K2 Summer 2022: Chasing Records
Summits continue but mostly for the record seekers. The mainstream press has picked up on the K2 crowds. It’s Everest all over again. Let the hand wringing begin!
Big Picture
Without a doubt, the summer of 2022 will go down as when things changed in Pakistan’s Karakorum. Thus far, there are around 200 summits on K2, dwarfing the previous record year in 2018 of 62. Also, we saw at least ten women summit, also smashing any pretense of a “female curse” on K2. I estimate somewhere between 25 and 30 women have now summited K2.
We also saw multiple commercial teams use extensive Pakistan and Nepai support resources to fix lines, establish and stock camps with supplemental oxygen that allowed climbers, who in previous years would never have considered K2, not only to attempt it but summit, some without O’s.
I’m seeing many articles in the press about K2, quoting expedition leaders who talk about crowds, rockfall, dangerous conditions, too many people on the route at one time, and some now marketing other routes on K2 as safer. There is a reason the Abruzzi is the most used route on K2. But this generation of operators has a risk tolerance, they would say they are better climbers, which is different than the old timers, and in some cases, they have been correct. As I’ve said many times this season, times are a changin.