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K2 "Killer Mountains" - an ExplorersWeb series
12:04 p.m. EDT Sep 9, 2003
In ExplorersWeb's new series we investigate messages hidden in unique statistics compiled by AdventureStats. We look at fatality rates for the 14 8000+ mountains, starting with the dreaded Karakorum/Pakistan giants. But we are not stopping there. We compare modern and old fatality statistics, trying to determine the effects of the arrival of commercial expeditions in 1990s. AdventureStats is providing the research and later, will also look into the causes of deaths.
Today, Everest has hosted close to 2000 successful summits. 179 people have perished giving a fatality rate of 9.3% (fatality rate is defined as successful summits compared to fatalities). However, since 1990 there has been an explosion of summiteers and fatality statistics have changed. Up to 1990 the Everest fatality rate is a whopping 37%, yet from 1990 until today the rate has dropped to 4.4%. So how does that compare to the rest of the 8000+ peaks? Let's check it out.
Today, the tallest Karakorum peak - K2 (8611 m)
K2 takes its unassuming name from the surveyor’s notation of the peak – “K” for Karakorum, and “2” because it was the second peak listed. It is known locally as “Chogori” – meaning “Great Mountain,” and as “Mount Godwin-Austin,” the name of the man who directed surveyor. But K2 has earned another name more descriptive of its legacy - “The Savage Mountain.” Though second to Mount Everest in height, K2 is considered a more difficult and technically challenging mountain to climb due to the lack of infrastructure (sherpas/rope/O2) and unpredictable weather. Where Everest is a mountaineer’s greatest dream, K2 is a mountaineer’s greatest fear. Thus, K2 today holds the title "The mountaineer’s mountain."
The first attempt on K2 was made in 1902. However, it would be another 52 years and six attempts before the the first successful ascent was made. On July 31, 1954 Italian climbers Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli were the first to stand on K2’s summit.
To date, fewer than 200 climbers have summited the world's second highest peak – 198 total. 53 have died. K2's overall fatality rate is thus 26.77% or nearly three times that of Everest’s overall fatality rate of 9%. A comparison of recent statistics shows that K2’s rate of deaths to summits has diminished by more than half. Yet, statistically, the risk of climbing K2 is even higher than climbing Everest today.
Up to 1990, the Everest risk was 37% and nearly matched K2’s rate of 41%. About 4 out of every 10 climbers perished on either mountain. From 1990 until today, though, 26 out of 132 climbers have died on K2 and, thus, the rate reduced to 19.7%! Yet this is almost five times the modern Everest fatality rate of 4.4%. In a later follow up, we will look at the causes, however, statiscally, K2 remains a deadlier mountain than Everest.
At 8,611m, K2 is number two on the list of the fourteen 8,000m peaks, and is the highest peak in the Karakoram Range. It is located in Pakistan on the upper reaches of the Baltoro glacier, the main access route to the mountains which cuts through the center of the Karakoram Range.
The Karakoram is the second tallest mountain range on earth. It lies about a thousand miles west of Nepal's Himalaya mountain range, and extends nearly 300 miles (480 kilometers) southeastward from eastern Afghanistan. The range is bordered by Tajikistan, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India. It is a condensed cluster of high peaks with 60 mountains over 23,000 feet. Of the world's fourteen highest mountains, four are located in within the Karakoram Range: K2, Gasherbrum I and II, and Broad Peak. K2 is the tallest mountain in the Karakoram Range and her three 8000m neighbors lie within 20 km.
For the second year in a row, no one reached the summit of K2 this season, however, the mountain claimed one fatality on July 21, 2003 when a German climber from a Swiss expedition fell from about 8200m.
With an overall fatality rate of 26.77% and modern fatality rate of 19.7%, K2 is statistically almost five times more dangerous than Everest today, and the most fatal 8000 giant in Pakistan.
Image of K2 - ExplorersWeb Files.
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