A lifestyle full of suffering isn’t something most people seek, but it is now a weekly regimen for University senior Bob Pool, who is hoping to become the youngest person to ever reach the summit of arguably the most dangerous mountain on Earth: K2.
“Climbing is 99 percent pain and 1 percent fun,” Pool said. “A climber’s best advocate is short memory loss because after you complete a climb you just ask yourself, ‘Why did I do that?’ Then you take a shower and start planning your next trip.”
Pool was selected in September to join an international team of climbers this summer that will attempt to ascend Broad Peak and K2 in Northern Pakistan. Alan Arnette of Colorado and Dave
Hancock, owner of Field Touring Alpine, are assembling the team. Both men have reached the top of Mount Everest.
Arnette received about 2,000 applications for the climb, Pool said.
Pool will be 23 years and six months old when he makes the climb. The current youngest person to climb K2, a Japanese climber who made the trip in 1997, was almost 24, Pool said.
K2 in the Himalayas is Earth’s second-highest peak, with a 28,250-foot summit, and while it is 382 feet shorter than Mount Everest, it is widely accepted by most modern mountaineers as the world’s toughest climb. About 200 people climb Everest every year, but only 198 have ever reached the peak of K2, Pool said. Dubbed the “Savage Mountain,” reaching the top of K2 is the equivalent of winning an Olympic gold medal, accoring to k2climb.net.

“Everest gets all the publicity, but the stats speak for themselves,” Pool said.
Another statistic in the back of Pool’s mind is the survival rate for K2. About one of every five climbers don’t make it back down the mountain, Pool said.
Statistically speaking, with a group of more than 20 climbers making this trip, a death is a strong possibility.
“Hopefully that stat doesn’t become a reality,” Pool said.
For the moment, however, Pool’s concentration is on preparing for the trip. He said he climbs in the gym four days a week, runs 6 to 10 miles four days a week, lifts weights twice a week and climbs a mountain just about every weekend.
“The best thing to help prepare is to just get out and build your mental capacity of suffering,” Pool said. “So much of climbing is suffering. It’s about pushing your body where it doesn’t want to go.”
The group will arrive in Islamabad, Pakistan on June 1 and then will acclimate and climb Broad Peak’s (26,401 feet) southwest face. Then, weather permitting, the group will trek to K2 base camp at 18,000 feet on July 1 and then climb the Abruzzi Ridge of K2.
Pool’s group will do a single push, alpine-style climb to the top of K2 that should take four to five days.
The team has 25 climbers from eight different countries, ranging in age from 23 to 62, according to Arnette’s Web site. It will be the largest expedition to have climbed K2.
This will mark the first international climb for Pool in his three-year climbing career, which began with a Climbing 101 class at the University in the fall of 2002. His eyes were opened to large mountain climbing in 2004 when he climbed Mount McKinley’s West Buttress. He returned to the peak of McKinley (known traditionally as Denali) last spring via the West Ribb route, and he also ascended the West Ridge of Mount Hunter. He’s climbed Mount Hood four times, Mount Shasta three times, Mount Rainier three times and many others around the Pacific Northwest.
When not training, Pool has been busy fundraising for his trip. He said it costs about $14,500 for various permits, a visa, gear, food and airfare. He said he has about $8,000 left to raise. The climbing team is also focused on helping with the disaster relief for the victims of the major earthquake in Pakistan in the fall. Each member of the group has donated $300, Pool said.
“If I can get 100 people to donate $100, I’ll be set,” Pool said.
Pool sold his truck and his many kayaks to fund his trip. He once was a competitive kayaker; he won the Oregon Freestyle Championship at Nugget in 2000 and 2001 and placed 12th at the 2001 U.S. World Team Trials/IR Triple Crown of kayaking. His athletic career began in Gold Hill, where “wrestling is pretty much what you do,” Pool said. He was a member of a Crater High School team that won three 4A state championships.
Pool’s father Robert Pool, who used to race motorcycles, said he steered his son completely away from the sport because motorcycles are too dangerous.
“First it was kayaking – that was bad enough,” Robert Pool said. “Then there was bouldering, then mountaineering. And now this.”
“We’re definitely a little worried for him,” he added. “Even if it was Everest, I’d be worried. But K2 is a different story.”

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