The Last Expedition

Prior to her last expedition, she told her mother that if she didn’t return from the world’s third highest mountain, it would be because she had joined a nunnery in Nepal’s mountains. Polish mountaineer Wanda Rutkiewicz was last seen on 13 May 1992, heading for the summit of Mount Kanchenjunga, considered sacred by the locals. Her body was never found.

Film director and mountaineer Eliza Kubarska has created a multi-layered portrait of Wanda – a strong, determined woman who broke into the then male-dominated world of high-altitude expeditions. The narrative is built around Wanda’s audio diary, which includes topics such as the nature of interpersonal relationships, freedom, independence and the meaning of life. The film also includes interviews with nuns from Nepalese orders as well as with big names from the mountaineering community, such as Reinhold Messner, Krzysztof Wielicki and Carlos Carsolie.