Great mountain - savage mountain

The local people call her "Great Mountain" but with a fatality rate 3 times greater than Everest, many mountaineers refer to K2 as "Savage Mountain" and few in the climbing world would have been surprised when she claimed at least another 11 lives on Saturday.    With the fixed ropes taken out by a falling chunk of ice, and some climbers swept away by the resultant avalanche, already exhausted climbers descending from the summit were trapped in the "death zone" (above 8000m altitude where there is insufficient oxygen in the atmosphere to sustain human life).
Almost two thousand people have summited Everest whereas less than two hundred have stood atop K2.   Considered 5 times more dangerous than Everest, 27% of K2 climbers (just over 1 in 4) die on the mountain and many regard her as the most difficult mountain in the world to climb.  Lack of infrastructure and entirely unpredictable weather contribute to the already hazardous conditions and in the 2002 and 2003 seasons not one climber managed to reach the summit.
Today helicopter and climbing rescue teams continue to search for missing climbers.   Incredibly Dutch expedition leader, Wilco van Rooijen, was found frost bitten but alive after 3 nights exposure on the high slopes and we hope and pray more climbers will be rescued.
One thing is certain, though, mountaineers will continue to attempt to summit that "Great Mountain" while non-climbers shake their heads and wonder why anyone would choose to pit themselves again such terrifying odds.