Esteban ‘Topo’ Mena is an Ecuadorian mountain guide and rising star in alpine climbing whose dream is to climb the first ascent of a new route on Mount Everest. He teams up with Cory Richards, a National Geographic photographer and the first American to climb an 8,000-meter peak in winter, and they attempt a never-before-tried climb on the north face of Everest. Though they fail on their first attempt, they vow to return the following season. However, due to the global pandemic, the North side of Everest remains closed, so the ambitious duo turns their attention to a futuristic new route on Dhaulagiri, the seventh highest mountain in the world. When the risk of death on Dhaulagiri stresses the team to a breaking point, the climbers are forced to confront the question of why they climb—and why it’s all worth it.

More people have traveled to space than have summited K2, the world’s second-highest peak that’s considered by many to be the Earth’s most challenging climb. Breathtaking: K2 follows seasoned climbers Carla Perez and Adrian Ballinger as they attempt summiting “the savage mountain” without the aid of supplemental oxygen — an expedition fraught with challenges that threaten not only their chance to reach the top, but also their lives.