Gasherbrum V, first ascent by the Koreans Chi-young Ahn and Nak-jong Seong

GASHERBRUM V by Chi-young Ahn

We left Incheon on June 13 and arrived near the head of the Baltoro Glacier where we established base camp. At 05:00, July 23, Nak-jong Seong and I left base camp (4770m). Near 06:00 we entered the glacier field, and without tying into each other, we moved quickly through the glacial section and reached the Bergschrund by 09:40. From base camp, we travelled roughly 3.5 kilometers through the complexities of the glacial terrain and crevasse sections. We started climbing by 11:00, we gained roughly 1,800 meters of altitude from base camp. We made it to our bivy site by midnight in a slanted crevasse located to the left and part of the feature of an enormous snow bank or field spanning roughly 400 meters in width. Establishing our site was hard work and we slept that night at 6560m.

The next day, July 24, we entered into the upper cornice section, but due to exposure to avalanche danger and our fatigue we turned around to rest the day out at our bivy site. Our third day of climbing, July 25, at 03:00 we set off, making it through the hazardous mixed section to reach the summit at 19:20. We made our descent and arrived back at our bivy site July 26 at 03:45. The abseil was very dark and we lost our way down. We couldn’t comprehend how things had turned out and luckily wespotted traces of our footprints and were able to follow them back to our bivy site. As soon as we returned to the tent, we cooked a meagre meal.

July 26 09:00. Despite our wasted physical state and lack of gear, we downclimbed and rapped, finally arriving at base camp at 18:40. Our climb lasted four days; three days to the summit in a single push and in alpine style. We experienced much falling rock and avalanche conditions during our climb on the south face. The wall was angled about 70 degrees and was comprised of ice covered by snow, creating a nasty crust on which we had to try and protect ourselves, and this significantly affected us, in particular our physical strength. We left Pakistan for home after having spent roughly two months at Gasherbrum V(7147m).

Expedition Data
Departure from Incheon: 13/06/2014 – Arrival at Incheon: 07/08/2014
Climbing Duration: G5 S. Face 23-26/07/2014 (3 nights and 4 days)
Expedition Members: Chi-young Ahn, Nak-jong Seong, Hyeong-woo Choi and Ji-eun Ahn
Climbers: Chi-young Ahn, Nak-jong Seong.
Climbing Style: One Push Alpine Style

Climbing Length
Base Camp to Summit = about 2,400m.
Bergschrund to Summit = 1450m
Glacier Approach = about 3.5kilometers

Altitude Points
Altitude Basecamp: about 4,770m
Altitude Bergschrunt about 5,700m
Altitude Bivvy Site about 6550m
Altitude Summit 7147m