Breathtaking: K2 - The World's Most Dangerous Mountain | Eddie Bauer

[Music] on these big mountains were 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 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 wanted to be because I knew it and I pushed on anyway [Music] 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 8,000 meters all of them lie in the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges in Central Asia they're the only mountains on the planet the 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 [Music] in the Karakoram range on the border of China and Pakistan stands k2 the world's second highest peak standing at eight thousand six hundred and eleven meters or twenty eight thousand two hundred fifty one 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 where 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 reached the summit but k2 isn't some malevolent being it's indifferent to suffering but it isn't cruel its 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 [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 almost all of my climbing on 8000 meter peaks was with supplemental oxygen in 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 very 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 it 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 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 makes you safe is here is speed you have to be fast although it is only 237 meters lower than Everest k2 is much more difficult to climb the terrain is steep requiring advanced mountaineering skills in both rock and ice climbing exposures extreme in places where even the smallest mistake could prove fatal bad weather is common and the risk of avalanche and rock fall 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 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 kala Perez and topo Estevan Dana and Paul de nom gay and Pemba these are people I just trust implicitly and have spent so much time in the mountains with that when they finally invited me you know really this is Colin topos trip originally and they invited me on the trip it was like just all of a sudden was like it's absolutely the right time as a certified Ecuadorian mountain guide Carla Perez has guided on big mountains all over the world she has successfully summited three of the 14 8,000 meter peaks and she's done each one without using supplemental oxygen mana slew in 2012 Choi Yeo and 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 you really face the death so you want to enjoy more your life enjoy more to people and all these small details and thinking like that sometimes we didn't think about but then when we are there and we are scared and we are really close to that we feel that this small things are that we really important things a Jackson kala and I are trying without oxygen and then we have three team members who are supporting us up high that's topo Paulding 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 and I'm at a point in my career where I want to have help making those impossible decisions up high when things go wrong 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 8,000 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's more technical we will have more neck bottles traffic jams and that is a danger thing that intimidates me on this round you need to be independent you need to be fast you need to know everything instinctually when the hits the fan which it inevitably 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 8,000 meter peaks before coming here and that's what I've already getting on my soapbox that's what I'm getting fired up about it's it's not the 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 [Music] June 1920 19 skardu 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 indicate to base camp would be an adventure of its own it's meant to be a pretty wild six to seven hour four-wheel drive deep Road up into the mountains [Music] [Music] once you get dross Kalle will meet all of our porters and local staff organize all of our loads and then begin a seven-day walk to base camp we're joining with a few other teams to get to base camp and we'll probably have a few hundred local Porter's 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 who doing big distances each day starting quite low so it's gonna be hot and then quickly getting onto the glaciers so you're actually trekking along the side of the glaciers all the way up into the mountains and finally the 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 kala topo and I have all had just pretty wild travel schedules the past couple of weeks we're 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 you get to see a little bit of the culture of 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 but midway through the trek to base camp at a camp called Goro - 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 a lot sucked I went from being on cloud nine on this track to last night can you say cuz I think I've been since like I was 22 backpacking through India you don't want the gory details maybe do both ends real rough one stop and then got so cold that couldn't stop shivering and there were only at 14,000 feet coco-cola combined Paulding ended up totally taken care of me came their kitchen this fire up a bunch of water so I get up hot water bottles and just went through a legit howlers tonight I think I'm turning the corner I haven't puked in two hours which is a record since 11 p.m. last night so we're staying we're not moving up to a 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 can go and spend two more nights here in Goro - and I hope that'll get me you know back on track so not only can I move and walk but that I can walk the k2 base camp from be not completely shattered as commercial climbing teams pressed on with the porters toward k2 base camp Adrian's team stayed behind at Goro 2 and waited for him to get a strength back as they waited intimidating reports began to trickle in about what lay ahead we've been hearing nothing but negatives you know the most snow and 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 had already wiped out one team's camp and already sent a k2 team home and we've heard about missing climbers on another mountain just two days away from us do we assume we're fine avalanche so you know the cooks are telling us like 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 ever ever taken and that's you know two to go until the mountain tells me I can't go anymore 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 a difficult week-long trek but we mean 4/7 they track in a very hard way in a very hard trail $2.00 per per per bad that's very bad because I think what's a good tip I think at least $10 $15 that is already not much but they like that 10 or 15 dollars per pack when you arrive to base camp from us fully like seven days tricking Adrienne and Carla suddenly found themselves innocent bystanders in a full-on Porter strike we've been stuck for three nights trying to persuade some Porter's invoices coming down please k2 base camp beautiful weather 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 after convincing a small group of 15 Porter's 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 walking into base camp on k2 and of course the first thing we see a huge avalanche cloud covering the route from base camp to the base of the Abruzzi [Music] however so close to his lifelong dream of climbing k2 Adrian could only see positives upon their arrival well here we are Trek took 50 percent longer than we kind of planned on due to sickness and then orders leaving us but take a look there's kala and k2 base camp just beyond it's big it is so exciting right below the mountain coming out of the clouds now you brucy ridge kind of for the skyline so stoked to be here with the porters well-compensated and the teams tents finally set up at base camp the time had come to start climbing Adrienne 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 I'm still following Cola trying to keep up she's got to face your brood when you check out today they plan 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 warming morning it's had a pretty real wet side I saw two people caught in it but we think they got out but it's running hot and fast my first day up there reminding us mom is not gonna be easy even when the weather seems perfect so back to base camp tails slightly between our legs what's July 4 you're a key to base camp 5,000 meters 16:5 we had a good little adventure esa got a little bit of feel of your bruised e root and some of the hazards at the mountain today a little bit cloudy I am on my third antibiotic course but this one seems to maybe be working I woke up without the knowledge verbs and other symptoms you don't need to hear about that's good news the bad news collar went downhill look she got a little sick she's recovering now she's smiling hahaha 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 boys topo Bobby remember might go for adventure tomorrow [Music] as Carl and Adrian took a day to rest and recover Topol Paulding and Pemba set out on the less crowded but more technical Chesson route in order to establish the team's high camps k2 is a really technical steep route with very small campsites as little ledges where you can set tents on the upper mountain and there are no other choices 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 a freeway exposed camps on steep slopes are in constant danger of being struck by avalanche or rock fall 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 Paulding you grab some empty rice acts and improvise what we did is we build like platforms with the right acts a lot of the people came and they are in the very center yeah of the spot we built to throw us out nothing existed perfect and you think they're strong enough they're not gonna call very strong we put like Pete turns awesome so you said two tents so we said 110 our tent and the other we just left the platform with the DAF batteries climate exclaimed great job yeah it was pretty three hours to make it yeah that's gonna make a big difference for tomorrow well camp 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 kala and I have both climbed Everest without supplemental oxygen and it took both of us to 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 like skip any steps we wanted a minimum of two big rotations on the mountain before summit bush and we both wanted to get as high as we could is spend a bunch of nights up high and ideally sleep Kemp four and seventy eight hundred meters before a summit bush well three 6-hour climatization rotation turn three thousand feet they're packing up still night time because we got a little scared bunch of snow last night we think really warm temps so we're gonna get off this low get off the mountain before the Sun hits it at seven [Music] why is smiling because being teammates with kala and topo is really a dream and has been for four 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 the 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 so what are you doing [Music] [Laughter] 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 is it's so important it's immeasurable hanging on the tenth we might have come monoxide poisoning because colors as we might have died last night but our souls are so very happy and they went climbing today to kill no 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 they're listening and and interested and there's nothing fake or pretend there and I feel like I'd spend every day with him if I could in the mountains guiding and climbing and and just having fun debris pile the bottom of the chest root much much taller than I am this is spot you just go as fast as you can hope it's not your day it's not my day it's gonna be alright it's 4:30 a.m. on July 14th the start of the team's 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 7,200 meters then climbing to 78 hundred meters to suffer through a hard and painful night acclimatizing at camp for firstly we're seeing a big rush to people so many teams heading out on both routes so to see if it changes the character of the climbing possible rock fall possible ice fall pods we haven't yet creative 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 Eddie's 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 we're definitely in stress mode now but really just because of unknowns right lots of seems trying to go to the summit in this 3-day good weather period now is kinda hard not to be going to be afraid that we might miss the one window but the reality is we got our climate eyes so and you know trying to stay patient see what happens [Music] getting ready to move out late a you know down suits for the first time trying to make it twenty five thousand five hundred feet and spend a night last people we talked to you did it on oxygen and eight plus hours so we're a little intimidated I just gonna stall walking [Music] everybody asks no these are not oxygen masks or we have found a pretty key to climbing without oxygen they capture humidity and warmth as you breathe out so then the next breath you breathe it is already pretty warped makes a huge difference to not get it this panic off up here when you might be breathing forty or more times a minute plus they look pretty cool right on the way to camp for the team got an up close and personal look at one of the deadliest features on the mountain finally getting a look at the beast bottlenecks Iraq this is a huge ice cliff open laughter tobor kala and unfortunately the route goes right under it mountains felt pretty safe up until getting a few of that bed but right now luckily we don't have to make any decisions about that what we're going to do is the last little stretch to get four and then figure out how we're gonna survive tonight and not freeze and not die of high-altitude sickness as the team hunker down for the night at Camp for 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 [Music] well I pretty much knew last night would be the hardest night of the season and at least for me and it lived up to its reputation sleeping at twenty five thousand five hundred feet we had only slept at twenty two five before this because we're the safe camp sites are socked super-cold got a headache couldn't sleep in the meantime all the climbers who tried to go to the southern last night from what we can tell all failed there were a lot to reports of two meter deep fun consolidates no there were three or four reports of different avalanches taking different strip on team members out no one killed but talk to know exactly what their guidelines just look like but it's still not good so I don't really want to be on a 40-degree avalanche slope with no protection at 27,000 feet while climbing without oxygen that is not the margins of safety that I'm looking for these kind of conditions doesn't change from one day to another even in a week because it's super high and it's a lot of snow and the weather will be the same probably in our summit push we will find the same conditions but yeah we are here to enjoy you're doing right now yeah I'm celebrating the 100th anniversary of good we will try to celebrate in the best way but in the same way and yeah I'm super happy and grateful to be here with Adrian Ballinger and top amina this team mates that were the only team on the mum that acclimatize were sleeping and for so confident it's the right thing but man it hurts having survived the brutal conditions of camp for Adrienne Carla and topo returned to a base camp in chaos failing even to break trail and 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 a hundred and fifty tents spread out over a half kilometre 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 it's not a came into the season knowing that it was gonna be hard and dangerous and having heard countless stories about the car Laura and and having lost friends here that I know we're super experienced super talented climbers on k2 and other mountains and so all along I've kind of told myself that failure is okay and that we all fail and that we just keep taking these small steps towards success and and then hopefully it comes and even when it doesn't the experiences are really really powerful 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 reach the summit of k2 they only had a four day window before their season was over on July 21st Karla and Topo made their way to camp two while Adrienne stayed behind for one more day of rest rehydration and hot meals at 3 a.m. on July 22nd he Paulding and Pemba made their way out of base camp and covered 6,500 vertical feet where he would meet up with Karla and topo at camp 3 during this ascent at 5:30 a.m. Adrienne got a glimpse of a very troubling sight high in the mountain looking up at the mountain we're seeing a lot more wind of the ridge then the forecast predicted kind of matching the most negative model and say the most positive model and need low wind for no oxygen climbing up high so it's fine for today but which changes tomorrow next day the Lawrence it's not gonna work 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 hundred mile an hour winds that 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 could tell on my boxing I can't think of what to say but pretty perfect night still hopefully we got one hour until we saw walking and just hoping that slope up there is friendly because the weather's good and we've worked hard for this now we want a shot so here we go 11:30 at night all dudes ready Memphis ready huh Karla's oh so ready don't pose closing up the tent time to go try on we're just definitely had its way with this flow basically I'm out on a hard slab [Music] that section nerd alive Steve it's afraid of avalanches I'm afraid the wind might've frosted my cornea so I can see out of one eye [Music] [Music] when now Bobby to 300 meters 27,000 feet slope the softer from last week sure enough has been wind a murd lots of ice showing now it's got plenty of exposure to ice fall still but it's feeling be darn okay stripped off down suits so down on Paul denai top down under bottlenecks track 5 hours under this thing no me gusta definitely I'd suspend belief for a few hours so for coming out all do sister on the corner I was full-on scary odd make try to get around or a safe spot around the corner and reassess they come six hours in so far and it hurts [Music] we just finished the last steep slope on key to have a long way to go I've totally emotional with over eight thousand four hundred meters perfect day only seven of us up here it's feeling awful good still a lot of work to go couple hours and summit and we're gonna get down safe but it's a special moment right now hey Dean can you see us [Music] we got to the end of the road which means that we should be thirty meters away from the summit 30 meters in distance we almost there guys [Music] 8611 meters Katy step backs my sickness tallest stomach sickness and a really dangerous athlete slow oh shoot cracks 95% of people went home and now we're on top lawn on this topic so thank you any power 19:53 expeditious when an Eddie Bauer expedition k2 inspired district and now we're all on top when I'm said success and now get down super excited to meet update oh what's God we are here celebrating 100 years that Eddie Bauers is that to make all these down crazy jacket that protect us for this cough thank you so much for trusting me except me it's a trillion base yeah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Eddie Bauer

Views: 7,016,347

Rating: 4.8706999 out of 5

Keywords: breathtaking, K2, film, feature, mountain, dangerous, Adrian Ballinger, Carla Perez, Topo, Pakistan, tallest, world, outside, mountainfilm

Id: cvFt2Xcuois

Length: 46min 17sec (2777 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 01 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/unrealkoala]

Don Bowie posted a sea-level metaphor for what it's like to do 8000m without supplemental oxygen:

This is my "sea-level" metaphor to what it feels like to climb 8000 meters without supplemental O2: Go two full days without food, only water, hiking both days for 8 hours in the hot sun with a heavy pack. Just before bed on the second night drink 6 shots of vodka instead of the water. At 1 am in the morning wake yourself abruptly, puke, take a 30 minute ice bath, then run a full marathon in cold rain. At the end of the marathon, you're likely somewhere around the feeling of 8000m without O2. By the way, if you're climbing K2 you still have another 600 meters to get to the top, so run another marathon. At the end, congratulate yourself by drinking 6 more shots of vodka - because now you have to climb down and do all of the above in reverse.

[u/kepleronlyknows]

Important to note that they left out Nirmal “Nims” Purja, who broke trail up the final crucial pitches. Adrian states in other interviews that he absolutely couldn't have succeeded without Nims. Apparently Eddie Bauer left him out because he's not on their team.

Kinda shitty IMO.

[u/_JohnMuir_]

Didn’t he do this one with Carla Perez?

[u/qtc0]

pretty shitty that the other groups stiffed the sherpas

[u/IAmIsCool]

Bad ass

[u/LunaticLlama]

That was great! Such great views on summit day.

[u/kkcastizo]

Any one of those things would turn off so many people, but he powered through. What a champ.

Makes me realize how much of a wimp I am lol

[u/Sierra004]

He held his breath the whole time?

[u/[deleted]]

Remember: Everest is for the weak. Oxygen is cheating. And a guide is top roping. 🤣