The Fatal Game (1996)

This is a one-hour documentary that covers on a personal level one of the most volatile issues that come up when mountaineering is discussed, especially by non-climbers. This is the ethical and survival decisions made by people on whether to leave other climbers behind, probably to die.

But this isn’t a vague case of climbers walking by a stranger in distress, perhaps pausing to urge them to continue or perhaps ignoring them. This is a climbing team member who was filming the summit attempt having to make the wrenching decision, with suggestions by radio from others at base camp, to save himself and leave his climbing partner behind.

It is an interesting study of his personal dilemma and the issue overall. But mostly it is his own story of survival and the costs that came with it, both personal and physical. Mountaineering films rarely have the luxury of detailing this ethical aspect of mountaineering so closely, so it is well worth watching for that reasons alone.