K2, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level, is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest at 8,849 metres (29,032 ft). It lies in the Karakoram range, partially in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-administered Kashmir and partially in the China-administered Trans-Karakoram Tract in the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang.
Nanga Parbat, known locally as Diamer, is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth and its summit is at 8,126 m (26,660 ft) above sea level. Lying immediately southeast of the northernmost bend of the Indus River in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Nanga Parbat is the westernmost major peak of the Himalayas, and thus in the traditional view of the Himalayas as bounded by the Indus and Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra rivers, it is the western anchor of the entire mountain range.
Gasherbrum I, surveyed as K5 and also known as Hidden Peak, is the 11th highest mountain in the world at 8,080 metres (26,510 ft) above sea level. It is located between Shigar District in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan and Tashkurgan in the Xinjiang of China. Gasherbrum I is part of the Gasherbrum Massif, located in the Karakoram region of the Himalaya. Gasherbrum is often claimed to mean "Shining Wall", presumably a reference to the highly visible face of the neighboring peak Gasherbrum IV; but in fact, it comes from "rgasha" (beautiful) + "brum" (mountain) in Balti, hence it actually means "beautiful mountain."
Anatoli Nikolaevich Boukreev was a Soviet and Kazakh mountaineer who made ascents of 10 of the 14 eight-thousander peaks—those above 8,000 m (26,247 ft)—without supplemental oxygen. From 1989 through 1997, he made 18 successful ascents of peaks above 8,000 m.
Nazir Sabir is a Pakistani mountaineer. He was born in Hunza. He has climbed Mount Everest and four of the five 8000 m peaks in Pakistan, including the world's second highest mountain K2 in 1981, Gasherbrum II 8035m, Broad Peak 8050m in 1982, and Gasherbrum I 8068m in 1992. He became the first from Pakistan to have climbed Everest on 17 May 2000 as a team member on the Mountain Madness Everest Expedition led by Christine Boskoff from the United States that also included famed Everest climber Peter Habeler of Austria and eight Canadians.
The 1953 American Karakoram expedition was a mountaineering expedition to K2, at 8,611 metres the second highest mountain on Earth. It was the fifth expedition to attempt K2, and the first since the Second World War. Led by Charles Houston, a mainly American team attempted the mountain's South-East Spur in a style which was unusually lightweight for the time. The team reached a high point of 7750 m, but were trapped by a storm in their high camp, where a team member, Art Gilkey, became seriously ill. A desperate retreat down the mountain followed, during which all but one of the climbers were nearly killed in a fall arrested by Pete Schoening, and Gilkey later died in an apparent avalanche. The expedition has been widely praised for the courage shown by the climbers in their attempt to save Gilkey, and for the team spirit and the bonds of friendship it fostered.
The 2008 K2 disaster occurred on 1 August 2008, when 11 mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth. Three others were seriously injured. The series of deaths, over the course of the Friday ascent and Saturday descent, was the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering. Some of the specific details remain uncertain, with different plausible scenarios having been given about different climbers' timing and actions, when reported later via survivors' eyewitness accounts or via radio communications of climbers who died later in the course of events on K2 that day.
The 1986 K2 disaster refers to a period from 6 August to 10 August 1986, when five mountaineers died on the eight-thousander K2, in the Karakoram during a severe storm. Eight other climbers were killed in the weeks preceding, bringing the total number of deaths that climbing season to 13.
Don Bowie is a professional high altitude climber from Alberta, Canada. Bowie’s climbing endeavors have taken him to remote regions of Nepal, Pakistan, Tibet, Africa, South America, Mexico, USA, and the high-arctic of Canada. In addition to being a world-class alpinist, he is an expert ski-mountaineer, avid mountain biker, long-distance trail-runner, and develops various projects portraying his climbing exploits as a writer, filmmaker, and photographer. Bowie now lives in Bishop, California, where he serves as an active member of the Inyo County Sheriff Search and Rescue Team.
William Pendleton House (1913–1997) was an American climber who was a key member of the 1938 American K2 expedition.
The 1939 American Karakoram expedition to K2 was the unsuccessful second attempt by American mountaineers to climb the then-unclimbed second-highest mountain in the world, K2, following the 1938 reconnaissance expedition. Fritz Wiessner, the leader of the expedition, and Pasang Dawa Lama got to within 800 feet (240 m) of the summit via the Abruzzi Ridge – a difficult and arduous route – with Wiessner doing practically all the lead climbing. Through a series of mishaps, one of the team members, Dudley Wolfe, was left stranded near the top of the mountain after his companions had descended to base camp. Three attempts were made to rescue Wolfe. On the second attempt three Sherpas reached him after he had been alone for a week at over 24,000 feet (7,300 m) but he refused to try to descend. Two days later the Sherpas again tried to rescue him, but they were never seen again. A final rescue effort was abandoned when all hope for the four climbers had been lost.
Muhammad Ali Sadpara was a Pakistani high-altitude mountaineer. He was part of the team that completed the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat in 2016. Throughout his career, Sadpara successfully climbed a total of eight eight-thousanders, four of which he ascended in a single calendar year.
On the 1954 Italian expedition to K2, Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli became the first people to reach the summit of K2, 8,611 metres (28,251 ft), the second-highest mountain in the world. They reached the summit on 31 July 1954. K2 is more difficult to climb than Mount Everest, 8,849 metres (29,032 ft), which had first been climbed by a British expedition in 1953.
The 1938 American Karakoram expedition to K2, more properly called the "First American Karakoram expedition", investigated several routes for reaching the summit of K2, an unclimbed mountain at 28,251 feet (8,611 m) the second highest mountain in the world. Charlie Houston was the leader of what was a small and happily united climbing party. After deciding the Abruzzi Ridge was most favorable, they made good progress up to the head of the ridge at 24,700 feet (7,500 m) on July 19, 1938. However, by then their supply lines were very extended, they were short of food and the monsoon seemed imminent. It was decided that Houston and Paul Petzoldt would make the last push to get as close to the summit as they could and then rejoin the rest of the party in descent. On July 21 the pair reached about 26,000 feet (7,900 m). In favorable weather, they were able to identify a suitable site for a higher camp and a clear route to the summit.
John Snorri Sigurjónsson was an Icelandic mountaineer. In May 2017, he became the first Icelander to summit Lhotse in the Himalayas, which is 8,516 meters high and the fourth highest mountain in the world. On July 28 of the same year, he became the first Icelander to summit K2. On 4 August 2017, he successfully summited Broad Peak.
Juan Pablo Mohr Prieto was a Chilean architect, rock climber and mountaineer. He held a Guinness World Record for making the first enchainment of Lhotse and Mount Everest without oxygen in 2019.
Abdul Joshi from Shimsal is a Pakistani mountaineer who became the first climber in the world to summit the main 6,076-metre (19,934 ft) Passu Cones peak in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan on 14 August 2021. Abdul is known as the "Path Finder" amongst the local mountaineering fraternity for his talent for finding new, unclimbed routes. He is also the first person in the world to cross the F.N./Joshi Pass and Verjerav Pass. On 16 April 2021, Abdul became the first Pakistani to summit Annapurna, the tenth-highest peak in the world at 8,091 m (26,545 ft), along with his climbing partner, Sirbaz Khan. On 16 May 2022, he became the 8th Pakistani to summit Mount Everest.
Sajid Ali Sadpara ; is a Pakistani high-altitude mountaineer.
On 5 February 2021, three mountaineers went missing while attempting to summit K2 without supplementary oxygen, braving extreme winter conditions. After extensive search and rescue efforts, they were declared dead. The group included seasoned climbers: Ali Sadpara, a veteran mountaineer; his 21-year-old son, Sajid Sadpara; Icelandic mountaineer John Snorri Sigurjónsson; and Chilean climber Juan Pablo Mohr Prieto. Sajid Sadpara survived, while the others died during the expedition.
