As I discussed in a post a few years ago, “Why K2 will not become Everest<\/a>“, K2 is a totally different climbing experience requiring a honed set of skills and alpine experience.\u00a0It is the second highest mountain in the world at 28,251\u2019\/8611m and remains the only 8000er not summited in winter. While 164 people climbing K2 is a large number, it is dwarfed by the nearly 1,000 who attempted Everest this spring.<\/p>\n Climbing K2 is technical – meaning you are using feet and hands to climb; the exposure is dramatic – meaning if you fall you will most likely die; and the weather is extreme – meaning it is less predictable due to standing alone to the west of nearby mountains thus creating its own systems. It is common to have very different conditions on K2 than on Broad Peak or the Gasherbrums that are only a few miles away.<\/p>\n Unlike Everest, there are no long, flat sections i.e. the Western Cwm. K2 starts steep, ends steep and never lets up. Objective dangers are constantly on the minds of K2 climbers. Avalanches and rock-fall are rampant and injuries are common. These are not bravado or ego-based comments on my part given I have summited both peaks, but my effort to help readers understand that K2 is in a different league than most of the other 8000ers. Just because you summited Everest, doesn’t mean you are ready for K2.\u00a0A bit of trivia, there are less than 200 people who have summited both Everest and K2.<\/p>\n It is well documented that K2 sees significantly more deaths than Everest. Thru the spring of 2019, I estimate 9,950 summits by about 6,000 people and 306 deaths on Everest – 3% compared to 379 summits with 85 deaths on K2 – 22%. Of the 8000 meter peaks, Everest has the highest absolute number of deaths at 306 but ranks near the bottom with a death rate of 1.13. Annapurna is the most deadly 8000er with one death for about every three summits (72:293) or a 3.71 death rate. Cho Oyu is the safest with 3,681 summits and 50 deaths or a death rate of 0.55.<\/p>\n While some will quibble with these statistics, it is a measure of risk.\u00a0The number one reason listed for death on K2 is “disappearance” suggesting that the climber fell in a highly exposed area, was blown away by winds or buried in an avalanche. 33 climbers have died while descending from the summit. 11 died in 2008 including my friend Gerard McDonnell when the towering ice serac just below the summit let a tiny fraction of its 100 meter vertical face loose.\u00a0<\/span>If you attempt K2, you must accept that dying is a real possibility.<\/p>\n The first summit of K2 was on July 31, 1954, by Italians Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. The first attempts began in 1902 by Brit Aleister Crowley. But it was the Duke of Abruzzi who made the most valiant attempts in the early 1900’s thus named the ridge most popular used today, the Abruzzi Spur.\u00a0After five separate American attempts, Louis Reichardt and Jim Wickwire summited on September 6, 1978, and John Roskelley and Rick Ridgeway the next day. Amazingly Jim Wickwire spent a night in the open just below the summit at 27,000 feet without food, oxygen, or shelter in temperatures of -40 degrees.<\/p>\n According to research<\/a>, plus my own research, from 1986\u00a0to 2018 there were\u00a012 years with no summits. From 2009 to 2018, there were only five years with summits \u2013 2011 only from the Chinese side by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner\u00a0who became the first woman to get all the 8000ers san Os. \u00a0In\u00a02012, 2014 and 2018 each saw about 30 \u2013 50\u00a0people\u00a0summiting \u2013 record-breaking years as a result of a week of excellent and rare summit conditions. Everest went from 1974 to 2014 with summits every year \u2013 40 straight years!\u00a0The best year ever for K2 was last year, 2018 with 62 total summits followed by 2004 with an estimated 51 summits.<\/p>\n [poll id=”30″]<\/p>\n 2018 was a record year on K2 with over 60 total summits plus the first true ski descent. The Kathmandu based and Sherpa owned guide company, Seven Summits Treks (SST), used their Everest formula to put 24 people on the summit on July 21st<\/sup>\u00a0made up of 10 members supported by 13 Sherpas and 1 HAP. This is becoming a familiar formula to commercialize K2 – a 2:1 member to support ratio and plenty of supplemental oxygen and wait for 4 days of good weather. This happened in 2014 and again in 2018 when about 50 people summited. Also on July 21st<\/sup>, there were seven other people who summited taking the day’s total to 31.<\/p>\n 2018 was a good year for female K2 climbers with\u00a0six women including Gangaamaa Badamgarav<\/a>\u00a0who became the first Mongolian to summit K2 as well as the first female from her country. Other females summiting were American Lisa Thompson, Chinese Jianhong Li, Japanese Naoko Watanabe, Mexican Viridiana Chavez (first Latin woman), Swiss climber Sophie Lavaud summited and Yuki Inayoshi with Karakorum Expeditions<\/a><\/p>\n Tragedy struck on July 7th<\/sup>, when Canadian climber\u00a0Serge Dessureault<\/a> fell to his death on K2 near House Chimney as he was rappelling from Camp 2 during an acclimatization rotation. He was the leader of a small Canadian team that soon after canceled their expedition and returned home.<\/p>\n![\"donate](\"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/donate100alzheimersround.gif\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Savage Mountain<\/h2>\n
![\"Down](\"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/IMG_2112-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Downclimbing](\"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/IMG_2544.jpg\")
<\/a>Years with No K2 Summits<\/h2>\n
2018 K2 Results<\/h2>\n