Deadly descent. Peak K2 - description, features and interesting facts Chogori killer mountain

News of the death of an international group of climbers while descending Pakistan's K2 mountain on Friday, August 1, and subsequent reports of search and rescue efforts earlier this week, became one of the main topics of the world's leading media. Meanwhile, most of information about the expedition still remains contradictory. For example, the exact number of climbers who climbed K2, the most dangerous mountain in the world. According to the BBC, 25 people were on the route at the time of the avalanche. AFP reports that the group included at least 17 climbers, of whom 11 died. Rescuers managed to save three athletes, the rest are considered missing. There have never been so many casualties in one climb in the entire history of conquering the “killer mountain.”

The first to reach the top of K2 in 1954 were Italian climbers Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni (the very first “assault” took place in 1902). From 1954 to 2007, 284 expeditions conquered the top of Chogori, a total of 66 people died. On Everest, which was summited 3,681 times during the same period, 210 climbers died. According to unofficial statistics, every fourth climber who tried to conquer K2 died. For female athletes, the mountain is generally considered inaccessible: a total of 5 climbers managed to climb to its summit, and 3 died during the descent. It is worth noting that the descent is the riskiest part of any climb; about 80 percent of the world's climbers die during it.

On August 1, the tragedy also occurred on the descent - after conquering the summit. An international group of climbers was hit by snow avalanche, being at an altitude of more than 8 thousand meters. Pakistan's Ministry of Tourism reported that 11 members of the group were killed: 3 citizens South Korea, 2 Nepalese, 2 Pakistanis, a Serbian, an Irishman, a Frenchman and a Norwegian. The rest have been declared missing. There is practically no chance of finding them alive. "When a person goes missing on K2, it means he is dead," Sher Khan, vice-president of the Pakistan Mountaineering Organization and one of the country's most experienced climbers, told Reutres.

Over the weekend, rescuers managed to rescue two Dutchmen: Wilco Van Rooijen and Cas van de Gevel. Italian Marco Confortola, despite his frostbitten feet, managed to descend to the rescue base camp at an altitude of 7,300 meters on Monday. The survivors are in hospitals, their lives are not in danger.

According to Dutch climber Wilco van Rooyen, the athletes made a number of mistakes on Friday, when they had to make the final push to the summit. The climbers chose the wrong climbing route, and in the end the group reached the peak only at 8 pm. Accordingly, at dusk the descent was very difficult.

As the climbers began to descend, part of the glacier broke off, taking with it several athletes and safety equipment. Some climbers were cut off from the descent. Royen says that people panicked.

“The instinct of self-preservation kicked in for many, I began to command the athletes to help each other, but few responded,” the Dutchman told the media. According to him, people tried to quickly go down the mountain and many ended up getting lost.

Eight-thousander K2 is the second highest Mountain peak after Everest. Height - 8611 meters above sea level. Discovered by the British in 1856. Chogori (the second name of K2 in the Tibetan Balti language means " Big mountain") is located in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, in the disputed northern territories bordering China. Chogori is part of mountain range Karakoram, located west of the Himalayas.

The Dutch climber also said that people were ready to fight for oxygen cylinders, and there was no talk of any mutual assistance. Later, Ruin met two Koreans who were trying to pull out a comrade who had fallen on a slope with the help of a safety rope and offered them his help, which, according to him, they refused. “Everyone was trying to survive, and I was trying to survive,” said Wilco van Rooyen.

Italian Marco Confortola has said little so far. "I was in hell. Happy to have survived. The descent devastated me," Confortola told the press.

However, both the Dutchman and the Italian had already noted that human casualties could have been avoided if the expedition had been better equipped. In particular, the athletes complained about the quality of the safety ropes. Undoubtedly let me down and human factor: According to survivors, the group did not choose the most optimal route, which led to a colossal loss of time.

It is worth recalling that climbing the “killer mountain” is not only an extreme activity, but also expensive. To obtain permission to climb, a group of seven people in Pakistan must pay a fee of 12 thousand US dollars. This does not include the costs of equipment, food and guides.

Let us recall that in the summer of 2004, two Russians Sergei Sokolov and Alexander Gubaev, while climbing Mount Chogori, were hungry (!). Such conclusions were reached by an international commission that investigated their deaths in 2005. Russian climbers were limited in finances and could not afford to purchase quality equipment and food.

Meanwhile, on the Internet portal K2climb.net there are not only heated discussions about the reasons for the death of the last expedition, but also volunteers are being signed up for the next one. It is noteworthy that the site dedicated to the “killer mountain” is literally bursting with sponsorship advertising. Why do people risk their lives? An impossible question.

The second highest mountain peak in the world, and the first in terms of mortality. Stunningly beautiful but unruly Mount Chogori. ( 23 photos)

Today, no less famous mountain peak than the famous ( highest point on the ground). And there are good reasons for this. Firstly, Mount Chogori is third in height after the world famous Everest.

The height of Mount Chogori is 8,614 meters above sea level, which is only 234 meters lower than Everest.

But there is something else about this mountain that makes thousands of climbers worry about it: its inaccessibility. In common parlance, Mount Chogori is referred to as “mountain of death” or “mountain of killer.” The fact is that Chogori is one of the most technically difficult mountain ranges.

A regular pyramid, with steep snow slopes, becomes inaccessible even to experienced climbers. Mount Chogoria has 66 deaths. The mountain's mortality rate is 25%. And there are not even 300 people who have conquered the mountain. In addition, there are isolated cases where a climber was able to climb the mountain twice.

Where is Mount Chogori located? You ask. The mountain is located on the border of Pakistan and China. The Karakoram mountain system is the one that connects to the Himalayas. There is an interesting fact here, scientists argued for a long time and could not attribute the mountain system, the fact is that there is almost no separation between the Himalayas and the Karakoram.

There was even a special conference, at which it was decided to divide the Himalayas and Karakoram, the two mountain systems.

Mount Chogori is also called “K-2”. The second name spread spontaneously after one of the researchers numbered the peaks visible in front of him, one of them was Chogori.

Second peak of the world

In the central part of the Karakoram alone there are about 70 peaks above 7000 m. close proximity from Chogori (8611 m) there are Broad Peak (8051 m), Gasherbrum I (or Hidden Peak, 8068 m), Gasherbrum II (8034 m) and other giants. “If there is a place in the world worthy of being called the hall of mountain kings, then it is here,” the famous English actor, traveler and TV presenter Michael Palin said about Karakorum.
The name of the K2 peak has nothing to do with its height, as those uninitiated in the history of the issue, but logically thinking people might think. The British lieutenant of the Royal Engineers, Thomas George Montgomery, who participated in the Great Trigonometric Survey of India in 1856, had his own and very straightforward logic: he simply numbered the vertices he could see from left to right. Essentially it turned out like this: Masherbrum K1, Chogori - K2, Broad Peak KZ, etc. The letter “K”, of course, meant . None of the peaks that Montgomery “counted” had technical abbreviation names that took root. Except K2. This is how the whole world still calls her. In fact, the mountain had and still has its own local name. Chogori is just one of them. And also Dapsang, Lamba Pahar (“ high mountain" in Urdu), Kogir, Kechu or Ketu. For a long time, the mountain was called Godwin-Austen, in honor of another English topographer, who, five years after Montgomery, calculated the exact height of the peak - 8611 m. On Soviet maps until the 1950s, the peak was signed with his name. And then it became just Chogori.

Mount Chogori (K2) is located in Pakistan-controlled northern Kashmir, bordering China. The historical region of Kashmir has been the subject of territorial disputes between Pakistan, China and India for more than half a century.
This fact does not at all interfere with the development of K2. Every year, hundreds of people climb the Baltoro Glacier for the wonderful scenery of the Central Karakoram and climb its famous peaks.

Mountain killer

Climbers consider K2 one of the most difficult peaks. They call it the killer mountain wild mountain. It is much more difficult to climb on it than on.

K2 is a single massif with steep rock-ice slopes and thick snow cover. The first serious attempt to reach the summit was made in 1902 by a group of six European climbers led by Oscar Eckenstein and Aleister Crowley. Questionable physical fitness, interpersonal conflicts and bad weather prevented them from achieving their desired goal. They had no idea what difficulties they would face, and yet they were able to climb to 6525 m. Swiss and Italian expeditions undertaken over the next 35 years were not successful, but they contributed to understanding the complex nature of the wild peak. In 1938, Eckenstein's record was broken by the Americans under the leadership of Charles Houston. The climbers reached a height of almost 8000 m, and a year later Fritz Wiessner reached 8380 m, but his expedition ended tragically - many of his comrades died in the snows of K2. The third American expedition in 1953 retreated with losses and frostbite as a result of a multi-day snowstorm.
The mountain was conquered in 1954 by the Italians, who spent almost a year developing a plan to storm it. Two members of the expedition, Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni, reached the summit. They covered the last 200 m without any oxygen reserves. Their names were kept secret until they returned to Italy, as expedition organizer Ardito Desio believed it was a victory for the team.
In 1979, the famous Italian mountaineer Messner Reinhold climbed K2 for the first time without oxygen tanks.

general information

The second highest peak in the world.
It is located on the border between the northern territories of Kashmir - a disputed area in the north-west of the Hindustan Peninsula - and China.

Glaciers: Baltoro (62 km, the third longest in the world), Biafo, Hispur.

Nearest international Airport: in the city (Pakistan).

Numbers

Height: 8611 m.
Height of neighboring vertices: Masherbrum (7821 m), Broad Peak (8051 m), Gasherbrum I, or Hidden Peak (8068 m), Gasherbrum II (8034 m).

Climate and weather

Moderately continental.

Characteristic features are intense solar radiation and large daily temperature ranges.

The average annual temperature at an altitude of 5000 m is -4.5ºС.

Curious facts

■ Conquering K2 is an expensive pleasure. The Pakistani Ministry of Culture and Sports charges $900 for permission to climb to the top.
■ The first woman to summit K2 was in 1986. It was Polish climber Wanda Rutkiewicz.
■ The first Russians on Pogori were climbers from Togliatti, who climbed the summit in 1996. In 2007, the Russian team was the first to conquer the mountain from the western face - along the most difficult route.
■ Chogori (K2) ranks second among the eight-thousanders after Annapurna in terms of the danger of climbing. The mortality rate is 25%.

K2 / Chogori (K2, Chhogori), 8611 m

This year, since the beginning of the new climbing season in the Karakoram, the government of Pakistan has already issued about 112 permits to climb the second highest eight-thousander in the world - K2 (Chhogori) at 8611 m.

Some media, mainly Pakistani, have already come out with screaming headlines that K2 is now becoming the new Everest.
However, they do not take into account the fact that in the most favorable seasons, a maximum of 50 people climbed to the top of K2, while 500 climbed to the top of Everest.

I summited K2 in 2014, and with 36 different expeditions to Everest and Lhotse, I can give an authoritative assessment that K2 will not be the next Everest.

I have great respect for Everest and the climbers who rise to the top of the world, after all, it is still the most high peak in the world. But K2 is a completely different mountain. It begins with great difficulties, and ends with the same difficulties!

Below are a few of the most important reasons why K2 will never be the next Everest, although I have learned to never say no to mountaineering.

K2 is a technically challenging game for experienced climbers

With all due respect to Everest, very few real, classic ascents to the top have been made, I mean ascents without the use of stationary ladders, using only the strength of your own arms and legs. The overwhelming majority of ascents were made on moderate snow slopes with rope railings installed in advance; Of course, there are several sections with technical difficulties: “steps” in the North, the middle part of the route along the South-East ridge from the southern, Nepalese side. However, Everest should never be taken lightly, as evidenced by the six deaths in this very auspicious season

In general, if everyone associates Everest with high altitude, K2 is associated specifically with technical difficulties.

K2 is only 240 meters lower than Everest, but climbing this peak is a completely different kind of mountaineering, here you will need a solid knowledge of mountaineering techniques and experience; Every climber on K2 must be able to move both on ice and on snow, rocks, and mixed rock. If you are confident in only one type of climbing, on others you will play “Russian roulette” on K2.

Rope railings on K2 work on the "placebo" principle - some of them only indicate the route of ascent and many sections are simply not able to stop the climber from falling.

In most of the route, the climber climbs using the strength of his legs, clinging to the rock and pulling himself up using a jumar. Crampons on boots are used primarily not to move comfortably in the snow, but to gain a foothold on an ice-rock slope; this is a rather exhausting task - constantly looking for tiny footholds in the rock.
If you placed your foot poorly and slipped without holding on to your hands, you will fall off the elephant and die; nothing will stop you from this fall.
Climbing K2 is quite challenging even without taking into account the enormous height of the mountain.

But not only the ascent, the descent is also quite difficult. You must be able to do and carry out a rappel over and over again, and each time must be perfect, there is no room for mistakes.
There are also places on K2 with huge "Gordian knots" of old ropes that, in good faith, should be removed from the mountain. If, when descending, you choose the wrong rope from this pile, it may burst under your weight. On the descent, climbers are already very tired, the psychological load is very high, and it is in such situations that mistakes happen.
Here no one will assess the situation for you, here you are on your own, there is no guide, no Sherpa, or even a teammate. You must be able to assess the degree of risk yourself.

Avalanches on K2 pose a major threat.

Many climbers can point me to other eight-thousanders such as Nanga Parbat, Makalu or more low mountains, such as Meru or Fitzroy, which present similar or even greater challenges to climb.
But here I am comparing the climb to K2 with the standard route to Everest, so that more people would understand what I’m talking about.

On-site climber support on K2 doesn't compare to Everest

Pakistan, compared to Nepal and Tibet, provides a different level of mountain accessibility (logistics).
Nepal has Sherpas, Tibet has Sherpas, Pakistan has High Altitude Porters (HAPS).

Nepalese Sherpas are the world's most famous mountaineering assistants because they have been working for foreign expeditions since the early 1900s.
In Tibet, in Lhasa, there is a specialized school for mountain guides, which has trained and graduated many qualified Tibetan mountain guides during its existence.

In Pakistan there is a problem with experienced mountain guides, of course they exist, but there are very few of them. Today the country only intends to increase the training and production of qualified specialists
Therefore, many expeditions come to Pakistan with Nepalese Sherpas, who, like on Everest, fix the railings, carry loads to high-altitude camps and accompany clients to the top.
But the Pakistani government does not like this approach. Each Sherpa in the team is required to have a full permit (perimit) for climbing, just like any client of the expedition. From time to time, there are even proposals for a complete ban on the use of Sherpa assistance in the mountains of Pakistan, since they destroy the livelihood opportunities for Pakistani mountain guides.

All these problems only lead to an increase in prices for expeditions to Pakistan, although they are still much cheaper than Everest.
Thus, a permit to climb to the top of the second highest mountain in the world - K2 - costs $1,700 per person, while for Everest - $11,000.

Fortunately, to date, the ban on the use of Sherpa labor has not been adopted by the Pakistani government, and on expeditions to K2, Pakistani mountain guides have the opportunity to practice high-altitude work from Nepalese Sherpas.
Personally, I believe that the help of local, Pakistani mountain guides is important on K2; they should have all the skills that Nepalese Sherpas now possess, because every year the number of foreign climbers in the Karakoram mountains will increase.

The weather on K2 is worse than on Everest

From 1985 to 2015 there were 11 years on K2 in which not a single successful ascent was made. From 2009 to 2015 there were only three successful seasons - 2011 (only from the Chinese side), 2012 and , and in each of them no more than 40-50 people climbed to the top, and this was almost a climbing record due to the unprecedentedly long weather window within one week.

Since the eight-thousander K2 is the northernmost eight-thousander in the world and, moreover, it is located to the west of all the other large peaks of the Karakoram, it takes on the entire “blow” of weather fronts. Like everywhere else in the mountains, weather It's quite difficult to predict, but on K2 the weather was responsible for many deaths

The death rate on K2 is much higher than on Everest, thereby discouraging many who want to climb the mountain.

During the entire time of climbing Everest, about 287 people died, while the summit was climbed 7,581 times. Thus the mortality rate on Everest is ~4%.

86 people died on K2 during the entire ascent, while the summit of K2 was climbed 375 times. Thus the mortality rate on K2 is ~23%.

The leading cause of death on K2 is missing persons. On Everest - falling from the slope.

There are several objective reasons why the mortality rate on K2 is higher than on Everest: the lack of a helicopter rescue team, bad unpredictable weather, and given the extremely small number of climbers on the mountainside, the limited supply of equipment, provisions and assistance during rescue operations.

2008 was the most tragic season on K2: 11 people died, several were rescued, including three climbers who were saved by Pemba Gyalje Sherpa - he not only survived this tragedy, but became one of the central characters of this expedition. He took an active part in search and rescue operations, making several attempts to take people out of the death zone - from an altitude of more than 8,000 meters.

Rescue operations involving a helicopter are very expensive, thereby increasing the risk of death of the injured climber

Calling and using a helicopter in Pakistan to search for and evacuate an injured climber can cost approximately $30,000. But even for that kind of money, the helicopter will not rise above the base camp, and even the flight to the base camp may not take place due to bad weather.
Compare that to more than 50 helicopter missions on Everest last spring at a cost of $3,000 per mission.

And I’ll say it again: forget about helicopter support in any of the high-altitude camps on K2, there are no helicopters suitable for such tasks in Pakistan.
Thus, any accident occurring above the base camp is likely to turn into a tragedy.

The hike to K2 base camp is long, difficult and uncomfortable

130 kilometers along the Baltoro Valley compared to 50 kilometers along the Khumbu Valley is the difference in approach to K2 Base Camp and Everest.
But that is not all. In Baltoro there is not a single teahouse and there is no forest area like in Nepal. Hiking in Pakistan is trekking on a glacier with air temperatures ranging from -15 to +40 degrees Celsius, so these are not at all the comfortable conditions that tourists endure in Nepal. The approach to K2 is a separate challenge for climbers.

On the other hand, I will say that trekking to the base camp of any of the eight-thousanders is very beautiful from the point of view of the mountain landscape.

Why is K2 becoming an increasingly popular mountain?

Considering all the above reasons, this question is not easy to answer. K2 is still the preserve of professional climbers.
As the climbers themselves say: "Climbing Everest gives you bragging rights. Climbing K2 gives you respect from climbers.".
Although I do not agree with this expression, I believe that all climbers deserve respect, and those who climbed Everest are those who climbed K2. But this is a reason for another article.

Here I will note that only 200 people in the world have climbed both Everest and K2.

Since 2000, K2 has been staffed primarily by the same commercial teams, most notably the Austrian company Kari Kobler.
IN last years Seven Summits Treks brought at least 30 people to K2 per season.
Himalayan Experience and Madison Mountaineering are also involved in the climbs.

Previously, the use of oxygen cylinders during ascent was rare events, but are now used by the vast majority of climbers on K2.
Also, climbers themselves participate in fixing the fixed ropes on the climbing route, even those climbers who participate in commercial teams. In addition, on K2, even experienced, professional climbers use a rope installed by Sherpas to climb.
Weather forecasting has improved, but is still very far from ideal.

The K2 base camp is now full of tents for canteens, cinema halls with projectors, and laptops. Food has improved and cooks hired in Nepal and Pakistan delight the climbers with good, tasty cuisine.
Unlimited internet has become the norm at base camp.
So, in general, in the K2 base camp everything is not so bad, compared, for example, to what was shown in the movie “The Vertical Limit”.

Season 2016

This year, the Pakistani government has already issued about 112 permits to climb K2. Thus, the 2016 season will be the most massive on K2 in the entire history of ascents to this eight-thousander.

Let us remind you that you can follow the progress of the teams and their current position in our special topic: SUMMER 2016: EXPEDITIONS TO THE 8,000 MEASURES OF PAKISTAN

However, it is worth considering that the high-altitude camps Camp I, Camp II, Camp III are located in small areas that can accommodate no more than 10 tents, so the risk of conflicts is quite high if all teams begin climbing the mountain at the same time.

With such big amount climbers on the mountain, fixing the fixed ropes may also be a problem, especially since this year there will be several commercial teams that will depend on fixing the fixed ropes, as is usually the case on Everest.
But if on Everest this often results only in long queues, then on K2, given the unpredictable, difficult weather, these queues can result in tragedy.