Chogolisa


Chogolisa is a trapezoidal mountain in the Karakoram range in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. It lies near the Baltoro Glacier in the Concordia region, which is home to some of the highest peaks of the world. Chogolisa has several peaks: the highest, on the SW face, rises to ; the second highest at 7,654 metres on the NE side is the one named Bride Peak by Martin Conway in 1892.
In 1909, a party led by Duke of the Abruzzi reached from a base camp located on the northern side and a high camp on the Chogolisa saddle at 6,335 m. Bad weather stopped the party from ascending further, but their climb established a world altitude record.
Hermann Buhl and Kurt Diemberger attempted Chogolisa in 1957 after they had successfully summitted Broad Peak behind Marcus Schmuck and Fritz Wintersteller a few weeks earlier. On June 25 they left camp I and camped in a saddle at 6,706 m on the SE ridge. On June 27 a sudden snow storm forced them to retreat and, on the descent, Buhl broke off a big cornice and fell into the mountain's near vertical north face. His body has never been found.
In 1958, a Japanese expedition from Kyoto University led by Takeo Kuwabara made the first ascent of Chogolisa II, placing M. Fujihira and K. Hirai on top.
The first ascent of Chogolisa I was made on August 2, 1975 by Fred Pressl and Gustav Ammerer of an Austrian expedition led by Eduard Koblmueller. Koblmueller almost suffered the same fate as Buhl, as he also fell through a snow cornice on the ascent, but he was roped and team members were able to pull him to safety.