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abruzzi spur

The route commences at 5300m and follows the ridge along the immense Spur, leading up the SE Flank to the Shoulder at 8000m. From the Shoulder the route continues steeply up through the "Bottleneck" crux and the dangerous traverse beneath the large serac to the summit.

1) The route commences at 5300m and ascends a snow slope up to Camp 1 at 6100 meters.

2) It then continues for a further 500m up mixed terrain to reach Camp 2 at 6700 meters.

3) One of the hardest sections of the route is located just above Camp 2, the “Bill House Chimney”, with grade V mixed climbing over rock and ice.

4) The ascent continues past the “Black pyramid” with grade III-IV climbing to Camp 3 at 7350 meters, where the rock runs out.

5) From here onwards the climb continues up snow and ice: a further 600m lead to the final camp, Camp 4 poised at 7950 meters. This is the Shoulder of K2.

6) The summit is roulgy 650 meters away. The first section crosses hard packed, windswept snow leads to the crux section of the entire climb, the so-called "Bottleneck" at 8200 meters. This in turn leads to a delicate traverse leftwards on a 50°/55° slope, beneath a looming, 100m high serac. The last 100 meters through deep snow lead to the final ridge, which is followed for about 20m to reach, at last, the 8611m high summit of K2.

The difficult and delicate descent follows the line of ascent.

Thanks to Planet Mountain for this info