Video: Breathtaking Footage of Adrian Ballinger’s No-O2 Ascent of K2

More humans have been to space than have summited K2. If nothing else, it’s a testament to the mountain’s difficulty and danger, and might explain why famed American mountaineer George Bell nicknamed it the “Savage Mountain” after a failed 1953 attempt on the world’s second highest peak. In 2019, alpinists Adrian Ballinger and Carla Perez set out to climb the 8611-meter peak and were faced with one of the toughest ascents of their lives.

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None other than Ed Viesturs of 8000-meter renown narrates the new film by Eddie Bauer Breathtaking, a fitting voice for a story of this caliber. It follows the ultimate sufferfest undertaken by Ballinger and Perez as they chase the summit without the use of supplemental oxygen. Check out a very intimate look at one of the hardest climbs in the world.