K2: The Savage Mountain | Summit Fever | 1
Against The Odds
Audible
4.7 • 7.9K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2021
⏱️ 39 minutes
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Summary
In the summer of 2008, mountaineers from eight different countries gather at the foot of the world’s second tallest mountain, K2. All of them have a single goal: reach the summit. But to do that they will need to undertake one most difficult, and dangerous, climbs on earth. Sunny mornings can suddenly transform into white out conditions. Avalanches drop from overhead without warning. The technical challenge is so great, one in four who attempt it won’t come down. But in early August, this doesn’t stop more than two dozen climbers from attempting the feat.
Through a series of unpredictable events, it will become one of the worst climbing disasters in modern times. It will also lead to extraordinary acts of bravery and an epic journey of the human will to survive.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Prime members, you can listen to against the odds at free on Amazon music. Download the app today. |
| 0:17.2 | It's June 5th, early morning, just before dawn. |
| 0:21.2 | Pemba Gildj Sherpa, unzips his tent and steps into the crisp clear air of Basecamp. |
| 0:26.8 | Pemba is 32 years old with broad shoulders and high cheekbones. He's one of the best mountaineers in the entire world. |
| 0:34.8 | He was born in a pall in the shadow of Mount Everest, a mountain he's climbed seven times. |
| 0:40.0 | But Everest is nothing like the mountain he's here to climb now, his first attempt at K2. |
| 0:46.0 | To experience mountaineers, the name incites both excitement and fear. |
| 0:51.9 | One climber wrote, it makes no attempt to sound human. It has the nakedness of the world before the first man, or of the sintered planning after the last. |
| 1:02.4 | K2 is the tallest of the Karakorum range that runs along the China and Pakistan border. |
| 1:07.9 | It's second only to Mount Everest in height, but unlike Everest, which has flat sections, K2 is almost an entirely vertical climb. |
| 1:15.9 | From its base, it rises like a giant pyramid, 28,000 feet in the air, a few thousand feet under the cruising altitude of commercial planes. |
| 1:25.9 | For millions of years, severe storms and high winds have battered its sides, forming deep scars, |
| 1:31.9 | craggy outcroppings and deep valleys filled with ice and snow. |
| 1:35.9 | It is a beautiful mountain, it's a jagged diamond with teeth. |
| 1:39.9 | But most of all, it demands respect. It is the most dangerous climb in the entire world. |
| 1:47.9 | Thousands have reached the peak of Mount Everest, but only 278 have summited K2. |
| 1:53.9 | For that reason, some climbers call K2 the Savage Mountain. |
| 1:58.9 | Pemba doesn't agree. To him, the mountain is beautiful. |
| 2:03.9 | He checks his pack one more time, then makes his way across base camp. The porters and cooks are already preparing breakfast. |
| 2:11.9 | As Pemba passes the mess tent, he catches a whiff of freshly brewed coffee. |
| 2:15.9 | Saves him tea for me, he calls. Pemba was the first to arrive at base camp this year, along with his team. |
| 2:21.9 | They're called the Dutch International Expedition, or NORT team. |
... |
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