This is a story of wahine toa. Holly and Lydia have both overcome adversity and personal struggles to get to this point.

At 33 years old, Holly has survived the depths of addiction and is climbing the maunga to recovery. Back in 1988, Te Waipounamu’s Lydia Bradey was the first woman to climb Everest without supplemental oxygen. But instead of accolades, she became the subject of public bullying and misinformation, as people challenged her claims.

They can both hear the call of the mountain and in 2024 are determined to ‘knock the bastard off’ together – both physically and metaphorically.

But before they can get there, they need to take a signficantly smaller step – Holly has no alpine training and has never summitted a mountain before. Working from the ground up, Lydia will train and coach Holly to the top, imparting her experience and skills to get Holly comfortable on the icy tops and with the goal of summitting Te Waipounamu’s iconic Tititea Mt. Aspiring.

And at the documentary’s heart is the heroic resilience of a young Māori wahine, who’s determined to reconnect with her wairua, by climbing and conquering the world’s highest mountain, starting in her own backyard.