James Ramsey Ullman

Mountain climbers in the Swiss Alps mull over past problems while trying to conquer a perilous peak.

Famous British mountaineer Winter wants to climb a difficult summit, the Citadel. He goes to a small village but no guide wants to accompany him. A young man from the village, Rudi Matt, whose father died fifteen years earlier during an attempt to climb the Citadel, is determined to accompany him, with the help of his uncle. Winter also manages to hire a guide from a neighboring village and competitor, Emil Saxo. The roped party of four men then begins the ascent of the still untouched summit.

A doctor's sophisticated wife joins him at his remote Asian practice to try and patch up their marriage. Increasingly violent friction between local rubber plantation workers and the authorities force both parties to make decisions.

A documentary account of the assault on Mt. Everest in 1963 by the men of the first American Mount Everest Expedition under the leadership of Norman Dyhrenfurth.