Why k2 is dangerous

In those days, nobody had a clue about what it was going to be like. They thought they would go to the Himalayas and knock off K2 in a couple of days. But as the expedition proceeded, it started falling apart. Eckenstein, the leader, had a bad respiratory infection. Crowley had malaria and spent most of the time in his tent with a high fever. At one point he got so delirious, he started waving his revolver at other members of the team.

Charlie Houston went to K2 twice, first in to do a reconnaissance of the mountain when he almost succeeded in getting to the summit. He rummaged around in his pockets and found a few dog ends of matches.

He gets to the last one. Is it going to light? Houston came back in , a very different character, having been through WWII and become an expert on high altitude climbing. The expedition was built around democratic American ideals. He was the team leader but he wanted everybody to have a say. But as soon as the expedition set off in , just before the outbreak of World War Two, everything went wrong. Even before he arrived at base camp, one of his lead climbers fell terribly ill.

Fritz forced himself on but the group of novices he had been obliged to take with him started falling away. By the end you had Fritz at the top and the rest of his team at the bottom of the mountain, desperate to leave. Tragedy was inevitable. He almost reached the summit. Worse still, one of his colleagues, Dudley Wolfe , remained stranded high up the mountain. They made three attempts to bring Wolfe down but he died on K2.

Three Sherpas also perished. When he came back to America, Fritz was interrogated. Why did you leave Dudley Wolfe on the mountain? Why did the Sherpas die? This was in the context of the war, which had just broken out. And the controversy still rumbles on.

Even the successful Italian expedition was dogged by bitter infighting. Though they made it to the top, the team members spent years arguing and even suing each other. We were taking shots of these striking ice sculptures in the glacier between K2 Base Camp and Camp One. You could hardly see it because the bones had become bleached and were partly embedded in the snow. There was nothing around it that could identify from whom it came; no clothing or belongings. So we thought it best to leave it where it was, rather than disturb it.

It was a chilling reminder of just how dangerous the mountain is. For a long time there was this strange fact that women who did manage to get to the top either died on the descent or died a few years later.

Added to this, you have Sherpas carrying all your gear and you stay in tea houses along the way. Contrast this to approach to K2: this peak in the Karakoram mountain range is located in Pakistan, a notoriously difficult country to enter.

Visas are not easy to acquire and the country is generally not considered a tourist destination. So, even before you get to the mountain, you have to dig deep for grit and stamina. The likelihood of getting seriously injured before you even reach basecamp is high. Lastly, there are no Sherpas or teahouses. You carry all your gear with you and have to pitch tents along the way, making the trip that much more demanding.

Due to the frequency at which Everest is climbed, the routes are very well laid out. It also has a gentler slope and lots of zigzagging, making for easier climbing. There are only a few really difficult obstacles, such as the Hillary Step and Khumbu Icefall.

Everest is generally not a technical climb. The mountain is shaped like a triangle, so you will face a steep climb from day one, regardless of the route you choose. Every day is a technical climb on K2, with many really difficult obstacles along the way. This climb is much more technical as well, with mixed rock, ice, and alpine climbing the whole way up. At one point at a rather high altitude, where you are already oxygen-starved, you will face the Motivator — crossing below a vast hanging glacier.

While rescue expeditions above m are difficult regardless of where you are, it helps to have settlements relatively close by. On Everest, there are two small towns within a day or two of the route, which adds peace of mind. In comparison, K2 is a properly lonely mountain. If you get into trouble there, it will be a long time before anyone can reach safety. This point ties in with the previous two points. An American expedition a year earlier resulted in one of the most dramatic rescues in climbing history when a single climber managed to hold on to five other colleagues who had fallen using nothing more than an ice pick.

No one for 23 years until the second ascent by the Japanese climber Ichiro Yoshizawa in Since then around people have reached K2's summit — a paltry number compared to the 3, who have made their way to the top of Everest.

The first woman to conquer K2 was Poland's Wanda Rutkiewicz in Rutkiewicz died shortly afterwards trying to scale Kangchenjunga 8,m. The next five women to climb K2 either died on the way down or on their next major climb, leading some to speculate that K2 was cursed for female climbers. The curse, however, has since been broken. In 13 climbers were killed in a week when a vicious storm stranded numerous expeditions. Although Everest is m taller, K2 is widely perceived to be a far harder climb.

The weather can change incredibly quickly, and in recent years the storms have become more violent. People who have recently been there have told me that the snow conditions are also getting worse. According to the mountaineering historian Ed Douglas, "You have to be really good and lucky. The climb is technically demanding and even once you get past The Bottleneck there's still a long way to go to the top. You only have to look at the list of those who have died on K2 to see that it contains some very accomplished climbers.

Traditionally most climbers have decided against using oxygen in favour of a light, fast ascent but in recent years cylinders have made a comeback.