MovieChat Forums > K2 (1992) Discussion > Climbing accuracy in K2

Climbing accuracy in K2


Found this: the writer is fed up with all the climbing nonsense in movies and lists the few where they get it right. It's only three. And one of them is actually a docudrama. And guess what, K2 is one of the two movies who get it right.

K2 is just way too much underrated! So some recognition for it always tickles me

The article has great vids attached to it as well.


http://blogs.westword.com/ontheedge/2009/12/best_climbing_movies.php

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There are a couple of points that stand out, but overall the film is very close to accurate for mountaineering.

Mostly, the team that heads to Pakistan doesn't have a team physician, or even EMT or nurse. Also, on the final push, the guys leave at what appears to be about 9am in the morning, which is about 8 hours later than they realistically would have decided to depart.

Otherwise, very good.

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[deleted]

The actual K2 is a VERY difficult mountain to climb. This was for the most part not filmed on K2 (a helicoper, filming that they reached the top, can never get that high) but in British Columbia, and they make it seem much too easy. I saw lately the documentary about how 11 climbers died in a 2008 ascent and that shows how this mountain really is.

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yeah... this is NOT about K2 (although the name of the movie is K2)! By now, everybody should have realized it. It is about mountaineering, about mountain expeditions, about challenge. K2 is just a synonym for "very high and hard to climb/achieve mountain/goal" because it is the most difficult of all. The movie is excellent but you have to keep in mind what it is and what it is not.
..I also saw some footage of the real K2. If you get unlucky, you'd face an incredible amount of snow that no one can get over.

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Actually that's not true at all, a helicopter sat on the peak of Mt. Everest for Four minutes!

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I agree, the trickiest part is the "serac" with a drop on one side and a towering wall of ice 100m+ high on the other with the added challenge of a ice falling down

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You got that right! The Serac is what killed the climbers in 2008. A horrible day, a lot of great climbers lost that day.

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[deleted]

9am in the morning? That is as opposed to 9 am in the evening ??

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Perhaps more accurate than some movies, but not very accurate as to climbing K2 itself.

(1) They start for the summit in the morning instead of the middle of the night. (2) They reach the summit and it still looks like morning when it should be at least 8 hours later. (3) Then they come down the summit, camp out in an ice cave, traverse, the one guy falls, the other guy leaves him, then comes back with rope, and drags him down the mountain, then are rescued at an altitude where a helicopter can fly, and it's still daylight! This would have taken at least 2-3 full days. Plus, they weren't using O2.

The one dude says "Welcome to the Death Zone" at base camp!? On K2, only Camp 4 is in the "Death Zone".

But I agree that most climbing movies are even worse.

MOVIES BY THE MINUTE --> http://moviesbytheminute.blogspot.com

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The movie generally messes up the timeline. They didn't fly into basecamp and it should be taking quite a while just for that part. A more accurate timeline, subtitles showing what day and time it is at the bottom of the screen, and (if I remember correctly) better music and ADR would have helped the film be more widely known. I still have a soft spot for it, though.

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When Dallas and Takane made their push to the peak, it seemed to me that they left late in the day and climbed overnight, which doesn't seem realistic. And what about how all the porters refused to go on to base camp "because they were scared"?

This movie seems like a string of contrived emergencies believable only to ingenuous Westerners who like to feel good about themselves for "conquering nature."

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"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"--Pres. Merkin Muffley

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this flick was innacurate as hell as far as climbing 8000+ meters dangerous mountain is concerned - inconsistencies and contrived plot devices everywhere, unrealistic climbing scenarios and unbelievable actions from some of the characters too. I dunno if this was just an incredibly bad acting from the actors part (none were convincing to me, with a pass being given to Biehn, who was still overacting as hell), or a director simply didn't have a clue what normal human reactions are in an extreme situations like that. All in all, a bad movie all around

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