[MtnGoat]

An interesting blog post detailing the various pitfalls of attempting K2

[zephyr]

Way back in the day when I attended NOLS, I was fortunate enough to spend time with Paul Petzoldt in my Wind Rivers Wilderness Expedition Course. He talked about K2 a number of times. That's when I first heard that mountain's name. Quote from the Wikipedia article: In 1938 Paul Petzoldt was a member of the first American team to attempt a climb on K2. For the climb he did not use assisted oxygen, he learned to use rhythmic breathing. He also used to tell us about climbing the Grand Teton when he was 16 (in cowboy boots no less). Paul was a larger than life kind of guy. I got to see him years later at the NOLS 25 year Reunion in Lander just before i went to Desert Storm. That blog post article was a little hair-raising. Quote: No successful attempt at reaching the summit was made until as late as the 1950s, with all prior exhibitions ending with either death or abandonment, often a gruesome combination of the two. ~z

[GaliWalker]

Nice.

1 label

Approaching basecamp (2013)

[Malachai Constant]

I had a friend who was an avid adventurous climber who made several first ascents in Alaska. His ability soon eclipsed mine and most of my climbing friends. He was invited to an expedition to climb K2 and was successful in summiting. At least one climber died in the process which is normal for this peak. After his returned he was quiet about the expedition in the same manner that most returning combat veterans are about his experiences. He never again climbed difficult peaks and became an fixture in hang and paragliding. It was sad but understandable.

[SeanSullivan86]

I enjoyed the Viesturs/Roberts book on K2 ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/0767932609 ) It's basically 1 long chapter per expedition... covers the attempts in 38/39/53/54 most notably, and also earlier exploration and some later incidents.

[puzzlr]

K2: Siren of the Himalayas is one of the best mountaineering movies I've seen. It's a documentary, and doesn't over dramatize like so many do. A movie about climbing by climbers.

[cartman]

K2 gets more attention due to its colorful, if tragic, history and the larger scale disasters over the last 30 years, but Annapurna is the deadliest of the 8000m peaks. Annapurna is unique in that it has no route that isn't extremely dangerous, even by 8000m climbing standards. Viesturs' book is decent, but the best book on K2 is still K2:The Savage Mountain by Houston and Bates. Jim Curran's two K2 books are also quite good, as is Kurt Diemberger's The Endless Knot. That blog writer needs a whole lot of work on his writing skills...

[GaliWalker]

Ed Viestur's take:

[trestle]

The PNW has a long and well-documented connection with K2 including some of the most dramatic accounts in mountain literature. Schoening, Wickwire, Roskelley, Viesturs, Whittaker etc. Petzoldt was a beast in '39 and has never gotten his full due, no thanks to Mr. Wiessner.

[Backpacker Joe]

Everest isnt scary! K2 IS scary!

[bobbi]

as i am typing this post, i'm watching the documentary, The Summit, about the 2008 K2 disaster so far, pretty good

[thunderhead]

K2's summit is probably the place on earth that can legitimately claim "the worlds worst weather" title. While nothing survives up high long enough to take accurate measurements, the summit is plastered by the core of the world's strongest jet stream throughout winter(and often during the rest of the year too). There was one storm a few years back where modeled free-air wind speeds peaked in the area at about 275knots... gusts on the summit pyramid likely approached and possibly exceeded 400 knots. With weather features that large, its unlikely our computer models were off by much... yikes. Whats the wind chill when its -40 out and the winds blowing at 350? Don't forget to add 10C or so back for mach ram rise! ...no wonder a winter ascent still eludes the worlds best climbers.

[trestle]

More than one climber has been blown completely off the mountain and carried to their demise at a lower elevation.

[thunderhead]

I believe it... and then theres the many who have been pinned down by storms... stuck in their tents, unable to move... slowly getting HAPE and HACE and DVT...

[GaliWalker]