'A Freakishly Dangerous Form of Munro-bagging'

Following on from last week's newspaper features on the recent tragic events on K2, that killed eleven climbers, last weekend's Observer Sports Monthly magazine carried a typically well-researched and very readable analysis of the events by specialist mountaineering writer Ed Douglas.

Drawing on firsthand accounts of the incidents, Douglas deftly untangles a spider's web of individual happenings and misjudgements and pulls them together to give a clear idea of what happened on the world's most dangerous mountain in early August 2008.

Despite early reports which focussed in a serac collapse high on the mountain, Douglas's article suggests that the problems began far earlier when a mix-up between different teams on the mountain and possibly also between Nepalese Sherpas and Pakistani porters, led either to ropes being fixed at the wrong point in the Bottleneck section of the climb high on the mountain or simply sub-standard rope and anchors being employed.

The end result was delay of several hours, which meant that many of the 20 plus climbers heading for the summit were well behind schedule and descending while tired too late in the day. What prevented them from descending, says Douglas, wasn't the serac collapse - even though some ropes had been swept away - but the darkness they found themselves in thanks to the earlier delays.

It's darkly fascinating reading and interestingly, also makes the point that while K2 is undoubtedly difficult and dangerous - far more so than Everest for example - is no longer a venue for cutting edge climbers:

'As it happens, those mountaineers breaking new ground are rarely found on K2 these days. They do not rely on ropes fixed to the mountain by someone else. They do not use porters. K2 was first climbed as long ago as 1954 via the Abruzzi Spur. It's tough, it's dangerous even by Himalayan standards, and it gets respect from the very best. But standards have moved on since 1954. A lot.'

The interest in the 8,000ers, he attributes to Messner's feat of climbing all 14, sparking what he calls 'a freakishly dangerous form of Munro-bagging' that's lodged in the public imagination.

Well worth a read if you have a spare ten minutes or so - www.guardian.co.uk