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K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth. It is located in the Karakoram segment of the Himalayan range, on the border between Gilgit-Baltistan, Northern Pakistan and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang, China. Other names include Mount Godwin-Austen (Urdu: ماؤنٹ گڈون آسٹن), Lamba Pahar ("Tall Mountain" in Urdu), Dapsang, Kechu or Ketu (Urdu: کے ٹو), the latter two of which are both derived from "K2". The mountain was first surveyed by a European survey team in 1856. Thomas Montgomerie was the member of the team who designated it "K2" for being the second peak of the Karakoram range. The other peaks were originally named K1, K3, K4 and K5, but were eventually renamed Masherbrum, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I respectively. After various failed attempts, An Italian expedition finally succeeded in ascending to the summit of K2 on July 31, 1954. The expedition was led by Ardito Desio, although the two climbers who actually reached the top were Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. The team included a Pakistani member, Colonel Muhammad Ata-ullah, who had been a part of the 1953 American expedition. Also on the expedition was the famous Italian climber Walter Bonatti, who proved vital to the expedition's success in that he carried vital oxygen to 26,600 feet for Lacedelli and Compagnoni. His dramatic bivouac in the open at that altitude wrote another chapter in the saga of Himalayan climbing. On August 9, 1977, 23 years after the Italian expedition, Ichiro Yoshizawa led the second successful ascent to the top; with Ashraf Aman as the first native Pakistani climber. The Japanese expedition ascended through the Abruzzi Spur route traced by the Italians, and used more than 1,500 porters to achieve the goal. (More...)