9 feared dead on K-2, world's 2nd-highest peak

rip

into thin air, again

Mountains usually have several names.
Kaytu, as it is called by the locals,
is *living* up to it's other name,...
"The Savage Mountain".
Lucy

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080804/ap_on_re_...

FINELINE...

ABC wrote:

I guess Hindu Kush mountain has the name of interest.I wander how and why.Will any one tell me.

In some of the Iranian languages that are still spoken in the region many peaks, mountains, and related places in the region have "Kosh" or "Kush" in their names. In the Persian language of the Sassanian period, Hindu referred to the inhabitants of the area around and beyond the Indus River, or Hind - the people who were followers of Hinduism. The name is also said to be a corruption of Hindu Koh, from the (modern) Persian word Kuh, meaning mountain. James Rennell, writing in 1793, referred to the range as the "Hindoo-Kho or Hindoo-Kush"[2].

In 1892, Martin Conway led a British expedition that could only reach up to 'Concordia' point of the Baltoro Glacier.[7] The first serious attempt to climb K2 was undertaken in 1902 by Oscar Eckenstein and Aleister Crowley via the Northeast Ridge, but after five serious and costly attempts, the team could only reach up to 6525 meters.[8] The failures are attributed to a combination of questionable physical training, personality conflicts, and poor weather conditions — of 68 days spent on K2 (at the time, the record for longest time spent at such an altitude) only eight provided clear weather.[9]

Yet again K2 has taken the toll for allowing some people to creap to its top. Commercial climbs and those old dragged up tied in ropes, the blind and disabled should saty away from it. K2 will always remain mountain of mountains and a sour dream of many......

Hindu Koh makes more sense as those were the first and frontline visible mountains beyond the Persian speaking world in the times of the kingdoms of khurasan and people would call them the mountians of the Hidu Land. While the names of the provinces are being changed the present name "Hindu Kush" should be changed and given a more appropriate name linking it to the regional culture.