On the 1954 Italian expedition to K2 (led by Ardito Desio), Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli became the first people to reach the summit of K2, , the second-highest mountain in the world. They reached the summit on 31 July 1954. K2 is more difficult to climb than Mount Everest, , which had first been climbed by a British expedition in 1953.
Three earlier unsuccessful American attempts on the mountain had identified a good route to use. Desio felt Italy's earlier exploration of the Karakoram region gave good reason to mount a major expedition which he did on a grand scale, following the American route up the south-east ridge. Progress towards the summit was repeatedly interrupted by storms, and one member of the team died rather unexpectedly. Desio considered abandoning the expedition so as to try again by returning later in the year, but weather conditions improved allowing them to edge closer to the top of the mountain. At last, the two lead climbers reached the summit as the sun was about to set and they had to descend in the dark. They and two colleagues went on to suffer from severe frostbite.
The fact that the summit had been reached was never doubted – Compagnoni and Lacedelli had been seen by their colleagues near the summit and they had taken photographs and even a movie film from the top – but all the same the expedition became mired in argument. After a prolonged controversy, the official 1954 account of the expedition eventually became discredited, and a second official account was published in 2007 which largely confirmed the claims another member of the expedition, Walter Bonatti, had been making for over fifty years.
Background K2 K2 is on the border between China and what was, in 1954, the newly independent Pakistan. At , it is the highest point of the Karakoram range and the second-highest mountain in the world. The mountain had been spotted in 1856 by the Great Trigonometrical Survey to Kashmir, and by 1861 Henry Godwin-Austen had reached the Baltoro Glacier and was able to get a clear view of K2 from the slopes of Masherbrum. He could see that the descending glacier eventually drained to the Indus River, so the mountain was in the British Empire.
The first serious attempt to climb the mountain was in 1902 by a party including Aleister Crowley, who later became notorious as "the Wickedest Man in the World". The expedition examined ascent routes both north and south of the mountain and made best progress up the north-east ridge before they were forced to abandon their efforts. Since that time, K2 has developed the reputation of being a more difficult mountain to climb than Mount Everest – every route to the summit is tough. K2 is farther north than the Himalayan mountains so the climate is colder; the Karakoram range is wider than the Himalayan so more ice and snow is trapped there.
Before the successful Italian ascent, the expedition that had previously climbed highest on K2 had been the 1939 American Karakoram expedition which reached .
Previous Italian expeditions in the Baltoro Muztagh Karakoram In 1890, Roberto Lerco entered the Baltoro Muztagh region of the Karakoram. He reached the foot of K2 and may even have climbed a short way up its south-east spur, but he did not leave an account of his journey.
In 1909, the Duke of the Abruzzi expedition again explored various routes before reaching about on the south-east ridge before deciding the mountain was unclimbable. This route later became known as the Abruzzi Ridge (or Abruzzi Spur) and eventually became regarded as the standard route to the summit.
In 1929, Aimone di Savoia-Aosta, the nephew of the Duke of the Abruzzi, led an expedition to explore the upper Baltoro Glacier, near to K2. The geologist on the party was Ardito Desio, and he came to feel that there was an Italian claim for attempts on the mountain. It was only in 1939 that Desio could interest Italy's governing body for mountaineering, the Club Alpino Italiano (CAI), but World War II and the Partition of India delayed things further. Later, in 1952, Desio travelled to Pakistan as a preliminary for leading a full expedition in 1953 only to discover that the Americans had already booked the single climbing permit for that year. He returned in 1953 with Riccardo Cassin to reconnoitre the lower slopes of K2. At that time, Cassin was the greatest Italian mountaineer there had been, and yet in Desio's report of the reconnaissance, Cassin is not mentioned except to say "I had chosen Ricardo Cassin, a climber, to whose travelling expenses the Italian Alpine Club had generously contributed". It was only after his return to Italy that Desio heard he had been granted the permit for the 1954 summit attempt.
Preparation for 1954 expedition In Rawalpindi, at the start of his 1953 visit to Pakistan, Desio had met Charlie Houston, leader of the unsuccessful 1953 American Karakoram expedition who was returning from K2. On both the 1938 expedition and the 1953 expedition, Houston had climbed the entire Abruzzi Ridge, scaling its most difficult cliffs, House's Chimney, and had been able to reach about from where a feasible route to the summit could be observed. Even though the American was planning another attempt on the summit for 1954, he was generous in sharing his experience and photographs with Desio, an obvious rival.
Desio planned a far larger expedition than the American ones – the cost estimate of 100 million lira (equivalent to US$ million in ) was eight times greater than Houston's and three times greater than the successful 1953 British Everest expedition. It was sponsored by the CAI and it became a matter of national prestige, also involving the Italian Olympic Committee and the Italian National Research Council. The French success on Annapurna in 1950 and British success on Mount Everest in 1953 had had immense impacts in their respective countries. Desio wrote "the expedition will of necessity be organised along military lines"; as in the 1950 French Annapurna expedition, the Italian climbers were all required to formally pledge allegiance to their leader, Desio. Scientific research – geography and geology – was to be as important as reaching the top of the mountain. Indeed, it seems that Desio, professor of geology at Milan, held climbers in rather low regard.
There were to be eleven climbers, all of them Italian, none of whom had been to Himalaya before: Enrico Abram (32 years), Ugo Angelino (32), Walter Bonatti (24), Achille Compagnoni (40), Cirillo Floreanini (30), Pino Gallotti (36), Lino Lacedelli (29), Mario Puchoz (36), Ubaldo Rey (31), Gino Soldà (47) and (26). There were ten Pakistani Hunza high-altitude porters, with Amir Mahdi (41) turning out to be the most prominent. Also on the team was a filmmaker, , and a team doctor, Guido Pagani. The scientific team, in addition to Desio (who was 57 years old), comprised Paolo Graziosi (ethnographer), (geophysicist), (petrologist), and Francesco Lombardi (topographer). Muhammad Ata-Ullah was the Pakistani liaison officer. Riccardo Cassin, the pre-eminent Italian Alpinist, had been nominated by the CAI as climbing leader but, after Desio's rigorous selection procedures, he was rejected, supposedly on medical grounds, though it was speculated that it had really been to avoid Desio being outshone.
The plan was for nearly of fixed nylon ropes to be placed up the complete length of the Abruzzi Ridge and some way beyond and, where possible, loads on sledges were to be winched along these ropes. Each camp was to be fully established before the next higher camp was occupied. Open-circuit oxygen systems were used and members were equipped with two-way radio.
The expedition left Italy by air in April 1954 and the baggage, which went by sea, arrived in Karachi on 13 April and then travelled by rail to Rawalpindi.
Official published accounts of the climb
Desio wrote the official account of the ascent in his 1954 book La Conquista del K2, but this account was disputed over many years by Bonatti and, eventually, Lacedelli and others. That Compagnoni and Lacedelli had reached the summit of K2 was not in dispute – at issue was the extent to which they had depended on support from other climbers high on the mountain, how they had treated Bonatti and Madhi, whether they used oxygen all the way to the top, and whether Desio's book was accurate and fair. The matter became increasingly controversial with a great deal of press criticism, often uninformed. Desio died in 2001 at the age of 104 and, eventually, in 2004 the CAI appointed three experts, called "" (the three wise men), to investigate. They produced a 39-page report in April 2004, but the CAI delayed until 2007 its publication of K2 – Una Storia Finita which included and accepted the report.
The account of the climb given here is based on recent sources which have been able to take into account the CAI's second official report, K2 – Una Storia Finita (2007). The scientific (geographical and geological) aspects of the expedition are not covered nor is the controversy which went on for over fifty years after the return to Italy.
Approach to K2
After delays due to poor weather, on 27 April the expedition flew by DC-3 from Rawalpindi to Skardu. Desio took the opportunity of using the aircraft to survey the region's topography and snow conditions, which seemed similar to those in Houston's photographs of the previous year. The mountains were higher than the aircraft's service ceiling so they needed to circumnavigate K2. The scientific party then departed on their separate itinerary. Five hundred locally appointed Balti porters carried over of equipment, including 230 oxygen cylinders, via Askole and Concordia towards Base Camp on the Godwin-Austen Glacier.
Between Skardu and Askole several bridges had been built in the previous year so this part of the journey was much quicker than before. After Askole they were unable to buy food locally for the porters so they needed to hire another hundred men simply to carry flour for the main porters to make their chapatis. So as to minimise weight, Desio had provided little for the porters apart from food, a blanket each, and tarpaulins to be used as tents. They had no protective clothes. Unfortunately there was bad weather – snow as well as heavy rain whereas the previous year the weather had been fine and sunny – the porters started refusing to go on, even after being offered backsheesh. At Urdukas 120 porters turned back and the others halted – next morning some porters wandered back down and nobody would proceed. On Ata-Ullah's advice the sahibs went on ahead and, for a while, the porters disconsolately followed at a distance. Then there was a critical problem. The sun came out and, with it shining on the snow, the porters were struck with snow blindness. Snow goggles had been brought for them but half of them had been left behind to save weight. When eventually only one porter remained with the party they had to recruit fresh porters from back at Askole. By the time they had struggled to get Base Camp established on 28 May they had been delayed by fifteen days.
Line of ascent of K2
The route to be taken was the same as for the American expeditions with camps planned for similar locations. Locations of camps on mountain Camp Altitude Established Location metres feet Base 16,400 28 May Godwin-Austen Glacier I 17,700 30 May foot of Abruzzi Ridge II 19,900 2 June sheltered spot on Ridge III 20,700 IV 21,150 16 June below House's Chimney V 22,000 4 July right above House's Chimney, start of sharp part of Ridge VI 23,300 7 July base of Black Tower (or Pyramid) VII 7,345 26 July above Ridge and below Shoulder at VIII 7,627 28 July foot of ice wall overlooking a crevasse IX 8,150 30 July above rocky slabs near start of Bottleneck Summit 28,251 31 July