K2, also known as Mount Godwin-Austen or Chhogori, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level, is the second highest mountain in the world. It is located on the China–Pakistan border. K2 is the highest point of the Karakoram.

K2 is known as the Savage Mountain due to the extreme difficulty of ascent. It has the second-highest fatality rate among the eight-thousanders, with around 300 successful summits and 77 fatalities. It is more difficult and hazardous to reach the peak of K2 from the Chinese side, so it is usually climbed from the Pakistani side.

The summit was reached for the first time by the Italian climbers Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni, on the 1954 Italian Karakoram expedition led by Ardito Desio. K2 has never been climbed during winter.