K2

K2 rises in the Karakoram, a mountain range in the broader Himalayan region of Asia. The peak lies on the boundary between China's Xinjiang region and Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan. At 8,611 metres (28,251 feet) above sea level, it is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest. Its summit is surrounded by glaciers and high, steep mountain terrain.

The designation K2 dates to the Survey of India’s nineteenth-century measurements of the Karakoram. Surveyor Thomas George Montgomerie marked the peaks he observed with the letter K for Karakoram; K2 was the second peak in his sequence. Unlike some other peaks that later received widely used local or regional names in English, the concise survey designation endured internationally. Mount Godwin Austen is another name associated with the mountain, honouring nineteenth-century geographer Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen.

Several expeditions attempted the summit in the early twentieth century, and later parties made progress on routes along the mountain's ridges. An Italian expedition reached the summit on 31 July 1954: Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli made the first recorded ascent. The route they used, the Abruzzi Spur, became a standard line of ascent. K2's altitude, steep terrain, severe weather and avalanche exposure make expeditions technically demanding; conditions can change rapidly at high elevation.

K2's high relief and sharply defined summit make it a landmark of the Karakoram. The mountain is often discussed alongside Everest because both exceed 8,000 metres, but height alone does not capture the differences between their routes, terrain and weather. Mountaineering accounts describe K2 as particularly challenging, while its remoteness and difficult approaches add to the logistical demands of climbing it.