K2 (Urdu: کے ٹو), also known as Mount Godwin-Austen or Chhogori (Balti and Urdu: چھوغوری),[3], at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level, is the second highest mountain in the world, after Mount Everest, at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft). It is located on the China–Pakistan border between Baltistan, in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan, and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang, China.[4] K2 is the highest point of the Karakoram range and the highest point in both Pakistan and Xinjiang.
K2
Mount Godwin-Austen
کے ٹو
K2 2006b.jpg
K2, summer 2006
Highest point
Elevation
8,611 metres (28,251 ft)
Ranked 2nd
Prominence
4,020 m (13,190 ft) [1]
Ranked 22nd
Isolation
1,316 kilometres (818 mi)
Listing
Eight-thousander
Country high point
Seven Second Summits
Ultra
Coordinates
35°52′57″N 76°30′48″E [2]
Naming
Native name
چھوغوری
Geography
K2 is located in Pakistan K2 K2
Baltistan, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan
Tashkurgan, Xinjiang, China
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Parent range
Karakoram
Climbing
First ascent
31 July 1954
Achille Compagnoni
Lino Lacedelli
Easiest route
Abruzzi Spur
K2 is known as the Savage Mountain due to the extreme difficulty of ascent. It has the second-highest fatality rate among the eight thousanders. With around 300 successful summits and 77 fatalities, about one person dies on the mountain for every four who reach the summit.[5] It is more difficult and hazardous to reach the peak of K2 from the Chinese side, so it is usually climbed from the Pakistani side. Unlike Annapurna, the mountain with the highest fatality-to-summit rate (191 summits and 61 fatalities),[6] or the other eight thousanders, K2 has never been climbed during winter. Ascents have almost always been made in July and August (the warmest times of year); K2's more northern location makes it more susceptible to inclement and colder weather.[7]
