Why is K2 harder than Everest?

There's just the difficulty, the steepness of the mountain. Also it's further north than Everest, so it is colder. And it's also at the very top of the range, so it's the first mountain to get the big storms from the north. So the winds apparently are horrendous on K2, more so than, say, on Everest.



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While gear lists and physical training are similar for climbing both peaks, K2 is widely considered a more technically challenging and dangerous mountain to climb than Everest.

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K2 (8,611 meters / 28,251 feet) – Pakistan/China Border. As the second-highest mountain on Earth, K2 boasts a notorious reputation as the “Savage Mountain.” Its fatality rate is around 23 deaths per 100 successful summits.

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So, people keep climbing Everest, and Everest keeps collecting bodies. The mountain has claimed over 300 climbers in recent history, and about two-thirds of that number remain on the mountain. The current estimate of remains left behind on Everest total around 200.

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Only 300 have survived K2. It is the deadliest peak on earth. For Chhiring Dorje, who runs a Himalayan guiding business, adding K2 to his own resume could help him attract discerning clients. He knew it was risky, but he trusted his own climbing abilities.

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Now, K2 is either the most or 2nd most difficult 8000er at the least (Annapurna is more dangerous but K2 is considered harder) and K2 has the 2nd least amount of oxygen of any peak on Earth.

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The mountain most widely claimed to be the highest unclimbed mountain in the world in terms of elevation is Gangkhar Puensum (7,570 m, 24,840 ft). It is in Bhutan, on or near the border with China. In Bhutan, the climbing of mountains higher than 6,000 m (20,000 ft) has been prohibited since 1994.

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Most people agree that Kilimanjaro is harder than Everest Base Camp. While there are aspects of the Everest Base Camp trek that are harder than Kilimanjaro, the general feeling is that Kilimanjaro is the harder of the two treks. The main reason for this is summit night – it's a biggie.

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Lincoln was part of the first Australian expedition to climb Mount Everest in 1984, which successfully forged a new route. He reached the summit of the mountain on his second attempt in 2006, miraculously surviving the night at 8,700 m (28,543 ft) on descent, after his family was told he had died.

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Overall, climbing Mount Everest is an extremely demanding and dangerous undertaking that requires a high level of fitness, experience, and determination. It is not a climb that should be taken lightly. Even highly experienced climbers face serious challenges and risks when attempting to reach the summit.

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However, K2 is less climbed, and fewer people have mapped it out. Currently, K2 has a recorded number of 91 deaths. Most of these are attributed to the Death Zone, located 26,000 feet at the bottleneck of the mountain.

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According to the Himalayan database, at least 322 people have perished on Mount Everest since records began in 1922, averaging out to about 4.4 deaths per year and that number slowly ticks up each year. The first summit of the mountain was in 1953.

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Surveyors simply catalogued the peaks by number, giving each the prefix K for Karakoram followed by the number peak it was. K2 was the second mountain they came across. What the surveyors called K1, another peak in the area, was later changed to Masherbrum, the name used by local people.

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