Where Was The Summit Filmed? A Spectacular Documentary By Nick Ryan!!

Are you searching for inspiring documentaries to watch this week? Well then, you’ve come to the right place! Read this article, to know more about a similar documentary, The Summit released in 2012. Furthermore, I’ll also let you in on where was The Summit filmed.

The award-winning documentary film, The Summit premiered at London Film Festival, back in 2012. Irish filmmaker and producer, Nick Ryan worked on this project as a director. Now, even though this gripping documentary is based on a real tragic incident, some portions of it were later added by Mark Monroe, who wrote the screenplay.

The story of The Summit is about a tragic incident, which took place on K2 back in 2008. A group of daring climbers from various countries of the world were attempting to climb the second-highest mountain in the world. However, the situation went horribly wrong, and a total of 11 climbers were declared dead while descending from K2.

The Summit was a shocking revelation to a lot of adventure enthusiasts and fans who enjoy watching intense adventure films. The real-life footage shown in this documentary shocked the majority of the audience to the core after they witnessed the unforgiving side of mother nature.

If you’re really interested to know more about this award-winning documentary, then follow this article till the very end. As we are now going to discuss where was The Summit filmed.

Where Was The Summit Filmed? Let’s Know This Gripping Documentary Closely!

So as I’ve mentioned before, the majority of the footage shown in this documentary was filmed on K2. This mountain is considered to be the second-highest mountain in the world, located in the Karakoram range at 8,611 meters above sea level.

But the main problem Nick faced while directing this documentary was that he couldn’t find enough videos from the actual climbers who survived. So a major part of The Summit had to be recreated, according to the description by the survivors and sherpas.

Naturally, it was impossible for the production members to climb K2 and film the outdoor scenes on the same mountain, for obvious reasons. Thus in order to work around this major problem, Nick conferred with a number of climbers from various parts of the world.

As Nick wasn’t particularly interested in recreating the scenes inside a studio, the climbers advised him to shoot on a mountain, which was less dangerous than K2. Subsequently, after taking expert advice, Nick and his team started looking for such mountain ranges and potential filming locations.

Soon, the makers of The Summit decided to shoot the majority of the sequences in Switzerland, specifically on the Elger mountain of the Bernese Alps. Although, some portions of this documentary which were used for the reconstruction of the actual events, were also filmed on the famous Jungfraujoch glacier in Switzerland.

Then finally in order to capture the final scene, the production members also traveled to Pakistan and filmed the aerial shots of K2 with the help of a special helicopter.

Now, let’s find out more about this startling documentary and explore where was The Summit filmed.

Switzerland

The opening scene of this documentary depicts real footage which was recorded by one of the climbers ascending the K2 in Pakistan. However, the sequences which follow were all filmed in Switzerland, as I’ve mentioned earlier.

A special group of cameramen along with some production members, reached Switzerland to film the sequences which were to be used for reconstruction. Naturally, before the team could begin their climb on the Elger and film, they had to acquire special permission from the Swiss government.

After all the formalities were completed, the filming crew assisted by a group of professional climbers and sherpas ascended the Elger mountain of the Bernese Alps. The production members spent only a few days on the same mountain, as the weather was pretty bad.

However, the filming crew captured some brilliant outdoor shots of the mountain and then descended back to base. Meanwhile, a separate team of camera personnel was already filming the outdoor scenes of the Jungfraujoch glacier which is located at a distance from the Elger.

The weather was much better near Jungfraujoch glacier, which enabled the crew to film the outdoor scenes extensively. Then finally towards the end of the filming process, the camera crew traveled to Pakistan and filmed the aerial shots of K2, after arranging an army helicopter.

Now, allow me to walk you through the plot of The Summit. Meanwhile, you can also check out A Snowy Day In Oakland, American Graffiti, and Joy Ride.

Plot Of The Summit | What’s It About

The story of The Summit is about a group of daring climbers, who intended to ascend K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth, back in 2008. Although the situation went horribly wrong when the climbers were left stranded after an avalanche.

The majority of the sequences in this documentary depict real-life footage, which was captured by the climbers on their way up to the summit of K2. But as the dead bodies of the main climbers couldn’t be recovered some portions were later recreated by the production team on the Bernese Alps.

Watch The Summit to witness the real account of the climbers who survived!

Final Words

Alright, guys! I hope now you finally know where was The Summit filmed. If you’re interested in reading similar pieces, then do check out other articles on Viebly. But, if you’d like us to cover any other title of your choice, then feel free to drop a comment below.