Broadsheets On K2 Tragedy

The recent tragedy on K2, when eleven climbers were killed in the aftermath of what appears to have been a serac collapse high on the mountain has been re-examined by two major British papers, the Guardian last Saturday and today's Independent.

The Guardian piece takes the form of an interview with Dutch survivor Wilco van Rooijen by Simon Hattenstone. Van Rooijen is now back in his native Holland recovering from his ordeal and in particular frostbite damage to his toes, several of which will likely have to be amputated.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the piece seems to focus on the dangers of climbing above anything else - Hattenstone puts it to van Rooijen that climbing 'seems like a death wish' and to be honest, the firsthand description of what went on on K2 doesn't do much to dispel the idea.

It's a harrowing story - at one point he came across 'three Koreans, tangled in their ropes, hanging upside down, dying' - but does at least try to explain the dynamic behind climbing even if Hattenstone, like most non-climbers, clearly has no idea what motivates mountaineers.

Meanwhile, the Independent takes a slightly different tack, trying to piece together what happened through 'from interviews with survivors and other first-hand accounts'. What follows is a detailed, chronological account of the events on the mountain which does, at least explain what happened.

It's a less emotive account than the Guardian interview and less judgmental in the sense that it leaves it to the reader to ask their own questions about high altitude mountaineering and risk.

Both well worth a read.