Expeditions - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 1957 - 1.50 Shilling

The brand motif shows the "Gasherbrunn II" ("The beautiful mountain") after original shots of the expedition participants. It is one of the four eight-thousanders in the Karakorum, that wild and rugged mountainous country that clustered around the 52-kilometer-long Baltoro Glacier. Austria was already able to point to a large number of victories in the Himalayas and in the Karakorum at this time. Of the ten summits that had risen to a height of more than 8,000 meters, three of the Austrians could be reached for the first time. In 1953, Hermann Buhl alone entered the summit of the 8,125 meter high Nanga Parbat, in 1954 Herbert Tichy, Sepp Jöchler and Sherpa Pasang Dawa Lama stood on the 8,153 meter high Cho Oyo, and in 1956 Fritz Moravec, Sepp Larch and Hans climbed Willenpart the 8035 meter high Gasherbrunn II. The latter mountain climb has also been the reason for the issue of this special postage stamp. The ascent was under particularly difficult conditions. For bad weather and avalanche emissions spilled the supplies and equipment in the camp. On July 7, at 1:30 pm, from an intermediate camp at an altitude of 7,500 meters, after eight hours of tough fighting against the exhausting effect of oxygen deprivation in the "death zone," the members of this group were the first to ascend the peak of Gasherbrunn II and raise the Pakistani and Austrian flag.