The harder you climb, the higher you live. Buntaro Mori is a loner, but being alone in a crowd is almost as bad as being forced to fit in. When a dangerous bid for solitude introduces Mori to the rush of solo climbing, he becomes addicted to the brilliant sense of freedom he finds as he pits his body and soul against the heights. But how high does he have to climb to leave humanity behind? Buntaro and Takemura have finally made it to K2, but their partnership is an uneasy one, and the killer mountain leaves no room for error. Suffering from altitude sickness and at the mercy of bad weather, Buntaro comes face-to-face with the reality that in order to ascend the peaks, you must be prepared to die on them.