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K2
Taylor Brooks and Harold Jameson are white-collar professionals by weekday, and accomplished mountain climbers on weekends. Though they share a love for scaling mountains, the two friends are somewhat opposites in their personal lives.
Taylor is a thrill-seeking attorney and womanizer, while Harold is a married, level-headed scientist. On
a random climb, the pair of friends come across billionaire Phillip
Claiborne (Raymond J. Barry), who is accompanied by his team of fellow
climbers. That night, a few of Claiborne's friends ignore Harold's
warnings of an impending avalanche and are killed when snow careens
down the mountain. Claiborne and the other survivers are rescued only
thanks to the quick action of Taylor and Harold. With a hole left in
his climbing crew, Claiborne asks Taylor and Harold to join him on his
next adventure: scaling K2, the second highest peak in the world. The
entire team heads to the Himalayas and starts the climb successfully,
though Taylor butts heads with Claiborne's second in command, Dallas,
while Harold has guilt over leaving his wife to participate. As the
ascent continues, the team runs into trouble when their sherpas quit
and Claiborne gets very ill. A four-man team (Taylor, Harold, Dallas
and Takane) continue the summit with minimal gear. They are stopped
when Claiborne makes the decision (talking via radio) to only allow two
men to make the final summit, while two wait behind at the high camp.
Dallas chooses Takane as the second man to go, and they leave, amidst
protest from Taylor and Harold. Later, Takane returns to the tents, in
severe hypothermia, moments later freezing to death. Taylor
and Harold decide to try for the summit themselves. After a grueling
finish, the pair finish the climb and celebrate. Their happiness is
short-lived, however, as Harold slips on the descent and badly breaks
his leg. The pain is unbearable and he cannot be moved. Luckily, Taylor
soon comes cross Dallas' frozen body, as well as his supply of
epinephine(adrenaline) kept on hand. Taylor injects Harold with the
morphine and then begins to lower his friend to safety, several dozen
feet at a time. Despite Harold's pleas, Taylor refuses to abandon him
and continue alone. They continue to descend until they reach a ridge,
where a helicopter comes into view. The men are saved and celebrate.
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