10 years ago today, K2 became the mountain of death

K2 (8611 meters) is the second highest mountain in the world after Mount Everest (8848 meters). However, among mountaineers it is considered far more demanding than Everest. This is due to its steepness and location in the north and the resulting unsettled weather.

How the accident happened In the summer of 2008 there was a mass rush of several international expeditions to K2. Due to the bad weather, expeditions from Italy, Netherlands, South Korea, Serbia, Norway, France, Singapore and the USA remained at base camp to wait for better weather for the climb. After about a month of waiting, a good weather front was announced for a few days at the end of July and beginning of August.

So the alpinists from the various expeditions began the climb from the base camp towards the summit. There were major delays during the ascent through the “bottleneck gully”, so some mountaineers began the descent again. The first death occurred while waiting. The Serb Dren Mandic inexplicably came loose from the fixed rope, then slipped and fell several hundred meters to his death. A Pakistani mountaineer died while trying to rescue the Serb. His body was never found.

Despite the fatal accidents and hours-long delays, the majority of mountaineers decided to continue climbing to the summit. At around 15 p.m., the Spaniard Alberto Zerain was the first to reach the summit. Everyone else followed him and around 20 p.m. the last person standing on K2 was the Italian Marco Confortola. Only Alberto Zerain managed to descend before sunset - a devastating mistake by the mountaineers. Many decided to descend, despite the approaching darkness and the difficult terrain. Only Marco Confortola, the Irishman Gerard McDonnell and the Dutchman Wilco van Rooijen bivouacked on the mountain overnight. This is an extremely dangerous undertaking in the so-called death zone (over 7500 meters). Deadly ice avalanche However, the three mountaineers had made the right decision because an ice avalanche broke out beneath them and dragged three Koreans and a Norwegian into the depths. The ice avalanche also swept away the important fixed ropes for the descent. The night became a fight for survival for the three bivouacs. Despite great exhaustion and the hard night on the mountain, Confortola, McDonell and van Rooijen began the descent the next morning.

Van Roijen, who suffered from snow blindness, was the first to begin the descent. The Dutchman got lost and was only found by a rescue team on August 3, 2008, after 60 hours without sleep, severe frostbite, advanced snow blindness and altitude sickness. Confortola and McDonell descended together and in the “bottleneck gully” they discovered the three injured Koreans who had been hit by the ice avalanche a few hours earlier. Then, for some inexplicable reason, McDonell went back uphill. Confortola, on the other hand, continued his descent - completely exhausted - and was finally found by a rescue team at the last moment. The Irishman McDonell had now died. During the rescue, another ice avalanche broke out and killed two Nepalese.

Marco Confortola and Wilco van Roijen had to have all the toes on both feet amputated due to severe frostbite.

With eleven deaths in just two days, it is one of the mountain tragedies with the highest number of victims in history. A total of 2 people died on K80.

There was criticism, among others, from South Tyrol's best-known mountaineer Reihnhold Messner. He described the accident as “the result of the mass mountaineering of recent years and the commercial expeditions that try to get everyone up the mountains.”

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10 years ago today, K2 became the mountain of death

10 years ago, on August 1st and 2nd, 2008, eleven people from seven different nations died on K2.

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