How much are you willing to risk to accomplish something no one has ever done?
From Free Solo directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, Everest: The Other Side follows elite ski mountaineers Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson as they pursue an incredible goal: climbing Everest’s notoriously dangerous direct North Face and skiing back down it.
What begins as an extreme-sports documentary ultimately becomes something much more emotional. Before they can attempt Everest together, Nelson tragically dies in an avalanche while descending another mountain. Morrison is left deciding whether to continue pursuing the dream they shared.
His story is made even more devastating by the loss he’s already experienced. Years earlier, Morrison’s wife and two young children died in a plane crash. Watching someone endure that much loss and still find the strength to continue is undeniably moving.
The mountain footage is spectacular, and the sheer physical and mental endurance required makes Morrison’s eventual attempt incredible to watch. But the documentary also left me with a more complicated reaction than simply feeling inspired.
Personally, I kept thinking, is this really worth the risk?
Mountaineering and skiing Everest are ultimately choices, and watching the consequences surrounding that pursuit made it difficult for me to separate the achievement from its potential cost. At the same time, that’s partly what makes the documentary interesting. Morrison clearly sees these mountains and challenges very differently than I do.
Everest: The Other Side celebrates extraordinary human ambition while unintentionally or perhaps intentionally inviting questions about where ambition should end.
I may never understand wanting to take that kind of risk. But watching Morrison explain why he does helped me understand the people who do a little better.
