K2 The Savage Mountain (Part 1)

Date1953 – 1954

AbstractK2 The Savage Mountain is a film produced by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) about the Third American Karakoram Expedition to K2 in 1953, sponsored by the American Alpine Club and led by Charles S. Houston. The expedition also included Robert H. (Bob) Bates, George Bell, Robert Craig, Arthur K. (Art) Gilkey, Dee Molenaar, Peter Schoenning, Capt. H.R.A. Streather and Colonel M. Ata-Ullah. The program is hosted by Houston and Bates. Part 1 of the film introduces the other members of the expedition and shows some of them preparing for the trip, including some dramatized footage of a few team members discussing the strategy of the mission. The film also includes footage contained on other reels of the Charles S. Houston Collection, narrated by Houston himself, showing the team’s reception in Pakistan and the climbers hiring porters, hiking to the mountain, stopping at local villages, crossing rope bridges, setting up base camp and beginning their ascent. Part 1 ends with the team members leaving Camp 1. K2 The Savage Mountain (Part 1) is Reel 38 of the Charles S. Houston Collection.