The love of the summit

There's something so majestic about a mountain that from childhood you can see its there in each of our drawings. That jagged peak which has a snow-cap with nothing coming even close to its beauty. I've been trying to understand over the past few days, as to what exactly is it that takes over a man to climb something which is so dangerous that people give you better odds at winning a russian roulette than climbing one of those. And am talking specifically about THE MOST DANGEROUS summit as of today. And its not the everest, but its li'l brother K2 which steals this dubious award. Statistics speak for themselves, a 1in 4 probability that you would die, a slightly better chance that you would safely come down after a successful summit, and a nickname of "killer of women" due to some even more treacherous statistics. This is not for the faint hearted, this is actually for those who truly believe that they need to push their bodies to the extreme limits and to rise in the face of imminent death. 
Among elite climbers dispute exist even today about which is the most difficult mountain on the planet, expert opinion is divided between Annapura and K2, but from a strictly technical standpoint, K2 shows the greatest difficulty in escalation. Even the easiest route to climb, consists of crossing a complicated high-altitude Alpine glacier. Here's a small description of what the Camp4 to Summit journey holds at K2 
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Final Climbing Dangers

The summit, 12 to 24 hours away depending on weather and physical condition, is roughly 2,100 vertical feet (650 meters) above Camp 4 perched on The Shoulder. Most climbers leave Camp 4 between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Now the prospective K2 climber faces his greatest and most dangerous alpine challenges. The climbing route up the Abruzzi Spur from here to the summit is fraught with perilous dangers that can kill him in an instant. These dangers include the extreme oxygen-depleted altitude, fickle and frigid weather including strong winds and bone-chilling temperatures, hard-packed snow and ice, and the danger of falling ice from a looming serac.

The Bottleneck

Next the K2 climber heads up steepening snow slopes to the infamous Bottleneck, a narrow 300-foot couloir of ice and snow as steep as 80 degrees at 26,900 feet (8,200 meters). Above overhangs the 300-foot-high (100 meter) ice cliffs of a hanging glacier clinging to the ridge just below the summit. The Bottleneck has been the scene of many tragic deaths, including several in 2008 when the serac broke loose, raining huge chunks of ice on climbers and sweeping away fixed ropes, marooning climbers above the couloir. Climb challenging and steep ice up The Bottleneck with your crampon front points to a tricky and delicate traverse left on steep 55-degree snow and ice below the serac. A thin fixed rope is often left on the traverse and in The Bottleneck to allow climbers to safely ascend this section and to quickly descend out of danger.

To the Summit

After the long ice traverse below the serac, the route ascends 300 feet up steep wind-packed snow to the final summit ridge. This ice-enameled helmet is not a place to linger. Several climbers, including the great British alpinist Alison Hargreaves and five companions in 1995, were swept off this snow helmet by gale-force winds to icy oblivion. Now all that remains is a sharp snowy ridge that climbs 75 feet to the airy 28,253-foot (8,612-meter) summit of K2-the second highest point on the earth's surface."

Such treacherous paths await those who decide that life isnt just fun when you watch Salman khan talk about the History Channels. I truly believe that I understand what must be going through all those men who climbed through K2, Everest and Annapurna and survived or those who dint, because it truly is a way of immortalizing yourself. To challenge your body to achieve that which very few dare and even fewer succeed.
Here's wishing a successful trip to all those who are planning a Everest or K2 this season and every other season in the future, and wish that all are able to return safely and successfully 

For a chillling tale of the Horror that was 2008 at K2 please read this article

I leave you with the image which brings out the true fright of K2 for me