We have been sitting in ABC all day today, brainstorming, discussing our odds and just staring at the mountain through our binoculars. It ’s July 7, 2006,  beautiful weather and we have just decided to break off our second attempt due to high avalanche danger. The news of another team reaching theSouth peak doesn’t necessarily perk us up either. Could the snow become firm within 2 – 3 days? We would never know until we went up and found out! Thanks to our trustworthy weather report from Meteotest in Bern , we decide to go for it! We reach Camp 1 just in time for a 9 o’clock coffee break – without heavy packs and with perfect ice conditions we are able to move forward faster than planned. However, the days of endless waiting are starting to chew on our nerves, the six other climbers on our expedition have decided against a further attempt so there are only three of us left, Cedric, myself and Hans. Luckily, we still have enough food left. We leave the warmth of our sleeping bags at 3 am and get moving. The 450 meters of fixed rope have frozen into the ground and need to be carefully picked free by our ice axes. By 8 am, we have reached our last turnaround point. Hans and Cedric wait from a safe distance while I, with mixed emotions, continue to lead the way through the now evident firmer snow conditions. Relief sets in as we reach Camp II at 9:30 am and settle down for our obligatory coffee break, unfortunately delayed today by half an hour. Now we really need to reach the peak in time, otherwise Kari will reproach us for coming late and overdrawing our break! Just to calm our conscience, we move on until 7100m and Hans and I reward ourselves with deep sleep at exactly 5 to 10pm – thanks to a shared Dormicum pill. Half an hour later we find ourselves panting behind Cedric in our   tracks starting from 6850m. The pockets of our down suits are bursting at the seams, filled with everything possible, our packs stay back at camp. Our tracks from the previous day end after one hour, hard work begins. Hans and I take turns pushing through snow up to our waist, Cedric starts falling behind us, fighting fatigue. We really need to push ourselves through some of the 50° steep passages, it’s a true question of motivation for us. We don’t relent, hoping to reach solid ground up on the ridge. Despite our efforts, we feel the cold seeping in. We need to stop and massage Hans’ frozen toes back to life. Upon reaching the ridge we find perfect snow conditions – for powder skiing. Disappointed, we can make out the huge snowdrifts in the moonlight, just waiting to drop us off into the North Face and down to China. Our alternative are the powder laden slopes that lead 1500m down to Pakistan on the other side. We trudge our way slowly along the summit ridge that leads us to the three peaks looming vertically against us in the dark. In the far distance we can see the weather lights in Pakistan. Just as dawns falls on us, we reach the last couloir. A second ice axe would help to pacify our nerves in the 60° ice and firn, the ski pole we have with us is just in the way. On the top of the couloir, Hans and I wait almost an hour for Cedric, he kept up his strength and followed us up. At 7 am on July 10, 2006, the three of us take the last steps together to the eastern summit of Gasherbrum II at 7772m. We hold back our joy as we yet have to get back down the face. We are fully aware of the strong rays of sun already touching the avalanche dangered slopes ahead and decide to leave out the descent and 500m ascent onto the main peak of Gasherbrum. Two days later, we are back down at base camp celebrating our first ascent of this remote mountain face with Chinese beer and a bottle of fine Italian wine, Castello Luigi 2001. Without support from the whole team, all of this would never have been possible!