THE LAST MOUNTAIN: BBC ANNOUNCE FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY

The compelling story of 30-year-old climber Tom Ballard, who disappeared on one of the Himalayas most deadly mountains in February 2019.

Tom was the son of mountaineer Alison Hargreaves, who perished on K2 in 1995. Mother and son, two of the greatest climbers of all time, died at almost the same age, in the same mountain range, both doing what they loved best. They now lie forever encased in the ice of the high Himalayas. Left behind to cope with the enduring tragedy are Tom’s sister, Kate and their father, Jim.

In 1995, Jim Ballard took his children, Tom, 6 and Kate, 4 on an expedition to K2’s basecamp to say farewell to their mother, the result was a BBC film, Alison’s Last Mountain.

Now, The Last Mountain follows Kate Ballard on a parallel trip to say goodbye to her brother on Nanga Parbat. Using archive footage from 1995 and Tom's own extraordinary footage taken up until the days before his death, the film explores what made Tom continue his ascent with Italian climber, Daniele Nardi after the other two members of the expedition turned back. Tom had always followed his credo to ‘listen’ to the mountain and climb as though he were a part of it, a moving piece of rock or ice.

Patrick Holland, Director of Factual, Arts and Classical Music, says: “This is a deeply personal, deeply moving film about an extraordinary family and their passion to live life at the extremes. We are hugely privileged to be allowed on this journey, a pilgrimage into the mountains, following Kate Ballard as she says goodbye to her brother, Tom.  I’d like to thank Kate and Jim for sharing their story and Chris Terrill for making this elegiac, awe-inspiring and haunting film."