Original subtitles

(gasping) (wind howling)

(tentative music)

- [Adrian] On these big mountains we're taking big risks.

We need to be aware of those risks

and mitigate those risks to the greatest level we can,

and we have to know when it's time to go home.

(tense music) (wind howls)

I know if I disappear on a mountain, I'm just gone.

It's those people at home, it's my family,

that it's gonna affect their lives

for years and years to come.

And while that might happen, inevitably,

because of something I didn't plan, and I accept that risk,

I just never want it to be

because I knew it and I pushed on anyway.

(soft music)

- [Narrator] 8,000, for most people, a perfectly innocent,

somewhat meaningless number.

But, for mountain climbers,

it can be the number that defines their lives forever.

There are only 14 mountain peaks on Earth

that stand taller than 8000 meters.

All of them lie in the Himalayan

and Karakoram ranges in central Asia.

They're the only mountains on the planet

that tower into an area called the death zone

where the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere

is insufficient to sustain human life.

Yet, despite the danger

and objective hazards of the world's tallest mountains,

every year teams of alpinists come from around the world

to try to reach these summits.

It is a calling for some, almost a religion for others:

the chance to truly test one's own limits

and do what so few have done before.

(tense music)

In the Karakoram range, on the border of China and Pakistan,

stands K2, the world's second highest peak.

Standing at 8,611 meters,

or 28,251 feet, it is widely considered

to be the world's most difficult mountain to climb.

Climbers regard K2 as the ultimate achievement

in mountaineering, and for good reason.

More people have been to outer space

than have stood on its summit.

In the 117 years of expeditions to K2

from 1902 to June of 2019,

less than 400 people have ever reached

the summit of K2 and lived to talk about it.

After the third American K2 Expedition in 1953,

outfitted by Eddie Bauer, climber George Bell told reporters

"K2 is a savage mountain that tries to kill you"

giving the mountain the nickname it carries

to this very day, the Savage Mountain.

Of all of the peaks over 8,000 meters,

K2 has the second highest fatality rate next to Annapurna.

Approximately, one person dies on K2

for every four who reach the summit.

But K2 isn't some malevolent being.

It's indifferent to suffering but it isn't cruel.

It's environment is hostile, but it isn't angry.

It doesn't have a voice but it does speak.

One of the greatest lessons a climber can learn

is how to listen to the mountain.

(thoughtful music)

Professional mountain guide Adrian Ballinger

has spent the majority of his adult life

climbing and guiding in the high Himalaya.

As the Founder and CEO of Alpenglow Expeditions,

Adrian has spent his career helping others

live their adventure on the big mountains of the world.

- Second and we're about to go up.

Almost all of my climbing on 8000 meter peaks

was with supplemental oxygen, bottled oxygen.

Finally, in 2016, I really wanted to test myself

to my true limits in the biggest mountains

and that's why I tried Everest without supplemental oxygen.

I failed and almost got myself killed.

Only a couple of hours from the summit

after a two month expedition battling cold

and energy levels up high,

even though I was really disappointed in that experience,

it was exactly what I had come for

and it led to me putting the entire next year

putting guiding on hold, my company on hold.

I went back in 2017 with my same Eddie Bauer team

and summited without oxygen.

It was the hardest thing I've ever done.

Getting to the summit I knew I could do,

getting down was really actually pretty scary for me,

it was pretty hard and I needed all of my teammates

to keep me awake, to keep me moving.

I kind of found that limit, that line,

if Everest had been 50 feet higher

I truly don't know if I could have gotten on top of it.

And so, it's taken two years since that experience

to kind of build that feeling back up

to be willing to work that hard again.

I've trained for a full year,

been really focused on my diet and my physical training,

to come in as strong as I possibly can

for this mountain that I know has increased risk

and that the one thing that keeps you safest here

is speed, you have to be fast.

- [Narrator] Although it is only

237 meters lower than Everest,

K2 is a much more difficult to climb.

The terrain is steep,

requiring advanced mountaineering skills

in both rock and ice climbing.

The exposure is extreme in places

where even the smallest mistake could prove fatal.

Bad weather is common

and the risk of avalanche and rockfall is high.

And on top of that, the high altitude

and lack of oxygen make it hard to breathe.

Professional climbers

find that kind of challenge intoxicating.

It's the kind of fuel that stokes their fire.

A test to be taken by those who believe

they have what it takes to reach the summit.

- [Adrian] There's a lot more risk attached to K2 than,

let's say, Mount Everest,

and so I never wanted to go without the right people

and Carla Perez and Topo Esteban Mean

and Palden Namge and Pemba,

these are people that I just trust implicitly

and have spent so much time in the mountains with

that when they finally invited me,

you know really this was Carla and Topo's trip originally

and they invited me on the trip

and it was, like, just all of the sudden

it was like it's absolutely the right time.

- [Narrator] As a Certified Ecuadorian mountain guide,

Carla Perez had guided on big mountains all over the world.

She has successfully summited

three of the 14 8000 meter peaks.

And she's done each one without using supplemental oxygen.

Manaslu in 2012, Cho Oyo in 2014

and Everest in 2016.

- Now I have been climbing for 20 years.

I think in these trips, most of the time,

you are really close to death and you really face the death,

so you want to enjoy more your life,

enjoy more the people and all these small details

and things in life that sometimes we didn't think about,

one day when we are there and we are scared

and we are really close to death

we feel that the small things are the real important things.

- [Adrian] It's actually only Carla and I

are trying without oxygen,

and then we have three team members

who are supporting us up high.

That's Topo, Palden and Pemba.

They'll actually all be using supplemental oxygen

which helps them make clearer decisions

and gives them more power and strength

while we know we're struggling for our lives up there.

I'm at a point in my career, where I want to have help

making those impossible decisions up high

when things go wrong.

- [Narrator] Previously the greatest number of climbers

to attempt K2 in a single season was 80.

But in 2019, Pakistan issued more permits than ever before.

No less than 200 climbers would be attempting

to reach the summit of K2, and for many,

it would be their first time climbing

on a peak above 8000 meters.

- This year we have more people trying to climb K2.

I'm not sure how many they want to try without oxygen

or how many they want to try with oxygen,

but for sure, in this mountain that is more technical,

we will have more neck bottles, traffic jams,

and that is a dangerous thing.

- That intimidates me.

On this mountain, you need to be independent,

you need to be fast, you need to know everything

instinctually when the shit hits the fan which,

it inevitably it does on this mountain every year.

And I don't believe you can have the level of experience

necessary to do that without at least three 8000 meter peaks

before coming here and that's what I'm already,

I'm getting on my soapbox,

that's what I'm getting fired up about.

It's not that people shouldn't be here

and that we can't have more people in the mountains playing,

it's that, you need the experience to stay alive.

(wind howling)

(tense music)

- [Narrator] June 19, 2019.

Skaardu, Pakistan

Over 40 duffels and barrels of food,

climbing gear and equipment necessary for the expedition,

would accompany the team into the Karakoram.

As they would soon discover, just trekking into K2 base camp

would be an adventure of its own.

- It's meant to be a pretty wild

six to seven hour four wheel drive jeep road

up into the mountains.

(exclaims)

But the drop's not that far.

- [Man] Yeah, it's not too bad, right?

(laughing)

Oh my gosh, oh my god.

Look at this right here.

Oh dude, that is not cool.

- [Adrian] Once we get to Askole,

we'll meet all of our porters and local staff

organize all of our loads and then begin

a seven day walk into base camp.

We're joining with a few other teams

to get to base camp and we'll probably have

a few hundred local porters with us,

so it's gonna be like a village

or a city traveling together up the valley.

And what everyone, says the walk is long,

I think it's about 90 kilometers,

so you're doing big distances each day.

Starting quite low, so it's gonna be hot

and then getting onto the glaciers.

So we're actually trekking along the side of the glaciers

all the way up into the mountains

and finally to K2 base camp

which sits at the end of the valley.

It had been less than a month since Carla and Adrian

were working and guiding on Mount Everest.

While each of them used bottled oxygen

while guiding their clients,

the two months spent at extreme altitude

had taken a physical and mental toll on both of them.

As a result they were beginning this expedition to K2

In a weaker state than any other part of their year.

- Our team is really focusing on just recovering.

Carla, Topo and I have all had

just pretty wild travel schedules the past couple weeks.

We were all on Everest this spring and just finished.

And then got home for a few days, and now we're here.

It's been a whirlwind.

I hope we get to see a little bit of the culture,

and meet some of these mountain people

who work so hard up here and live up here, year-round.

And just sort of settle into the rhythm of our team.

It's so important on a big trip like this

just to get into a rhythm together.

- [Narrator] But midway through the trek to base camp,

at a camp called Goro 2, that rhythm was disrupted severely

when Adrian suddenly fell extremely ill overnight.

It would be the first of many setbacks and red flags

that the team would face

over the next month on the mountain.

- Well, that sucked.

I went from being on Cloud Nine on this trek

to last night getting as sick as I think I've been

since I was 22 backpacking through India.

You don't want the gory details,

maybe you do, both ends.

Real rough, non-stop.

And then got so cold that I couldn't stop shivering.

Even though we're only at 14,000 feet.

And Topo, Carla, Pemba and Palden ended up

totally taking care of me.

Came to the kitchen to fire up a bunch of water,

so I could have hot water bottles

and just went through a legit hellish night.

But I think I'm turning the corner,

I haven't puked in two hours

which is a record since 11:00 p.m. last night.

So, we're staying.

We're not moving up to Broad Peak base camp today

with the rest of the group.

Which I was so excited to do, to see friends there.

But skipping it.

I think we're gonna spend two more nights here in Goro 2

and I hope that'll get me back on track.

So not only can I move and walk,

but so I can walk to K2 base camp

and be not completely shattered.

(thoughtful music)

- [Narrator] As commercial climbing teams

pressed on with the porters toward the K2 base camp,

Adrian's team stayed behind at Goro 2

and waited for him to get his strength back.

As they waited, intimidating reports began to trickle in

about what lay ahead.

- We've been hearing nothing but negatives.

The most snow in 30 years on the mountain

and in the Karakoram.

Still heavy snowing now, loads of snow at base camp.

Then we heard about this big avalanche

that already wiped out one team's camp

and already sent a K2 team home.

We've heard about missing climbers on another mountain

just two days away from us

that we assume were by avalanche.

so the cooks are telling us "Bad season, bad season.

"Not the year to go, no go, no go."

And I feel like I want to take the same approach

I've taken to every mountain I've even taken

and that's to go until the mountain tells me

I can't go anymore.

- [Narrator] Three days later,

Adrian was back on his feet, strong enough to walk,

but the porters returning from K2 base camp

refused to take them up the valley.

The dozens of commercial teams

whom they had escorted to base camp just days before

had failed to follow protocol and had tipped them poorly

for the work they did on the difficult week long trek.

- And when we say bad tip we mean

$2 per bag,

that's very bad because it's nothing.

- [Meng] What's a good tip?

- I think at least $10, $15 dollars.

That is already not much, but they like that.

$10 or $15 per bag when you arrive to basecamp from Askole

like seven days trekking.

- [Narrator] Adrian and Carla suddenly found themselves

innocent bystanders in a full on porter strike.

- [Adrian] We've been stuck for three nights

trying to persuade some porters and horses

coming down to please take us to K2 base camp.

Beautiful weather,

but they've had a really hard time climbing

so they're not super excited to go back up again.

But right now, we're feeling pretty stranded.

- [Narrator] After convincing a small group of 15 porters

that they would be well compensated

for taking them to K2 base camp,

the team was, once again, on the move.

But the agonizing stomach bug

that had plagued Adrian days before came screaming back.

Despite how much it hurt, Adrian suffered through it

to get to K2 base camp as the team was already

an entire week behind schedule.

Any further delays would put the team in jeopardy

and not allow them enough time to climb the mountain.

With K2 base camp finally in sight,

the mountain seemed to greet them with a dire warning.

- [Adrian] Walking into base camp on K2 and, of course,

the first thing we see huge avalanche cloud

covering the route from base camp

to the base of the Abruzzi.

Shin!

- [Narrator] However, so close to his lifelong dream

of climbing K2, Adrian could only see

positives upon their arrival.

- Well, here we are.

The trek took 50% longer than we kind of planned on

due to sickness and then porters leaving us,

but take a look.

There's Carla and K2 base camp just beyond.

It's big!

But it is so exciting.

Right below the mountain.

Coming out of the clouds now.

(exhales)

The Abruzzi Ridge kind of furthest skyline.

So stoked to be here.

(thoughtful music)

- [Narrator] With the porters well-compensated

and the team's tents finally set up at base camp

the time had come to start climbing.

Adrian made the decision to forego rest

and join the team on a scouting mission.

Although he had lost 10 pounds since his illness,

he wouldn't let it prevent him

from getting his first real look at the base of K2.

- Well, it hurts.

But I'm still following Carla.

- Whoo hoo! - I'm trying to keep up.

Just got to the base of the Abruzzi route

which we want to check out today.

- [Narrator] They planned to climb to Camp 1

and do a light survey of the Abruzzi route,

but things took a turn for the worse only a few hours in.

- Halfway on the way to camp 1

on a warming morning.

Just had a pretty real wet slide.

We saw two people caught in it,

but we think they got out,

but it's running hard and fast.

Nice first day up there, reminding us,

it's not gonna be easy, even when the weather seems perfect.

So, back to base camp tails slightly between our legs.

It's July 4th, were in K2 base camp.

5000 meters, 16.5.

We had a little adventure yesterday,

got a little bit of a feel of the Abruzzi route

and some of the hazards of the mountain.

Today little bit cloudy.

I am on my third anti-biotic course,

but this one seems maybe to be working.

I woke up without the gnarly burps

and other stuff you don't need to hear about.

So that's the good news, but the bad news,

Carla went downhill.

Think she got a little sick.

She's recovering now, she's smiling,

but we really need to be healthy

to be able to move fast on K2

so we might be holding off another day or two

until we move, but the boys, Topo, Palden and Pemba

might go for an adventure tomorrow.

- [Narrator] As Carla and Adrian

took a day to rest and recover, Topo, Palden, and Pemba

set out on the less crowded, but more technical Cesen route

in order to establish the team's high camps.

- [Adrian] K2 is a really technical steep route

with very small campsites, just little ledges,

where you can set tents on the upper mountain

and there are no other choices.

- [Narrator] On K2, setting up a high camp

without the protection of a ridge or rock wall

would be like building your house

in the middle of the freeway.

Exposed camps on steep slopes are in constant danger

of being struck by avalanche or rockfall.

So, what do you do when you're one of the last teams

up the mountain and all of the safe campsites

have been claimed?

If you're experienced mountain guides

like Topo, Pemba, and Palden,

you grab some empty rice sacks and improvise.

- [Topo] What we did is we build like platforms

with the rice sacks.

A lot of the people came

and they are in the very center of the spot.

We build two terraces on an area that nothing existed.

- [Adrian] Perfect, and you think they're strong enough?

They're not gonna collapse?

- [Topo] They're very strong.

We put pitons and we spent a long time.

- [Adrian] So, you set two tents?

- [Topo] So we set one tent, our tent.

Ånd the other we just left the platform

with the duffel bag so, it's claimed.

- Great job, dude!

Three hours, huh? - Great work you guys.

- Yeah, it was pretty--

- Three hours to make the platform?

- Yeah. - Oh my god.

- That's gonna make a big difference for tomorrow.

- Andre, thank you. - Totally.

- [Narrator] While camps set higher on the mountain

certainly offer up more spectacular views,

the necessity behind them

has more to do with science than with scenery.

Spending prolonged periods in a low oxygen environment

stimulates red blood cell production in the human body.

The more red blood cells there are,

the more oxygen they can carry to the brain and vital organs

even when the air is thin.

This is called acclimatization.

There are no shortcuts to the top of any mountain

especially when climbing without supplemental oxygen.

And because every individual is different,

proper acclimatization at extreme altitude

takes patience, persistence and a lot of practice.

- Carla and I have both climbed Everest

without supplemental oxygen and it took both of us

two tries to do that before being successful

and so I think we both had a real idea

of what we wanted for our bodies to acclimatize

and we really didn't want to, short circuit that system

or skip any steps.

We wanted a minimum of two big rotations on the mountain

before summit push and we both wanted to get

as high as we could, spend a bunch of nights up high

and ideally sleep at Camp 4 at 7800 meters

before our summit push.

Well, day six of our acclimatization rotation.

We're at 23,000 feet.

We are packing up.

It's still night time 'cause we got a little scared.

A bunch of snow last night we think,

really warm temps.

So, we're gonna get off the slope,

get off the mountain before the sun hits it at 7:00.

Why are you smiling?

- Because it's fun!

- [Adrian] It's so damn fun!

Being teammates with Carla and Topo

is really a dream and has been for years

as we've built our friendship and working relationship

and climbing relationship together.

You know, when I see them deal with stress and risk,

their decision making is so on point and they're so focused,

but at the same time, their attitude is just right,

it's easy to be around, it keeps me feeling confident.

Topo, what are you doing at 21,000 feet? (laughing)

- My frother got excited! (laughs)

- That mindset in the big mountains,

especially without oxygen where, inevitably,

we're all gonna feel like the worst

we've ever felt in our lives.

Having that kind of, like, stoke and passion

and belief that we can still succeed,

it's so important, it's immeasurable.

We're hanging out in the tent.

We might have carbon monoxide poisoning

'cause Carla says we might have died last night.

But our souls are still very happy

and they went climbing today to Camp 3.

(laughs)

And our souls are enjoying the view.

They're just good humans.

They care about the people around them.

When they're asking you questions

you know that they're listening and interested.

And there's nothing fake or pretend there

and I feel like I'd spend every day with them,

if I could, guiding and climbing and just having fun.

Debris pile.

The bottom of the Chesan Route.

Much, much taller than I am.

This is the spot where you just go as fast as you can,

hope it's not your day.

It's not my day.

It's gonna be all right.

- [Narrator] It's 4:30 am on July 14th.

The start of the teams' second acclimatization rotation

where Carla, Adrian, and Topo will spend the next four days

living at the highest camps on the mountain,

enduring two nights at Camp 3 at 7200 meters.

Then climbing to 7800 meters

to suffer through a hard and painful night

acclimatizing at Camp 4.

- [Adrian] It's gonna be an interesting day,

today's the first day we are seeing a big rush of people.

Summit teams heading out on both routes.

So it'll be interesting to see if it changes

the character of the climbing.

Possible rock fall, possible ice fall.

Possibly having to get creative.

(unsettling music)

Good weather windows are rare in the Karakoram range,

especially on K2.

Weather conditions are unpredictable

because K2 rises so much higher

than the mountains around it.

It touches the upper atmosphere,

so it can create eddies in the jet stream

like a rock jutting out of a raging river.

So when weather conditions are favorable,

that's the signal for most teams

to attempt their summit push.

- [Adrian] We're definitely in stress mode now.

But really just because of unknowns, right?

Lots of teams are trying to go to the summit

in this three day good weather period now.

And it's kind of hard not to be going

and being afraid that we might miss the one window.

But the reality is, we've got to acclimatize,

so we're hanging out trying to stay patient,

see what happens.

Getting ready to move early today

in our down suits for the first time.

Trying to make it to 25,500 feet and spend a night.

Last people we talked to did it on oxygen in 8 plus hours,

so we're a little intimidated

but we've just got to start walking.

Up, up, up.

Headed to Camp 4.

The work is real now.

Everybody asks.

No, these are not oxygen masks.

But we have found 'em pretty key to climbing without oxygen.

They capture humidity and warmth as you breath out,

so the next breath you breathe in, is already pre-warmed.

Makes a huge difference to not getting as bad a cough

up here when you might be breathing

40 or more times a minute.

Plus, they look pretty cool, right?

- [Narrator] On the way to Camp 4,

the team got an up-close and personal look

at one of the deadliest features on the mountain.

- [Adrian] Finally getting a look at the beast.

The bottleneck serac.

It's a huge ice cliff.

Up and left of Topo and Carla.

And unfortunately the route goes right under it.

Mountain's felt pretty safe

until getting a view of that thing.

But right now, luckily we don't have to make

any decisions about that.

What we gotta do is the last little stretch to Camp 4

and then figure out (coughs)

how we're gonna survive tonight

and not freeze and not die of high-altitude sickness.

- [Adrian] We made it!

We did it Carla!

Camp 4!

(both exclaiming)

Yeah!

- [Narrator] As the team hunkered down

for the night at Camp 4, dozens of commercial teams

from all over the world began their bids for the summit.

Although the weather conditions were still ideal,

every team encountered the same insurmountable obstacles

on their summit push.

- [Adrian] Well, I pretty much knew that last night

would be the hardest night of the season.

At least for me, and it lived up to its reputation.

Sleeping at 25,500 feet when we'd only slept at 22,5

before this because of the way the safe camp sites are.

It sucked.

Super cold.

Got a headache.

Couldn't sleep.

And meantime, all of the climbers who tried to go

to the summit last night,

from what we can tell all failed.

There were lots of reports of two meter deep

unconsolidated snow.

There were three or four reports of different avalanches

taking different Sherpa and team members out.

No one killed but it's hard to know exactly

what those avalanches look like.

But it's still not good.

So I don't really wanna be on a 40 degree avalanche slope

with no protection at 27,000 feet

while climbing without oxygen.

Those are not the margins of safety that I'm looking for.

- [Carla] These kind of conditions

doesn't change from one day to another.

Even in a week because it's super high

and there's a lot of snow and the weather

will be the same for one week.

So probably in our summit push

we will find the same conditions.

But, yeah, we are here to enjoy, to learn and--

- Are you enjoying right now?

- Yeah and to celebrate the 100th anniversary

of Eddie Bauer.

And the anniversary of your first attempt.

- Oh you're so good.

- So yeah, we will try to celebrate in the best way,

but in the safe way.

Yeah I'm super happy and grateful to be here

with Adrian Ballinger and Topo Mena.

The best teammates.

- We are definitely the only team

on the mountain that acclimatized by sleeping at Camp 4

and I am so confident it's the right thing,

but man it hurts.

- [Narrator] Having survived the brutal conditions

of Camp 4, Adrian, Carla and Topo

returned to a base camp in chaos.

Failing even to break trail en route to the summit,

most of the remaining commercial teams

felt that success was no longer possible.

Over the next two days,

the majority of them would pack up and go home.

K2 base camp, with over 150 tents

spread out over a half a kilometer of rock-covered glacier,

went from this to this.

With their confidence shattered

and the obstacle in front of them

seemingly too big to overcome,

the team had a decision to make.

They could pack up and leave

with the rest of the climbers

or they could stay and hope for a miracle.

- [Adrian] I sort of came into the season

knowing that it was gonna be hard and dangerous

and having heard countless stories

about the Karakoram and having lost friends here

that I know were super experienced

and super talented climbers on K2 and on the mountains.

All along I've kinda told myself

that failure's okay and that we all fail

and that we just keep taking

these small steps toward success

and hopefully it comes and even when it doesn't

the experiences are really, really powerful.

- [Narrator] Their plan was to rest and recover

for an entire week so that they would be

as strong as possible for their summit attempt.

But after only one day of rest, on the 20th of July,

the team received another piece of disheartening news.

The professional Swiss meteorologists

that the team had hired

to monitor the ever-changing weather patterns

in the Karakoram, sent them this weather model.

The white areas represent clear skies and sun,

while the green represents

snow and massive showstopper storms.

If Adrian and Carla wanted to summit K2,

they had only a four day window

before their season was over.

On July 21st, Carla and Topo made their way to Camp 2

while Adrian stayed behind for one more day of rest,

rehydration, and hot meals.

At 3:00 a.m. on July 22nd, he, Palden and Pemba

made their way out of base camp

and covered 6500 vertical feet, where he would meet up

with Carla and Topo at Camp 3.

During this ascent at 5:30 a.m. Adrian got a glimpse

of a very troubling sight high on the mountain.

- [Adrian] Looking up at the mountain,

we're seeing a lot more wind up the ridge

than the forecast predicted.

Kinda matching the most negative model

instead of the most positive model

and we need no wind for no oxygen climbing up high.

So it's fine for today but hopefully it changes for tomorrow

or the next day, otherwise, it's not gonna work.

- [Narrator] It was the first time

they had seen wind all season.

As the team reached Camp 3, they had no idea

whether or not the 100 mile an hour winds

that had hammered the top of the mountain

had made it more or less dangerous up high.

The only thing they knew for certain

was that the conditions had changed.

They wouldn't know exactly how much

until they began their summit push.

- You can tell I'm hypoxic,

I can't think of what to say.

But pretty perfect night still hopefully.

We've got one hour until we start walking.

And I'm just hoping that slope up there is friendly.

'Cause the weather's good

and we've worked hard for this.

Now we want a shot.

So here we go, 11:30 at night.

Palden's ready, Pemba's ready.

Carla's oh so ready, Topo is closing up the tent.

Time to go try hard.

(wind rustling in mics)

Wind has definitely had its way with this slope.

Basically, hanging out on a hard slab.

(tense music)

(groans)

That section hurt a lot.

(panting)

It's steep.

I was afraid of avalanches.

I'm afraid the wind might have frostbitten my cornea

so I can't see out of one eye.

- [Topo] Oh!

- Other than that, it's awesome!

(mutters)

We're now above 8300 meters, 27,000 feet.

The slope that stopped everyone last week,

sure enough has been wind hammered.

Lots of ice showing now.

It's got plenty of exposure to icefall still,

but it's feeling pretty darn okay.

Stripped off down suits, sit on on

and we're moving on up!

Palden and I just topped out (coughs)

under the bottleneck serac.

Five hours under this fucking thing.

(speaking in foreign language)

Oh!

Fuck.

Definitely had to suspend belief for a few hours.

There's Topo coming off.

Palden's just around the corner.

That was full on, scary, hard.

We're gonna try to get around to a safe spot

around the corner and re-access.

Think I'm six hours in so far and it hurts.

(thoughtful music)

We just finished the last steep slope on K2.

We still have a long way to go.

I'm totally emotional.

(man on radio speaks in foreign language)

I just can't believe it.

We're at over 8,400 meters.

Perfect day.

Only seven of us up here.

It's feeling awful good.

Still a lot of work to go.

A couple of hours to the summit

and then we gotta get down safe,

but it's a special moment right now.

- [Topo] Hey team, can you see us?

We got to the end of the rope.

Which means that we should be

30 meters away from the summit.

30 meters in distance.

We are almost there guys.

- Trying not to cry.

(laughs)

I can't believe it!

We're on the summit of the second tallest mountain

in the world.

8,611 meters, K2.

It's unbelievable that everything worked out

with all of the setbacks.

My sickness, then Carla's stomach sickness

and then a really dangerous avalanche slope

and all the huge seracs and 95% of people went home.

And now we're on top.

Alone on this perfect summit day.

I'm just so honored.

Thank you Eddie Bauer.

1953 expedition, Eddie Bauer expedition to K2,

inspired this trip.

And now we're all on top, 100% success.

And we're gonna get down safe and we're gonna celebrate.

- I'm super excited to be on the summit of K2!

No ox!

(coughs)

It was hard.

We are here celebrating 100 years

that Eddie Bauer's start to make all these down,

crazy jackets that protect us for this cold.

Mwah.

Thank you so much for trusting me,

for help me and let's celebrate in base camp!

(dramatic music)

(thoughtful music)

(dramatic music)