● Savage Mountain tells the story of Kristin Harila, a mountaineer whose efforts to break the world record for fastest climb of the world’s 14 highest mountains caused international controversy.

● Harila reached summits alongside Tenjen Lama Sherpa.

● Accused of stepping over a dying man during her climb of K2, Harila became a lightning rod for critics regarding the risks of bold ambition and dangerous climbs.

● Speaking openly in the documentary, Harila is joined by others involved in the events that surrounded the climbs, and the impact it made on the mountaineering world.

Savage Mountain chronicles the astonishing true story of Kristin Harila – a Norwegian mountain climber whose efforts to break a world record changed her life… but not in the way she could have expected.

In 2023, Harila set out to climb the world’s 14 highest mountains. A relative newcomer in the mountaineering world, Harila, alongside Nepalese climbing partner Tenjen Lama Sherpa, became a multiple world-record holder as she completed her mammoth task – completing all 14 in just 92 days, half the time it took previous record holder Nims Purja.

But their achievement came at a cost when footage from K2 – the second highest mountain in the world and the nicknamed ‘Savage Mountain’ – surfaced, which showed a column of climbers, including Harila, stepping over Mohammad Hassan, an injured Pakistani porter. Suddenly Harila became headline news for a different reason, accused of stepping over a dying man in her attempts to become a record-breaker.

Soon, she became central to a global backlash, as debates over the cost of success, ambition and ethics in mountaineering soared.

In Savage Mountain, Harila and others open up in-depth about the highs and lows of the climbing world, aiming to shed new light on what happened.

Speaking ahead of the show’s release, Harila said: “This climb changed my life in unforeseen ways, with consequences I’m still processing today — but it also led me to Lama, whose trust and friendship I will never forget.

“While much has been said in the media, Savage Mountain gives space to the parts of the story that haven’t been heard. I hope audiences will come away with a deeper understanding of the full picture.”

Hayley Reynolds, Head of Documentary Commissioning at Sky, said: “Savage Mountain goes beyond the headlines, combining intimate access with unseen footage to explore the story at the centre of an extraordinary and complex climb, and the events that followed.

“We’re proud to work with Field Productions and Full Story Films to bring the story of Kristin and Lama’s record-breaking climb to Sky Documentaries.”

Kristin Harila is a Norwegian former cross-country skier who became a mountaineer in 2015, when she joined her first expedition to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

She made her first attempt to break the speed record for climbing the 14 highest peaks in the world in 2022. At the time, the record was held by Nepalese climber Nirmal Purja, who took 189 days to complete the challenge.

After successfully climbing 12 of the mountains, Harila’s attempt was unfortunately halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions put in place as a result.

Regardless, during that attempt she successfully set the world record by climbing the world’s five highest mountains – Mount Everest, K2, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse and Makalu – in just 69 days.

She was declared European Adventurer of the Year in 2022 at the ISPO sports fair in Munich, Germany.

Making her second attempt once the restrictions were lifted in April 2023, Harila and climbing partner Tenjen Sherpa began their efforts by heading to the summit of Shishapangma in Tibet. They would later beat her own record by climbing Mount Everest and Lhotse in the same day.

They summited their final mountain, K2, by July 2023 – setting a new world record by achieving their goal in just 92 days.

Since the incident on K2, which is documented in Savage Mountain, Harila has continued to climb mountains.

In May 2026, she became the first female mountaineer to successfully complete the Everest Triple Crown – summiting Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse within 10 days. She also completed the Mount Everest and Mount Nuptse climb without supplemental oxygen.

The 14 highest mountains in the world are dubbed the “Eight-Thousanders” – because each of them are over 8,000m in height.

Many of them are situated on country border lines.

In order, they are:

1. Mount Everest, Nepal/China – 8,849 m (29,032 ft)
2. K2, Pakistan/China – 8,611 m (28,251 ft)
3. Kangchenjunga, Nepal/India – 8,586 m (28,169 ft)
4. Lhotse, Nepal/China – 8,516 m (27,940 ft)
5. Makalu, Nepal/China – 8,485 m (27,838 ft)
6. Cho Oyu, Nepal/China – 8,188 m (26,864 ft)
7. Dhaulagiri I, Nepal – 8,167 m (26,795 ft)
8. Manaslu, Nepal – 8,163 m (26,781 ft)
9. Nanga Parbat, Pakistan – 8,125 m (26,660 ft)
10. Annapurna I, Nepal – 8,091 m (26,545 ft)
11. Gasherbrum I, Pakistan/China – 8,080 m (26,509 ft) |
12. Broad Peak, Pakistan/China – 8,051 m (26,414 ft)
13. Gasherbrum II, Pakistan/China – 8,034 m (26,358 ft)
14. Shishapangma, China – 8,027 m (26,335 ft)

Savage Mountain will be available on Sky Documentaries this August.

It will also be available on streaming service NOW.