Meyer to speak about K2 climbing disaster

A doctor who treated victims of the worst climbing disaster on the Himalayan Peak K2 will speak about the incident in Columbia Falls on March 28.

Dr. Eric Meyer's series, called "K2 2008: Finding Meaning After Tragedy," is presented by Missoula-based Talus Outdoor Technologies and Columbia Falls' First Best Place Task Force. The talk begins at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Meyer was part of the nine-person International K2 Expedition team that pushed for the summit of K2 in August 2008. While everyone in the Talus-sponsored expedition made it back safely, 11 other climbers lost their lives in snow and ice slides in an area called "The Bottleneck."

The Bottleneck sits at about 26,000 feet and is only 1,312 feet below the summit.

Climbers refer to this altitude as the "Death Zone," since at that altitude the human body uses up its oxygen faster than it can be replenished. Dr. Meyer treated many of the survivors brought back to base camp. Most of them had severe frostbite and suffered from dehydration and exhaustion.

K2 is located on the border of Pakistan and China with an elevation of 28,251 feet. Although K2 is about 750 feet lower than the world's tallest peak, Mount Everest, K2 is widely considered a much more difficult and technical climb. Only 299 people have reached the summit of K2 since it was first scaled in 1954; just 15 were Americans. All told, 77 climbers have died trying to reach the summit.