MOUNT EVEREST VS K2

 

1)   The K2 and Mount Everest are two mightiest mountain peaks which represent their respective mountain ranges. The Himalaya and the care a quorum attracting thousands of tourists Mountaineers and climbers from around the world every year. It is interesting to compare the two highest peaks on the earth and to know the different facts in addition to being the highest peak the Mount Everest is also the world's most prominent peak with the prominence of 8,848 meters.

2)   The prominence of K2 is 4,000 and 20 meters the topographic prominence of a peak is the minimum height necessary to descend to get from the summit to any higher terrain the topographic isolation is another interesting characteristic of any peak. The isolation of a summit is the minimum distance to a point of equal elevation representing a radius of dominance in which the peak is the highest point.

3)   By this definition the topographic isolation of Mount Everest is infinite whereas the K2 is isolated up to a 1315 point 6 kilometers this is the shortest distance between Mount Everest and K2. The trek to K2 base camp is long hard and much more strenuous as compared to Mount Everest base camp. From s coal to base camp 80 miles on the baltoro broad peak and Godwin Austin glaciers versus 30 miles in the combo Nepal walk on very uneven glaciers where temperature ranges from zero degree Fahrenheit to 100 degree Fahrenheit. Whereas the most Mountaineers expressed that the trek to K2 and the surrounding eight-thousand is absolutely beautiful and superior as compared to the trek to Everest base camp the Mount Everest presents dangers such as altitude sickness weather and wind as well as significant hazards from avalanches and the Khumbu Icefall.

4)   Weather remains the biggest challenge for climbers on 8,000 meter peaks but the weather conditions on K2 are worse than Everest. Thus reducing summit success K2 sits to the west of other high-end large Karakoram peaks us takes the brunt of the west to east weather fronts the weather has been notoriously difficult to predict. Many deaths have occurred as a result of weather surprises in mountaineering the Death Zone refers to altitudes above 8,000 meters where the amount of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life.

5)   Many deaths in high-altitude mountaineering have been caused by the effects of the Death Zone either directly by loss of vital functions or indirectly by wrong decisions made under stress or physical weakening leading to accidents. This phenomenon equally applies on all Peaks higher than 8,000 meter including Mount Everest and k2. The death rate of climbers on K2 is much higher than the Everest the death rate is about 4% for Mount Everest but it is 23% for K2.

6)   In 2008, eleven people died the worst ever on K2. On April 18^th 2014, 16 Sherpas died in Nepal due to the avalanche that swept them off. Mount Everest the mountaineering and climbing data specifies that K2 is tougher than the Mount Everest, K2 is the only 8,000 meter peak that has never been climbed during winter or from its east face. Even though K2 is lower than Mount Everest by about 800 feet.

7)   The climbing comprises of an entirely different level of difficulty, complexity and skill set K2 climbers must have proven long-term skills in rock ice snow. Several other climbing techniques any lacking may cause fatal results and death. The successful number of summits also has an enormous difference, more than 7500 climbers have summit Everest on the other hand the number of successful summits on k2 is still less than 400. The climbing of K2 is less expensive than Mount Everest. A permit for climbing K2 costs around 1,700 (seventeen hundred) US dollars versus 11,000 (eleven thousand) US dollars for Mount Everest.

8)   The increased commercialization of Mount Everest and K2 is a frequent subject of criticism. The charm of experiencing the highest mountains of the world is very inviting for a large number of Mountaineers and trekkers. These Mountaineers have to camp on and around the mountains for several days to several weeks, depending on the nature of expedition such long stays of thousands of people cause waste and pollution issues. In 2015 the president of the Nepal mountaineering Association warned that pollution especially human waste has reached critical levels at the base camp and high altitude camps on Mount Everest.

9)   The problem of human waste is due to the spent oxygen tanks abandoned tents empty cans and bottles. The Nepalese government now requires each climber to pack out 8 kilograms of waste when descending the mountain. The waste and pollution problems are there at K2 as well but the magnitude is significantly less than the Mount Everest due to fewer expeditions. The tourism officials and civil society volunteers organized waste collection trips to K2 base camp in the tourist seasons but this is not enough responsible traveling.

10)   Environment friendly practices must be adopted by all of us. We must leave a better landscape, a cleaner mountain view and a greener world for tomorrow. Reinhold Messner the well-known legend mountaineer concurred the Mount Everest in 2004, he expressed his experience in the following words, you could die in each climb and that meant you were responsible for yourself. We were real Mountaineers, careful aware and even afraid by climbing mountains. We were not learning how big we were we were finding out how breakable, how we can, how full of fear we are. You can only get this if you expose yourself to high danger, I have always said that a mountain without danger is not a mountain.

11)   We were not learning how big we were we were finding out how breakable, how we can, how full of fear we are. You can only get this if you expose yourself to high danger, I have always said that a mountain without danger is not a mountain.