Savage Mountain is a new feature documentary about Norwegian climber Kristin Harila. It is directed by Even Sigstad, who also wrote the screenplay, and produced by Filip Christensen of Field Productions, in co-production with Full Story Films, Sky News’ long-form documentary unit, with support from the Norwegian Film Institute. The film runs approximately 100 to 104 minutes and is in Norwegian, English, and Nepali.
It premiered at Sheffield DocFest on 11 June 2026 and had its television premiere on Sky Documentaries in the UK on 11 August 2026 and Coming to cinemas on September 4.
In 2023, Harila set out to climb all fourteen of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks faster than anyone had before. She partnered with Nepali Sherpa Tenjen “Lama” Sherpa and insisted he climb by her side through the entire project. Together they finished in 92 days, roughly half the previous record.
The record came at a steep personal cost. Harila had already spent half a million dollars on an earlier, failed attempt. To fund this one, she sold her flat and struggled to find sponsors, eventually relying on her logistics company to cover costs when her own money ran out.
The final peak, K2, is where the story turns. Harila’s team came across an injured Pakistani porter, Mohammad Hassan, hanging from a rope. He died before the team could get him down. Harila did not speak publicly about it at the time, and when the story broke weeks later, she faced intense backlash, accusations that she had prioritised the record over a dying man, lost sponsors, and ended up roughly $700,000 in debt.
Then came a second tragedy. In October 2023, Lama was killed in an avalanche while helping another climber chase a similar record.
Savage Mountain is built around these events. It uses previously unseen footage from K2 and gives Harila space to tell her side of what happened, while following the human cost behind one of mountaineering’s most talked-about records.
