After twelve days of paddling and carrying heavy loads he reaches his basecamp at the foot of Molar Spire. He leaves the small village of Kulusuk with his sea kayak. Ninety-five percent of people went home, and now we’re on top alone on this perfect summit day.The River's Call, 8 minutes, Director: Hugo Clouzeau, France.įollow seven kayakers through the deep canyons and challenging whitewater of the Rio Apurimac the farthest source of the Amazon in the heart of the Andes.Īllein, 11 minutes, Director: Franz Walter, Germany.įollow a climber out to Greenland for a solo expedition. We’re on the summit of the second tallest mountain in the world. They had overcome seracs, avalanche danger, sickness, and extreme weather. The feeling of accomplishment is visible on the faces of the entire crew as they stand atop K2. The Tibetan prayer flags fluttered in the wind as Ballinger, Perez, and the crew approached the summit. Exasperated and nearly out of breath near the top, Ballinger exclaims, “Sure enough, it’s been wind-hammered, lots of ice showing now, it’s got plenty of exposure to ice falls. The most important factor in mountaineering is being able to listen to the mountain.Īs Ballinger says in the film, mountaineers must “go until the mountain tells me I can’t go anymore.” Ask any experienced mountaineer and they’re sure to agree - you can plan a climbing expedition to the “T,” but the mountain has the final say on whether or not a summit push is successful. They spent five hours under a massive overhang, crossed dangerous seracs on the glacier, and passed through a high-risk avalanche field in what would ultimately be a successful push to the summit. The group pulled it together, with Ballinger resting an extra day at base camp before pushing to Camp 3. “Hopefully it comes, and even when it doesn’t, the experiences are really, really powerful.” “I’ve told myself that failure’s okay, and that we all fail and we all keep taking these small steps towards success,” Ballinger says as the crew weighs whether or not to pull the plug due to weather, after already making base camp. A disturbing weather report from their meteorologists showed only a four-day window to reach the summit and return, or else they’d have come all this way for nothing. The crew had planned to rest for a week at base camp to prepare. Determination in mountaineering parallels determination in life. When trust is the most valuable commodity one can offer, each person’s life is in the hands of their teammates. If the stomach illness that plagued either had progressed to a point where one couldn’t continue, the other would have been forced to pull the plug on the mission.Įven when thought up by only one or two people, monumental feats like this are a team effort. If the sherpas had said no, the mission wouldn’t have been able to proceed. It took a long negotiation - the promise of an excellent tip at the end of the trip - to convince the crew to change their minds. While attempting to negotiate with a crew of sherpas to carry their gear, the team learns that the sherpas have gone on strike due to poor treatment by the previous group they worked with. Professional mountaineers like Ballinger and Perez vet potential climbing partners thoroughly before ever inviting them on a serious expedition like K2. Your success is based as much on your crew as yourself.Ī climbing crew is only as strong as its weakest member. At 28,251 feat, K2 towers above Denali (20,308’), Aconcagua (22,841’), Mount Elbrus (18,510’), Kilimanjaro (19,341’), and Mount Wilhelm (14,793’), the highest peaks in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Oceania, respectively.ĥ. Only 14 mountain peaks stand taller than 8,000 meters.Īll 14 lie in the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges of Asia, in what is known in the mountaineering world as the “death zone.” These imposing mountain ranges not only form international borders, but they also stand as a nearly impenetrable force of natural power that dwarfs the mountains of every other continent. Ballinger became the fourth American to do so. The expedition featured in Breathtaking: K2 had its own first: Perez became the first woman to summit both K2 and Everest in the same year, and the first from the Americas to summit K2 without supplemental oxygen. Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli were the first, standing on the peak on July 31, 1954. More people have been to outer space than have stood on the top of K2.įewer than 400 people have reached the summit.
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