PBS 'Storm over Everest' documentary May 13

[fettster]

Thought this program might be of interest to many on this site:

 

Frontline - Storm over Everest, 9-11 PM PBS

"As darkness fell on May 10, 1996, a fast moving storm of unimaginable ferocity trapped three climbing teams high on the slopes of Mount Everest. The climbers, exhausted from their summit climb, were soon lost in darkness, in a fierce blizzard, far from the safety of High Camp at 26,000 feet. World-renowned climber and filmmaker David Breashears, who aided the rescue efforts back in 1996, now returns to Everest to tell the fuller story of what really happened on that legendary climb. Through remarkably intimate interviews with the climbers and Sherpas who survived the storm--many who have never spoken before on American television--Breashears sheds new light on the worst climbing tragedy in Mount Everest's history."

 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/everest/

[Doug]

If anyone is interested in following the local guy who is up there blogging for PBS, his blog can be found at www.landtarget.blogspot.com

[ivan]

[Adam13]

"Unimaginable Ferocity" they are really trying to sell this huh? There was nothing special about that storm except for the fact that people stayed up on the mountain too late in the day and got caught out in it. It was sad what happend that night but the media doesn;t need to sensationalize it anymore, Krakauer did enough of that already.

[wayne]

Right on to that!.

 

Side note, The time of the broadcast is 6;00pm pacific?

[TrogdortheBurninator]

according to comcast it is still on at 9PM here.

[ivan]

i don't know if beck weather's friend are calling him stumpy or not, but goddamit they should!

[Doug]

What would Makalu Gow's friends be calling him; Lobster Boy?

 

For those that watched it, what'd ya think? Kind of a waste of production money in my opinion. I would think that David Breashears would have something more interesting and relevant to put on film.

[ivan]

fine quality, but the stories been overdone by now...

[Alpine_Tom]

I was kind of disappointed by it. There was nothing added to the blizzard of coverage ten years ago, except seeing the quality of Beck Weathers' plastic surgery.

 

I think of Frontline as addressing current issues, not retrospectives of a small tragedy that happened twelve years ago (perhaps I'm a bit cynical because I'm in the middle of David Halberstam's book about the Korean war, where thousands of US soldiers died in similar temperatures, fighting for their country and not for their own egos...)

I suppose a part of it is that Brashears is limited by the sorts of projects he can get funding for, and this event "changed climbing forever," so it's something everyone knows about. Heck, there was a person on the mountain who was only the second Japanese woman to climb the seven summits!

[ClipStick]

Definitely not the best "Frontline" ever produced...but the interviews were a different perspective than the book. It definitely did not add anything to the conversation, but it made some aspects a bit more personal.

 

Does anyone know where to get the Origional "made for TV" mini-series/movie "Into Thin Air"??? That's a climbing classic right there...I think Rob Hall is the actor Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore...I can never remeber the guys real name...

[Alpine_Tom]

You can order it from Amazon, or Netflix.