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Broad
Peak 2001 - The Uncertainty Continues
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Though
the climbing season for Broad Peak ended over one
month ago, there a still growing uncertainty
regarding how many teams actually reached the Main
summit (8047 meters) this year. A pair of climbers
from each of the Alaskan and Bulgarian teams reached
the main summit on July 22 and July 23, respectively.
Both ascents have been documented with photographs and
are not in dispute. In addition, the Argentinian,
Alaskan, Bulgarian and Estonian teams placed members
on the slightly shorter Rocky Summit (8030 meters) on
July 20, July 22, July 22 and July 23, respectively. The Swiss and French/British teams
did not manage to reach the summit this year. It is
also known that the joint Chinese/Pakistani expedition
reached "a summit" in early July, and this
is where the confusion arises.
Before
delving into the arising confusion over the Chinese
ascent, a brief description of the summit ridge of
Broad Peak is in order. Summit day begins with an
ascending traverse of the bowl from 7,000+ meters to
the 7800 meters col between Broad Peak's 8013 meters
central summit and its 8047 meters main summit. The
next 200 meters is almost entirely fixed up the very
exposed rock and snow ridge. This steep ridge ends
suddenly atop the 8030 meter rocky foresummit (aka the
Rocky Summit or sometimes referred to as the False Summit). As referenced in
Fanshawe and Venables' excellent book "Himalaya
Alpine Style", "it is at least another hour
from there to the distant summit proper (8047
meters)." Later, the text describes the long
traverse from here to the main summit, "And there
is the sheer distance to be covered at an altitude
where, for most people, every step requires a huge
effort. Many opt for the marginally lower foresummit,
but to avoid later regrets, it is necessary to force
oneself on to the distant summit proper." This
description is corroborated by a telling photo in Doug
Scott's "Himalayan Climber". The photo is
captioned, "Broad Peak from the west. The
original route goes to the col and along the long
skyline ridge to the right to the main summit."
The steep ridge from the col to the foresummit and
both the rocky foresummit and the main summit are
clearly visible, connected by the 1 km long summit
ridge, all over 8,000 m. Though from the summit ridge
it may or may not be clear which peak is higher,
these two references demonstrate that the distant peak
is accepted as the 8047 meters Main summit of Broad.
One must traverse this 1 km long summit ridge to truly
claim an ascent of Broad Peak as
we understand it.
Correspondence with one of the members of the
Chinese/Pakistani team reveals that they likely
stopped at the Rocky Summit, falsely believing
this was in fact the main summit. Their explanation:
"we have the knowledge of the Main summit is
that one which you called Rocky summit. The place
which you mentioned (as the) real summit is the far
summit." The correspondence continues,
"I heard by some of the old climbers when you are
at the Rocky summit the far summit looks higher and
when you are at the (real) summit the rocky summit
looks higher."
Based
on accepted thought referred earlier, the Chinese/Pakistani team were confused due to
incorrect information and did not realize that the
main summit (their "far summit") was at the
far end of the summit ridge. Interestingly, a member
of the successful Alaskan team disputes this
Chinese/Pakistani description of the apparent
comparative height of the rocky and main summits.
"When we were on both the rocky foresummit and
the distant main summit, there was no uncertainty
about which was the higher peak. From BOTH vantages,
the distant summit appeared higher. Period." The
Alaskan Team's account continues, "During our traverse to the
main summit, we followed footsteps for about 100
meters from the foresummit, then the footsteps ended,
far, far short of the main summit." It is established that the
8030 meter Rocky Summit (foresummit) is NOT
the Main summit of Broad Peak. One must traverse the 1
km summit ridge to reach the 8047 meter Main summit. What
has not been fully confirmed is whether or not the
Chinese completed the traverse to the Main summit.
EverestNews.com has received and published
photographic evidence supporting the Alaskan ascent on
this web site on August 28. We are still awaiting
photographs from the Chinese/Pakistani expedition.
While
both Summits are recognized as Summits of Broad Peak,
it
would be an unfortunate surprise for the
Chinese/Pakistani members if they truly believed they
had reached the Main summit, yet descended before
making the final traverse. Could the member of the Chinese/Pakistani team
be correct that the Rocky Summit is actually higher than the
Main Summit of Broad Peak? New measurements of Broad
Peak could change the height, but until such time, we
must use accepted measurements. Those are the vagaries
of mountaineering. Climbers in the past have been
known to "think" they Summited Lhotse
only to find out later they stopped short of the true
Summit. The more we investigate Questioned Summits,
the more we believe several climbers in history
"believed for various reasons", they have
reached the true Summit of a peak, when in fact they
were short. Stayed tuned for future developments.
For
Background here
1.)
See the 8/25/2001:
2001 Alaska USA Broad Peak Expedition Updates report
and
the MUST SEE PICTURES !!!
2.)
The Pictures
from the Rocky Summit and Main Summit of Broad Peak.
Note some pictures are very large, but show details
they you will want to see.
2.)
All the reports from Broad Peak
2001: Broad
Peak 2001 Expedition and News page for reports from
the Argentinian
and Estonian expeditions and more...
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