by nearly half. Up to 1990, GI’s fatality rate was 15.5%, but from 1990 until today, 12 out of 137 climbers have died - a rate decrease to 8.75 %, which is almost twice of the modern Everest fatality rate (4.4%).
Whilst the old Everest risk was 37% and GI’s was 15.5%, the 8,000m peaks have switched places with Everest at 4.4% and GI at 8.7% in the last decade. In a later follow up, we will look at the causes, but the facts indicate a dangerous climb on GI.
At 8,080 m, Gasherbrum I is number 11 on the list of the fourteen 8,000m peaks, and is the second highest in the Karakoram Range. It is one of the four 8,000m peaks located in a tight cluster on upper reaches of the Baltoro glacier, the main access route to the mountains which cuts through the center of the Karakoram Range.
The Karakoram is the second tallest mountain range on earth. It lies about a thousand miles west of Nepal's Himalaya mountain range, and extends nearly 300 miles (480 kilometers) southeastward from eastern Afghanistan. The range is bordered by Tajikistan, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India. It is a condensed cluster of high peaks with 60 mountains over 23,000 feet. Of the world's fourteen highest mountains, four are located in within the Karakoram Range: K2, Gasherbrum I and II, and Broad Peak. K2 is the tallest mountain in the Karakoram Range and her three 8000m neighbors lie within 20 km.
This season, several climbers reached the summit of Gasherbrum I, many of them in record-setting style. Nives Meroi, Romano Benet, and Luca Vuerich summit of GI was one of three 8,000m peaks they scaled within 20 days! Edurne Pasaban’s GI summit was also part of an 8,000m hat trick she accomplished in 61 days. When Juanito Oiarzabal stood on the summit of GI this summer, he tied Reinhold Messner’s record of 18 summits on the 8,000m peaks.
There were four fatalities this season in the Karakorum Range. Three climbers lost their lives on GI and one died on K2.
With an overall fatality rate of 10.77% and modern fatality rate 8.7%, Gasherbrum I is statistically more dangerous than Everest today.
Image of GI courtesy of Adventure Consultants.
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