K2

K2 is on the border between China and, what was in 1954, the newly independent Pakistan. At 8,611 metres (28,251 ft), it is the highest point of the Karakoram range and the second highest mountain in the world.^[1] The mountain had been spotted in 1856 by the Great Trigonometrical Survey to Kashmir,^{[note 1]} and by 1861 Henry Godwin-Austen had reached the Baltoro Glacier and was able to get a clear view of K2 from the slopes of Masherbrum.^{[note 2]} He could see the descending glacier eventually drained to the Indus River and so the mountain was in the British Empire.^[4]

Quick Facts History of climbing K2 ...

History of climbing K2
Television programs
Quest For K2 Savage Mountain[5] 1954 expedition starts at 18:09 minutes
Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2[6] 1954 expedition starts at 43:00 minutes[note 3]
Brotherhood of The Rope[7] Charlie Houston talking about 1953 expedition (start 05:50) and narrating film (starting 15:35)[note 4]

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The first serious attempt to climb the mountain was in 1902 by a party including Aleister Crowley, who later became notorious as "the Wickedest Man in the World". The expedition examined ascent routes both north and south of the mountain and made best progress up the north-east ridge before they were forced to abandon their efforts.^[8] Since that time, K2 has developed the reputation of being a more difficult mountain to climb than Mount Everest – every route to the summit is tough.^{[9][note 5]} K2 is farther north than the Himalayan mountains so the climate is colder; the Karakoram range is wider than the Himalayan so more ice and snow is trapped there.^[12]

Before the successful Italian ascent, the expedition that had previously climbed highest on K2 had been the 1939 American Karakoram expedition which reached 8,370 metres (27,450 ft).^[13]

Previous Italian expeditions in the Baltoro Muztagh Karakoram

In 1890, Roberto Lerco entered the Baltoro Muztagh region of the Karakoram. He reached the foot of K2 and may even have climbed a short way up its south-east spur, but he did not leave an account of his journey.^[14][15]

In 1909, the Duke of the Abruzzi expedition again explored various routes before reaching about 6,250 metres (20,510 ft) on the south-east ridge before deciding the mountain was unclimbable. This route later became known as the Abruzzi Ridge (or Abruzzi Spur) and eventually became regarded as the standard route to the summit.^[1]

In 1929, Aimone di Savoia-Aosta, the nephew of the Duke of the Abruzzi, led an expedition to explore the upper Baltoro Glacier, near to K2. The geologist on the party was Ardito Desio, and he came to feel that there was an Italian claim for attempts on the mountain.^[16] It was only in 1939 that Desio could interest Italy's governing body for mountaineering, the Club Alpino Italiano (CAI), but World War II and the Partition of India delayed things further.^[17] Later, in 1952, Desio travelled to Pakistan as a preliminary for leading a full expedition in 1953 only to discover that the Americans had already booked the single climbing permit for that year. He returned in 1953 with Riccardo Cassin to reconnoitre the lower slopes of K2.^[18][19] At that time, Cassin was the greatest Italian mountaineer there had been, and yet in Desio's report of the reconnaissance, Cassin is not mentioned except to say "I had chosen Ricardo Cassin, a climber, to whose travelling expenses the Italian Alpine Club had generously contributed".^[20] It was only after his return to Italy that Desio heard he had been granted the permit for the 1954 summit attempt.^[21]

Ascending the mountain

By 16 June Camp IV was established at the foot of House's Chimney, using the winch to haul supplies up to Camp II. In 1953 Houston's party had found the Hunzas to be better on the mountain than had been expected. However, Desio felt let down – part of the difficulty was that English was their only language in common and, apart from Desio himself, no one was fluent in English. Tragedy struck the expedition at an early stage: after Puchoz had descended to Camp II he developed problems with his throat and his condition deteriorated until, despite good medical treatment and ample medicines and oxygen, he died with symptoms of pneumonia on 21 June.^{[note 15]} The next day everyone descended to Base Camp just as a fierce snow storm erupted. When the storm abated they were able to recover Puchoz's body to Base Camp and on 27 June they ascended to bury him beside the memorial cairn to Art Gilkey who had died on the 1953 American expedition.^[82][83]

The expedition was by now almost a month behind schedule so Desio announced that the climb should be resumed immediately after the funeral. However, apart from Compagnoni, none of the climbers were willing to do this and Abram spoke up on their behalf. Desio had an authoritarian approach to leadership (behind his back he was called "il Ducetto", "little Mussolini"). He was in the habit of issuing written encouragements and orders. For example, on one occasion he pinned up a notice:

"Remember if you succeed in scaling the peak – as I am confident you will – the entire world will hail you as champions of your race and your fame will endure throughout your lives and long after you're dead. Thus even if you never achieve anything else of note, you will be able to say that you have not lived in vain."

When interviewed later about it Lacedelli said "We just ignored him and got on with it".^[84]

The climbers again spread out across the various camps and Compagnoni and Rey scaled House's Chimney but then another storm confined everyone to their tents. On 5 July, Compagnoni (who Desio had nominated to lead the high-level climbing), Abram and Gallotti established Camp V and then two days later reached Camp VI with fixed ropes now running all the way up from Camp I. They used the ropes from the 1953 expedition to reach camp VII although, on descending, the ropes slipped from their anchor points causing Floreanini to fall 200 metres (700 ft) but suffering no very serious injury.^[64][85]

On 18 July Compagnoni and Rey, followed by Bonatti and Lacedelli, set ropes as high as the American Camp VIII at the base of the summit plateau. Camp VI had been at the site of the American Camp VII but they moved it higher to avoid what they considered was a dangerous location.^[86] Successive severe storms made progress much slower than expected and Desio wrote to the CAI saying he was contemplating returning to Italy and staging a new assault in the autumn with a smaller team of fresh climbers, but using the existing fixed ropes. But then the weather improved.^[87] On 28 July Camp VIII was established at 7,627 metres (25,023 ft) for a summit attempt by Compagnoni and Lacedelli. Next day they climbed higher but, unable to find a good location for their highest camp, Camp IX, they left their rucksacks and returned to Camp VIII, now realising they would need supplementary oxygen for the summit. The place where they had been trying to set Camp IX was beside a wall of ice at 8,000 metres (26,000 ft), beside what later became known as the Bottleneck.^[88][89][90] Also on 29 July four climbers at Camp VII went up with two oxygen sets (each weighing 18 kilograms (40 lb)), a tent and extra food towards Camp VIII but Abram and Rey had to turn back and only Bonatti and Gallotti got there – they had needed to abandon the oxygen sets at about 7,400 metres (24,300 ft). By evening Mahdi and Isakhan reached Camp VII.^[88]

Preparing for the summit attempt

For 30 July the four men at Camp VIII agreed that while Compagnoni and Lacedelli would climb to try to establish Camp IX, Bonatti and Gallotti would descend to fetch the oxygen just above Camp VII and then carry the heavy oxygen equipment all the way up to Camp IX, via Camp VIII. The fetching of the oxygen would be a far greater challenge than the establishment of the high camp – it would involve a descent of 180 metres (600 ft) followed by an ascent of 490 metres (1,600 ft). They would tell climbers at Camp VII to bring up more supplies to VIII. Meanwhile, Compagnoni and Lacedelli would establish Camp IX at a lower level of 7,900 metres (25,900 ft) to reduce the height the oxygen needed to be carried.^[91] In the event they established their high camp not at the lower level, where there was deep powdery snow, but at 8,150 metres (26,740 ft) across a difficult traverse over dangerous slab rocks which took almost an hour to achieve. They had very little food and, although they had oxygen masks with them, not the actual gas cylinders.^[92][93]

Bonatti, Gallotti, Abram, Mahdi and Isakhan all met and reached Camp VIII by noon on 30 July. At 15:30 Bonatti, Abram and Mahdi went on with the oxygen cylinders towards Camp IX.^[94] The Hunzas had not been provided with high-altitude boots and to induce Mahdi to go on higher Bonatti had offered him a cash bonus and had also hinted that he might be allowed to go right up to the summit. They went without a tent or sleeping bags.^[95] At about 16:30 they shouted and heard a reply from the summit team at Camp IX but could not locate them nor see any tracks to follow. They climbed higher but by 18:30 the sun was setting and Abram had to go down because of frostbite. They now could see tracks in the snow but still no tent and it would be dark imminently. Mahdi was starting to panic. On dangerous terrain sloping at 50° and still with the heavy oxygen sets they called again but had to come to a halt at 8,100 metres (26,600 ft).^[94]

Bonatti dug out a small step in the ice in preparation for an emergency overnight bivouac without a tent or sleeping bags. After more shouting, at 22:00 a flashlight shone from quite nearby and slightly higher up the mountain and they could hear Lacedelli shouting to tell them to leave the oxygen and go back down. After that the light went out and there was silence. Bonatti and Mahdi spent the rest of the night in the open until at 05:30, against Bonatti's advice, Mahdi started going down by himself in the dark to Camp VIII.^[94] Bonatti waited until about 06:30 when it was getting light before he dug the oxygen sets out of the snow and descended. While he was going down he heard a shout from somewhere above but could not see anyone. Mahdi reached Camp VIII only slightly before Bonatti at about 07:30.^[94][96]

Reaching the summit

At about 06:30–06:45 on 31 July Compagnoni and Lacedelli left their tent and saw someone (they could not tell who) descending and were shocked to think they must have spent the night in the open.^{[97][98][note 16]} They recovered the gas cylinders between about 07:15 and 07:45, and from there set off for the summit at about 08:30, now breathing supplementary oxygen.^[97] To save weight they abandoned their rucksacks and, for nourishment, only took sweets. The route through the Bottleneck was blocked with snow and they could not climb the cliffs as Wiessner had done in 1939. Eventually they found a line close to Wiessner's up though mixed ice and rock.^[100] The people below at Camp VIII were briefly able to see them ascending the final slope just before Compagnoni and Lacedelli reached the summit arm in arm at about 18:00, Saturday, 31 July. Gallotti wrote in his diary:

"On the final slope, which was incredibly steep looking, first one tiny dot, and then a second, slowly made their way up. I may see many more things in this life, but nothing will ever move me in this same way. I cried silently, the teardrops falling on my chest."

They took a few photos and a brief movie film as the sun was setting. Lacedelli wanted to go down as soon as possible but Compagnoni said he wanted to spend the night on the summit. Only after being threatened with Lacedelli's ice-axe did he turn to descend.^[97][101]

Descending the mountain

In the darkness they headed down this time descending Bottleneck Couloir^[102] and after a while their oxygen ran out.^{[note 18]} They had great difficulty crossing a crevasse and descending the ice wall just above Camp VIII and both men fell but eventually their companions heard their shouts and emerged to help them back to Camp VIII just after 23:00.^[103] Next day, in poor weather, they descended the fixed ropes to Camp IV by 11:00. By 2 August everyone was back at Base Camp.^[104] Compagnoni, Lacedelli and Bonatti had serious frostbite to their hands but Mahdi's feet were also affected and his condition was much worse.^[105]