The Summit (2013)

The Summit is a 2012 documentary film about the 2008 K2 disaster, directed by Nick Ryan. It combines documentary footage with dramatized recreations of the events of the K2 disaster, during which – on the way to and from the summit – 11 climbers died during a short time span, creating one of the worst catastrophes in climbing history.

Much of the documentary footage was captured by Swedish mountaineer Fredrik Sträng, who was planning to film a documentary, but aborted that plan because he did not reach the summit. The footage he took helped to piece together the disaster's events, since all the climbers had different stories about what happened.

Synopsis

The disaster occurred between 1 and 2 August 2008 and cost 11 lives. During the ascent of the summit a climber falls to his death in the Bottleneck. When three climbers try to collect the body one of them also falls to his death. These occurrences lead to a delay in the summit attempt that strands several climbers for the night above the Bottleneck, in the "deathzone" (above 8000 meters), due to a serac fall killing one more climber. The documentary takes a closer look at the more unknown happenings during the night and the next day leading to another eight deaths.