Storm over Everest : 3.5/5
A documentary by David Breashears on the tragedy on Mount Everest in
May 1996. The controversy and events were detailed in several books,
the most famous of which is probably Into Thin Air. Since I just
recently read two of these books,
the background of the tragedy was rather fresh in my mind.
I thought the show, first shown over PBS, was too long. In
particular, the re-enactments of the storm dragged a bit. Otherwise,
the show was very interesting, focusing on the interviews with the
survivors of the storm and their experiences. Also, there was very
little finger-pointing about who was at fault, side-stepping the
controversies that swirled around the climbers after tragedy. I
thought the most compelling interview was with Makalu Gau, who had
lost fingers and toes, and part of his nose due to frostbite. He was
one of the climbers pinpointed by Jon Krakauer (author of Into Thin
Air) as being inexperienced and maybe shouldn't have been trying to
climb Everest. It was a little strange that Jon Krakauer wasn't
interviewed, but David Breashear's reasoning was that Krakauer was
safe in his tent by the time the storm hit.
Link to website with extensive information about the show:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/everest/
Trailer:
May 1996. The controversy and events were detailed in several books,
the most famous of which is probably Into Thin Air. Since I just
recently read two of these books,
the background of the tragedy was rather fresh in my mind.
I thought the show, first shown over PBS, was too long. In
particular, the re-enactments of the storm dragged a bit. Otherwise,
the show was very interesting, focusing on the interviews with the
survivors of the storm and their experiences. Also, there was very
little finger-pointing about who was at fault, side-stepping the
controversies that swirled around the climbers after tragedy. I
thought the most compelling interview was with Makalu Gau, who had
lost fingers and toes, and part of his nose due to frostbite. He was
one of the climbers pinpointed by Jon Krakauer (author of Into Thin
Air) as being inexperienced and maybe shouldn't have been trying to
climb Everest. It was a little strange that Jon Krakauer wasn't
interviewed, but David Breashear's reasoning was that Krakauer was
safe in his tent by the time the storm hit.
Link to website with extensive information about the show:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/everest/
Trailer:
