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BROAD PEAK WINTER 2008

THE GEOGRAPHY: Broad Peak is part of the Gasherbrum massif on the border of Pakistan-China. It is located about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from K2. Broad Peak was originally named K3 right after the naming of K2 but on closer inspection by a later party, it was discovered that the summit was over 1½ kilometers (1 mile) long, thus "Broad Peak".

THE HISTORY: In spite of several attempts, none of Pakistan’s 8000ers have been summited in winter. On Broad Peak in Particular, Italian Simone Moro and Pakistani climbers Shaheen Baig and Qudrat Ali have been rejected by loads of snow, bitter cold and bad conditions for the past two years.
Dr. Robert Szymczak has been in expeditions to Kyrgyzstan, Nepal and Pakistan. He is a medical doctor specializing in high altitude medicine. He is also a member of the International Society for Mountain Medicine. More... 2008 marks Don Bowie's 4th season climbing in the Himalayas, with previous expeditions to Broad Peak, Cho Oyu, K2, and the South Face/East Ridge of Annapurna in 2006 and 2008. More... Artur Hajzer has summited five eight-thousanders: three of them via new routes. He also achieved the first winter climb on Annapurna. More...
"Summit attack halted"
“Retreat: The Summit attack halted by the weather” reported Artur Hajzer on his website:

Artur continues to say that, “According to forecast from Meteo Institute till March 21 2009, which is end of the winter, there won't be the weather allowing attacking Broad Peak Summit. There will be heavy wind blowing up to 100 km per hour on summit level. Not having much of a choice, in the situation,  HiMountain Expedition decided to terminate the siege and to terminate the operation. Camp and base liquidation has started.”

”8.000 m Karakorum summits remain still unreachable during winter. Climbers have been trying at least for 20 years. Will anyone success in the future?”

Don's Webteam: Don is in base camp at the moment. He will send out a dispatch soon.

 
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