What is K2

Where is K2?

How tall is this thing?

One Picture is worth thousand words

K2 is the second highest mountain in the world. There have been claims that it is the Highest mountain.

K2 straddles the border between China and Jammu and Kashmir in a territory currently claimed by Pakistan. Its name is derived from the fact that it is the second peak (of 35) in the Karakorum Range of the western Himalayas. In 1861 the mountain gained its other well-known (though unofficial) name: Mount Godwin-Austen. Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen, a British soldier and topographer, was the second European to visit the area and research the mountain. Many local names are also used to identify the peak, including Chogori, Lambha Pahar, Dapsang, and Kechu (K2).

K2 rises 28,250 ft (8611 m) and is the second tallest mountain the world, behind Mount Everest which rises 29,028 ft (8848 m). A March 1987 measurement of K2 indicated that it might be higher than Everest, but later that year, Everest was remeasured by a similar method and found to indeed be 778 ft (237 m) taller. (We don't like to talk about Mt. Everest around here, but if you absolutely must have more information, you can read one man's account of the 1994 American Expedition to the peak.)

Tell me about the weather

Above 15,000 ft (4600 m) the temperature rarely rises above freezing, even in the summer. The snow cover is permanent above 16,000 ft (4900 m) and the winter snow line begins at approximately 4,000 ft (1200 m). Little or no vegetation grows above the permanent snow line, and animal life is primarily below the 12,000 ft (3700 m) line.

Who is crazy enough to climb this thing?

The mountain is a cone of ice and limestone on a granite base, and the peak is considered by most climbers to be more difficult to reach than Everest's. Eight expeditions to K2 were made between 1892 and 1954. On July 31, 1954, Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli, two members of an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio, made the first successful ascent to the peak.

An expedition to ascend the previously unclimbed north ridge of K2 has just returned. Outside Online magazine had a reporter on this trek and has published a follow-up report. 

If you're interested in taking the trek yourself, visit the informative Shangri La web site, which has lots of great photos.

Where can I find more information?

Look for these books at your local library:

• Geography of the Himalayas by S. C. Bose
• Geology of the Himalayas by A. Gansser
• The Himalayas: Aspects of Change by J. S. Lall and I. E. Moodie
• The Himalayas by Nigel Nicolson
• Himalayas by Yoshikazu Shirakawa
• The Trekkers Guide to the Himalaya and Karakorum by H. Swift