SUMMIT OF GODS GN (2025)

"Why climb Mount Everest? Englishman George Herbert Leigh Mallory said in reply, 'Because it is there' in a March 1923 interview with The New York Times. On his third expedition to the mountain in June 1924, Mallory disappeared on the North-East ridge during his ascent, having been sighted only a few hundred yards from the summit. In 1993, Makoto Fukumachi, photographer for a Japanese expedition, stumbles across an old Kodak camera. Could it be Mallory's camera? What does its discovery mean for the history of mountaineering and Everest itself?"

"Did the truth about George Mallory's ascent of Everest in 1924 die with him on those unforgiving slopes? Or was the secret buried deep within a simple camera? Photographer Fukamachi seeks the truth of this 75 year-old enigma and enlists the help of fabled mountaineer Habu Joji and his journal to recover the lost history."

"Tsuneo Hase has died in an avalanche attempting to climb K2 solo without oxygen, leaving Jouji Habu alone to face the next big challenge. Habu has disappeared in Nepal, as has the camera that may unlock Everest's mystery, so Japanese photographer Fukamachi has to search anew for the man known as 'Venomous Snake' and he draws on an unexpected source for help."

"'Climbing is all I have, I climb.' Photographer Fukamachi is visiting Habu's home when the felon Mohan turns up demanding the missing Kodak but is foiled when his earlier captor shoots and wounds him. Habu admits that he took the camera from Mallory's body but that there was no film found. He releases the camera to Fukamachi's charge on the understanding that he can only use it after Habu completes his solo climb of Everest's South West face. But Fukamachi is going with him! Taniguchi's realistic art and Baku's tireless script will take you to such heights that mountaineers only dream of."

"Ninety years have passed since Mallory and Irvine were last seen alive only a few hundred yards from the then-unconquered summit of the world's highest mountain. The scene is finally set for Habu's challenge of the South West face of Everest in winter, solo and without oxygen. Fukamachi has accompanied him so far but must now descend to base camp and leave the mountain to Habu. Will Habu make the summit? Will Mallory's camera give up its secret?"