Production
Chris Bonington and Jim Curran trace the history of K2 expeditions from 1903 to the disastrous loss of life in the summer of 1986, when 13 climbers died on K2, climbing tragedies that aggressively carved the epithet the 'savage mountain' into the public consciousness. Jim Curran was hired by the British 'Fuller’s K2' team to document their attempt on the unclimbed NW Ridge, so he was at the mountain, all summer. Inevitably, his documentary ended up drifting into a gripping narrative from the front line of the disastrous and tragic summer that killed 13 climbers on K2.
Folows Sheffield climber, Paul Nunn as he attempts the north face of the Ogre (Baintha Brakk) in the Karakorum Himalayas on the borders of Pakistan, India and China. He outlines his preparations and mountaineers Chris Bonnington and Doug Scott reflect on the dangers they have encountered during their successful but dramatic attempt in 1977: on the first rappel from the summit, Scott broke both ankles. Later, Bonington broke two ribs and contracted pneumonia. Also, much of the week-long descent to base camp was in a major storm...
A modern ascent of Mount Logan in the Northern Yukon of Alaska, retracing the steps of a 1925 expedition. American Jon Waterman leads Simon Wells, Joseph Runyan, Allen Jewhurst, John Dyer and Rick Atkinson to climb Prospectors Peak on Mount Logan. They mushed with dogs up the Chitina, Logan and Ogilvie Glaciers to 4100 meters on the King Trench route and then climbed Prospectors Peak. The program includes some black and white archive material.
A British expedition's successful attempt to climb the Trango Tower in the Karakorum Range of the Himalaya's in 1976. The climber Martin Boysen relates the events of the team's first failed attempt to ascend the Tower in 1975. This is followed by footage filmed on the 1976 expedition and the climbers, Martin Boysen, Joe Brown, Mo Anthoine and Malcolm Howells, narrate their experience of the 1976 attempt. The team is seen arriving in the region, hiring porters and trekking over hazardous terrain to reach their base camp. The first attempt to climb the Tower on this occasion is thwarted by bad weather, but the climbers return a few days later to make a successful attempt on the summit.
