The Horrifying Story of the 2008 K2 Mountaineering DISASTER On SAVAGE MOUNTAIN

If you ask an average person what the name of the tallest mountain in the world is, the person is likely to know the answer – of course, Mount Everest. At 29,029 feet, it ranks as the clear #1 in terms of height. It is also not an easy mountain to climb mainly because of the extreme altitude but there are other challenges as well, such as the Khumbu Icefall, extreme cold temperatures, a high number of climbers which can cause traffic jams in the Death Zone, unpredictable avalanches, deadly crevasses and vertical rock faces that are extremely difficult to climb such as the Hillary Step. Despite the challenges, however, Mt. Everest is not considered the most difficult mountain to climb. In fact, there are a few mountains considered more difficult from a technical aspect and one of them is the second tallest mountain in the world, one of that the average person may not be able to name – it is called simply K2.

At 28,251 feet, it is just 778 feet shorter than Everest but the difficulty in climbing it is legendary. It is considered by many to be the most difficult mountain to climb in the world. K2 is located on the border of Pakistan and China and is nicknamed Savage Mountain. Climbers can become convinced that the mountain is actually trying to kill them and often, it succeeds. About 25% of those who reach the summit never make it off the mountain alive. There are treacherous slopes, extremely poor weather, constant avalanches, and the mountain is constantly steep and rigid, unlike Everest which will flatten out more often. Expert climbing skills are required to even consider attempting K2.

K2 Mountain

Also, being just slightly shorter than Everest, all the challenges regarding altitude exist on K2 as they did on Everest – any climbers above 26,000 feet enter into the Death Zone where the body starts to die, cell by cell. Furthermore, on K2, just getting to base camp is a treacherous journey through glacial ice, rock and snow. K2 is a mountain for the elite of the elite, not for the businesssman/casual mountaineer who wants to post a summit photo on Instagram.

There are a variety of routes up K2, but the most common and “easiest” is known as the Abruzzi Spur, on the southeast ridge. It is used by 75% of K2 climbers. Nevertheless, the challenges on this route are relentless and the most dangerous is known as The Bottleneck, located just 1,300 feet below the summit. It is a narrow couloir, overhung by dangerous seracs – blocks of glacial ice which can topple and kill without warning. Climbers must expose themselves to these seracs for over 300 feet as they traverse the Bottleneck. The K2 Bottleneck was one of the main culprits in the most deadly single accident in the history of the mountain. It occurred in 2008 – during what is known as the 2008 K2 Disaster.

Above the bottleneck

The K2 climbing season typically lasts from June to August but in 2008, the weather prevented any summit attempts in June or July. Ten different groups of climbers were waiting for the weather to give them a window of opportunity. It looked like this opportunity would arrive around August 1st. The day before, July 31st, several groups made it to Camp IV and decided to team up for an August 1st summit attempt. There were a total of 8 different international teams, including an American team. There was also a Pakistani team of HAPs – High Altitude Porters. The most experienced HAP was Shaheen Baig, who had successfully climbed K2 in 2004. Unfortunately, he was suffering from severe high altitude sickness and had to descend. His leadership and knowledge would be greatly missed as the HAPs, along with some Sherpas who were a part of the South Korean team, were in charge of fixing lines before the final summit push.

As it turned out, the team of HAPs and Sherpas planted the lines too low on the mountain, right above Camp IV, where they were not needed and ran out of rope closer to the Bottleneck, where they were definitely needed. After departing for the summit around 3:00 AM, the climbers saw the problem and were forced to remove the lower ropes themselves in order to install them again above the Bottleneck. This caused a massive delay and several climbers made the right judgment call and abandoned the summit attempt immediately and return to Camp IV. This included Dr. Eric Meyer and Swedish climber Frederick Strang, who knew the conditions were not satisfactory for a successful summit and safe return. A few other climbers continued on before also making the decision to also turn back.

Frederick Strang

Around 8:00 AM, climbers were nearing the Bottleneck and entering into the Death Zone, the first tragedy of the day struck. Serbian climber Dren Mandic lost his balance while attempting to pass another climber and fell 328 feet down the Bottleneck. Some of his fellow Serbian climbers attempted to rescue him but when they arrived at his location, he was pronounced dead. Frederick Strang and a HAP from the French Team, Jehan Baig, helped the Serbian climbers carry the body back to Camp IV. Jehan was likely suffering from high altitude sickness and was acting strange, oftentimes incoherent. At one point, he lost his footing and started to slide. Instead of self-arresting himself using an ice-axe – he just slid on for dozens of feet before dropping off the side of the mountain, plunging to his death.

Now with two climbers dead, extreme delays, and a traffic jam building up at the Bottleneck, the obvious move was to completely abort the expedition and have all climbers return to Camp IV. Instead, most climbers continued on – apparently with some form of summit fever. One who did not, French Climber Nicholas Rice, knew instinctively that the mission was already a failure and he turned back. “Someone had just died on the route I was attempting to climb,” he said. “Clearly the ropes weren’t fixed correctly, and I wasn’t going to risk that. K2 is already the hardest mountain to climb in the world. You don’t need any added difficulties.”

Nicholas Rice

Unfortunately, many other climbers continued on, despite the tragedies that already occurred and the very late time. Most of the climbers who reached the summit did not do so until around 8 PM, much later than the typical 3-5 PM normal sumitting window. The only summiter who did not have problems on the way down was Spaniard Alberto Zerain, who departed earlier than the others and reached the summit at 3PM. As for the others, they were forced to descent in darkness. It was a true recipe for disaster and disaster is exactly what was about to occur as members of the Norwegian group were navigating the traverse leading to the Bottleneck when a sarac broke off from above. It cut the fixed lines and swept 33-year old Rolf Bae, who had turned back 330 feet short of the summit, off the mountain to his death.

The rest of the Norwegian group which included Bae’s wife made it back to Camp IV, but now with the fixed lines destroyed and ice chunks scattered everywhere, the Bottleneck would be even more difficult if not impossible to traverse for those who still needed to descent through it. Panic broke out among those climbers who still needed to traverse the Bottleneck. A few brave souls attempted to descent in darkness with no fixed ropes or fall protection devices and somehow made it back to Camp IV, thanks in part to assistance from Sherpas who were scheduled to summit the following day. They climbed the mountain to assist those descending.

Unfortunately, more death could not be avoided and 61-year old Frechman Hugues D'Aubarède, who had already attempted K2 Twice and was going for it one last time, decided to attempt the descent in darkness. He had run out of oxygen and needed to get down as soon as possible. Another climber who tried to descend as well, Norit's Cas van de Gevel, witnessed who he believed to be D’Auberede fall to his death. The death toll was now at four and this was only the beginning.

At least eight climbers were still above the bottleneck and, unable to find any of the fixed ropes which had of course been swept away by the broken sarac, they decided to bivouac there. Dutch mountaineer Wilco van Rooijen’s vision was deteriorating by the next morning and he was the next to attempt a descent. He passed a group of three climbers – two Korean men along with their guide Sherpa Jumik Bhote, tangled in ropes off of a ledge, bloodied but alive. There are some claims that Bhote was not part of the 3-man entanglement and that all 3 were Koreans. Either way, Van Rooijen could only hand them an extra pair of gloves and continue his descent. His life depended on continuing to move. Two other climbers encountered the men on their way down – Irishman Ger McDonnell and Italian Marco Confortola. According to Confortola, they tried to free them, but McDonnell started to climb back up the mountain in an apparent delusional state due to high-altitude sickness. Confortola kept trying for hours, but was unable to free the Korean men and continued to descend when an avalanche struck just above him. Confortola said he saw a body in the rubble of the avalanche that belonged to McDonnell.

Wilco Van Rooijen

However, a later transmission stated that some one whose description matched that of McDonnell was killed by another serac fall. At this point, the memories of the survivors conflict and Van Rooijen believed that McDonnell did not climb the mountain deliriously but was still trying to help free the tied up men even after Confortola continued his descent. What was the true story? Later accounts, supported by photographs taken by Sherpa Pemba Gyalje, indicate that it was McDonnell who tried to rescue the tied-up men and likely succeeded. Whatever the case, McDonnell never made it off the mountain. That’s five dead. And there were more avalanches and serac falls – the total amount is unclear. Pakistani climber Karim Meherban perished in one of them above the bottleneck. Six dead. Then, five more climbers including the three tangled-up men, were swept off the mountain in one massive icefall. One of the Sherpa had climbed up the mountain to assist in the rescue. That brought the total amount of dead climbers to 11 – the deadliest single disaster in K2’ s history. The position of the bodies of the tied-up men after being swept off the mountain indicate that they were freed from the ropes before their deaths, supporting van Rooijen and Pemba’s accounts of events.

Wilco Van Rooijen lost all his toes but somehow survived and is one of an extremely small number of people to survive two nights in the Death Zone. Confortola also survived and went on to tell the stories of him saving others, spending hours trying to help the 3 entangled men and how the hypoxic McDonnell climbed back up the mountain in confusion. As mentioned, the stories have been brought into serious question. What is known for sure is that eleven cilmbers died – way more than should have. The Pakistani military started a rescue operation early on 4 August 2008, using two helicopters. They rescued several remaining climbers.

As often happens, after years of training and then months of excruciating effort to get within feet of the summit, it’s hard to just turn back and give up. However, after the time lost in having to readjust the ropes and especially after the tragic falling death of Dren Mandic, the entire mission should have been scrapped. Instead, climbers kept pushing on despite more and more deaths piling up until, in the end, it’s almost a miracle only eleven died. Among the dead were people from France, Ireland, Korea, Nepal, Norway, Pakistan, and Serbia. After the 2008 disaster, there were zero successful summits of K2 during 2009 or 2010, although some – such as Swedish mountaineer Fredrik Ericsson – died trying. As of February, 2021, only 377 people have reached the summit of K2. There have been 91 deaths.