Why ‘The Last First: K2 Winter’ Is Unlike Any Mountaineering Doc You’ve Seen Before

Amir Bar-Lev’s documentary *The Last First: Winter K2* revisits mountaineers’ attempt to make the first winter ascent of K2, the world’s second-highest mountain. The film uses the expedition to explore how people seek meaning and bring their ambitions, relationships and social pressures into a dangerous environment.

Bar-Lev joined the project about three years after the events and was not a mountaineer. He worked with footage already gathered by several people, including licensed documentary material and recordings from GoPros and phones; around 60 people were on the mountain, and the team had to find a way to shape their many stories. The article says some climbers fell in love and others died during the pursuit, while the competition itself was over roughly a third of the way through the story.