A polish team reached the summit of Broad Peak on Tuesday afternoon, notching the first winter ascent of the main summit of the 26,401-foot peak, according to . Four climbers鈥Maciej Berbeka, Adam Bielecki, Artur Ma艂ek, and Tomasz Kowalski鈥攕et off to climb the world’s 12th highest mountain as part of a five-year Himalayan mountaineering project supported by the Polish government.
“Summit captured between 17.30 to 18.00 local time,” said Artur Hajzer, the leader of the five-year project, on . “All four climbers of the summit team made the First Winter ascent of Broad Peak 8,047m.”
Broad Peak is located in the Karakorum range in Northeastern Pakistan. British explorer so named the mountain because its summit ridge is more than a mile long. It has three prominent points, and more than once climbers have turned around after mistakenly reaching a spot beneath the main summit. An Austrian team first bagged the main summit in 1957. In 1988, a Polish climber attempted the peak in winter, but after reaching a secondary summit during a storm.
The Polish team’s website features chronicling the group’s ascent in words and pictures. The expedition will report more details of Tuesday’s climb on Wednesday.