Pakistan: Dynafit athletes Benedikt Böhm and Sebastian Haag set themselves the goal of climbing from the base camp (4,800 metres) of Broad Peak in Pakistan to the 8,051-metre summit of this mountain giant in 18 hours, before skiing back down the terrain, which is steep in places to a gradient of 50 degrees.

Broad Peak rises above the Baltoro Glacier, one of the most massive ice streams outside the polar regions. Just a few kilometres away stands K2 – the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest. The Karakorum region is one of the most challenging and remote high-mountain landscapes in the world.

On 17 July 2009, following a prolonged spell of bad weather, Benedikt and Sebastian set off on their speed ascent. The two extreme mountaineers made good progress up to an altitude of 7,800 metres – although Sebastian did take a break at one point to replenish his water supplies (his Camelbak had sprung a leak at the start of the ascent). However, due to the masses of snow, it then took them just under four hours to cover 200 metres of elevation gain on the ridge to the secondary summit.

Although it may seem as though there are only a few metres of elevation left to climb from the secondary summit to the actual summit, this section involves a dangerous ridge walk. The term ‘ridge walk’ refers to the narrow, exposed summit passage on Broad Peak: between the pre-summit and the main summit, at an altitude of over 8,000 metres, runs a long, sharp firn ridge on which every step demands the utmost concentration – a particular challenge when climbing in speed style against the clock.

After a total of 16 hours, the pair reached the secondary summit (8,026 m). It was already too late to attempt the main summit, and therefore too dangerous. The only priority was a safe descent to base camp – Sebastian’s coordination problems made a ski descent from the secondary summit impossible. After a total of 39 hours, Benedikt and Sebastian were back at base camp. The speed record failed due to unfortunate incidents that are particularly unpredictable at such altitudes, yet both take the experience and profound memories with them.

A year later, Benedikt – together with Pete Swenson and cameraman Javier Campos – set out on a second attempt. This time, vast amounts of fresh snow and bad weather prevented a successful ascent.