A taut, gripping, true-life extreme adventure chronicling the suspenseful struggle for survival on top of the world's highest mountain. Scott Fischer and Rob Hall are experienced guides who lead two opposing expedition teams up the treacherous face of Mount Everest. Along for the climb are a desperate group of experienced and not-so-experienced thrill-seekers, including journalist Jon Krakauer. Although initially exhilarating, the climb becomes perilous and the two teams must band together.

This movie attempts to re-create the disastrous events that took place during the Mount Everest climb on May 10, 1996.

The author describes his spring 1996 trek to Mt. Everest, a disastrous expedition that claimed the lives of eight climbers, and explains why he survived.

The true story of the deadliest season in the history of Mt. Everest as six climbers lost their lives in their attempt to reach the summit.

"Reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion, Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996. He hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours. As he turned to begin the perilous descent from 29,028 feet (roughly the cruising altitude of an Airbus jetliner), twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly to the top, unaware that the sky had begun to roil with clouds ..." "This is the terrifying story of what really happened that fateful day at the top of the world, during what would be the deadliest season in the history of Everest. In this harrowing yet breathtaking narrative, Krakauer takes the reader along with his ill-fated expedition, step by precarious step, from Katmandu to the mountain's pinnacle where, plagued by a combination of hubris, greed, poor judgment, and plain bad luck, they would fall prey to the mountain's unpredictable fury."--Jacket