Location: Karakoram Range Map
Height: 28,251 ft (8,611 m)
K2 Mountain is situated in Karakoram Range in Pakistan. Although K2 Mountain is slightly shorter than Mount Everest in Nepal standing at an elevation of 28,251 ft (8,611 m), it is considered much more difficult to climb. High death rate for climbers earned it a nickname of a Savage Mountain. You would think that this popular destination would get a better original title, but its lack of originality is due to geologists who first explored this area. Its present name was given by Thomas Montgomerie in 1856 during Great Trigonometric Survey. He simply named the peaks by order as he saw it: K1, K2, K3 and so on.
As the mountain became famous it became a magnet for climbers. The first attempt to reach the summit was undertaken by Aleister Crowley and Oscar Eckenstein in 1902. First expedition that made it to the top was an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio on 31st July, 1954. They made it to the peak via a Abruzzi Spur that still remains a standard path for the climbers who dare to repeat the feat. Other paths include North Ridge, Northeast Ridge and West Ridge. However two most dangerous and demanding routes are Southwest Pillar (Magic Line) and South Face (Polish Line). Needless to say you need serious physical fitness and stamina to climb the mountain.
A. West Ridge
B. West Face
C. Southwest Pillar (Magic Line)
D. South Face (Polish Line)
E. South- southeast Spur
F. Abruzzi Spur
K2 lies on the border between Pakistan and China in the northwest of
the Karakoram.
It belongs to the Baltoro Muztagh mountain range.
Immediately to the south, three mountains of the Gasherbrum group also
reach a height of over 8,000 m, so that nowhere are there as many
eight-thousanders in such a small area as in the Central Karakoram. The
nature around K2 is protected on the Pakistani side by the Central
Karakoram National Park.
K2 (Urdu کے ٹو Ke Tu) is the official Pakistani name of the mountain.
The mountain was given this name by the British surveyor Thomas George
Montgomerie, who mapped the peaks in the Karakoram from a greater
distance as part of the Great Trigonometrical Survey in 1856 and
numbered them one after the other (the K stands for Karakoram).
Masherbrum, apparently the highest mountain, was given the designation
“K1”. The British surveyors were soon able to determine K2 as the
highest mountain in the region.
The Balti (the people who inhabit
the habitable valleys west of K2) call the mountain Ketu or Kechu,
derived from the English pronounced K two. The American linguist and
mountaineer H. Adams Carter observed that locals now also use Ketu as a
loanword to describe other very high mountains.
Lambha Pahar is a
name in the Pakistani official language Urdu and means 'high/big
mountain'. Like the official Chinese name Qogir, it is derived from
Chogori, the alleged name of the mountain in the Balti language.
However, the name Chogori comes from Western researchers who invented it
at the beginning of the 20th century by combining the words chhogo 'big'
and ri 'mountain'. He found no acceptance among the local population.
Carter recommended against using this name in the American Alpine
Journal in 1983.
Occasionally the mountain is also referred to as
Mount Godwin-Austen, named after Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen, the
leader of an expedition in 1856. According to Carter, the name Godwin
Austen originally referred to only the glacier on the southeast side of
the mountain and then in some Maps also used to name the mountain.
The term Dapsang can also be found as a name; the connection with
the Dapsang Plateau, about 150 km away, is unclear.
The K2 is
decorated with a number of nicknames. While in English it was often
called the savage mountain, e.g. B. Reinhold Messner called it the
“mountain of mountains”.
The K2 consists of inhomogeneous granites, limestone and various metamorphites such as black phyllite or hornblende gneiss.
The first known people to climb K2 were researchers like Roberto
Lerco (1890) or mountaineers like William Martin Conway (1892), who also
conducted research. Nothing is known about the height they reached. The
first serious attempt to climb the mountain was made in 1902 by a
British-Austrian expedition. The expedition was led by Oscar Eckenstein.
The team included the Austrians Victor Wessely and Heinrich Pfannl, the
Swiss doctor Jules Jacot-Guillarmod and the British engineer and art
collector Guy Knowles, who made the expedition possible as a financier.
Also there was the eccentric Briton Aleister Crowley, who was an
excellent mountaineer but otherwise gained dubious fame as an occultist.
The mountaineers turned away from the southeast ridge, which seemed too
steep for the porters, and towards the northeast ridge, but ultimately
failed due to the difficulties and bad weather. The expedition explored
the Godwin-Austen Glacier and climbed to Skyang La ('Saddle of the
Winds', 6233 m). The highest point reached by Jules Jacot-Guillarmod and
Wessely was at an altitude of around 6,700 m. Pfannl barely survived
pulmonary edema after being transported to lower altitudes several days
after the first symptoms appeared. The variously reported account that
Crowley, who was riddled with malaria fever, pointed a revolver at
Knowles at an altitude of 20,000 feet on the edge of the cliff, but was
able to be disarmed, cannot be proven by the expedition members' notes
and is most likely false. The first photographs of K2 were taken by
Jacot Guillarmod.
In 1909, an Italian expedition led by Luigi
Amedeo di Savoia, Duke of Abruzzo, reached a height of around 6000 m in
its first attempt to climb the southeast ridge. This route on K2 is now
the most traveled route is known as the Abruzzo Ridge.
Twenty
years later, the Duke of Spoleto led a scientific expedition to K2,
exploring both the south and north sides of the mountain. However, the
expedition did not pursue any mountaineering ambitions. Among the
participants was the geologist Ardito Desio.
It was not until mid-June 1938 that an American team (“First American
Karakoram expedition to K2”) attempted the climb again, again via the
Abruzzo Ridge. The leader of the expedition was Charles Houston. By July
20, 1938, camps were set up at an altitude of 7,530 m (Camp VII). For
the first time, Robert Bates and William “Bill” House climbed a
technically difficult passage at an altitude of around 6,600 m with an
approximately 45 meter high chimney lined with ice, which is now known
as “House’s Chimney”. Above Camp VII, further preparation of the summit
route with fixed ropes and at least one additional camp would have been
necessary, but the expedition did not have the necessary time for this
and especially. a. a long period of good weather. Charles Houston and
Paul Petzold therefore dared to make a solo attempt to reach the summit,
where Petzold reached a height of 7,925 m. However, Houston and Petzold
realized that it was impossible to reach the summit from Camp VII and
turned back. On July 24, 1938, the expedition reached base camp again.
Just a year later, another American expedition (“Second American
Karakoram expedition to K2”) led by Fritz Wiessner stayed at the base
camp (altitude 5000 m) and prepared the climb using the campsites of the
previous year’s expedition. Wiessner, Dudley Wolfe and the Sherpa Pasang
Dawa Lama began their assault on the summit on July 14, 1939. However,
Wolfe had to return to Camp VIII (7710 m) alone because of his great
weight in the deep, avalanche-prone snow. Wiessner and Pasang Dawa Lama
continued to climb to the summit via Camp IX (7990 m) and reached a
height of 8380 m at around 6:30 p.m. on July 19, 1939. Only 230 meters
in altitude separated them from the summit. As night fell, Wiessner
would have continued on the relatively easy summit passage with the risk
of a bivouac, but his rope partner Pasang Dawa Lama stopped him and,
probably for religious reasons, did not want to go up to the summit in
the dark. Wiessner didn't want to leave his partner alone and agreed to
go down, but wanted to come back later. Lama's crampons were lost during
the descent, so another attempt to climb the mountain failed on July 21,
1939. A day later they returned to Wolfe, who was waiting in Camp VIII,
and the three of them descended to Camp VII. Here they discovered that
the camp had already been cleared of reserve sleeping bags, air
mattresses and most of the supplies by the expedition members remaining
below, as there was talk of a failure in the summit rush and, due to
traces of avalanches not far from Camp VIII, of the deaths of Wiessner,
Wolfe and Pasang Dawa Lama had gone out. While Wolfe, who had fallen on
the descent to Camp VII (and was probably also suffering from altitude
sickness), stayed behind, Wiessner and Pasang Dawa Lama continued to
descend, but to their horror found that all the other camps had already
been evacuated . Under unspeakable circumstances, with lack of sleep and
the risk of frostbite, they reached base camp again on July 24, 1939,
completely exhausted. From here, several Sherpas immediately set off to
find Wolfe, who was waiting in Camp VII, and reached him on July 29,
1939 in a completely apathetic state. However, Wolfe refused to go down
or was no longer able to do so himself. Three Sherpas ascended to Wolfe
again on July 31, 1939, but have remained missing ever since. Another
rescue attempt by Wiessner and Pasang Dawa Lama had to be aborted at
Camp 2 at an altitude of 5880 m due to a snowstorm. Neither Wiessner nor
Pasang Dawa Lama ever reached the height of 8380 m again.
In June
1953, an American expedition (“Third American Karakoram expedition to
K2”) under Charles Houston, who had already led the 1938 team, attempted
the ascent again. By the beginning of August, various camps had been set
up up to an altitude of around 7,800 meters (Camp VIII). Bad weather
delayed the final attack on the summit, so that the expedition was
considered to be canceled due to the already long stay at high
altitudes. On August 7, 1953, Arthur Gilkey suffered a collapse as a
result of thrombosis (and probably pulmonary embolism), so the team
decided to drop out and be relegated. The immobile Gilkey was rappelled
down in a sleeping bag, but died in an avalanche. The surviving 6
expedition members reached base camp again on August 15, 1953. Gilkey's
remains were discovered in 1993.
Also in 1953, Riccardo Cassin
and Ardito Desio went on a research expedition to prepare for further
expeditions.
The first successful ascent took place on July 31, 1954 by Achille
Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli, who were part of a large Italian
expedition. The expedition was led by Ardito Desio, who had already been
to K2 for research purposes in 1929 and 1953. A scandal was associated
with the summit success: Walter Bonatti and the Pakistani Hunzukuc
porter Amir Mehdi, who provided crucial help during the climb, were
deliberately put in danger of death and only survived with luck.
It had been agreed that Bonatti and Mehdi would bring oxygen bottles to
a tent camp at an altitude of 8,100 meters. When the two arrived at the
agreed location, they discovered that their mountaineering colleagues
had moved the agreed camp without prior consultation, so that it had
become inaccessible to them. Compagnoni probably feared that the younger
and fitter Bonatti could have disputed his glory when he climbed the
summit. Since it was already evening, going down was no longer possible.
The two therefore had to bivouack at an altitude of 8,100 meters without
a tent. Mehdi in particular suffered severe frostbite due to his
inadequate clothing. They descended the following day without having
been to the summit. They left the oxygen cylinders behind, which their
colleagues then used.
All of Mehdi's frozen toes had to be
amputated and he spent eight months in the military hospital in
Rawalpindi. After this experience, Bonatti was deeply disappointed and
became a loner on future mountain climbs.
In the years that followed, many mountaineers initially turned their
attention to the 8,000-meter peaks that had not yet been climbed. It
wasn't until 1960 that an attempt was made to climb K2 again, but it
failed. In the following 15 years, an ascent was not possible because,
as a result of the developments that led to the Second Indo-Pakistani
War, the Pakistani government closed the Karakoram Mountains from 1961
to 1974. It was not until 1975 and 1976 that further attempts were made.
The second ascent was achieved by a Japanese expedition in 1977 on the
path of the first climbers.
The first ascent without the use of
bottled oxygen was achieved by the American Louis Reichardt on September
6, 1978 - around four months after the first ascent of Mount Everest
without additional oxygen by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
Reichardt and his rope partner James Wickwire were carrying a small
amount of oxygen, which they planned to use only if necessary in the
final part of the climb. While Wickwire was able to use his oxygen
equipment from an altitude of around 8,000 m, Reichardt's breathing
apparatus failed. Reichardt left it behind, continued climbing and
reached the summit with Wickwire. The next day, the expedition's second
rope team, consisting of Rick Ridgeway and John Roskelly, was also
successful without resorting to oxygen equipment. The Americans' route
was over the northeast ridge (northeast of the Abruzzo Ridge) to the
shoulder and on to the summit. The expedition was led by Everest veteran
James Whittaker.
On June 23, 1986, Wanda Rutkiewicz was the first
woman to reach the summit, followed on the same day by Liliane Barrard,
who died in an accident while descending with her husband Maurice
Barrard. Liliane's body was later recovered at the foot of the south
wall, her husband's body was not found until 1998. In 1986, a total of
13 mountaineers died, most of them due to difficult weather conditions
in early August.
On July 8, 1986, Jerzy Kukuczka and Tadeusz
Piotrowski reached the summit for the first time via the then unclimbed
south face. They were participants in an expedition led by Karl Maria
Herrligkoffer. This new ascent route represents one of the biggest
challenges on K2 because it is extremely difficult and extremely
dangerous. To date, no other mountaineer has been able to repeat this
route - described by Reinhold Messner as suicidal.
Kurt
Diemberger reached the summit of K2 with Julie Tullis on August 4, 1986.
The descent from K2 turned into a tragedy due to a storm lasting several
days. Tullis died on the night of 6/7. August after a fall and a free
bivouac at 8,350 meters due to exhaustion and dehydration at night in
the tent on the K2 shoulder, and four other mountaineers from several
teams active on the mountain at the same time died. Only Kurt Diemberger
and Willi Bauer were able to manage the descent with their last
strength.
The first ascent of K2 in the so-called alpine style,
which does not use oxygen bottles as well as preparing the route with
high camps and fixed ropes, was only achieved in 1991. The two Frenchmen
Pierre Beghin and Christophe Profit reached the summit on August 15,
1991 an ascent route in which they connected different routes on the
northwest ridge and in the north face with traverses.
On October
2, 2007, Denis Urubko and Sergei Samoilov climbed K2 from the north
side. Never before had the summit been reached so late in the year.
On August 1, 2008, the biggest accident to date occurred on K2 - on
that day and the following night, a total of eleven mountaineers died
relatively close to the summit. A mountaineer fell about 200 meters
while climbing in the bottleneck area. During the rescue operation
initiated immediately afterwards by High Camp IV, a helping local
mountaineer fell to his death. Later that same day, a large ice
avalanche released above the Bottleneck, killing several climbers
attempting to summit. As a result, some mountaineers who had already
reached the summit had their way back cut off at this point because the
ice avalanche had swept away all the fixed ropes and anchors. Four
climbers survived the night and were rescued; The other mountaineers
probably fell or froze to death during an unsecured descent at night at
an altitude of over 8,200 m. The eleven dead were three Korean, one
French, one Norwegian, one Serbian and one Irish climber (he was the
first Irishman to summit K2), as well as two Nepalese Sherpas and two
Pakistani porters.
On August 23, 2011, the Austrian Gerlinde
Kaltenbrunner reached the summit of K2 via the north side, becoming the
first woman to climb all eight-thousanders without the use of additional
oxygen.
On July 22, 2018, Andrzej Bargiel became the first person
in the world to ski from the summit of K2 to base camp without taking
off his skis.
On July 25, 2019, Anja Blacha became the first
German woman to reach the summit of K2; They were also climbed without
the use of bottled oxygen. A few hours earlier on the same day, Herbert
Hellmuth became the seventh German to climb to the summit. The last time
a German, Ralf Dujmovits, stood on K2 was in 1994.
On January 16,
2021, the summit of K2 was climbed for the first time in winter by a
team of ten Sherpas, the last of the 14 eight-thousanders. The
successful team included Nirmal Purja, Gelje Sherpa, Mingma David
Sherpa, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, Sona Sherpa, Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, Pem
Chhiri Sherpa, Dawa Temba Sherpa, Kili Pemba Sherpa and Dawa Tenjing
Sherpa. On the same day, the Spanish mountaineer Sergi Mingote had a
fatal accident while descending from Camp I to the advanced base camp.
On July 27, 2023, 27-year-old Pakistani mountain porter Mohammed
Hassan died at about 8,300 meters on the mountain. A Pakistani
commission of inquiry is investigating the death. Based on witness
statements and drone footage, it was determined that Hassan crashed
around 2:30 a.m. and died between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. According to drone
footage, around 70 climbers walked past the narrow spot of the dying
man, who was hanging on a rope below the path to the summit, without
helping. When a mountaineer finally pulled Hassan several meters back
into the path on the rope, he was also criticized for causing a traffic
jam. Reinhold Messner sees the incident “as evidence of depraved ethics
in increasing tourism on the highest mountains in the world.” That day,
several expeditions with around 200 mountain athletes were on the
mountain. Among them was the Norwegian Kristin Harila, who wanted to
complete her controversial record hunt on Mount K2 by climbing all 14
eight-thousanders within 92 days. Harila claims that she and others
tried to help Hassan, "later - believing that the seriously injured man
would receive further help - then continued climbing."
In 302 ascents, 298 different mountaineers have reached the summit of
K2, including 11 women. Only 4 climbers have reached the summit twice.
So far, a total of 80 people have died during climbs and attempts on
K2. 32 climbers, including 3 women, died during the descent.
The
biggest accident to date was the K2 tragedy in 2008.
K2 – A cry from the top of the world. 2009.
Robert Campos, Donna
LoCicero: Disaster on K2. 2009
Nick Ryan: The Summit - Summit of
Death. 2012. Documentary about the 2008 accident in which 11
mountaineers died.
Adrian Ballinger: Breathtaking: K2 – The World's
Most Dangerous Mountain. In: YouTube. 2020. (Video; 44:39 min; English)
Andrzej Bargiel – K2: The Impossible Descent 2020
A climb of K2
was filmed in the 1991 film K2 - The Last Adventure with Michael Biehn
and Matt Craven in the main roles. The fictional plot of the 2000 film
Vertical Limit also takes place on and around K2, but was filmed at
Aoraki/Mount Cook in New Zealand. In the 2005 film Sub Zero, the aim is
to deactivate the remote control of a satellite weapon on the summit of
K2. However, Jim Wynorski's B-movie was not shot on K2, but in Canada.