Everest
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 10:55 am
This film covers the tragedy on Everest that took place on May 10th and 11th 1996.
Basically, a seasoned climber turned getting to the summit into a business, and many others followed suit. This led to unsafe conditions on the mountain due to long waits in line. This was exacerbated due to most of the clients being unskilled climbers. Two companies tried to make a deal to speed things up, but prep work went undone, and one of the owners/guides was a loose cannon (his story just made no sense in this film). Also, everyone made bad choices, which is apparently very common at that altitude.
Seriously, any safety department in the world could show this movie as an example of what happens when you don't prep and break all your own rules.
Decent film, but it honestly loses something in translation. It's difficult to put yourself into the shoes of these climbers and understand their situation without a real frame of reference. I know for one of the climbers I was saying to myself "just fucking get up" and real climbers would probably try to explain to me why he couldn't, but then would have a hard time explaining how he did later.
The film makers' lack of presenting the weather properly also factors into a lack of dire or doom in the situation. The storm just didn't seem rough. I'm certain it was, but it was really undersold.
The film is worth seeing once because it is interesting seeing what is involved in climbing Everest, and how this tragedy played out.
Basically, a seasoned climber turned getting to the summit into a business, and many others followed suit. This led to unsafe conditions on the mountain due to long waits in line. This was exacerbated due to most of the clients being unskilled climbers. Two companies tried to make a deal to speed things up, but prep work went undone, and one of the owners/guides was a loose cannon (his story just made no sense in this film). Also, everyone made bad choices, which is apparently very common at that altitude.
Seriously, any safety department in the world could show this movie as an example of what happens when you don't prep and break all your own rules.
Decent film, but it honestly loses something in translation. It's difficult to put yourself into the shoes of these climbers and understand their situation without a real frame of reference. I know for one of the climbers I was saying to myself "just fucking get up" and real climbers would probably try to explain to me why he couldn't, but then would have a hard time explaining how he did later.
The film makers' lack of presenting the weather properly also factors into a lack of dire or doom in the situation. The storm just didn't seem rough. I'm certain it was, but it was really undersold.
The film is worth seeing once because it is interesting seeing what is involved in climbing Everest, and how this tragedy played out.