The Summit

Film (2013)

With Christine Barnes (Cecilie Skog), Hoselito Bite (Himself), Marco Confortola (Himself), Pat Falvey (Himself), Niall Foley (Fredrik Strang / Cas van de Gevel), Stefan Grossniklaus (Lars Nessa), Pasang Lama (Himself), Tshering Lama (Himself), J.J. McDonnell (Himself), Christo Mitzkov (Marco Confortola), Johannes Moser (Rolf Bae), Lars Nessa (Himself), Damien O’Brien (Himself), Lochlainn O’Mearain (Ger McDonnell), Garrett Philipps (Wilco van Rooijen), Chiring Dorje Sherpa (Himself), Pemba Gyalje Sherpa (Himself), Cecilie Skog (Herself), Annie Starkey (Herself), Fredrik Strang (Himself), Cas Van De Gevel (Himself), Wilco van Rooijen (Himself), Alberto Zerain (Himself)

Apparently, among serious mountaineers, K2 is the really challenging climb and Everest is more of a popularist’s endeavor. I am being somewhat facetious about this, but there is an element of truth to it. Though Jon Krakauer’s riveting account of his experiences climbing Everest in Into Thin Air are well known and should give serious pause to anyone who considers a climb there, the trials and potential terrors of ascending K2 apparently trump even that.

This film does a pretty good job of confirming those concerns. It is the story of how eleven out of the twenty-four climbers attempting to reach the summit of K2 in August, 2008 perished.

Its strength is that it gives a quite detailed account of all the people who were climbing the mountain the day of that terrific tragedy. And, as well, it gives a good chronology of what occurred. Its weakness is that it is not clear what part of it is dramatized and what part involves interviews with real characters. One comes away from the film not really knowing which of the people were the actual ones.

The evolution of the story, particularly after the tragedies, is perhaps most interesting. Hearing what the Italian had to say for himself, and what the Koreans refused to say, and to hear what the surviving Himalayan sherpa had to say – especially because he was barely listened to at the time of the event – is really the most interesting part.

Though there is something weird about watching a tragedy of this scope dramatized – with depictions of contorted corpses arrayed on the mountain – the telling of the episodes of the tragedy is at times riveting. The case of the Scandinavian couple who were edging beneath an icy overhang together is particularly difficult and heartbreaking.

The film begins with an inappropriately jazzy montage that gradually winds down into a more straightforwardly satisfying telling of the story.

This is not fabulous film making, and it certainly creates an odd ambiguity in its mixture of documentary and drama. But, for those interested in mountaineering and in group process and leadership in critically challenging situations, this will be of considerable interest.

For those particularly interested in the latter, the paradigmatic story about group process and leadership under dire circumstances is that of Ernest Shackleton and the 1914-16 expedition to Antarctica on the ship The Endurance. An actual documentary filmed at the time survives under the name South; it is fascinating and moving.

– BADMan