The Last Expedition

Wanda Rutkiewicz is a strong, goal-centered Polish woman who, uninvited, entered the "men's world" of high-mountain expeditions. She was the first European woman and the first person from Poland to climb Mount Everest and the first woman in the world to climb K2. By the age of 49 she had conquered eight eight-thousanders (mountains with summits that are 8,000 metres or higher).

Her achievements brought her worldwide fame but resentment in her home country. In 1992 she disappeared mysteriously on Kanchenjunga in Nepal. Her body was never found and rumours persist that she is still alive, having retreated to a hidden Tibetan women's monastery. 

In search of clues, director and mountaineer Eliza Kubarska traces Wanda's footsteps with the help of her mysterious audio diary, recorded in the year before she disappeared. She philosophises on life's most important issues - motherhood, relationships, marriage, the struggle for respect in the male-dominated mountaineering community, and questions the meaning of Himalayan mountaineering and the meaning of life.

This film is F-Rated. The F-Rating is applied to all films which are directed by women and/or written by women. Find out more about F-Rating.

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