On K2, the greatest dangers are falling and avalanches. In addition, 15 people died from altitude sickness and 14 from severe storms. Since K2 is the highest peak in the Karakoram range, it takes the full force of the western winds from Pakistan, which cause avalanches, storms, and freezing temperatures that humans cannot survive in.

K2's seracs, giant columns of ice larger than a typical house that overhang glaciers, are very dangerous. The seracs themselves can fall, and the winds into the seracs can cause avalanches. On August 2nd, 2008, the seracs on K2 collapsed and took 11 climbers in the bottleneck down with them. The Bottleneck below the Great Seracs is one of the most dangerous places on K2. A giant wall of ice sits above a small rock passage that all climbers must go through to reach the summit. When the seracs break, rocks slide, or ice falls off the glacier, anyone inside the bottleneck dies.

The deadliest avalanche was on August 13, 2006, which took the lives of four Russian climbers. As dangerous as avalanches are, seracs and falling is the greatest concern while climbing K2.

There have been many severe storms on K2, and one on August 13, 1995 killed 6 climbers on their way up the mountain.