Mountaineer Chris Bonington, leading an expedition to K2, is ready to leave for Pakistan in this photograph taken in April 1978.
Accompanied by climbers Doug Scott, Peter Boardman, Joe Tasker and Nick Estcourt, Bonington abandoned the attempt to conquer the West ridge of the world’s second highest mountain after Estcourt died when the team was caught in an avalanche.
The failed expedition became the subject of a documentary film titled K2 The Savage Mountain.
An American expedition carried out the same year was successful. Rick Ridgeway’s interesting account of the mission was published as The Last Step: The American Ascent of K2 in 1980.
Accompanied by climbers Doug Scott, Peter Boardman, Joe Tasker and Nick Estcourt, Bonington abandoned the attempt to conquer the West ridge of the world’s second highest mountain after Estcourt died when the team was caught in an avalanche.
The failed expedition became the subject of a documentary film titled K2 The Savage Mountain.
An American expedition carried out the same year was successful. Rick Ridgeway’s interesting account of the mission was published as The Last Step: The American Ascent of K2 in 1980.