K2, at 8,611 Metres (28,251 FT) Above Sea Level, Is The Second Highest Mountain in The World

K2, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level, is the second highest mountain in the world,
after Mount Everest at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft). It is located on the China–Pakistan

border between Baltistan in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan, and Dafdar
Township[3] in Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang, China.[4] K2 is the highest point of
the Karakoram range and the highest point in both Pakistan and Xinjiang.
K2 is known as the Savage Mountain after George Bell, a climber on the 1953 American
Expedition, told reporters "It's a savage mountain that tries to kill you." [5] Of the five highest
mountains in the world, K2 is the deadliest where approximately one person dies on the
mountain for every four who reach the summit. [5][6] Also occasionally known as Chhogori,
or Mount Godwin-Austen,[7] other nicknames for K2 are The King of Mountains and The
Mountaineers' Mountain,[8] as well as The Mountain of Mountains after climber Reinhold
Messner titled his book about K2 the same.[9] K2 is the only eight-thousand metre peak that has
never been climbed during winter or from its East Face. [10] Ascents have almost always been
made in July and August, the warmest times of year; K2's more northern location makes it more
susceptible to inclement and colder weather. [11]
The peak has now been climbed by almost all of its ridges. Although the summit of Everest is at
a higher altitude, K2 is a more difficult and dangerous climb, due in part to its more inclement
weather and comparatively greater height from base to peak. As of June 2018, only 367 people
have completed the ascent.[5] 86 people have died attempting the climb according to the list
maintained on the List of deaths on eight-thousanders.
The summit was reached for the first time by the Italian climbers Lino Lacedelli and Achille
Compagnoni, on the 1954 Italian Karakoram expedition led by Ardito Desio.
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 210 km (130 mi) to the south, and sketched the two most prominent peaks, labeling them
K1 and K2.[12]
The policy of the Great Trigonometrical Survey was to use local names for mountains wherever
possible[13] 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, the last village to the south, or from the nearest habitation to the north, and is only
fleetingly glimpsed from the end of the Baltoro Glacier, beyond which few local people would
have ventured.[14] The name Chogori, derived from two Balti words, chhogo ("big")
and ri ("mountain") (‫[)چھوغوری‬15] has been suggested as a local name,[16] but evidence for its
widespread use is scant. It may have been a compound name invented by Western
explorers[17] or simply a bemused reply to the question "What's that called?" [14] It does, however,
form the basis for the name Qogir (simplified Chinese: 乔戈里峰; traditional Chinese: 喬戈里
峰; pinyin: Qiáogēlǐ Fēng) by which Chinese authorities officially refer to the peak. Other local
names have been suggested including Lamba Pahar ("Tall Mountain" in Urdu) and Dapsang, but
are not widely used.[14]
With the mountain lacking a local name, the name Mount Godwin-Austen was suggested, in
honor of Henry Godwin-Austen, an early explorer of the area. While the name was rejected by
the Royal Geographical Society,[14] it was used on several maps and continues to be used
occasionally.[18][19]
The surveyor's mark, K2, therefore continues to be the name by which the mountain is commonly
known. It is now also used in the Balti language, rendered as Kechu or Ketu[17][20] (Balti: ‫کے‬
‫چو‬ Urdu: ‫)کے ٹو‬. 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 so remote and challenging a mountain. He concluded that it was:
... just the bare bones of a name, all rock and ice and storm and abyss. It makes no attempt to
sound human. It is atoms and stars. It has the nakedness of the world before the first man – or of
the cindered planet after the last.[21]
André Weil named K3 surfaces in mathematics partly after the beauty of the mountain K2.[22]
Geographical setting
Map including K2 (labeled as K2 (MOUNT GODWIN AUSTEN)) (AMS, 1953)
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.[a] The Tarim
sedimentary basin borders the range on the north and the Lesser Himalayas on the south. Melt
waters from vast 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,
because it is part of the same extended area of uplift (including the Karakoram, the Tibetan
Plateau, and the Himalaya) as Mount Everest, in that it is possible to follow a path from K2 to
Everest that goes no lower than 4,594 metres (15,072 ft), at the Kora La on the Nepal/China
border in the Mustang Lo. Many other peaks that are far lower than K2 are more independent in
this sense. It is, however, the most prominent peak within the Karakoram range. [2]
K2 is notable for its local relief as well as its total height. It stands over 3,000 metres (9,840 ft)
above much of the glacial valley bottoms at its base. It is a consistently steep pyramid, dropping
quickly in almost all directions. The north side is the steepest: there it rises over 3,200 metres
(10,500 ft) above the K2 (Qogir) Glacier in only 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) of horizontal distance. In
most directions, it achieves over 2,800 metres (9,200 ft) of vertical relief in less than 4,000
metres (13,000 ft).[23]
A 1986 expedition led by George Wallerstein[24] made an inaccurate measurement incorrectly
showing that K2 was taller than Mount Everest, and therefore the tallest mountain in the world. 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. [25]

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K2, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level, is the second highest mountain in the world,

after Mount Everest at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft). It is located on the China–Pakistan

Map including K2 (labeled as K2 (MOUNT GODWIN AUSTEN)) (AMS, 1953)

Virtual flight around K2

K2 lies in the northwestern Karakoram Range. It is located in the Baltistan region of Gilgit–

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