The Challenge of K2

The history of the adventurers who dared climb one of Earth's most dangerous mountains.

K2 is a legend—one of the most demanding mountaineering challenges in the world and one of the most treacherous. Extreme, unpredictable weather and the acutely difficult climbing conditions test the technique, endurance and psychological strength of the most experienced mountaineers to the limit and often beyond. Many of the men and women who have sought to reach the summit have failed, often with tragic consequences—over seventy of them have died or disappeared. Yet this, the second highest mountain on Earth, continues to exercise for the world's top mountaineers a special, and all too often lethal attraction.

Richard Sale's fascinating book traces the climbing history of K2 over the last 150 years, showing in graphic detail how it acquired this awesome reputation: it was during the first serious attempts on the summit in the 1930s and 1950s that K2 became known as the Savage Mountain. But The Challenge of K2 still inspires those possessing the skills and stamina to attempt to ascend to its peak.