K2 K2 K2 (, "Kai Ṭū"), also known as Mount Godwin-Austen or Chhogori (Balti and ), at above sea level, is the second highest mountain in the world, after Mount Everest at . It is located on the ChinaPakistan border between Baltistan in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan, and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang, China. K2 is the highest point of the Karakoram range and the highest point in both Pakistan and Xinjiang. 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
Balti language "Byaltae" from , which, in Tibetan, means "water gorge." The historian Ptolemy, also a general in the army of Alexander the Great, named the region "Byaltae" in his book. In fact, Baltistan is the Persian translation of "Baltiyul", "homeland of Balti." Balti people are settled on both banks of the Indus River from Kargil district in the east to Haramosh Peak in the west and from the Karakoram in the north to Deosai National Park in the south. The Balti ethnicity is primarily Tibetan in origin, with some Dardic admixture. Balti is a Tibetic language. In some rural areas, the