Cold: The Historic First Winter Ascent of Gasherbrum II

For more than two decades, the Karakoram mountains in northern Pakistan remained an impregnable winter fortress. While the Polish ‘Ice Warriors’ had conquered eight of the Nepalese eight-thousanders during winter in the 1980s, the five giants of Pakistan—K2, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak, and Gasherbrum II—resisted every single winter expedition. Located further north at higher latitude, the Karakoram in winter is colder, drier, and far more turbulent than the Himalaya, with ambient temperatures plummeting past -50°C and storms that rage for weeks without pause.

In December 2010, an elite international trio assembled to challenge this unyielding record: Italian winter specialist Simone Moro, Kazakh mountaineer Denis Urubko, and American climber and National Geographic photographer Cory Richards. Their target was Gasherbrum II (8,035m), the thirteenth-highest peak in the world.

The Baltoro Icebox

Trekking up the frozen Baltoro Glacier in January was itself an epic of endurance. Accompanied by hardy Balti porters walking over snow-covered moraines in sub-zero frost, the team reached Gasherbrum Base Camp at 5,100 meters in deep winter. Operating in pure alpine style without high-altitude porters or supplemental bottled oxygen, they began working their way through the treacherous Gasherbrum Icefall.

The icefall was a chaotic labyrinth of fragile séracs and bottomless crevasses concealed under fragile wind-blown snow bridges. Moro, Urubko, and Richards navigated these objective hazards with caution, fixing light ropes across the most dangerous chasms and establishing Camp I at 5,900 meters and Camp II at 6,500 meters.

The Sprint Through -45°C

On January 30, 2011, meteorologist Karl Gabl alerted them to a fleeting 48-hour calm before a colossal Himalayan blizzard was forecast to slam the Karakoram. The trio immediately packed their light packs and climbed to Camp III at 6,900 meters, perched precariously on the Southwest Ridge.

The morning of February 2, 2011, dawned crystal clear and devastatingly cold. Ambient temperatures were measured at -46°C, with winds adding a crippling chill. Climbing without supplemental oxygen, the three men moved in lockstep. Urubko, whose high-altitude physical power was legendary, broke trail through unconsolidated sugar snow, while Moro navigated and Richards documented the ascent with frozen camera equipment.

At 11:30 AM local time, Simone Moro, Denis Urubko, and Cory Richards reached the 8,035-meter summit of Gasherbrum II. They had broken the psychological barrier that had stood for 24 years: the first winter ascent of an eight-thousander in Pakistan and the entire Karakoram range. Cory Richards became the first American in history to summit an 8,000-meter peak in winter.

The Avalanche and the Miraculous Escape

Their triumph nearly turned into disaster on the descent. As they navigated back toward Camp I, the predicted blizzard slammed the mountain with ferocity, obliterating visibility in a total whiteout. Suddenly, the entire mountainside fractured above them. A colossal class-four powder avalanche swept down the slope, hitting all three climbers with freight-train velocity and dragging them hundreds of meters down the glacier.

Buried under heavy snowdrifts and suffocating, Denis Urubko managed to free his arm and dig himself to the surface. He frantically clawed through the snow to unearth Simone Moro and Cory Richards, who were completely encased beneath the avalanche debris. Gaspers for breath and miraculously unbroken, the three men gathered their remaining gear and staggered into Base Camp through the blizzard. The photograph Cory Richards took of his own tear-streaked, frostbitten face moments after emerging from the snow became an iconic symbol of modern high-altitude survival.