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venezuela
Sep 27, 2002, 11:36 PM
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I just finished seeing the movie "Into thin air. Death in Everest" (based on a true story).....and it was....well....pretty hard on my heart and soul...and I greeve for those who died and their friends and family.
I wanted to know what any of you might think of the movie, regarding mount Everest and its danger. Is every expedition like the one on the film?....I've read that in the 1980' a guy climbed it solo and without oxigen, true?. Are there any mountainering "lies" on the film or is it pretty loyal to the facts?
thanks to anyone who might help clear my mind...and once again I send my (late) sentiment to those touched by the tragedy.
Diego Martinez.
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dynamic
Sep 27, 2002, 11:46 PM
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I read the book by Krakauer(sp?). I was moved by it as you were by the movie. It brought up many questions in my mind that I hadn't really ever dealt with before, as I haven't done much mountaineering.
It is hard to not be struck by the grip of desperation in their final hours of the storm.
Strange that the fate of our individual worlds lies in something so small as the desire to climb mountains...
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coreyr
Sep 27, 2002, 11:49 PM
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I read the book and was'nt aware there was a movie. Was the movie just released?
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dsafanda
Sep 28, 2002, 12:21 AM
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I saw a made for TV movie based on the book. I think that must be what you're refering to. I guess it takes all types. I for one, thought it was one of the biggest pieces of garbage I'd ever seen.
Lies or truth? Depends who you talk to. If you like the book "In to Thin Air" you should read another take on the story. Anatoli Boukreev's account in "The Climb" seemed to ring a bit more true to me but who knows.
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krakhedd
Sep 28, 2002, 12:23 AM
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i felt the same about the book. i have not seen all the movie. i just can't look at the guy who played john without thinking of shooter mcgavin in happy gilmore.
anyways
some people have a problem with john's book, saying that his judgement was impaired because of the altitude. mainly family of the deceased. there is another book about the tragedy called THE CLIMB by anitoli bookreev, the head sherpa on scott fischer's expedition. you might want to check it out. i have it but haven't read it yet. there is also another book called LEFT FOR DEAD by beck weathers. i've read most of it. it's decent, although it is more about his survival and dealing with life afterwards.
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micronut
Sep 28, 2002, 1:00 AM
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Messner soloed the thing back in like '80. He and his girlfriend were the only ones on the Tibetan side of the mountain. He had to bust a new route because of deep snow, and pulled it off alpine style. I have the National Geographic issue somewhere. We'll never have it like that again. The whole mountain is a mess with guided parties.
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petsfed
Sep 28, 2002, 1:51 AM
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Definitely read The Climb as it gives that all important second opinion. After reading it, my perspective on Krakauer's account dropped a great deal. I love Krakauer's writing style, but he gave a less than positive opinion of one of the best Russian mountaineers of our time. Pity that Boukreev died on Annapurna, a notorious man eater, in 1997. Incidentally, since he was from Russia, and lived in Kazakhstan, he is precluded from being a Sherpa. He was instead the head climbing guide of Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness Everest expedition. Oddly, Mountain Madness can claim a higher success rate than that of Rob Hall's Adventure Consultants. The only fatality of Fischer's group was Fischer himself.
While I have not read his account of it, Beck Weathers has become one of my heros. I generally turn up my nose at people who purchase their adventures, but when he quipped on the descent to the evac helicopter (from David Breashears' High Exposure) "When I left I told my wife this trip was costing me an arm and a leg. Looks like I talked 'em down some" he won my respect. Anyone who can joke about such a serious injury has ten thousand times the balls I've got.
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jmlangford
Sep 28, 2002, 2:39 AM
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"Messner soloed the thing back in like '80. He and his girlfriend were the only ones on the Tibetan side of the mountain."
If I am not mistaken, weren't they the only ones on the ENTIRE mountain?
Read the book The Crystal Horizon, Messner's account of the solo.
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krakhedd
Sep 28, 2002, 2:43 AM
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whoops
anitoli was the head guide, not sherpa
my mistake
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daggerx
Sep 28, 2002, 2:49 AM
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Since noone above really answerd you question i'll try. First off read the book it puts shame to the movie but can be a little slow at times. John's was affected by how high he was so some of the movie/book in my oppion is crap. Everest is not by the hardest or deadlyest mountain to climb by far. K2 and many others are by far more dangerious and harder to climb then everst. Also that year on Ev. was the most deadly year in terms of people dieing on the mountain in history.
DaggerX
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venezuela
Sep 28, 2002, 5:37 PM
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Thanks dagger......and all of you aswering to my post.
It does clear my mind all the info that you have provided me with. If anyone else has anything to comment about it, I'll be happy to hear it.
Cheers
Diego M.
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needtolearnhowtoclimb
Sep 28, 2002, 6:39 PM
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The movie was an imax production. The director was david breashears. Ed veisturs (Sp?) was on that epedition with david in the movie. This is a very moving video. David and his crew are shoting another movie about climbing Mt. kilamanjaro (Sp?). I heard that imax is going to shoot a movie about climbing each of the seven summits, but that is just a rumor.
jd
[ This Message was edited by: needtolearnhowtoclimb on 2002-09-28 11:50 ]
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rocks4jules
Sep 28, 2002, 6:50 PM
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Jon Krakauer did a wonderful job in his book, "Into Thin Air," to pinpoint specific problems that arose and lead to the tragedy. You should read the book, rather than just seeing the movie. Human error was definitely the key here, and of course weather conditions. So, I guess the answer to your question would be, yes expeditions can be dangerous, but we all have choices as to how much are WE willing to risk. Bob Hall was aware of the weather conditions changing and he knew the timeframe in which they all needed to return and descend. Most guides would know this by barometer readings, and other instrumention (computers, etc.). Even the Sherpas have an idea when things are getting "hairy." Therefore, mountaineering is safe when conditions are good. But accidents do happen (i.e. getting killed by falling rocks, etc). OR, we could get hit by a car crossing the street too. So, there ya have it!!!
Jules
[ This Message was edited by: rocks4jules on 2002-09-28 12:13 ]
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dsafanda
Sep 28, 2002, 6:52 PM
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Actually that is not the movie venezuela is talking about. Krakauer sold the rights to his book and it was made in to a movie shown on network television.
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wildtrail
Sep 28, 2002, 7:39 PM
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You should read the book. The movie was a let down compared to the real story.
Either way, "The Climb" was a more accurate and objective account of the 1996 tragedy as Krakauer points a lot of unneccessary fingers at people for no reason.
Very well written book (Into Thin Air), but not objective. Krakauer blames people for a lot of things and none of the people he blames were in association with him.
The Climb is more objective.
However, I definitely agree with you. A very touching and sad story.
Steve
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climber_girl
Sep 28, 2002, 8:22 PM
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I actually didn't really find the book very interesting. I have read SOO many books about that day though that it might be the reason why, its all the same to me now. I watched that movie last weekend, yes it was a tad on the crappy side, but all in all it wasn't bad. I rented the everest imax last night( i would've seen it in the imax, but i went one week and saw a different one, went back to see everest and it was gone), now thats a good movie, I also was interested in it because i read High Exposure by david breasures(sp?) in may and that is in my opinion the best book i have read yet. I HATED left for dead, i thought it was going to be a really good book considering what happened and all, but it has practically nothing about the climb. Its all the emotional crap that went on after it. Just my opinion though.
Brittany
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jtcronk
Sep 29, 2002, 12:59 AM
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Hi there. I hope I don't come off as harsh here, but probably will, so sorry to anyone who may be offended by my opinion.
I read Krakauer's book and it was just that, a book. It seemed very one-sided and narrow-minded in my opinion. I'm sure it was tough for him to write it after having been in that situation, much tougher than cashing in on people's mistakes. That's basically how I see the whole Into Thin Air thing....Some guides/climbers made some bad decisions(like we all do), but they just got caught.
All I can say about the made-for-TV movie is that it was a pile of crap. It portrayed climbing in a really negative manner (less people out there now?....could be a good thing). It made it seem that all climbing is about is walking (not climbing, 'cuz it's the walk-up on Everest) around with a frown on. Blah.
The book by Boukreev was okay. The other side of the coin from Krakauer. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle of the two.
As a final thought, I must say that if anyone else I meet (non-climbers) ask if I've read Into Thin Air, I think I'm gonna vomit! Anyone else with me on this one?!
Thanks for letting me spew my opinions.
Jason
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petsfed
Sep 29, 2002, 1:09 AM
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Definitely.
It's like being asked if you've climbed Everest, just cause you're a climber. I just whip out the #11 hex and start clobbering the illinformed. But that would be unfair, because its not their fault they don't belong to our little secret society.
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munckee
Sep 30, 2002, 5:10 PM
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Beck Weathers recently published a book on his account of the incident. Its an interesting read and definitely delves into his character (not fictional character, but personal characteristics). I don't think so highly of him after having read his book.
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krillen
Sep 30, 2002, 5:45 PM
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Goran Kropp, a swedish climber was actually on the mountain, at the last camp before the summit, at the same time as "Into Thin Air", He was there recouping from a failed solo, no bottled oxygen, no shirpa, summit attepmt.
The book is called "Ultimate High". It's about his "self-propelled" trip on bike from Sweden to Everest, and then his ascent using no oxyegen or help. Once he was in decent enough shape he helped in the rescue mission. It's a great read.
[ This Message was edited by: krillen on 2002-09-30 10:57 ]
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tradguy
Sep 30, 2002, 5:51 PM
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Read the book, thought it was a good story, but like others, I felt he did a little too much finger pointing, and tried to humble himself unneccesarily. Krakauer is a very accomplished climber, but it seemed like he continually played down his own abilities, perhaps as an excuse for not doing more to help others?? The movie you saw was a made-for-TV flick. I never saw it, but plenty of people told me about it (ie "Hey, you climb mountains, right? Did you see that movie on TV about Everest?")
Quote:The movie was an imax production. The director was david breashears. Ed veisturs (Sp?) was on that epedition with david in the movie. This is a very moving video.
needtolearnhowtoclimb, this is a different movie you speak of. There WAS an imax movie called "Everest" that was being filmed at the time of the tradgedy, and yes, it was an amazing production, but it is not the movie this forum is discussing.
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paintinhaler
Sep 30, 2002, 6:11 PM
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I have a book report, on this book that started today.
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blueman
Sep 30, 2002, 6:29 PM
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"The Climb" was written by Dewalt, who was not a mountaineer and was no where close to the mountain at the time these events happened. For his novel, he interviewed Anatoli Boukreev mainly and just a few selected guides, sherpas and clients to come up with a biased fiction novel based on a true story. By no means is "the climb" an accurate account of the tragedy that happened, as stated by Anatoli himself in a letter to the publisher regarding falicies of his story. But, will we not know if Krakauer's accounts were all accurate either. Based on the fact that Krakauer was actually on the mountain at the time, and the fact that he had interviewed and had relationships with many of the guides, sherpas and clients, I feel that although his account may be biased, I still think that his account is much more accurate than Dewalt's "The Climb."
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estebandb
Oct 10, 2002, 3:24 AM
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also read My Everest Story by Pfetzer (sp?). It's about this 16 years old kid who makes it to Everest after training and all that, the year was also 1996. Great and fast book
my 2 cents
Esteban
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elvislegs
Oct 14, 2002, 8:57 PM
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For those of you who are not familiar with the basics of postmodern literary criticism, let me enlighten you. ALL books are biased. Every author brings his/her background and experience to his/her writing. Every reader brings his/her background and experience to his/her reading of a text. This concept, taken to it's logical conclusion, says that no two people will see the same experience the same way, even if they went through it together. AND, even if they did, we would not interpret their telling of it the same. So PLEASE everyone stop saying that this or that book was biased... of course they were.
Secondly, no one who was not on that mountain in 96' has the right to second guesse the parties involved. Like Jason (JTcronk) said, people make mistakes. Those people probably made some, but it is rediculous for us to think we would have done differently in that situation. We don't really know.
Steve (wildtrail), you wrote:
"Very well written book (Into Thin Air), but not objective. Krakauer blames people for a lot of things and none of the people he blames were in association with him."
Perhaps you interpreted this differently than I did but allow me to quote Krakaur from pg 246 of INTO THIN AIR:
"Given what unfolded over the hours that followed, the ease with which I abdicated responsibility-my utter failure to consider that Andy might have been in serious trouble-was a lapse that's likely to haunt me for the rest of my life."
Sounds like he's blaming himself to me.
Food for thought.
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