The most dangerous mountain on Earth | K2

K2. At 28,251 feet, or 8,611 meters, K2 is the second highest mountain on Earth. But if you ask anyone who knows anything about mountains, K2 is the true king of the 8,000 meter peaks. The little bit that it lacks in height is more than made up for in every other respect that makes a mountain difficult and dangerous. The slopes are steeper, the weather is worse, and the climbing is more technical. It's for this reason that despite having less than a tenth of the ascents of Everest, K2 has more than a third of the deaths. So in this video, we're going to look at why K2 is considered one of the most difficult and dangerous mountains on Earth, and the impossible first attempts to conquer it. Today's video is sponsored by Babbel, one of the top language learning apps in the world. If you've been following my channel long enough, you probably know I'm Canadian, and because of this, I took French in school for many, many years. Around a year ago, when Babbel first reached out to me, and after years of being out of school, I could barely put together a single sentence anymore because of how out of practice I was. This was honestly a bit of a bummer because of how much time and effort it took to learn French in the first place. This is why I've been thrilled to work with Babbel over the past little while. Their lessons are all designed by real language teachers. This means you go through a variety of different ways to learn the same concepts, like matching words with definitions, spelling words out, using the correct grammar, and even practicing your pronunciation with Babbel's speech recognition, just like this. So not only does it really accelerate your learning and enable you to have real-world conversations, but it's actually a fun way to learn, which obviously just makes it that much easier to go through the lessons. And the best part about this is that when I'm away from my computer, I can do all the lessons from the Babbel app on my phone. So I'm curious to hear what languages all of you would want to learn, because right now Babbel is offering 60% off a subscription for all scare-interesting viewers, and this comes with a 20-day money-back guarantee, so there's no risk in giving it a try with the link in the description below. Despite being almost a thousand feet lower than Mount Everest, K2 is unanimously known for being a far greater challenge. It's often even called the most difficult or most dangerous mountain on Earth. But in reality, definitively calling one mountain the most difficult is a tricky thing to quantify. There are a variety of factors that can be used to justify this ranking, like how remote the mountain is, how steep the routes are, how technical the climbing is, how much vertical distance there is to be travelled, or even how much of the climb is above the death zone, and the list goes on and on. And obviously, every mountain varies in its ranking in each of these categories, so then it becomes a question of how you average that out and how much weight you assign to each category, which doesn't really help to clarify the issue either. So another way to look at this is to take the number of successful ascents and compare it to the number of people who have died trying. Using these figures, there are three mountains among the 14 8000m peaks that seem to be more dangerous than the rest, again looking solely at this metric. In third is Nanga Parbat, with a death to ascent rate of roughly 20%, second is K2, with a death to ascent rate of roughly 26%, and first is Annapurna 1, with a death to ascent rate of 32%. If we focus only on this metric, it seems fairly cut and dry that Annapurna is the most dangerous, but taking a closer look, there's still more to the story. First is that Annapurna is by far the least ascended, at close to a third less than any of the other 8000m peaks. You would expect that as more people attempt a mountain, the route and technique to climb it are refined, increasing the likelihood of success and decreasing the likelihood of catastrophic failure. It's possible Annapurna simply hasn't been climbed enough for those numbers to reflect its true difficulty, and those numbers are currently inflated as a result. In support of this idea is the fact that between 2012 and 2022, the rate of deaths to ascents on Annapurna fell below that of K2. It's likely that these numbers will continue to shift around even further as each route is practiced and eventually mastered. And finally, complicating things even further, even the mountains themselves are not the same year to year. There are years when the weather is worse, or the routes are worse, with more snow and ice, which further changes the difficulty on a yearly basis. All of this is to say that it might be impossible to definitively say which mountain is the most dangerous or the most difficult. The best we can really do is say that on average, K2 seems to be close to the top, and many of the world's best climbers share this sentiment. So putting the rankings aside, here is what we know for sure about K2 that has given it such a fearsome reputation. K2 is the second highest mountain, meaning that the amount of death zone climbers need to travel through is second only to Everest. K2 is also remote, there are few towns or roads nearby, so getting to the base is a challenge all on its own, let alone with tons of gear. It's also the farthest north of any of the 8,000 meter peaks, meaning it's colder and the weather is worse. It's also known for being unrelentingly steep, with any route up averaging 45 degrees from the base all the way to the summit. It also has an increased risk of avalanches and rockfalls. Apparently on Everest it's common not to wear your helmet most of the time. On K2 it's the exact opposite, from the moment you're at the base your helmet is on and on permanently. Camping is also worse on K2, because there are far fewer flat open areas to even place tents. As you ascend higher this only gets worse, and it's not uncommon for tents to be partially hanging over an edge. And while you're in your tent, you're still often at risk of rockfalls from above. The routes themselves are also narrower, sometimes just wide enough for a footpath, often on slippery rock and ice. In the event that something does go wrong, this makes rescues a nightmare. There is barely enough room to walk, let alone carry someone down. And the final piece to illustrate all of this in combination is that sometimes years go by with no successful ascents. This is in contrast to Everest, where there are hundreds of ascents yearly. Sometimes on K2 there are only deaths, and this was especially true in the early attempts. The Great Trigonometrical Survey was a project undertaken at the beginning of the 1800s to survey the entire Indian subcontinent with scientific precision. By the mid-1800s it reached Karakorum, which is the mountain range that K2 is a part of. In 1856 the two most prominent peaks in the area were sketched and given the names Karakorum I and Karakorum II, or K1 and K2. If you remember from the Mount Everest video, unlike other colonial pursuits, local names were used for mountains whenever possible. Because K2 is so remote, there were no towns or even trade routes that got close enough to see it, at least from the Indian side. Because of this, it was never given a name by the local populace, so the original survey name K2 stuck. For decades afterward, as mountaineering was developing in Europe, there were no attempts or even expeditions in the area. Toward the end of the century though, attention slowly shifted to the so-called Roof of the World, where all of the 8000m peaks were still unclimbed. The first expedition to even attempt to get close to K2 was in 1892 when a British explorer led a group to a point now known as Concordia, which is about 8 hours from the base. This was, at the time, the closest anyone had ever come to the mountain, at least that we know of. Then in 1902, close to 50 years after it was first surveyed, the first true attempt was made to reach the summit. This was an international expedition which approached from the north side in China and ascended the northeast ridge to a height of 21,400 feet, or 6,525 meters. On this first attempt, the true logistical nightmare it is to even reach K2 was realized. Apparently, from the closest populated area it took 14 days of trekking just to reach the base. They would then go on to spend 68 days on this attempt and make 5 separate pushes, but of the over 2 months they were there, there were only 8 days of clear weather. This expedition would be the first of many failures to come. The next attempt was by an Italian team in 1909 led by the famous mountaineer and explorer, the Duke of Abruzzi. His team approached from the opposite side and went on to climb the southeast spur, now known as the Abruzzi spur, which is the standard route today. Roughly 75% of attempts are made on this route. It starts at 5,400 meters, or 17,700 feet, and alternates between steep technical rock climbing and snow and ice fields. Almost immediately, this route proved to be too difficult for the Duke's team, so they descended and scouted around for something easier. Unfortunately, every other route seemed to be even more challenging, so they simply declared that K2 was unclimbable and left for something easier. So for almost 2 decades after this declaration, not a single attempt was made on the second highest mountain on Earth. That was until the American Alpine Club held their annual meeting in 1937. During the meeting, a plan was proposed to perform a reconnaissance of K2 in 1938 and even a possible attempt afterward. If an attempt wasn't practical that year after the reconnaissance, they would return for a true attempt the following year in 1939. Most of the members of the club were strongly in support of this idea, so an application was submitted and the expedition was planned. For food, they would bring 50 pounds of pemmican, which is a mix of tallow, dried meat, and sometimes dried berries. This fatty mixture would be the bulk of their calories. On top of that, they planned to bring dried fruit and vegetables, which were becoming available by then, along with biscuits, cereal, and powdered milk. For equipment, in contrast to today's crampons, they would have boots that had nails sticking out of the bottom for grip. Their ropes would be hemp and manila instead of modern nylon, and their ice axes would have a wooden shaft and a steel head. Once the equipment was ready and the plans were finalized, they set sail from New York on April 14th for Mumbai, India. About a month later, on May 9th, they reached the north end of modern day Pakistan. Then, just northeast of there, they arrived in the town of Weil, which was at the time the end of the road. This meant they now had to walk the remaining 360 miles or 580 kilometers to reach K2. To carry all of their gear, they hired 100 porters and initially set off with 25 ponies. When the terrain became too difficult for the ponies, they were replaced with more porters. At some point as well, they hired some established Sherpas. To make a quick distinction, porters are locals from the area who are only hired to carry equipment to the destination. Sherpas, on the other hand, are a Tibetan-Nepali ethnic group who lived for thousands of years on the plateaus of the Himalayas. They are used to both the altitude and the challenges of navigating the steep terrain, and the ones who get hired are the ones who specifically choose to pursue a career in mountain climbing. They are both fit enough to carry large amounts of gear at altitude, and skilled enough to handle themselves on a mountain. They generally take over for the porters when the climbing is too difficult, but gear still needs to be brought up and down between camps. Another month later, on June 12th, the expedition arrived at base camp on the Godwin-Austin Glacier at 16,600 feet or 5,100 meters. This is when the true challenge began. The remaining just 11,000 feet on their transcontinental trip was sheer, unclimbed rock and ice. The porters were then given their pay and told to come back in 45 days with the next load of gear. Afterward, the team spent several weeks traveling around and scouting different routes, because at the time it still wasn't clear what the best plan of attack was. Although the Abruzzi route is the traditional route today, it wasn't the intuitive choice. From down below, the team could see that all the rocks seemed to slope downward. This makes for poor footing and dangerous camping. However, eventually a small saddle was spotted on July 2nd where tents could be placed for a second camp, and so the team decided this was the route they would take. Like the expedition from decades earlier, it was more of a least bad option than a great one. From base camp, they traveled up to the base of the Abruzzi and established camp 2 at 17,700 feet on July 3rd. For the next two days, the American climbers led the way in fixed ropes and established a route while the Sherpas carried gear up and down. Pitons were crucial for securing some of the steeper and icier sections, but this was still incredibly difficult work. Modern ascenders hadn't been invented yet, so knots in the rope were used instead. To really put this into context, an ascender is a device with a handle that slides freely up the rope. Importantly though, it only slides freely in one direction. It clamps down when traveling the opposite direction, so you slide it up and then you can pull yourself up with the handle, really simplifying the climbing. Without these, the climbers used knots in the rope instead, which had to have been significantly more difficult than a solid metal handle. In any case, two days later on July 5th, camp 3 was established at 20,700 feet. Then, due to several days of bad weather, it wouldn't be all the way until on July 13th that they established camp 4. This camp was close to an area now known as House's Chimney. This is essentially an 80-foot vertical cliff at 21,500 feet. It's so steep and challenging that it took the first man two and a half hours to climb it. Because their soft metal pitons weren't sufficient on the hard rock, he had to essentially free climb the entire section as well. Even once it was ascended for the first time and ropes were set up, it was still impossible to climb it carrying any gear. So the team would end up needing to create a rope system to airlift all of their gear over it instead. After a day of carrying gear up this cliff, camp 5 was established across a snowfield near the top of the chimney. Then, several days later, camp 6 was established on July 19th at 23,300 feet or 7,100 meters at the base of an area now known as the Black Pyramid. This is an area of a thousand feet of dark rock that's steep and technical and was one of the areas they were worried about when they were scouting. Almost three weeks into their attempt as well, they had only about 10 days of food and fuel left. If the weather got bad higher up, which it was likely to do with the monsoon season approaching, they might get stuck for long enough that they could run out of food. Because of this possibility, they decided that the two strongest climbers would push ahead with speed and see how far they could make it. These two climbers made it up the Black Pyramid and then went on to establish camp 7 on the 20th at 24,700 feet. They climbed onward the following day, but by about 5pm one of the men could no longer continue. You have to remember, the entire way they had been struggling up 45 degree or more inclines and below freezing temperatures and often in deep snow. This is in combination with the increase in the thin air, making it more difficult to breathe and making them sicker as they climbed. The high point they reached on this attempt was 26,000 feet or 7,900 meters, just 2,000 feet shy of the top. As they set down, they joined the others and then left the fixed ropes in place to be used the following year. Then they were back at base camp four days later on the 25th of July and then back to the city less than just two weeks later. Following their return, the 1938 Karakorum Expedition was seen as a great success. It was relatively cheap for such an ambitious attempt, they had discovered a feasible route and got close to summit using it, and most importantly there were no deaths or incidents. It just laid the groundwork perfectly for a full attempt the following year. As you might have noticed though, for such a difficult and dangerous mountain, in three attempts not a single casualty was recorded. Unfortunately, the 1938 expedition would be the last to be so fortunate. Right from the beginning, the 1939 expedition was an entirely different experience. In the fall of 1939, leading up to the expedition at the start of the spring, the American economy was doing poorly and getting either public or private funding was impossible. Because of this, the team members chosen had to be individuals who were wealthy enough to pay for themselves. This narrowed the candidates and meant that on average the group wasn't as skilled or as experienced as the group from the year before. On top of this, for reasons that aren't entirely clear, none of the previous year's members were willing to make another attempt. It may have been due to money or time invested or something else, but either way, this meant that apart from some of the Sherpas, it would be an entirely new team. After making all the necessary arrangements and acquiring all the gear, the team members reached the end of the road again in Wael on May 2nd. Shortly after that, they reached base camp at the end of May and as with the year before, the porters were paid off and asked to return on July 23rd. This gave the expedition 53 days to make it to the top of K2 and then back down. After establishing base camp, the team set up camp 1 at the base of the Abruzzi route by June 8th. Thankfully, with the help of the Sherpas who had been on the previous expedition, they planned to use all of the same camps. From camp 1, they pushed onward to camp 2 where over 3,000 pounds of gear was eventually brought up to be distributed further up the mountain. Then they pushed ahead to 3 and then to 4 right below House's Chimney on the 20th of June. On the 21st, their progress was halted when there was a brutal storm on the mountain with 20 degree below freezing temperatures and hurricane force winds. This went on for 8 days until the 29th and in that time, the team could only huddle in their tents and wait it out. As soon as the storm cleared though, they were back at it and fixing ropes up the chimney. After setting up camp 5 above the chimney, they were hit with another storm but even still, by early July, they established camp 6, climbed the Black Pyramid and then set up camp 7. This put them at 24,700 feet or 7,500 meters with only 3,500 feet to go. This also meant they had just under 3 weeks to summit and make it down in time for the arrival of the porters. Unfortunately, this is also when the first of the problems started. Between the incline on the slopes and the storms and clouds, the base camp party didn't think the advance party had gotten very far. In fact, they didn't even think they'd made it up to camp 4. Because of this, they hadn't been moving supplies up and down. This included things like food, rope, fuel and tents, items that are obviously crucial. The team lead eventually even had to descend to see what was going on and upon finding that the camps hadn't been stocked, he descended all the way to camp 2 from camp 7 to find out what was happening. The lower team was obviously surprised and encouraged to hear how far they'd gotten and shortly afterward, the larger team ascended with more gear. By then though, now the people were starting to wear down. They'd spent close to a month at altitude and the symptoms of altitude sickness and exhaustion were starting to become apparent. Some of them were suffering from frostbite and some were becoming so sick they had to be brought down the mountain with the help of the Sherpas. Despite this though, the advance party continued higher, thinking that the supply issues had been resolved. On the 16th, camp 8 was established at 25,300 feet by the team lead, one other American and one Sherpa. This was starting to be high enough that a summit push was within reach. They'd just need one more camp a little higher before they could make the attempt. The following day on the 17th, they set off once again but the other American could no longer continue. The team leader and the Sherpa continued to establish camp 9 while the other men returned to camp 8. Because of their slow progress the day before being held back by the other men, they spent one more day moving camp 9 slightly higher. Then finally on July 19th, the weather was perfect and the summit was just 2,200 feet away. They decided that this was the day they would make an attempt and so at 9am they set off. Although this might seem early, this is actually relatively late on a mountain. You have to account for the time to ascend, the time to descend and any delays because the last thing you want is to have to travel in the dark. On such steep, icy slopes this is obviously incredibly dangerous. A little while later after setting off, they got to an area on K2 that's legendary. This is an area known as the bottleneck. It's a traverse, meaning you travel sideways across the mountain. But because of the formation of the mountain, it's just a narrow sloping path that at some points reaches 60 degrees incline which is treacherous on hard snow and ice. This also means that it's at risk of avalanches and maybe more significant than this is the massive overhanging ice formation above the narrow path. Across the entire traverse you can see the large cracks in the ice above you that could potentially sheer off at any moment. And on top of all of that, it's at 8,200 meters, well into the death zone, so although you might want to travel quickly to get across it as fast as possible, because of the altitude and terrain you have to move slowly and carefully. Even today this is considered the most dangerous point on the entire route. Upon reaching the bottleneck, the team lead looked to the right and worried about the conditions on the traverse. To the left was a rock wall, which at the time seemed to be the better option, so this is the route they chose. They would then go in to climb this wall for 9 straight hours. Between the low air pressure and the Sherpas lack of experience on technical rock, it was a grueling all day climb. And to this day, this is the only time anyone has ever ascended that section. As dangerous as the bottleneck is, it really is the only option on that route, which they must have realized part of the way up the wall. They did finally make it over though, and up to 27,400 feet, leaving just 800 feet left to ascend. It was basically in reach, if not for the fact that it was almost sundown. The team lead wanted to continue, but the Sherpa refused to go any further. After some back and forth, the team lead relented, and so they set back down the wall they had just come up. It had been simultaneously so close, but still so far away in the dark. They finally stumbled back into Camp 9 at 2.30am, both exhausted. At some point during the climb as well, the Sherpa had accidentally dropped both sets of their crampons. Then, because of how difficult the attempt had been, they spent the next day resting in the tent and planned for another attempt the following day. This time, realizing the bottleneck was really the only option, they tried to make the traverse, but without crampons, it was impossible. The snow was too hard, and without proper footing, they risked sliding right off the slope, so once again, they turned back and returned to the safety of Camp 9. As these attempts were being made, and for reasons that are still a bit unclear, the remaining Sherpas didn't continue to bring supplies from the lower camps to the upper camps. In fact, at one point, they even descended and stayed at Camp 4 where the effects of the altitude weren't as bad. On the 18th, so the day before the first summit attempt, two men came up from base camp to where the Sherpas were resting and realized the upper camps hadn't been stocked. It was at this point that they were finally given instructions to keep bringing supplies up. They then went back up to Camp 7 by the 20th, which was the day the advance party was resting following their first attempt. One of the Sherpas then continued to about 500 feet below Camp 8 and shouted ahead several times. Even though the one American team member was still at Camp 8, the Sherpa got no response in return. He also noticed what looked to be signs of a recent avalanche higher up, and so with it being close to a week without contact with the advance party, he made the false assumption that something terrible had happened. He then brought this news down to Camp 7 and told the other Sherpas everyone had been killed. So with only 3 days left until the porters arrived and believing that the advance party had been lost on K2, they decided to descend. And they didn't just descend either, they also began to strip all of the upper camps as they went. Finally on the 23rd they arrived back at the lower camps and everyone realized that no one had contact with the advance party since July 14th over a week prior. Not only that though, but the Sherpas also brought news that everyone in the advance party had been killed by an avalanche. This was a huge shock to the entire group, but unfortunately it couldn't be further from the truth. Days earlier, after making their second unsuccessful attempt, the team leading the Sherpa went down to Camp 8 to get more supplies, still intending to try to make the summit. But when they got back down to Camp 8, they realized the other American Climber was still there, but no one had come to restock anything. By then the man didn't even have matches to let a stove to cook or melt snow for water. Because of this he was in terrible condition. At the same time though, because they desperately needed supplies, they had no choice but to all descend and bring the man with them to Camp 7. In his poor condition, and with frostbitten feet, it was a dangerous descent for all three of them. At one point he even slipped and almost pulled everyone down with him, only to be caught at the last second. The Sherpa would end up with large bruises all around his waist from the rope during the fall. Even still, they all made it down to Camp 7 at sundown, only to find that all of the tents had collapsed under the snow. There were also no mattresses, and food was strewn all over the place. It looked like the camp had been abandoned. Still not realizing that the rest of the team might have misconstrued their absence as an accident, the team lead was sure that there would still be more supplies at Camp 6. He then made the decision to leave the other American man at Camp 7, so he and the Sherpa could descend more quickly. He still intended on summoning as well, so he figured they would be right back up. Then upon reaching Camp 6 and finding it in the same condition, in disbelief, they went from camp to camp down the mountain, only to find each camp stripped of its supplies. And before they knew it, they stumbled into base camp on the 24th, furious and barely able to walk. The team lead then accused them of attempted murder and even threatened legal action. This then caused a huge fight between the team, with the base camp team also angry that he'd left the other American man at Camp 7. After the fight was over and the situation became clear, attention shifted to the rescue of the American who had been left higher up. So first thing the following day, on the 25th, the group of four went back up to attempt to rescue. They were back at Camp 4 two days later, but by then, two of them were too exhausted to continue. Afterward, the two remaining Sherpas continued onward. Then the following day, two more Sherpas left base camp to join the others, and by some Herculean effort, they reached Camp 4 by noon and then Camp 6 by the end of the day. This amounted to 7,000 feet climbed in a single day. With these two joining the other two, there were now four Sherpas at Camp 6, ready to ascend a single camp more to rescue the American man. Three of them departed the following day and reached Camp 7 on the 29th, but unfortunately, the scene was terrible. The man was in awful condition. He was out of food and water, covered in his own waste, and barely coherent due to spending the last two weeks at above 25,000 feet. At the time, this was the longest anyone had ever spent at that height, and despite their efforts to bring him down, in his disoriented state, he flat out refused and told them to come back the following day. After realizing it was pointless, they went back down to 6 to rest for the night, hoping to have more success the next day. There was then a storm the next, so they ended up waiting one more day longer, and then the same three Sherpas set up once again to bring the man down. Tragically, this was the last time they would ever be seen. The final Sherpa at Camp 6 waited for two more days, but by then, he knew it was too late. He set off at 7.30am at a frantic pace and was back at base camp that afternoon with the bad news. Initially, no one could understand how such strong and capable Sherpas had been in an accident, but unfortunately, it was true. To this day, it's not clear exactly what happened on those upper camps. It might have been a fall or an avalanche or something else, but unfortunately, we just don't know. There were two separate rescue attempts afterward, but by then, no one was strong enough to make it up any further than Camp 2. So with another rescue impossible and days since they were last seen, the team could only assume they had all died and made their retreat from K2. Much like the 1967 Denali disaster, there was significant controversy afterward over who and what was to blame. This was then further complicated by the strained relationship between the group by the end of the expedition. In reality, like all things, it was certainly a combination of factors. First, there was clearly a language barrier between the Americans and the Sherpas. Most of the Sherpas didn't speak any English, so if the Sherpas who did speak English weren't around, the communication was difficult. This led to the confusion about restocking the upper camps and taking supplies down. Then there was also the decision not to cross the bottleneck on that first attempt. It's possible they might have reached the summit on that first attempt, and so none of the attempts afterwards would have even been made, preventing everything else from happening. Then there was also the decision to leave the American man at Camp 7 in the first place. In hindsight, this was clearly a bad decision, but the intention was different when the choice was first made. And finally, there is simply a matter of the mountain itself. K2 is still a legendary challenge to this day, let alone with the gear the men had during that time period. And because of this challenge, this would only be the first of many tragedies to come on one of the most dangerous mountains on Earth. Hello everyone, my name is Sean and welcome to Secure Interesting. I hope you enjoyed today's video. I've been meaning to add a small addendum to some of the videos with details that aren't crucial to the story, but I think are important nonetheless, and this one seemed like a good place to start. Like for example, in many of my mountain videos, I sometimes deliberately leave names out to simplify the narrative. Sometimes, there are dozens of members on an expedition, and constantly referring to each individual can muddy the story a little bit, at least in my opinion. But at the same time, I think it's probably important to name these people and their accomplishments. Quickly before we get into the names though, I want to address the death to ascent rate. The specific figures I cited are a bit murky, with the numbers varying quite a bit between sources. This is partly due to poor record keeping, and partly due to the fact that there doesn't seem to be a centralized database, at least anywhere online. With that said, what does seem consistent across sources is the order of the death to ascent rate, so Annapurna is always on top, K2 is next, and then Nanga Parbat, as I mentioned earlier. Anyways, on to the people. On the 1938 expedition, Charlie Houston was the leader. He and Paul Petzold were the men to reach the highest point on that expedition. Bill House was the first man to ascend House's chimney, for which it was given his name. The other Americans included Bob Bates, Richard Birdsall, and Norman Streetfield. The Sherpas on this attempt were Pemba Katar, Pasang Kakuli, Finsu, and C. Tendrup. They did most of the load carrying, as Sherpas typically do. On the 1939 expedition, Fritz Weisner was the leader. Dudley Wolfe was the American left high on the mountain. The three Sherpas who disappeared above were Pasang Kakuli, Pasang Katar, and Finsu. The other Americans on this expedition included Tony Cromwell, Chappelle Cranmer, Jack Durrance, and George Sheldon. And the other Sherpas were Tsering Norbu, Dawah Thondup, Pasang Lama, Pemba Katar, and C. Tendrup. And finally, I want to say that I hope this sequence of events was clear in the 1939 expedition and rescue. It's always tough to strike a balance between telling the whole story and making it clear enough that it can be understood on the first listen. In any case, thanks so much for watching, and once again, a huge thank you to Babbel for sponsoring this video. Make sure to check the link in the description for 60% off a subscription.