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?

After the solitary turbulence of his youth, Buntaro has found peace and contentment in adulthood. With a wife, a baby daughter, and a steady job as a researcher for the WEC, he no longer yearns for the terrible glory of the peaks. But when an old ambition converges with a new challenge at work, Buntaro finds himself being drawn back into the perilous, addictive world of climbing. Will the call of K2 prove to be too much to resist?