The Challenge of K2: A History of the Savage MountainK2 is a legend - one of the most demanding mountaineering challenges in the world and one of the most treacherous. Extreme, unpredictable weather and the acutely difficult climbing conditions test the technique, endurance and psychological strength of the most experienced mountaineers to the limit and often beyond. Many of the men and women who have sought to reach the summit have failed, often with tragic consequences - over 70 of them have died or disappeared. Yet this, the second highest mountain on Earth, continues to exercise for the worlds top mountaineers a special, and all too often lethal attraction. Richard Sales fascinating new book traces the climbing history of K2 over the last 150 years, he shows in graphic detail how it acquired this awesome reputation: it was during the first serious attempts on the summit in the 1930s and 1950s that K2 became known as the Savage Mountain. |
Contents
The Americans Head for | |
The Italians 1954 | |
The Next Thirty Years | |
1986 | |
The Next Twenty Years | |
The Next Step | |
Notes | |
K2 Ascent Data | |
Fatalities on | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abruzzi Spur Abruzzi Abruzzi Spur SSE abseiled altitude American ascent Askole August Austrians avalanche bad weather Baltoro Barrards Base Camp bivouac Bonatti Bottleneck British Broad Peak Camp VIII Chogolisa claimed climbers Confortola continued Conway couloir crampons Crowley death decided descend Desio Diemberger Durrance Eckenstein Everest expedition book exploration fixed ropes frostbite Gasherbrum Gasherbrum IV Gilkey glacier Godwin-Austen Godwin-Austen Glacier high-altitude Houston Imitzer Italian Japanese Jim Wickwire Jp Jp Julie Tullis K2 expedition Kangchenjunga Karakoram Koreans Kukuczka Kurt Diemberger later Lino Lacedelli Magic Line Mahdi Messner mountain Mrówka Nanga Parbat night North Ridge North North-East Ridge notes oxygen Pakistani Pasang Bhote Petzoldt photographs Poles porters reached the summit Ridge North Ridge rock Rooijen route Rutkiewicz Savoia says seems sérac Sherpas Skardu slope snow Spur Abruzzi Spur Spur SSE Ridge storm summit climb supplementary oxygen tent Tshering Tullis Wanda Rutkiewicz Wickwire Wiessner Willi Bauer Wolfe world’s Younghusband