The base camp set was a large cluster of alpine tents of various colors, shapes and sizes, designed by production designer Jon Bunker. Each tent reflected the nature of its inhabitants, including the outrageous Bench brothers with their Bob Marley flags and nude sunbathing antics.
The base camp of wealthy entrepreneur Elliot Vaughn, played by Bill Paxton, was much more elaborate. It consisted of several large, interconnected, dome-shaped tents fully equipped with every possible luxury. Real climbers on the crew said that if there was such a thing on K2, no one would ever leave it to go for the summit.
Base camp was a truly cosmopolitan world, with climbing teams and support crews made up of males and females from Italy, Spain, Japan, India, Russia and New Zealand, plus Pakistani porters and cooks and, of course, Vaughn's American team of climbers and base camp support crew. On the biggest days of filming, there were 265 extras on set.
The transportation and care of such large numbers of people in a mountain location was a logistical challenge. It was a one-hour journey by bus up the spectacular winding mountain road to the ski lodge, which served as the wardrobe, make-up, administration and catering base. From there, the trip to the set was upwards again for 15 minutes in special snow terrain shuffle vehicles. What made the location even more challenging was that the winds could go from 0 to 100 miles per hour in a matter of minutes.
Mt. Earuslaw, also near Queenstown and only accessible by helicopter, provided the location for the Pakistani Military Base. With its poorly equipped, run-down hospital, cricket-playing personnel and explosive ammunition bunker, it had the feeling of a wartime border zone. The set consisted of a series of camouflage-colored, corrugated iron-roofed bunkers with stone walls as well as strategic gun emplacements.
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