| Director | Daniel Lee, Hiroaki Takeishi |
|---|---|
| Genre | adventure film, drama film |
| Runtime | 125 min |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Box office | $174 million |
In 1960, the Chinese mountaineering team makes its first attempt to summit Mount Everest. Acting team leader Fang Wuzhou faces a critical decision—save his teammate Qu Songlin or preserve the camera in Qu Songlin's hand. Choosing to save his teammate, Fang leads the team to successfully reach the summit from the treacherous North Face, accomplishing what the global mountaineering community deemed impossible. However, due to the lack of a 360-degree photographic record of the peak, the feat was not recognized by mountaineers in the Soviet Union where most of the team trained.
Fang is infatuated with Xu Ying, a meteorology student. During the Cultural Revolution the climbing team is disbanded but regroups in the early 1970's.
In 1975, determined to gain global recognition, the Chinese mountaineering team regroups. With the support of meteorologist Xu Ying, Fang Wuzhou and Qu Songlin led a new generation of climbers, including Li Guoliang and Yang Guang, on another perilous ascent to the world's highest peak. Li, experienced in photography, promises to get good pictures for them.
Awaiting them are even harsher conditions—and a life-or-death challenge. No one except Fang is able to complete the training challenge in the time allotted, so he is given the position of team leader. This time, they have government and military support and a large base is set up for the climbers with Xu giving them constant weather updates.
Harsher than expected weather conditions cause some injuries and the local Tibetan monks advise them not to disrupt nature and call off the climb. With some improvisation led by Fang, they are advancing. But a wind storm knocks over their tents and ruptures Yang Guang's sleeping bag, causing him to lose his leg due to hypothermia. Li creates a plan to summit the mountain in a reduced timespan.
At Second Step, someone slips and an oxygen cylinder hits Yang Guang in the face, causing him to lose consciousness and drag the entire group down a cliff with Yang over the edge. Yang wakes up at the last possible second and hands his camera to the next guy in line, then sacrifices himself so the others won't fall off the cliff.
The group continues listening to Xu's weather reports as they continue climbing up the mountain. However, Xu begins coughing blood and dies just as they reach the summit. The group plants the Chinese flag on the summit.
In 2019, an old Yang Guang (with a prosthetic leg) climbs to Second Step and sees the ladder placed by his team, which has since helped over 1300 climbers.