Since reading "Into Thin Air", I have become a virtual Everest '96 hound, and this is my first quarry. The IMAX team's goal on Everest was to film David Breashear's expedition in that fateful year, focusing primarily on Ed Viesturs, a seasoned climber from the States, and Araceli Segarra, in her quest to be the first Spanish woman to reach the summit. A lot of attention, deservedly so, is paid as well to Jangbu Sherpa, son of Tenzing Sherpa who accompanied Sir Edmund Hilary in his premier trip to the summit.

And watching these climbers was riveting--ascending sheer sheets of ice, yards high, that look as though they are leaning in towards the climber; crossing bottomless chasms by placing an aluminum work ladder from one side to the other, and using it as a bridge; and feeling (in part through the excellent cinematography) the pull the mountain exerts on them to continue on. But I was floored, completely, by the thought of the cinematic team following along, all the way to the top, regardless of the weight and awkwardness of the equipment. For example, in the aforementioned aluminum ladder scene, shots seem to be taken from each side of the chasm. Had they carried that heavy equipment accross that ladder? And, once they came down from such a difficult and draining climb, they still managed to piece together a marvelous film.

The cinematography, once again, is gorgeous. Shots of the mountain convey not only its beauty, but its terrifying danger, as ice and whirling snow tower over the climbers, as a rescue helicopter wavers, uncertainly, as Liam Nelson explains the scientific impossibility of a helicopter to work in such thin air (it does). Seeing the Icefall alone, I think, was worth the price I paid for the video.

Warning: If you get this movie expecting it to be a documentary covering the Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness Expeditions, chronicled in "Into Thin Air", you will be disappointed. The IMAX expedition was unrelated to the others, and of course the crew could not predict that those expeditions might yield more interesting, if tragic, results. But the teams do interact with each other when it becomes clear that members are facing unexpected danger. I enjoyed "meeting" many of the folks I had read about.

Finally, "Everest", the film, stands on its own. With a terrific story in Araceli Segarra, wonderful images from Utah and Spain as well as Nepal, and a score assisted by George Harrison melodies, it provides a great armchair journey to the top of the world.

I am professional outdoor/aerial photographer from Alaska who has seen grandeur of mother nature which would make most people cry in utter awe. This movie reminds me of spending quality time at Denali (Mt. McKinley) climber's basecamp at 7,300 feet. With 14,000 to 20,320 foot peaks and the constant rumbling of avalanches all around you, you get a sense of "total sensory overload". This DVD is as real as big mountains get when placed onto the big silver screen or your home TV. The "extra" parts to the DVD make it even more worth buying!

This movie is also a godsend for the tourism in Nepal and Himalayan Region. The sheer maginitude of the Himalayas is shown here on this movie is as deep as the human spirt and as tall as the sky. However, to see this visuals from the elevation these climbers see it, you risk AMS, HAPE, HACE, snow blindness, avalanches and/or most certainly death for any small mistake in judgement.

David Breashers deserves a medal of international honour for making such a masterpiece of a documentary. In addition, I wish pay a great tribute to the late George Harrison for making such awe-inspiring and chilling music scores for the backdrop of this movie. If you were moved this movie on DVD, you owe it to yourself to buy the audio CD soundtrack as well. Every you go where Mother Nature shows off her wonders, take the CD with you and get inspired. When you listen to the audio CD, you can visualize the raw beauty of the Everest region and seens from the DVD in your mind.

May the climbers from the 1996 Everest Disaster rest in peace. Also to all potential Everest climbers, you need to learn from these climbers fatal mistakes before you become a statistic yourself. As Ed Viesturs says regarding risk and climbing, "Getting to the top is optional, getting down is mandatory".

My last words for this review are, "Always respect the power of Mother Nature"....and when out in nature "leave no trace"..

The images in this film are absolutely stunning--crisp, colorful, and so real that they barely seem one-dimensional. The deadly beauty of Everest comes through loud and clear: sheer ice falls; huge chasms that must be crossed by way of precarious stepladders flung across them; avalanches; blizzards; subzero degree temperatures; sheer drops on either side of narrow, narrow trails. One can feels frozen and short of breath watching this film.

But the beauty notwithstanding, what especially intrigues me about the film is the obsession that the mountaineers have to scale Everest. Part of the story of the film details the multiple deaths in a party trapped in a storm on Everest's slope. The leader of the party had a seven-month pregnant wife; all the other slain climbers had loved ones they left behind; the survivors placed rescuers--helicopter pilots and other mountaineers--in jeopardy. Is so much death and threat of death worthwhile? Isn't there a certain point where responsibility for others trumps a desire to stand on the "top of the world"? The film doesn't explore these questions, nor the issue of why so many people have such a compulsion to scale Everest. I wish it had, because I found myself both captivated by the mountain's beauty and angered by the wanton disregard for life displayed by the climbers.

I have read both "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer, and "The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreev, and I must say this film was made very well. Although it didn't portray all the details of the 1996 tradgedy, it portrayed enough to give the general public a good sense of what happened. If you like this DVD, then be sure to read the two books mentioned earlier, they are very well written. As for the rest of the film, the footage is breathtaking. From Kathmandu, to the southeast ridge, the IMAX film crew did a great job of getting everything in with the small amount of footage they had. The film is just the beginning too. The Special Features are many, and include deleted footage, "The Making of Everest" and my favorite, the interactive map. Finally, the film has an EXCELLENT soundtrack by George Harrison, one of the overlooked features of the film. Overall, if you would like to get to know about Everest, this is a mandatory piece for your collection.

I loved this movie, but I wish it would have been much longer. I would have liked to have seen more about that '96 season on Everest, although I do understand the constraints of cost, size of the camera, etc. I find it interesting that there wasn't more shown about the incredible heroism of the IMAX team in the whole disaster. I guess they couldn't film and rescue at the same time! David Breshears' cinematography alone is well worth the price of the video, and Ed Viesturs' climbing without Os is absolutely inspirational--especially in the face of the disaster that had happened two weeks prior to their summit bid. If you liked "Into Thin Air," this is an interesting movie to watch.