Tag: himalaya

Everest: 50 Years on the Mountain (Movie)

Netflix description: “Celebrate 50 years of mountaineering magic with this awe-inspiring documentary replete with sensational footage of Mount Everest. The award-winning National Geographic crew tracks the three children of mountain-climbing icons Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the first two people ever to conquer the fabled peak.” My thoughts… This was one step below so-so. The story was shallow, the adult children of the early Everest adventurers were uninteresting, and even the scenery was bland. […]

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Early Preparations

Since Cheryl got back from Nepal in June we’ve had a couple chances to get together for yacking and planning. She told me what I might encounter with respect to food, lodging, sanitation, culture, religion, topography, climate. She looked over my heap of camping and river rafting supplies and made the welcome pronouncement that I’ve got what I need, except for my Holy Grail: painless boots. We made preliminary plans for a route through the […]

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Chomolungma Sings the Blues (Book)

Book description… “Over 700 climbers have reached the summit of Everest itself, and it has become the sport of the wealthy. Permit fees run about $10,000 per person; most expeditions have base budgets beginning at $300,000. These groups, obviously well supplied, plus the many independent, low-budget travelers, leave behind massive amounts of litter and sometimes a shameful record of exploitation of their largely Sherpa porters. Douglas, a British climber and an editor of Climber magazine, […]

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Everest: The Death Zone (Movie)

My thoughts… I really liked this Nova documentary. It explores the physiological effects of oxygen deprivation at high altitude, and particularly the effect on brain and lungs. It’s interesting from a scientific perspective, and I thought the underlying story of the climbers’ journey was equally riveting. Jody Foster is the narrator. I love her no-nonsense voice. The weird thing is that the more I read and see about the Himalaya, the more I wonder why […]

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