K2 (named for initially being thought to be the second highest peak in the Karakorum mountain range) is the second highest mountain in the world, after Mount Everest. It has a peak elevation of 28,251 feet (8,611m). Located on the Pakistani-Chinese border, it is nicknamed the “Savage Mountain” due to the severe weather conditions that have often caused problems for mountaineering expeditions. Indeed, for every four people that have tried to climb it, one has died trying. Of the mere 302 who have summited K2, at least 80 have been killed. The first successful ascent was in 1954, and initially had twelve climbers on board. Ultimately however, only two team members were able to summit, after one died after 40 days on the mountain and betrayal amongst the group compromised the rest of the expedition. Since then, there have been many other attempts to reach the summit of K2, although some have ended in tragedy, most notably in the 1986 and 2008 disasters, which had a bodycount of 24 combined.
Paul Kirby lied about climbing K2 with his wife Amanda (along with a variety of other ‘adventure tours’) in order to convince Dr. Alan Grant to accompany them to Isla Sorna. Soon after the “guided tour” of the island went horribly awry, Billy Brennan tricked Paul into accidentally admitting that he had never actually climbed the mountain by asking him if he had set up basecamp at twenty-five or thirty thousand feet. He incorrectly replied with thirty thousand, which is actually around one thousand feet above the summit.
