K2 (8,611 meters/28,251 feet), or “Chogori,” is the world’s second highest mountain, after Everest (8,048 meters). Unlike Everest and the eight other highest mountains on Earth, K2 is not located in the Himalaya, however, but in Pakistan’s Karakorum. K2 is situated on the border of the Pakistani-Kashmir region Gilgit-Baltistan, and a slice of Kashmir administered by China as part of Xinjiang. All 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks, and the vast majority of the 100 highest mountains on the planet, are located in either the Karakorum or Himalaya.
K2