A botched mid-air heist results in suitcases full of cash being searched for by various groups throughout the Rocky Mountains.
Whilst crossing a ledge, 4000 feet above the earth, Gabe's friend's equipment fails to work and she slips out of his hand, falling to the ground. Almost a year later, Gabe is asked to go back to the same mountain range and rescue a group of 'stranded' people. The only catch is that these so called 'stranded' people are in fact looking for three boxes filled with $100,000,000 and they need a mountain ranger to lead them to them!!—Michael Feller <[email protected]>
Gabriel "Gabe" Walker is a skilled rescue climber leading a peaceful life in the Rocky Mountains along with his fiancée and a couple of friends. However, everything changes radically when a beloved friend dies accidentally. Gabe can not climb anymore because he blames himself for the accident and he decides to quit to another place, leaving behind all the people he still loves, in order to forget his past. Eight months later Gabe returns intending to resume with his fiancée but his plans must be deferred as a group of thieves is in the mountains searching for two suitcases containing hundreds of million dollars that were accidentally dropped from a plane. They are willing to do anything to recover it and Gabe must face his painful past to foreclose the bandits to achieve their aim.—Weslley Gonçalves, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Unable to come to terms with the cruel death of a dear friend, guilt-ridden mountain climber Gabe Walker refuses to forgive himself. But eight months after the tragic incident, a despairing distress call from a team of stranded climbers forces Gabe to pick up where he left off. Instead, Walker faces a murderous gang of armed-to-the-teeth criminals bent on using the former rescue ranger's expertise to retrieve three suitcases crammed with millions of dollars scattered on the vast mountainside. Will Gabe make it out alive, especially now that the unquiet ghosts of the past threaten to resurface?—Nick Riganas
Rangers Gabriel "Gabe" Walker (Sylvester Stallone) and Jessie Deighan (Janine Turner) are dispatched to rescue their friend Hal Tucker (Michael Rooker) and his girlfriend, Sarah (Michelle Joyner), after Hal suffered a knee injury and stranded them on a peak in the Colorado Rockies. As they try to rescue Sarah, part of her harness breaks. Although Gabe is initially able to grab her, her gloved hand slips out and she falls to her death. Hal blames Gabe for Sarah's death and Gabe is overcome with guilt, taking an extended leave.
Eight months later, Gabe returns to the ranger station to gather his remaining possessions and persuade Jessie to leave with him. While there, they receive a distress call from a group of stranded climbers. Hal goes to locate the climbers and Jessie is able to persuade Gabe to help out Hal. Hal remains bitter towards Gabe over Sarah's death, at one point threatening to push Gabe off a ledge. When they find the climbers, they discover the distress call was a fake and are taken prisoner by a ruthless gang of international thieves led by psychotic former Military Intelligence operative Eric Qualen (John Lithgow) and the surviving thieves including brutal Kynette (Leon Robinson), sadistic Delmar (Craig Fairbrass) and pilot Kristel (Caroline Goodall).
Qualen, along with turncoat U.S. Treasury agent Richard Travers (Rex Linn), were trying to steal three suitcases full of new bills valuing over $100 million. Travers was in charge of transporting the bills by air, when his boss asked him to give a ride to FBI agent Matheson (Vyto Ruginis). As Matheson notices another plane approaching mid-air, Travis shoot him dead. The 2 planes sync up and Travis sets up a transfer line between the 2 planes to transfer the money, himself and the pilot. Travis makes it across, the money is mid-air. But Their escape plan backfired when supposedly dead Matheson shoots and damages the hydraulics & kills the pilot of the US treasury plane (which explodes), sending the hijacker crashing landing onto the mountain top and the money cases all over the mountain range, and they now require Gabe and Hal's help to locate the cases with the help of beacon locators.
At gunpoint, Hal and Gabe lead them to the first case, located upwards on a steep rock face. Gabe is tethered and forced to climb up the face to reach the case (Qualen also keeps Gabe's jacket for insurance), but when Qualen plans to have Gabe killed once he's got the case, Hal warns him not to come down before Delmar pulls him back and hold him at gunpoint, Qualen orders Kynette and one of the thieves try to yank him down, prompting Gabe to sever the rope. Qualen orders one of the thieves to open fire on Gabe, causing an avalanche that kills one of their members. When they see the money from the first case fluttering away, Qualen believes Gabe is dead, and orders Hal to lead them onward.
Gabe races ahead to find Jessie at an abandoned cabin (She had already reached there after she contacted Hal, who gave her a coded message to reach the cabin). They recover old mountaineering gear to reach the second case before Qualen does. By the time Qualen arrives, Gabe and Jessie have emptied the case and left only a single bill with the taunting message "Want to trade?" on it. Qualen orders his men to split up, allowing Gabe to dispatch two more of Qualen's men. Night falls on the mountain and both groups take shelter with Gabe & Jessie burning the money to survive while Hal and the group shelter at the cabin.
Next morning, Hal sees two friends, Evan (Max Perlich) and Brett (Trey Brownell), he warns them away before Qualen orders his men to open fire. Brett is killed while Evan is wounded, though he manages to ski off the mountain and parachute to safety.Frank, having not heard from Gabe or the others, scouts the mountain in the helicopter, spots Evan's parachute, and is able to get him to safety while contacting the authorities.
Gabe tries to beat the other group by taking a short cut through a sinkhole that opens right next to the 3rd location. But he is spotted coming up by one of the mercenaries Ryan (Gregory Scott Cummins) and escapes by falling all the way down. Ryan goes after him, but Gabe manages to kill him after a brutal fight.Gabe attempts to call for help from Frank (Ralph Waite), their rescue helicopter pilot, with the mercenaries' radio, but Hal alerts him to explosives Qualen has rigged above them on the mountain. Gabe and Jessie escape the falling debris in time.
Gabe and Jessie beat Qualen to the last case. Meanwhile, the mercenaries flag down Frank in the helicopter, but by the time he realizes it's a trap it is too late, and he is fatally shot by Delmar. While hugging Frank's body, Hal discreetly grabs Frank's knife. Travers is nervous that Qualen will kill him after they find the 3rd case and encodes the monitor. He wants to use the chopper to find the 3rd case, but Kristel says there isn't enough fuel. Qualen kills Kristel so now, even Travers needs Qualen (who is also a pilot) to get off the mountain.
Qualen orders Travers & his remaining men to look for the other case. When they get close to the 3rd case, Travers asks Delmar to kill Hal. Hal is able to use the knife to wound Delmar, kill him with his own shotgun, and escape. Gabe asks Jessie to go back to the rescue station & gets to the case first and ties the beacon to a rabbit. Travers goes bonkers and starts cursing Qualen on the open radio frequency. This entire broadcast is heard by Travers's boss, who is also leading a chopper search party to look for the stolen money. Qualen knows that their location is compromised after the broadcast and flies the chopper away.
Hal finds Gabe, and together they kill Travers, who is now insane after finding that Gabe managed to get the last case before him.However, at the same time, Qualen takes Jessie hostage when she waves down the helicopter, believing that Frank was flying it. Qualen tells Gabe and Hal over the radio that he is holding Jessie captive on board the helicopter, demanding Gabe and Hal to surrender the money from the third case at a high elevated rendezvous point and threatens to kill her should they refuse to cooperate.
Gabe and Hal agree, and they meet at a cliff side bridge. However, Qualen tries to challenge Gabe into throwing the case into the helicopter, but when he also threatens to kill Jessie again, Gabe orders Qualen to free her at a safe distance away from the cliff. Qualen reluctantly agrees and uses a winch to lower Jessie to the ground. Once Jessie is safely down, however, Gabe throws the bag of money into the helicopter's rotors, shredding the money. Enraged, Qualen attempts to use the helicopter to kill Gabe, but Gabe has used the winch cable to tether the helicopter to a steel ladder up the cliff face. Hal arrives and helps via shooting the helicopter down. The ladder snaps and leaves Gabe and Qualen atop the wreckage of the helicopter hanging by the cable.
Gabe fights Qualen and manages to climb to safety as the wreckage snaps off the cable, sending Qualen to his death. Gabe reunites with Jessie and Hal as they are found by Treasury agents led by Walter Wright (Paul Winfield) in a helicopter. Wright arranges to send a rescue helicopter as Gabe, Hal, and Jessie are seen sitting on top of a mountain peak, reminiscent of Gabe, Hal, and Sarah at the beginning.
