9.0
More people have traveled to space than have summited K2, the world’s second-highest peak that’s considered by many to be the Earth’s most challenging climb. Breathtaking: K2 follows seasoned climbers Carla Perez and Adrian Ballinger as they attempt summiting “the savage mountain” without the aid of supplemental oxygen — an expedition fraught with challenges that threaten not only their chance to reach the top, but also their lives.
Adrian Ballinger
Carla Perez
Self
Ed Viesturs
Narrator (voice)
Esteban ‘Topo’ Mena
Self
Palden Namgye Sherpa
Self
Pemba Geija Sherpa
Self
Director
Adrian Ballinger
Writer
Karl Archer
November 27, 2021
9
This is a short expedition documentary, but for its length it does a good job of helping us get to know the climbing team so that we can root for them to summit K2. They also fit in some basic information about the mountain and about what it is like to climb in the “Death Zone.” (Defined as above 8,000 meters, where there isn’t enough oxygen to sustain life long-term.)
They climb without using supplemental oxygen, which of course is much more challenging and lowers their chance of success significantly. For this reason, it felt like not enough time was spent with them climbing high on the mount, but I suppose they were constrained by how much usable footage they had to work with. All in all, a very watchable real life adventure film.