How Tall Is K2? Height in Feet, Meters, Kilometers and Miles

K2 is 8,611 meters (28,251 feet) tall, measured as the elevation of its summit above sea level. That makes it the second highest mountain on Earth, about 238 meters lower than Mount Everest. This is the figure most atlases and geographic references publish, though a 2014 satellite survey reported a slightly lower value, explained below.

How Tall Is K2 in Feet, Meters, Kilometers and Miles?

All of these numbers describe the same elevation in different units.

Unit	K2 height
Meters	8,611 m
Feet	28,251 ft
Kilometers	8.611 km
Miles	about 5.35 mi

These figures measure how high the summit sits above mean sea level. They do not tell you how far a climber ascends from the foot of the mountain, a difference covered in the base to peak section below.

How Does K2 Compare to Mount Everest?

Everest’s accepted elevation is 8,848.86 meters (about 29,032 feet), a figure announced jointly by Nepal and China in 2020. K2 is listed at 8,611 meters, so Everest is roughly 238 meters (about 780 feet) higher.

Comparison	Mount Everest	K2
Elevation	8,848.86 m (29,031.7 ft)	8,611 m (28,251 ft)
World ranking by height	1st	2nd
Mountain range	Himalayas	Karakoram
Location	Nepal and China border	Pakistan and China border
First successful ascent	29 May 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay	31 July 1954, Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli
First winter ascent	17 February 1980, Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki	16 January 2021, a team of 10 Nepali climbers
Climbing difficulty	Extremely challenging, with severe altitude, weather and route hazards	Extremely challenging, with steep technical terrain, the Bottleneck serac and severe weather
Recorded deaths	344	92
Recorded successful summits	13,550	964
Deaths per successful summit	2.54%	9.54%
Fatality ratio comparison	Reference point	About 3.8 times Everest’s ratio
Difference in elevation	About 238 m (780 ft) higher than K2	About 238 m (780 ft) lower than Everest

K2 reaches roughly 97 percent of Everest’s height, so the gap is under 3 percent. If you are wondering whether K2 is taller than Everest, the answer is no. By elevation above sea level, Everest is first and K2 is second.

Height is only part of the picture, though. K2 is widely regarded as the harder and more dangerous climb because of its steep pyramid shape, severe weather and technical terrain, a reputation explored in our breakdown of the K2 death rate. That difficulty has little to do with the extra 238 meters Everest offers.

Who First Recorded and Measured K2?

K2 was first recorded in 1856 during the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India. Thomas George Montgomerie, working in Kashmir, climbed Mount Haramukh, about 210 kilometers to the south, and sketched the two most prominent peaks on the northern horizon. He labeled them K1 and K2, with the K standing for Karakoram. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, K2 got its symbol because it was the second peak measured in the range.

The survey could not reach the mountain, so its height was worked out by trigonometry. Surveyors measured the angle up to the summit from stations whose positions and distances were already fixed, then calculated the height while allowing for the curvature of the Earth and the bending of light in the atmosphere. Reported early figures vary slightly between sources, but all sit close to today’s standard value. Henry Haversham Godwin Austen later explored the Baltoro Glacier in 1861, but the mountain’s position and height had already been established from earlier survey observations.

It helps to separate surveying from discovery. Reference works often say Montgomerie “discovered” K2, but that is true only in the sense of first recording it in European maps. Balti communities knew the surrounding valleys long before any survey. The peak itself, however, is hidden from Askole and the other settlements along the approach, which is why surveyors found no established local name for it.

That gap explains the name’s history, which has several layers.

Name	Origin and status
K2	Survey notation from 1856, now the standard name worldwide and used by Balti speakers as Ketu or Kechu
Mount Godwin Austen	Proposed in honor of Godwin Austen, rejected by the Royal Geographical Society, but still seen on some older maps
Chogori	Often given as a Balti name meaning “big mountain,” though evidence of widespread local use is thin
Qogir	The official Chinese name, derived from Chogori

An unusual episode followed in 1986 and 1987. During the 1986 American K2 Expedition, researchers collected a satellite observation at a base camp and compared it with existing survey data. Their preliminary calculations suggested that K2 might be higher than Everest, but the result was considered tentative because it relied on a single satellite pass. In 1987, an Italian survey team used satellite positioning and triangulation to measure both mountains, confirming that Everest remained higher. A Pakistani and Italian expedition later measured K2’s summit directly using GNSS technology in 2014, as explained below.

Why Do Some Sources List a Different Height for K2?

Most references print 8,611 meters. You will occasionally see 8,609.02 meters instead, a value reported by the 2014 “K2 60 Years Later” expedition, which used GNSS (satellite positioning) equipment at the summit. The difference is about 2 meters, or roughly 6.5 feet. In feet, the 2014 figure converts to about 28,245 feet, compared with 28,251 feet for the standard value.

Gaps like this can arise from differences in survey method, the depth of snow and ice on the summit at the time of measurement, and the model used to define sea level. The practical takeaway is that 8,611 meters remains the standard published height, while 8,609.02 meters is a documented measurement that should be cited with its source and year. It should not be treated as an official revision unless a mapping authority formally adopts it. For a wider look at why peak heights vary between sources, see our guide to how mountain peaks are measured.

How Tall Is K2 From Base to Peak?

There is no single universal answer, because it depends on where the base is placed. The 8,611 meter figure cannot be used as a base to summit rise, since it counts everything from sea level.

Climbers usually measure from base camp. A Pakistani and Italian GNSS survey conducted in 2014 recorded K2 Base Camp at 4,962.741 meters above sea level and the summit at 8,609.022 meters. This gives a vertical elevation difference of approximately 3,646 meters. Other published figures may vary depending on the precise starting point and measurement used, and the vertical difference is not the distance a climber travels along the route. Britannica places the mountain’s base at about 4,570 meters on the Godwin Austen Glacier, which gives a rise of around 4,000 meters from the glacier itself. Most of that vertical gain is steep, and its most notorious feature, the K2 Bottleneck, sits at about 8,200 meters. If you see a base to peak figure online, check which starting point it uses before comparing it with another source.

Where Is K2 Located?

K2 rises in the Karakoram Range on the border between Pakistan and China. On the Pakistani side it falls within Gilgit Baltistan, and on the Chinese side it lies in the Xinjiang region. Expeditions usually approach from Pakistan, starting at Skardu and following the Baltoro Glacier. It is also the country’s tallest peak, and our list of the highest mountains in Pakistan shows what follows it.

Many people assume K2 belongs to the Himalayas. Strictly speaking, it does not. The Karakoram is a separate range lying northwest of the Himalayas, and it holds several of the world’s highest peaks.

Frequently Asked Questions About K2’s Height