What makes K-2 the deadliest mountain in the world? Part-1

What makes K-2 the deadliest mountain in the world? Part-1

K-2, commonly known as “Chogori” in local dialect meaning “King of Mountains”, has the worst climbing fatalities ratio to this date. Located in the remote mountainous region right at the heart of the Karakorum Range, the gigantic granite structure reaches
heights of up to 8,611 meters above sea level, making it the second highest mountain in the world after Mount Everest, standing at 8,850 meters.

 Although being the highest in the world, Everest is far easier to climb and summit when compared to its Pakistani counterpart K-2. In terms of difficulty in climbing, K-2 is ranked number one while Everest is ranked number ninth among the 14-eight thousand-meter
peaks (8000er’s) in the world.

 Let’s have a look at the possible reasons which make K-2 the deadliest catch of all.

The word Karakorum is a Turkish word which stands for “black rubble”. The mount traces back its creation in the last of the Orogenic Movements (mountain building movement) some 300 million years ago. The Karakorum Range is believed to have buckled up and
overthurst on the face of Earth when the free-floating Indian plate collided against the pre-existing Eurasian Plate, causing an earthquake of the likes never encountered before. The giant collision caused the Karakorum and the Himalayas to pop up above the
face of Earth, creating to what we now refer to as the highest mountain range in the world.

Despite of these unproven theories, K-2 has a unique shape which gives it the typical look of a mountain rather than the flatter and easier to climb Everest. This Granite pyramid is consistently steep and stands 3000 meters from the base. It has some of
the steepest vertical drops on almost all sides, which makes it all the more difficult to map a route to the top.

K-2 is also ranked 22^nd in Topographical Prominence as a considerably low altitude trek can be traced all the way back to Everest in Nepal, having an average altitude of 4,594 metres (15,072 ft), at Mustang Lo, as both peaks have been the outcome
of the same geological change in the past.

K-2 is located at the Northeastern border of Pakistan and its north face is located in the Chinese territory. An estimated eight square kilometers of area around K-2 holds another three 8000er’s and some more than six dozen 7000er’s and is also home of the
longest glaciers on earth after the polar caps. Gasherbrum 1 also known as The Hidden Peak, Gasherbrum 2, and Broad Peak are located adjacent to K-2, which effectively makes it the climbing heaven for mountaineers from all over the world.  The giant rock is
considered the ultimate challenge for the mountaineers and hard climbers. 

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Posted by Naveed A Bari on Nov 20 2011. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry