K2 or Mount Godwin-Austen is 28,250 ft (8,611 m) high, and is located in the Karakorum range, on the China-Pakistan border. It is the second highest peak in the world and was discovered and measured by the Survey of India in 1856, and first named for English topographer Henry Godwin-Austen , who explored and surveyed the region. K2 is taken from the first letter of Karakorum, and the number indicates that it was the second peak in the range to be measured. An Italian team led by Ardito Desio reached the summit in 1954.

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