Everest: Season 2 (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)Don't hesitate on this one! Grab it! The second season PLUS what in my opinion is an equally important bonus area of discussion [all visual material] including various of the series participants and extra input from those who need no introduction to their high altitude climbing credentials and mountaineering achievements. So too, in the bonus material, the hard questions [read: TV documentary criticisms] of the documentary on Everest are not avoided nor in any way sugar-coated. You're looking at approximately 7 hours of visual material here between the TV episodes and the added bonus discussion material consisting of 4 extended episodes entitled, "Everest: After the Climb" . You absolutely can't beat it for under $15.00! This was the price [$14.97] when I did the review.
I'll lay my cards on the table and as I always do especially if commenting on films [documentary or fiction!] or books that deal with the climbing and/or mountaineering community. I'm tired of seeing Russell Brice used as a sort of handy and proverbial punching bag and especially by, inter alia, various and sundry types who wouldn't know a belay from a ballet or whose knowledge of high altitude climbing and its 'realities' wholly escapes them. Still others take the view that Brice is somehow the perceived "culprit" and allegedly 'responsible' [!?] for the David Sharp matter [2006] as if Russell had some hidden magic wand and could simply wave it around a few times and, voila, some 20 Sherpas could be made to suddenly materialize from his tent to initiate high altitude rescues of virtually anyone in trouble and regardless of altitude issues or weather considerations.
The bonus material addresses various of these considerations. But it also addresses the 'realities' of high altitude climbing in general. For example, the question is put on the table in virtually any mountain rescue attempt by the narrator: Does it come down to a matter of "who should be or shouldn't be rescued" and Brice responds, rightly so in my opinion, that it has nothing to do with who 'should' or 'shouldn't be' rescued issues but rather a more realistic appraisal of "who CAN be rescued" and whether it is 'possible' and logistically feasible to do it! You don't produce the resources for a mountain rescue out of nothing! Or 'thin air', as it were. And the weather at hand is a significant factor not to mention the perils of the higher one climbs or the intricacies/complexities of the route. Naturally, there are always the exceptions to the rule who almost miraculously are saved but then these exceptions become the benchmarks for those who know nothing about high altitude climbing making with, "See! 'X' and 'Y' were saved! Why not 'Z' ?" It's simply not that easy! Look at the cumulative mountaineering experience of both Rob Hall and Scott Fischer [1996] but factors were present on the mountain that day which precluded their rescue. Folks can't relate that 'feet/meters' can be like 'miles/kilometers' in places like Everest and K2 [et al] -- that's something they just can't comprehend not to mention navigation issues during a white-out or numbing cold 'despite' protective and modern insulation gear.
In any event, I think the visual discussion material following the second season episodes is well worth the listen! And the realities of high altitude mountaineering. We're also in the age of so-termed "adventure tourism" with a literal proliferation of various world-wide commercial entities offering to take clients to "you name it" but it's also true, IMO, that some of these clients have no business being at places like Everest or K2 where their prior climbing experience is virtually negligible not to mention altitude issues where some actually believe that the use of bottled oxygen brings them to 'sea level' breathing or that fixed ropes right to the summit itself 'assures a summit' --- NOTHING is 'assured' since it can't be! And it's not 'just' the weather to force one back, it's a whole gammut of factors than can go wrong and at 'any' level on the mountain much less over 26,000 feet. Client temperament(s) notwithstanding.
It seems to me that certain websites have almost dedicated themselves to Russell Brice bashing with a veritable laundry list litany of J'accuse mongering so that if Russell can't pull off ad hoc rescue miracles while pulling rescuers from his derriere, as it were, or indeed take 'anyone' to the summit and back no matter how they are faltering or showing their lack of experience and/or physical stamina limitations on the trial runs, ahh, then he's the proverbial and alleged "don't give a ****" bad guy! Sherpas and guides are NOT there to die for the aspirations of the client especially, I'll add at once, for the client who despite literal hours of cajoling and pleading to turn back, proceed forward and perhaps expect and damn the consequences to both themselves and others -- or to be hand-held or short-roped to their dream. In the series, various 'did' finally listen to reason and turned back but the reality is that some do not despite the best efforts of others [including climbing partners or expedition leaders in some scenarios] to reason with them. And some of them are still up there. Or indeed, miraculously rescued 'by' the climbing community ... at least when feasible and possible to do so.
Doc Tony




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Item Name: Everest: Season 2; Studio:Discovery Channel

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