The highest peak in the Karakoram range is K2, which rises about 8,611 metres above sea level.
K2 lies in the northwestern Karakoram, on the boundary between Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan and China’s Xinjiang region. It is the world’s second-highest mountain after Mount Everest, but its steep faces, severe weather and technical climbing make it widely regarded as more difficult and dangerous to climb.
The name K2 began as a survey label: British surveyor Thomas Montgomerie marked it as the second major peak measured in the Karakoram during the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India. Unlike many neighbouring peaks, no universally accepted local name replaced the designation. It is also called Mount Godwin-Austen or Chhogori.
The first successful ascent came on 31 July 1954, when Italians Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli reached the summit. K2 is sometimes confused with Everest because Everest is higher, but K2 is unquestionably the Karakoram’s highest point.