K2: Siren of the Himalayas is a 2012 documentary about an expedition to climb K2, the second-highest mountain in the world, but considered by many to be the most challenging climb. The climb covers a team lead by American climber Fabrizio Zangrelli in 2009 interspered with accounts from the first attempt to scale the peak lead by Duke Luigi Amedeo in 1909.
This film contains examples of:
- The Alleged Car: The vehicles that take the expedition to K2 are...not reliable.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: As is typical of Himalayan mountains. Even the car trip is dangerous.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Zangrilli on one of his climbs was within an hour of the summit, but saw a porter that had suffered a stroke, so the priority became getting him down the mountain.
- Hair-Trigger Avalanche: The team tells of an incident the previous year, when a chunk of ice came loose and torn out the fixed ropes the expedition at the time was using. As a result, many of them were lost on the mountain.
- Multi National Team: The main climbers are American, German and British.
- Plot Parallel: The modern climbers are shown interspersed with accounts from Duke Amadeo's expedition a hundred years before, as they have some of the exact same experiences, up to having to turn back before summiting.
- Scaling the Summit: Climbing up K2, of course. They wind up turning back before getting there.
- Scenery Porn: K2 is situated among some of the most spectacular vistas in the world, and the cameras, modern and old, just love it.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: the climbers tell how some people, once they get to Condordia, and are faced with the towering mountains themselves, decide they want out right then and there.
- Shout-Out: Fabrizio laughingly says Vertical Limit was an actual documentary. There are a couple of clips from it as well.
