Pakistan has some of the richest mountain ranges, the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush and the Karakoram converging in the Northern Areas capped with some of the world's tallest peaks among them K2, the world's second highest at 8611m known to locals and ancient Tibetans as Chogori.
It is the world's biggest pyramid of rock, ice and snow with its great-serrated slopes and the most elegant mountain standing alone, dominating the entire surroundings.
Discovered by Sir Godwin Austin in 1861 its 'perfect cone' 'astounded' Colonel Francis Young Husband in 1887 when he first saw it. William Martin Conway then arrives on the scene in 1892 in the great ice junction, which he named Concordia. But it was not until 1909 when the Duke of Abruzzi Expedition reconnoitred
The great south face, 3500m high, offers the most familiar look by which photographers have helped to fix its image. The famous Abruzzi Ridge rises above the Godwin Austin Clacier directly to summit of the shoulder. The South-South West ridge often known as the "Magic Line" which is just behind the Angels peak is a 2300m sheer climb from the Negretto Saddle. Its North face was explored in 1937 by Erie Shipton.
After a number of failed attempts by mainly Americans and Italians it was in 1954 that an Italian expedition, under the leadership of Professor Ardito Desio, got the summit. Two Italian members of this team namely Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedilli became the first to scale the summit from where they witnessed a "dream like world".
The ascent of K2 was a great event not only for
1977 was the year when new faces appeared on the Baltoro and in the same year a large Japanese/Pakistahi team put seven climbers on the top of
Rajab Shah and Mehrban Shah reached the top of K2 with a team from
Since the early years of the 20th century over a 100 attempts have been made on
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