The Summit by award winning filmmaker Nick Ryan (A Lonely 
Day, The German) follows events that led to one of the darkest days in the history of K2 and mountaineering. On August 1st,  2008  eighteen mountain climbers reached the top of K2, the fearsome peak in the Himalayas nicknamed “Savage Mountain”. Forty-eight hours later, eleven of those climbers were dead.

There is no denying the power of this film. The Summit is an expert piece of videography and journalistic filmmaking. It won the Editing Award in 
the World Cinema Documentary program at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival for keeping the jury on the edge of their seat, and was part of the official selection for Sundance London Film and Music Festival. The film combines 45% archive footage and 20% gripping reenactments using CG. Drawing on interviews with survivors and footage that were shot by several participants during the climb, Ryan pieces together what apparently happened. The Summit is a terrifying and cautionary tale about what really happens when climbers take on these formidable mountains.

Nick Ryan seeks to discover what it is that drives someone to attempt a climb that kills one out of four people and why fellow climbers are unable to rescue people in this dreadful environment. Climbing K2 mountaineers at hanging over sheer rock faces, dealing with extreme temperature drops, altitudes of  8000 meters, with fogs, wind, snow and driving rain to deal with.

“you are in a death zone. It is a struggle, a fight for every breath, every thoughts, everything hurts, every limps, every cell is screaming oxygen, oxygen, oxygen. They are so many reasons to turn around and only a couple of reasons to continue.”

 –The Summit

I felt that Ryan’s continued interruption of the main story with very detailed recollections of a similar expedition in 1954 was distracting and repetitive. For hardcore enthusiasts this will not matter.  The Summit is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for language and intense situations.

The Summit Official Trailer from Image Now on Vimeo.

I would also recommend Into Thin Air, a best selling non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer.

Christophe Chanel

@thesummitfilm, @MongrelMedia, @floodlandnick