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.
Geography of Gilgit–Baltistan world's highest mountain ranges. The main ranges are the Karakoram and the western Himalayas. The Pamir mountains are to the north and the Hindu Kush lies to the west. Amongst the highest mountains are K2 (Mount Godwin-Austen) and Nanga Parbat, one of the most feared mountains in the world. Many of the highest peaks in Gilgit-Baltistan, such as Baltoro Muztagh, K2 (Mount Godwin-Austen) (8,611 m), the second-highest mountain in the world), the Gasherbrums (7,932 - 8,080 meters, ranked 12-17 in the world), and Masherbrum (7,821 m), 22nd-highest in the world), lie in the Skardu District. Other high peaks are Distaghil