National Geographic - Everest 50 Years on the Mountain

This National Geographic film does not recount the triumphs and tragedies that have occurred on Mount Everest during the past half century. (For these, see  Into the Thin Air of Everest - Mountain of Dreams, Mountain of Doom .) Instead it provides a retrospective on the 50 years since climbers first reached its summit, asking, How has the mountain changed in this time? Did these years “tarnish an icon”?To answer these questions, the film tells how three men, Peter Hillary and Jamling Tenzing Norgay (whose fathers, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, were the first climbers to reach the top of Mount Everest), and Brent Bishop (whose father, Barry Bishop, was a member of the first U.S. team to reach Everest’s summit) join an expedition led by Pete Athans, returning to confront the mountain. After climbing Everest at the time of the 1996 disaster, Jamling Tenzing Norgay had promised his family that he would not climb it again. While he remains at Base Camp, several other Sherpas take part in the summit quest. Athans, Bishop, and Hillary provide the commentary. The Sherpa viewpoint is presented by Jamling Tenzing Norgay; and Dawa Sherpa, making his first trip to the summit, offers such pithy observations as the Sherpa saying, “Before climbing mountain, pay all your debts.”After the successful 1953 British expedition, an unfortunate dispute arose. Tenzing inadvertently signed a statement that he reached the summit first. In response, British expedition leader John Hunt claimed that Tenzing, as a mere Sherpa, lacked the skill to have been first. Later, Tenzing said that Hillary was first. Tenzing and Hillary have subsequently said that they reached the summit together. Although the question of who reached the summit first seems rather pointless (was there a finish line at the top of the mountain, manned by an official with a checkered flag?), it trapped Hillary and Tenzing in an unexpected controversy, and took some of the luster from their achievement. Tenzing’s life became more complicated after 1953—he may even have wished that he had not climbed Everest. For his part, Hillary did not expect anyone to return to the summit.Unlike most similar productions, Everest: 50 Years on the Mountain gives considerable attention to the Sherpas. The film features interviews with various Sherpas, including some who climbed with Tenzing Norgay. Since 1921, Sherpas have performed the heavy lifting for expeditions—in a typical year each Sherpa makes as many as 20 trips from Base Camp to Camp 2, and 10 trips from Camp 2 to the South Col. Sherpas have also undertaken other tasks in support of climbers. The career path for a Sherpa begins at an early age with service as a porter. After this, some Sherpas may advance to become climbing Sherpas and sirdars (foremen supervising other Sherpas). By assisting climbers, some Sherpas have substantially increased their earnings. But Sherpas have also suffered frostbite, broken bones, and death on the mountain. Sherpas have been, in Jamling Tenzing Norgay’s words, the “unsung heroes of mountaineering.” But, on the 1952 Swiss expedition, Sherpas were treated as equals—in fact, Tenzing Norgay wished he had reached the summit with the Swiss. After mastering Everest, Edmund Hillary founded the Hillary Foundation, which has constructed over 30 schools and two hospitals for Sherpas. (Hillary’s wife and daughter died in a plane crash while en route to work on one of these hospitals.)After narrowly escaping death in an icefall, the expedition’s camera crew, “exhausted and rattled,” decided not to return to the mountain. Thus the film’s concluding scenes were shot with a hand-held video camera. This camera had its limitations—it could not cope with extreme cold, and some summit ridge scenes are seriously overexposed--but, in the hands of Pete Athans, it yielded outstanding shots of climbers laboriously approaching the South Summit, with Makalu, the world's 5th highest peak (27,824 feet) visible in the distance far below.The film ends amid a crowd of scores of climbers on the top of Mount Everest, while Peter Hillary makes an emotional cell phone to his father. Fifty years had certainly brought changes to the mountain.This CD includes a National Geographic “Inside Base Camp” program, in which Pete Athans and Erik Weihenmeyer (the first blind man to reach Everest’s summit) describe their experiences on the mountain. Also available is a simplified map of the Himalayas, showing the locations of the 14 peaks above 8,000 meters.

Ever since I read the fascinating book "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer, I have maintained an interest in Mt. Everest. I read several more books on the subject (and the tragedy that Krakauer wrote of). I also saw a few documentaries and a terrible "made-for-TV" movie on the tragedy. I saw the I-Max movie and still, I always looked forward reading or watching anything else I could find. "Everest-50 Years on the Mountain" is as good a visual presentation as any I've seen (the I-Max movie aside). It tells of the attempt by the sons of Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary to climb Mt. Everest together. I didn't really find their story all that compelling but it was as good an excuse as any other to put this National Geographic special together. What I did enjoy was the background information, especially about the Sherpas, and how they were able to include a lot of historical film into the story. Most of all, I enjoyed the film of the mountain and the climb that was documented. The photography was fantastic as well as instructive. It helped me retrace the steps that Krakauer and company took in "Into Thin Air" by showing what he wrote of. The climb to the Hillary Step was very instructive by showing just how much exertion and rest was required to take three or four steps. The crowds that Krakauer commented on were there as well as the bored millionaire looking for something different to do. However, we were not burdened by having to follow the millionaire, we were able to focus on a group of men who made the story all the more interesting. We saw them at their best and sometimes at their not so best.I have looked more and more these days for the sort of National Gepgraphic specials that I used to covet seeing when I was growing up. The Society has expanded more into history these days (or so I judge from the available DVD's on Amazon.com). Maybe that's because the wilderness has been tamed too much to compell us like it used to. However, I found "Everest-50 Years on the Mountain" to be the quality of special that I was looking for. I'll be watching this one again and again.

A stunning documentary that puts you through so many emotions. Disbelief, wonder, admiration.....just to name a few. You start out thinking these people are crazy, risk takers who deliberately put themselves in a life or death situation. You think that you would never do something as crazy as this and wonder why they do. But then you end with an understanding that it is a passion; a triumph of spirit. No different than the astronauts who risk as much going into space. Do you give up because there are bodies on this mountain? Did we stop space exploration because of the shuttle casualities? No; they push onward because that's what explorers do. If we all could have this much courage in our lives, think of all that we could accomplish. I am in awe of the explorers.Very pleased with this product and would order from this seller again.

I have 7 Everest DVD's and this one is towards the top of the list. Very enjoyable and pretty well written/scripted, and the historical side of the story is educational too. Basically, a fairly solid and more than satisfactory documentary as one would expect from National Geographic. If you plan to choose an Everest DVD for family viewing then this is, in my opinion, the one to get. Some of the others are either too technical or scary for younger family members.

This was an excellent documentary about Everest and the history of those who tried to climb it as well as the countries these men and women represented. The only thing that would have made this documentary better would be for it to have included more information about their gear and the cost of getting to and from base camp and the like.

great

good

Boring.