K2 - WikiHQ

K2, also known as Mount Godwin-Austen, at above sea level, is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest at .

K2 became known as the Savage Mountain after George Bell—a climber on the 1953 American expedition—said, "It's a savage mountain that tries to kill you." Of the five highest mountains in the world, K2 has long been the deadliest: prior to 2021, approximately one person had died on the mountain for every four who reached the summit.

K2 is nicknamed "The King of Mountains" and "The Mountaineers' Mountain", as well as "The Mountain of Mountains", a phrase popularized by Italian climber Reinhold Messner in his book on K2. Although the summit of Everest is at a higher altitude, K2 is a more difficult and dangerous climb. This is in part due to its more northern location, where inclement weather is more common, as well as its steep and exposed faces. The summit was reached for the first time by the Italian climbers Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni on a 1954 Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio.

Most ascents are made during July and August, typically the warmest times of the year. In January 2021 K2 became the final eight-thousander to be summited in the winter by a team of Nepalese climbers led by Nirmal Purja and Mingma Gyalje Sherpa.

K2's eastern face remains un-climbed, partly because of the hazards associated with the instability of its ice and snow formations.

Name

thumb|left|[[Thomas George Montgomerie|Montgomerie's original sketch from 1856 in which he applied the notation K2]]

The name K2 is derived from the notation used by the Great Trigonometrical Survey of British India. Thomas Montgomerie made the first survey of the Karakoram from Mount Haramukh, some to the south, and sketched the two most prominent peaks, labeling them K1 and K2, where the K stands for Karakoram.

The policy of the Great Trigonometrical Survey was to use local names for mountains wherever possible and K1 was found to be known locally as Masherbrum. K2, however, appeared not to have acquired a local name—possibly due to its remoteness. The mountain is not visible from Askole, one of the highest settlements on the way to the mountain, nor from the nearest habitation to the north. K2 is only fleetingly glimpsed from the end of the Baltoro Glacier, beyond which few local people would have ventured. The name Chogori, derived from two Balti words, chhogo ཆོ་གྷའོ་ ("big") and ri རི ("mountain") (چھوغوری) has been suggested as a local name, but evidence for its widespread use is scant. It may have been a compound name invented by Western explorers (, ). The Italian climber Fosco Maraini argued in his account of the ascent of Gasherbrum IV that while the name of K2 owes its origin to chance, its clipped, impersonal nature is highly appropriate for such a remote and challenging mountain. He concluded that it was:

André Weil named K3 surfaces in mathematics partly after the beauty of the mountain K2.

Geographical setting

thumb|Map including K2 (labelled as K2 (MOUNT GODWIN AUSTEN) in upper left corner of map) ([[Army Map Service|AMS, 1953)]]

thumb|Virtual flight around K2

K2 lies in the northwestern Karakoram Range. It is located in the Baltistan region of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang, China. The Tarim sedimentary basin borders the range on the north and the Lesser Himalayas on the south. Melt waters from glaciers, such as those south and east of K2, feed agriculture in the valleys and contribute significantly to the regional fresh-water supply.

K2 is ranked 22nd by topographic prominence, a measure of a mountain's independent stature. It is a part of the same extended area of uplift (including the Karakoram, the Tibetan Plateau, and the Himalayas) as Mount Everest, and it is possible to follow a path from K2 to Everest that goes no lower than , at the Kora La on the Nepal/China border in the Mustang Lo. Many other peaks far lower than K2 are more independent in this sense. It is, however, the most prominent peak within the Karakoram range.

A 1986 expedition led by George Wallerstein made an inaccurate measurement showing that K2 was taller than Mount Everest, and therefore the tallest mountain on Earth. A corrected measurement was made in 1987, but by then the claim that K2 was the tallest mountain in the world had already made it into many news reports and reference works.

Height

K2's height given on maps and encyclopedias is . In the summer of 2014, a Pakistani-Italian expedition to K2, named "K2 60 Years Later", was organized to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of K2. One of the goals of the expedition was to accurately measure the height of the mountain using satellite navigation. The height of K2 measured during this expedition was .

Geology

The mountains of K2 and Broad Peak, and the area westward to the lower reaches of Sarpo Laggo glacier, consist of metamorphic rocks, known as the K2 Gneiss and part of the Karakoram Metamorphic Complex. The K2 Gneiss consists of a mixture of orthogneiss and biotite-rich paragneiss. On the south and southeast face of K2, the orthogneiss consists of a mixture of a strongly foliated plagioclase-hornblende gneiss and a biotite-hornblende-K-feldspar orthogneiss, which has been intruded by garnet-mica leucogranitic dikes. In places, the paragneisses include clinopyroxene-hornblende-bearing psammites, garnet (grossular)-diopside marbles, and biotite-graphite phyllites. Near the memorial to the climbers who have died on K2, above Base Camp on the south spur, thin impure marbles with quartzites and mica schists, called the Gilkey-Puchoz sequence, are interbanded within the orthogneisses. On the west face of Broad Peak and the south spur of K2, lamprophyre dikes, which consist of clinopyroxene and biotite-porphyritic vogesites and minettes, have intruded the K2 gneiss. The K2 Gneiss is separated from the surrounding sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks of the surrounding Karakoram Metamorphic Complex by normal faults. For example, a fault separates the K2 gneiss of the east face of K2 from limestones and slates comprising nearby Skyang Kangri. In 1892, Martin Conway led a British expedition that reached "Concordia" on the Baltoro Glacier.

The first serious attempt to climb K2 was undertaken in 1902 by Oscar Eckenstein, Aleister Crowley, Jules Jacot-Guillarmod, Heinrich Pfannl, Victor Wessely, and Guy Knowles via the Northeast Ridge. In the early 1900s, modern transportation did not exist in the region: it took "fourteen days just to reach the foot of the mountain".

The next expedition to K2, in 1909, led by Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, reached an elevation of around on the South East Spur, now known as the Abruzzi Spur (or Abruzzi Ridge). This would eventually become part of the standard route, but was abandoned at the time due to its steepness and difficulty. After trying and failing to find a feasible alternative route on the West Ridge or the North East Ridge, the Duke declared that K2 would never be climbed, and the team switched its attention to Chogolisa, where the Duke came within of the summit before being driven back by a storm.

thumb|upright|K2 from the east, photographed during the 1909 expedition

The next attempt on K2 was not made until 1938, when the First American Karakoram expedition, led by Charles Houston, made a reconnaissance of the mountain. They concluded that the Abruzzi Spur was the most practical route and reached a height of around before turning back due to diminishing supplies and the threat of bad weather.

The following year, the 1939 American expedition led by Fritz Wiessner came within of the summit but ended in disaster when Dudley Wolfe, Pasang Kikuli, Pasang Kitar, and Pintso disappeared high on the mountain.

Charles Houston returned to K2 to lead the 1953 American expedition. The attempt failed after a storm pinned down the team for 10 days at , during which time climber Art Gilkey became critically ill. A desperate retreat followed, during which Pete Schoening saved almost the entire team during a mass fall (known simply as The Belay), and Gilkey was killed, either in an avalanche or in a deliberate attempt to avoid burdening his companions. Despite the retreat and tragic end, the expedition has been given iconic status in mountaineering history. The Gilkey Memorial was built in his memory at the mountain's foot.

Success and repeats

thumb|upright|[[Achille Compagnoni on K2's summit on the first ascent (31 July 1954)]]

The 1954 Italian expedition finally succeeded in ascending to the summit of K2 via the Abruzzi Spur on 31 July 1954. The expedition was led by Ardito Desio, and the two climbers who reached the summit were Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. The team included a Pakistani member, Colonel Muhammad Ata-ullah, who had been a part of the 1953 American expedition. Also on the expedition were Walter Bonatti and Pakistani Hunza porter Amir Mehdi, who both proved vital to the expedition's success in that they carried oxygen tanks to for Lacedelli and Compagnoni. The ascent is controversial because Lacedelli and Compagnoni established their camp at a higher elevation than originally agreed with Mehdi and Bonatti. It being too dark to ascend or descend, Mehdi and Bonatti were forced to overnight without shelter above , leaving the oxygen tanks behind as requested when they descended. Bonatti and Mehdi survived, but Mehdi was hospitalised for months and had to have his toes amputated because of frostbite. Efforts in the 1950s to suppress these facts to protect Lacedelli and Compagnoni's reputations as Italian national heroes were later brought to light. It was also revealed that the moving of the camp was deliberate, apparently because Compagnoni feared being outshone by the younger Bonatti. Bonatti was given the blame for Mehdi's hospitalisation.

The third ascent of K2 was in 1978, via a new route, the long and corniced Northeast Ridge. The top of the route traversed left across the East Face to avoid a vertical headwall and joined the uppermost part of the Abruzzi route. This ascent was made by an American team, led by James Whittaker; the summit party was Louis Reichardt, Jim Wickwire, John Roskelley, and Rick Ridgeway. Wickwire endured an overnight bivouac about below the summit, one of the highest bivouacs in history. This ascent was emotional for the American team, as they saw themselves as completing a task that had been begun by the 1938 team forty years earlier. On 28 July 2024, Italian mountaineer Tommaso Lamantia summited K2 (8611m). The 42-year-old mountaineer, who is member of the CAI Biella expedition, climbed alone and without supplementary oxygen.

In 1986, two Polish expeditions summited via two new routes, the Magic Line

Recent records, attempts and notable events

;2004

:In 2004, the Spanish climber Carlos Soria Fontán became the oldest person ever to summit K2, at the age of 65. and Ger McDonnell, the first Irish person to reach the summit, were confirmed dead.

:Despite several attempts, nobody reached the summit.

;2011

: On 23 August 2011, a team of four climbers reached the summit of K2 from the North side. Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner became the first woman to complete all 14 eight-thousanders without supplemental oxygen.

:On 27 July 2014, Garrett Madison led a team of three American climbers and six Sherpas to summit K2. On this day, Alan Arnette became the oldest American to summit the mountain at the age of 58. On 31 July 2014, Boyan Petrov completed the first Bulgarian ascent, just 8 days after climbing Broad Peak.

;2017

: On 28 July 2017, Vanessa O'Brien led an international team of 12 with Mingma Gyalje Sherpa of Dreamers Destination to the summit of K2 and became the first British and American woman to summit K2, and the eldest woman to summit K2 at the age of 52 years old. She paid tribute to Julie Tullis and Alison Hargreaves, two British women who summited K2, in 1986 and 1995 respectively, but died during their descents. Other notable summits included John Snorri Sigurjónsson and Dawa Gyalje Sherpa who joined his sister (Dawa Yangzum Sherpa), becoming the second set of siblings to summit K2. Both Mingma Gyalje Sherpa and Fazal Ali recorded their second K2 summits.

;2018

:2018 became the record year for highest number of summits in a season, at 62.

:On 22 July 2018, Polish mountaineer and mountain runner Andrzej Bargiel became the first person to ski from summit to base camp.

;2019

:On 25 July 2019, Anja Blacha became the first German woman to summit K2. She climbed without the use of supplemental oxygen.

;2022

:On 22 July 2022, 145 summits on K2 were recorded in a single day, making it a record for the highest number of summits in a single day ever on K2. The 2022 season also saw the highest number of summits in a season at 200, taking over the previous record of 62 summits in 2018.

:On 28 July 2022, Adriana Brownlee became the youngest woman to climb K2 when she summited at age 21.

;2023

:2023 was also a busy season like 2022, with an estimated 112 summits on the only viable weather window of July 27. Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila and her guide, Nepali mountaineer Tenjen Sherpa successfully completed their summit of K2 on the same day, and set a record for the fastest climb of all 14 eight-thousanders in 92 days.

Winter expeditions

1987/1988 — Polish-Canadian-British expedition led by Andrzej Zawada from the Pakistani side, consisting of 13 Poles, 7 Canadians and 4 Brits. 2 March Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy established camp III at above sea, followed by Roger Mear and Jean-Francois Gagnon few days later. Hurricane winds and frostbite forced the team to retreat.
2002/2003 — Netia K2 Polish Winter Expedition. The team of fourteen climbers was led by Krzysztof Wielicki, and included four members from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Georgia. They intended to climb North Ridge. Marcin Kaczkan, Piotr Morawski and Denis Urubko established camp IV at above sea level. The final ascent started by Kaczkan and Urubko failed due to the destruction of the tent by harsh weather in camp IV and Kaczkan's cerebral edema.
2017/2018 — Polish National Winter Expedition led by Krzysztof Wielicki, consisting of 13 climbers, started in the end of December 2017. The team initially attempted to summit via the south-southeastern spur (Cesen route), switching to the Abruzzi Spur after an injury on the previous route. Via the Cesen/Basque route they reached up to , while on the Abruzzi Spur route they reached up to . However, Denis Urubko reported that during his solo attempt he probably reached up to .
2021 — Ten climbers made the first winter summit on 16 January 2021. The group summited together, and consisted of Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, Nirmal Purja, Gelje Sherpa, Mingma David Sherpa, Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, Dawa Temba Sherpa, Pem Chhiri Sherpa, Kilu Pemba Sherpa, Dawa Tenjing Sherpa, and Sona Sherpa. The summiting group consisted entirely of indigenous climbers from Nepal. Nirmal Purja was the only one who reached the summit without the use of supplemental oxygen. The summit temperature was . On the same day, Spanish climber Sergi Mingote died on the descent from Camp III; he fell somewhere between Camp I and Advanced Base Camp. Four other climbers would die during the 2020–21 winter season: Atanas Skatov, Ali Sadpara, John Snorri, and Juan Pablo Mohr Prieto.

Climbing routes and difficulties

K2 features several routes, each with distinct characteristics; however, they all share common challenges. The first is the extreme altitude, which results in a significant reduction in available oxygen. At the summit of K2, only one-third of the oxygen present at sea level is available to climbers.

<span id="Abruzzi Spur"></span><span id="Abruzzi Ridge"></span>Abruzzi Spur

thumb|right|The south side of K2 with the Abruzzi Spur route

The standard route of ascent, used by 75% of all climbers, is the Abruzzi Spur, In addition to the East Face, the North Face has not yet been climbed either. In 2007, Denis Urubko and Serguey Samoilov intended to climb the K2's North Face but they were stymied by increasingly deteriorating conditions. After finding their intended route menaced by growing avalanche danger, they traversed onto the normal North Ridge route and summited on 2 October 2007, making the latest summer season ascent of the peak in history.

;Northeast Ridge: Long and marked with the presence of multiple ice cornices, this ridge finishes on the uppermost part of Abruzzi route. First crossed by a Polish expedition led by Janusz Kurczab in 1976. The team was not able to summit due to poor weather.

; West Ridge: First climbed in 1981 by a Japanese team.

; Northwest Face: First ascent via this route was in 1990 by a Japanese team; this route is located on the Chinese side of the mountain. This route is known for its chaotic rock and snowfields all the way up to the summit.

; South-southeast spur or "Cesen route" or "Basque route": It runs the pillar between the Abruzzi Spur and the Polish Route. It connects with the Abruzzi Spur on the Shoulder, above the Black Pyramid and below the Bottleneck; since it avoids the Black Pyramid, it is considered safer. In 1986, Tomo Česen ascended to via this route. The first summit via this route was by a Basque team in 1994.

; West Face: Technical difficulty at high altitude, first climbed by a Russian team in 2007. However, the 2004 season saw a great increase in the use of oxygen: 28 of 47 summiteers used oxygen in that year.

Films

K2 (1991), an adventure drama film adaption of Patrick Meyers' original stage play, directed by Franc Roddam and loosely based on the story of Jim Wickwire and Louis Reichardt, the first Americans to summit K2
Vertical Limit (2000), an American survival thriller film directed by Martin Campbell
K2: Siren of the Himalayas (2012), an American documentary film directed by Dave Ohlson, that follows a group of climbers during their 2009 attempt to summit K2 on the 100-year anniversary of the Duke of Abruzzi's landmark K2 expedition in 1909
The Summit (2012), a documentary film about the 2008 K2 disaster, directed by Nick Ryan
K2: The Impossible Descent (2020), a documentary film about Polish ski mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel's 2018 K2 climb and descent on skis, directed by Sławomir Batyra and Steven Robillard

Disasters

1986 K2 disaster
1995 K2 disaster
2008 K2 disaster
2021 K2 disaster

Passes

Windy Gap is a mountain pass at east of K2, north of Broad Peak, and south of Skyang Kangri.

K2