Gasherbrum III, [b] surveyed as K3a, is a summit in the Gasherbrum massif of the Baltoro Muztagh, a subrange of the Karakoram on the border between Xinjiang, China and Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. [a] It is situated between Gasherbrum II and IV.
Gasherbrum III fails to meet a 500 metres (1,600 ft) topographic prominence cutoff to be an independent mountain; hence it can be considered a subpeak of Gasherbrum II. [c]
Gasherbrum III was one of the highest unclimbed summits in the world up to its first ascent in 1975, [d] by Wanda Rutkiewicz, Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz, Janusz Onyszkiewicz and Krzysztof Zdzitowiecki, members of a Polish expedition. [3] [4]