How one climber’s false summit claim helped turn K2 into a graveyard

High-altitude mountaineering is unforgiving in ways that don’t leave room for ambiguity, ego, or misinformation.

High-altitude mountaineering is unforgiving in ways that don’t leave room for ambiguity, ego, or misinformation. A new video from Mountain Disasters revisits the July 28, 2019, tragedy on K2, where a single false claim about turning back triggered a cascade of deadly decisions that left multiple climbers dead.

According to the video’s detailed breakdown, climber Marco DeLuca radioed in that he had achieved the summit on K2. A feat only possible if the route was clear and fixed lines had been placed. That information mattered enormously. Other climbers, trusting what they believed was accurate information, adjusted their own plans based on the assumption that conditions above were survivable and that descent traffic was manageable. It wasn’t. DeLuca had not found fixed lines, could not provide proof that he had reached the summit, and his radio call misled other summit hopefuls about their chances. Climbers adjusted oxygen loads and departure times based on his report. Several never returned.

What makes this story especially brutal is that nothing about it is sensational or freakish. No avalanche. No sudden storm. No serac falling on climbers. Just a human decision to misrepresent reality, followed by a series of entirely predictable outcomes in an environment where predictability is all anyone has. Mountain Disasters lays this out without melodrama, letting the facts speak for themselves. The result is chilling.

On K2, the difference between life and death can be a single sentence and whether it’s true.