1939 American Karakoram expedition to K2 turned to one of the team, Jack Durrance. When Durrance at last made his manuscript expedition diary available in 1989 it seemed instead that the primary failings had been with the deputy leader, Tony Cromwell, as well as with Wiessner himself. In 1961 Fosco Maraini described it as "one of the worst tragedies in the climbing history of the Himalaya". K2 is on the border between what in 1939 was the British Raj of India (now Pakistan) and the Republic of China. At it is the highest point of the Karakoram range and the second highest mountain in the world.
Gilgit-Baltistan Highway (KKH), which was completed in 1978. The Karakoram Highway connects Islamabad to Gilgit and Skardu, which are the two major hubs for mountaineering expeditions in Gilgit-Baltistan. The journey from Rawalpindi/Islamabad to Gilgit takes approximately 20 to 24 hours. Landslides on the Karakoram Highway are very common. The Karakoram Highway connects Gilgit to Tashkurgan Town, Kashgar, China via Sust, the customs and health-inspection post on the Gilgit-Baltistan side, and the Khunjerab Pass, the highest paved international border crossing in the world at . Northern Areas Transport Corporation (NATCO) offers bus and jeep transport service to the two hubs and several