K2 Mountain Pakistan
K2 is the highest mountain peak of Pakistan and is second highest peak on earth. Its height is round about 8,611 meter and is located in vast mountain range of Karakoram, northern areas of Pakistan. K2 is very difficult to climb up that many people lost their lives in trying. It is the most dangerous mountain of the world because of the massiveness in its size and in ruff climate. That’s why it is well known as the savage mountain. K2 is also known as “Chogo Ri” which means “The Great Mountain”.
There been numerous attempts made on it by many expeditions mostly American but all were remained unsuccessful. K2 has few numbers of tough and fully dangerous routes. As it is on the extreme high altitude resulting into lack of oxygen is one of the difficulties faced by climbers. Second, It have very rough and ever changing weather which mostly remains in the form of dark storms and coldness. Third is the steep, exposed, and committing nature of all routes on the mountain, which makes retreat more difficult, especially during a storm. Despite many tries there has been no successful ascent during the winter.
There been numerous attempts made on it by many expeditions mostly American but all were remained unsuccessful. K2 has few numbers of tough and fully dangerous routes. As it is on the extreme high altitude resulting into lack of oxygen is one of the difficulties faced by climbers. Second, It have very rough and ever changing weather which mostly remains in the form of dark storms and coldness. Third is the steep, exposed, and committing nature of all routes on the mountain, which makes retreat more difficult, especially during a storm. Despite many tries there has been no successful ascent during the winter.
K2 Mountain’s Quick Facts:
Height: 8611 meters
Mountain Range: Karakoram
Location: Northern Pakistan
Coordinates: 35°52′57″N 76°30′48″E / 35.8825, 76.51333
First ascent: July 31, 1954 (Achille Compagnoni, Lino Lacedelli)
First Women climber: Wanda Rutkiewicz, Poland
Standard Routes: Abruzzi Spur, North Ridge
Best Trek Season: April to October
K2 is called “Choogri” in local language. “Choogri” is a Balti word, which means “King of Mountains”. Mostly K2 is scaled from the trust worthy path that comes from Skardu. It is conventional path to scale the mountain and is used by most of mountaineers. The other path that comes from Chinese side is extremely difficult and hazardous.
The mountain was named “Savage Mountain” due to extreme difficulty of ascent and second highest fatality rate among “Eight Thousanders”. For every four people who reached the summit, one has died trying. In early days K2 witnessed many ascents and today the peak has been climbed from all sides.
In spite of extreme difficulty and hazards K2 presents; the adventure lovers from all over the world try to take new and diverse routes to conquer the mountain. K2 can be reached from the hilly town of Skardu which is well linked with Islamabad (the capital of Pakistan); both by road and air.
In 2008, part of the serac collapsed, cutting fixed ropes and avalanching onto the route, which made navigating the Bottleneck more technical for the parties who had climbed above it. In the single worst day in K2’s history, 11 climbers died. A new documentary film, The Summit (trailer below), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013, and attempts to explain the obsession with K2, the dangers of climbing it, and the 2008 tragedy.
Although it has a reputation to be “the Savage Mountain,” K2 is not statistically the deadliest 8,000-meter peak—Annapurna, the first of the 8000ers to be climbed, is. For every 100 climbers who summited Annapurna, 34 have died. K2, however, draws far more interest, maybe because of its reputation.
The major disasters, in 2008, and in 1986, when 13 climbers died over the span of several weeks, have put K2 in the news, and although expeditions return every year, the mountain and its weather are fickle. In 2009 and 2010, no one summited K2. In 2012, more than 30 climbers summited, 28 of those in a single day of great weather on July 31. This year’s teams no doubt hope for similar success.
According to Raheel Adnan's Altitude Pakistan blog and the Japanese team's blog, 21 climbers from various expeditions planned to leave K2 Base Camp on July 24, hoping to take advantage of an expected good weather window beginning on July 27.
Climbers left at 6 a.m. local time. Four teams—a Japanese team, an Argentinian team, and two international teams with members from New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, Greece, the UK, and Canada—are on the mountain. All climbers will be on the standard Abruzzi Spur route.
Spanish climber Alex Txikon, who planned to climb the Cesen route without oxygen with Mexican Benjamin Salazar and Spaniard Felix Criado, has apparently turned back at Camp 2 because of too much snow high on the route.
A Swiss team (Mike Horn, Fred Roux, and Kobi Reichen) also planned to climb the Cesen Route, but Mike Horn posted on his blog on July 20 that he and Fred Roux left for Broad Peak to attempt to rescue the three Iranian climbers who were lost around 8,000 meters and died.
PRESS TIME UPDATE: Friday morning's reports indicate that all teams have turned back due to the massive amounts of snow and high level of avalanche danger – the summit of K2 may remain untouched in 2013.
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