Which mountain is the most difficult to climb?

Question

Well, Mount Everest is considered the highest mountain, but the foot (the "base camp") is at 5,500 meters height, so there is really only 3,348 meters left to climb. Honestly, can you tell how difficult a mountain is to climb by just looking at it's "height"? Which do you think is the most difficult mountain to climb?

Answer 1

K2 is regarded as the most difficult mountain over 8,000 meters.

BUT it seems as if Annapurna I is really difficult to get on top of. It took Ed Viesturs multiple attempts to summit this peak.

For ME, the most difficult mountain I've had climbing is Pico de Orizaba (highest peak in Mexico)..I keep getting sick from bad food or altitude.

Answer 2

That's kind of like asking "what's the most difficult race to run."

There are such a huge range of factors involved. Some mountains much lower than any of the major Himalayan peaks are so difficult (due to steepness or remoteness) that they have never been or are rarely climbed. Look at some of the mountains in the Karakoram or Patagonia which are sheer rock faces with bitter winds in remote areas. Some mountains are easy in mild weather and impossible in the winter. And even Everest, which has routes that a "fit" person with enough cash can pay a guide to drag them up, has other steep face routes that only top pros can climb with great difficulty. Plus routes are always changing as rockslides, snowfall and glacial activity alter the geography of the peaks
Routes are often rated by mountaineers by established degrees of difficulty (rock faces by a 5.0 to 5.14+ system for example.)

The real answer is that there can be no "most difficult mountain." It's all subjective.

Answer 3

Altitude is only one factor. The route and the weather are two other critical issues. Many will say the K2 in Pakistan is actually harder to climb than Everest because it has a much more difficult approach than Everest. But both are over 8000 meters and the thin quality of the air on both summits is about the same.

This is true just about with any mountain. Mt. Elbert is the higest peak in Colorado but is a much easier climb than Crestone Needle (#20) in the state due to the pitch and the technical aspects of the climb.

Answer 4

Some route up K2, Everest's sister peak is the hardest to climb. 25% of the people who go up it don't come down. There's a grave yard at the base camp of the mountain, with empty graves. It has little to do with height. It's more the difficulty of the climb. Most of the way up Everest is snow plodding, the rest is Oxygen deprivation resulting in fatigue.

Answer 5

K2 is definitely the hardest climb, plus the weather is really unpredictable.

Answer 6

Materhorn

Answer 7

Low blood stress mixed with skinny air at severe altitudes could make it problematic to get oxygen to each and all of the climate of your physique that choose it (aka. recommendations). So in case you do choose for to pass workout warning and protection

Answer 8

mckinnley?