k2

Coordinates: 35°52′57″N, 76°30′48″E [2] K2 is the second highest mountain on Earth, located in the Karakoram segment of the Himalayan range in Kashmir. At 8,611 metres (28,251 feet), there is only one third as much oxygen available to a climber on the summit of K2 as there is at sea level.^[1] K2 is second only to Mount Everest in terms of height above sea level, but technically it is far more difficult to climb.

The mountain of K2 is on the border between the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang, China, and the Gilgit-Baltistan region in the Pakistan administered Northern Areas.^[2]

The Chinese authorities officially refer to K2 as Qogir; Chinese: 乔戈里峰, Pinyin: Qiáogēlǐ Fēng; other names include Mount Godwin-Austen, Lambha Pahar ("Tall Mountain" in Urdu), Dapsang, Kechu, and Chogori, which means "The King of the Mountains."

Climbing history

The mountain was first surveyed by a European survey team in 1856 headed by Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen. Thomas Montgomerie was the member of the team who designated it "K2" for being the second peak of the Karakoram range. The other peaks were originally named K1, K3, K4 and K5, but were eventually renamed Masherbrum, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I respectively.

The first professional attempt to climb K2 was organized and undertaken in 1902 by Oscar Eckenstein and Aleister Crowley, but after five serious and costly attempts, no member of the team actually reached the summit, probably due to a combination of questionable physical training, personality conflicts, and poor weather conditions — of 68 days spent on K2 (the then-record for longest time spent at such an altitude) only eight provided clear weather.^[3]

Subsequent attempts to climb the mountain in 1909, 1934, 1938, 1939 and 1953 also ended in failure. The 1909 expedition, led by Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, reached an elevation of 6,666 m on what is now known as the Abruzzi Spur (or Abruzzi Ridge). This is considered part of the standard route today.

An Italian expedition finally succeeded in ascending to the summit of K2 on July 31, 1954. The expedition was led by Ardito Desio, although the two climbers who actually reached the top were Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. The team included a Pakistani member, Colonel Muhammad Ata-ullah. He had been a part of an earlier 1953 American expedition which failed to make the summit because of a storm which killed a key climber, Art Gilkey.

In 1977, 23 years after the Italian expedition, Ichiro Yoshizawa led the second successful ascent to the top. The Japanese expedition ascended through the Abruzzi Spur route traced by the Italians, and used more than 1500 porters to achieve the goal.

The peak has now been climbed from almost all of its ridges. Although the summit of Everest is at a higher altitude, K2 is considered a more difficult climb, due in part to its terrible weather and comparatively greater height above surrounding terrain. The mountain is believed by many to be the world's most difficult and dangerous climb, hence its nickname "the Savage Mountain." As of July 2000, only 189 people have completed the ascent, compared with almost 1,900 individuals who have ascended the more popular target of Everest. 49 people have died attempting the climb; 13 climbers from several expeditions died in 1986 in the K2 Tragedy during a severe storm.

Legend once had it that K2 carried a "curse on women." The first woman to reach the summit was Wanda Rutkiewicz in 1986. The next five women to reach the summit are all deceased — three of them died on the way down. Rutkiewicz herself died on Kangchenjunga in 1992. However, the "curse" was broken in 2006, when Nives Meroi of Italy and Yuka Komatsu of Japan became, respectively, the seventh and eighth women to summit K2, and both descended successfully.

Prominence

K2 is not ranked higher than 22nd by prominence because it is part of the same range as Everest, in that it is possible to draw a curve from K2 to Everest that goes no lower than 4,594 m (at Mustang Lo).

See also

• Concordia
• Northern Areas
• List of mountains in Pakistan
• List of the highest mountains in the world

Books about K2

• Ascent of K2 Second Highest Peak in the World by Ardito Desio
• K2: Triumph and Tragedy by Jim Curran, ISBN 0-395-48590-8
• K2: The Story of the Savage Mountain by Jim Curran, ISBN 0-89886-683-9
• K2: The Savage Mountain by Charles Houston, ISBN 1-885283-01-6
• K2: Quest of the Gods by Ralph Ellis, ISBN 0-932813-99-2
• The Last Step: The American Ascent of K2 by Rick Ridgeway, ISBN 0-89886-632-4
• K2: One Woman's Quest for the Summit by Heidi Hawkins, ISBN 0-7922-7996-4
• The Endless Knot: K2, Mountain of Dreams and Destiny by Kurt Diemberger, ISBN 0-89886-300-7
• K2 Kahani by Mustansar Hussain Tarrad, In Urdu
• Savage Summit : The True Stories of the First Five Women Who Climbed K2 by Jennifer Jordan, ISBN 0-06-058715-6
• Zvezdnate noči (Starry Nights) by Dušan Jelinčič, ISBN / EAN: 961-6387-75-8

Movies about K2

• Vertical Limit
• K2, 1992

External links

• How high is K2 really? -- Measurements in 1996 gave 8614.27±0.6 m a.m.s.l
• K2climb.net
• The Mountain Areas Conservancy Project
• The climbing history of K2 from the first attempt in 1902 until the Italian success in 1954.
• China Peak Exploration Team to challenge Mt. Qogir
• Outside Online: The K2 Tragedy
• K2: Daring to Dream Documentary
• Kelly Cheng's photos from K2
• K2 Poster including Routes and Notes
• Northern Pakistan - highly detailed placemarks of towns, villages, peaks, glaciers, rivers and minor tributaries in Google Earth
• K2 on SummitPost.Org

References

1. ^ Altitude oxygen calculator online
2. ^ This region is disputed, and is claimed by India to be an integral part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.
3. ^ Booth, Martin [2000] (2001). “Rhythms of Rapture”, A Magick Life: A Biography of Aleister Crowley (trade paperback), Coronet (in English), London: Hodder and Stoughton, 152-157. ISBN 0-340-71806-4.