3⁄4 of the team die. (It sounds like the novel it’s adapted from was partly based on this event.)
During filming:
While the team was preparing to be helicoptered off the north face, [climbing advisor Mike] Hoover remembered they had not taken any footage from the climbers’ point of view of the boulders crashing down on them. With his handheld camera, Hoover and 26-year-old British climber David Knowles rappelled down to the ledge and took the needed footage. As they were gathering their gear, a huge rock broke free and smashed into the climbers, killing Knowles and leaving Hoover with a fractured pelvis and severely bruised muscles. Following an impromptu wake for Knowles, [director Clint] Eastwood considered cancelling the production, but the climbers persuaded him to continue, assuring him that they all knew the risks of their trade and did not want Knowles’ death to be meaningless.
Incidentally, there’s a film called the Eiger Sanction involving an attempt to scale the Eigerwand, in which
3⁄4 of the team die. (It sounds like the novel it’s adapted from was partly based on this event.)
During filming: