Gasherbrum

Gasherbrum
Gasherbrum group as seen from the ISS
Highest point
Peak	Gasherbrum I
Elevation	8,080 metres (26,510 ft)
Coordinates	35°43′N 76°42′E / 35.717°N 76.700°E / 35.717; 76.700
Geography
Gasherbrum Location of the Gasherbrum within the greater Karakoram region Show map of Karakoram Gasherbrum Gasherbrum (Gilgit Baltistan) Show map of Gilgit Baltistan Gasherbrum Gasherbrum (Southern Xinjiang) Show map of Southern Xinjiang
Countries	Pakistan China
Regions	Gilgit-Baltistan Xinjiang
Parent range	Karakoram

Gasherbrum (Urdu: گاشر برم) is a remote group of peaks situated at the northeastern end of the Baltoro Glacier in the Karakoram mountain range. The peaks are located within the border region of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China. The massif contains three of the world's 8,000 metre peaks (if Broad Peak is included). The highly visible face of Gasherbrum IV has gained the nickname the "Shining Wall" and this has often been claimed as the meaning of the word "Gasherbrum". ^[1] However the name Gasherbrum comes from "rgasha" (beautiful) + "brum" (mountain) in Balti, hence it actually means "beautiful mountain".^[2]

The Gasherbrum range forms the continental divide of southern Asia; drainage to the north and east flows into the Tarim Basin, drainage to the south and west flows into the Arabian Sea.

In 1856, Thomas George Montgomerie, a British Royal Engineers lieutenant and a member of the Great Trigonometric Survey of India, sighted a group of high peaks in the Karakoram from more than 200 km away. He named five of these peaks K1, K2, K3, K4 and K5, where the "K" denotes Karakoram. Today, K1 is known as Masherbrum, K3 as Gasherbrum IV, K4 as Gasherbrum II and K5 as Gasherbrum I. Only K2, the second highest mountain in the world, has retained Montgomerie's name. Broad Peak was thought to miss out on a K-number as it was hidden from Montgomerie's view by Masherbrum.

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