Mountaineering

Mountains and Peaks- “ The Big 5”

Pakistan has five of the fourteen 8000-meter peaks in the world- K2, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum (Hidden Peak), Broad Peak and the Gasherbrum II. K2, in the Karakorams, is the second highest peak of the world, and Nanga Parbat in the western Himalayas the 9th highest but also the most difficult and the treacherous mountain in the world. It is also called ‘The Killer Mountain.’ The 7000-meter peaks in Pakistan number over 80, several among them unnamed.

K1, K2, K3…

It was in 1856 Capt. Montgomerie of the great trigonometric Survey of Britain saw a cluster of high peaks from a point 137 miles away, and entered them as K1, K2, K3 and so on. ‘K’ stands for Karakoram Range. The peak labeled K1 was visible from several villages and was called Masherbrum. K3, K4 and K5 are collectively called Gasherbrum. But no established name was then known for the K2, so the mountain continued to be known by its symbol. The only local name for the K2 is Chogori, which means ‘Great Mountain’.

These prestigious mountains invite the wholehearted individuals and enthusiastic teams for weeklong or month long expeditions.