Mountain Madness interests. While leading Mountain Madness, Fischer became renowned for his ascents of the world's highest mountains made without the use of supplemental oxygen. Fischer and Wally Berg were the first Americans to summit Lhotse, the world's fourth highest mountain (27,940 feet / 8516 m), located next to Mount Everest. He and Ed Viesturs were the first Americans to summit K2, (28,251 feet / 8611m) in the Karakoram of Pakistan without supplemental oxygen. During his stewardship of Mountain Madness, Fischer led social and environmental initiatives to help people in the countries in which Mountain Madness traveled. As the leaders of the
1953 American Karakoram expedition in going to the assistance of fellow climbers imperilled in the mountains." The surviving members of the Third American Karakoram Expedition were among the first recipients. Schoening's action in arresting the mass fall has itself achieved iconic status, and is known in American climbing circles simply as "The Belay". Schoening himself, however, was always modest about his achievement, claiming that he was merely lucky. 1953 American Karakoram expedition The 1953 American Karakoram expedition was a mountaineering expedition to K2, at 8,611 metres the second highest mountain on Earth. It was the fifth expedition to attempt K2, and the first since