K2 (Mount Godwin Austen)

The world's second tallest peak is commonly known as K2, and is actually hundreds of miles north of Mount Everest. It is also known as Mount Godwin Austen and Dapsang.

Locally known by the name of “Chogo Ri,” which means "The Great Mountain," K-2 is located in

the Karakoram range of the Himalaya in Northern Kashmir. The summit reaches an altitude of 28,251 feet (8,610 m.) and is snow covered and usually hidden away in heavy clouds.

It is a rocky mountain up to 6,000m, beyond which it becomes an ocean of snow. The traditional route to base camp goes from Skardu, which is linked with Islamabad by a good road. From Skardu the route goes via Shigar-Dassu-Askole up to Concordia over the Baltoro glacier. There are glaciers 30 and 40 miles long on its flanks.

First discovered and measured by the Survey of India in 1856, the mountan's name is taken from the first letter of Karakoram, and the number indicates that it was the second peak in the range to be measured.

K-2 was first climbed on July 31,1954 by an Italian team led by Ardito Desio, a geology professor at Milan University, accompanied by Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. A March 1987 measurement indicated that the summit might be higher than Everest, but later that year Everest was re-measured by a similar method and found to be 778 ft (237 m.) taller.

The mountain was named for Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen (1834-1923), who referred to the summit as K-2 in all his reports.

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