What makes K-2 the deadliest mountain in the world? Part-3

What makes K-2 the deadliest mountain in the world? Part-3 

Bowley’s description of the gory incident helped with the intricacies of the many disastrous accidents which have happened on the notorious mountain and has also helped planning and arranging proper safety measures for the climbing expeditions. The 2008
incident also triggered a controversy where the Government of Pakistan was blamed for loose regulations regarding the permissions to allow the expeditions to carry on with their mission without proper documentation. Several of the climbers were either not
experienced enough to be a part of the expedition which intended to summit K-2 but many of them never had the experience of climbing even a 7000meter peak.

Alpine Club of Pakistan, which oversees the regulations of these climbing expeditions, now enforces strict regulations in managing the expeditions. For K-2 it has since been made mandatory that the aspiring climbers must have a climbing experience of any
of the 8000er. Coupled with that, the climbers must have adequate experience of climbing various other 7000 meter peaks in order to qualify for the pitch. For a regular aspiring mountaineer, it takes almost 8-10 long years to prepare for an attempt for the
Killer Mountain.

The Government of Pakistan also strictly follows the regulations regarding the load carried by the HAP and the amount of minimum calories which must be provided to them by their clients. HAP are not allowed to go beyond the 7,500meter limit unless otherwise
they intend to do so on their own will.

A serving Pakistan Army Liaison Officer is also attached with the expeditions who stays in the Base Camp for as long as the expedition lasts. He not only overlooks the safety measure adopted by the expedition but also provides logistics and airlift support
in case an evacuation is called in by the stuck climbers. Climbing expeditions usually have to submit a security fee of around $30,000 for the backup emergency support which is refundable in case no support was called in.

But the incident happened in 2008 was not an isolated incident in the climbing history of K-2. The August 1986 American expedition met more or less the same fate when they started their ascent via the then-unclimbed Southwest Pillar, also known as the "Magic
Line." Five mountaineers from the team led by John Smolich and Alan Pennington were killed in a deadly avalanche while some eight others lost their lives in wake of raging blizzards and treacherous crevasses.

K-2 is also known to be the toughest to climb down. Causalities which occurred in the 100-years long climbing history of the mountain, most of them have happened during descent from the mountain and continues to be so this date. The technological advancements
in equipment and clothing as well as better designed climbing equipments have considerably reduced the death ratio on the Killer Mountain and the ratio has now slide to a 1 out of three, still being one of the highest in the world. 

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Posted by Naveed A Bari on Nov 24 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