K2: The 1939 Tragedy by Kauffman & Putnam (1992)

The full story of the ill-fated Wiessner Expedition

In 1939, German-American climber Fritz Wiessner led an American expedition to K2, which had not yet been successfully summited. Three members of the expedition came within 750 feet of the summit, but the team's retreat from the mountain became very messy: Wiessner and a sherpa headed down, leaving one team member alone at the high camps. While the summit team was up high, the rest of the expedition members and sherpa had inexplicably removed the lower camps. Wiessner and his sherpa made it down, exhausted, and angry that they had been abandoned. The rest of the expedition members, meanwhile, accused them of abandoning their colleague on the mountain. A team of three sherpa re-ascended and reached the stranded climber, but he was delusional and refused to come down. The rescue team waited one day and attempted to convince him again - none of the four were ever seen again.

The failure of the expedition made major news and turned acrimonious as various members accused each other of being responsible for the chaos. Fritz Wiessner, as expedition leader, initially bore most of the blame, and his reputation was ruined. But over time, different sources and viewpoints began to emerge, complicating the story. This book brings together all the available information and attempts to paint a balanced picture of what might have happened on the mountain.

Paperback, 224 pages. With two inserts of B&W photographs.