14 Peaks documentary is out today

bikehikeskifish said:

Without a few snippets of hardships, it seemed way too easy. They climbed Kanchenjunga in a single push.

Tim

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And he was hung over for that 21 hour push for Kanchenjunga . Pretty insane as Jimmy Chin pointed out.

So are you suggesting that the accomplishment was in some way falsified? Seems like there were witnesses outside his party on all the peaks and they do have photos from every summit. The only thing that I guess was maybe not normal versus a traditional climb on any one of these peaks was that they appeared to be helicoptered in to many of the base camps versus trekking in. That obviously saves time on the trek in, which can be weeks for many of these mountains, as well as fatigue from the extra miles carrying extra supplies for this in addition to supplies for the actual climb.

I don't view it as falsified. But, it's fair to recognize the effort some take to get to basecamp for these peaks. That alone takes weeks, months in some cases. That effort is never accounted for, nor is it here either. Being able to go from basecamp to basecamp via a helicopter shaves a massive amount of time. Doesn't make it less impressive IMO. The climbs start from basecamp, so how a climber gets there is their business. I guess one could consider it like riding a bike to a Wilderness area boundary line. For some, their hike (on two feet) starts from the parking lot.

I personally would've been interested to see how he managed to get around the peaks to start his climbs. Not to view it with skepticism, but more out of curiosity. I'd also be curious if on some of these peaks he had to wait out weather for a few days.

DayTrip said:

And he was hung over for that 21 hour push for Kanchenjunga . Pretty insane as Jimmy Chin pointed out.

So are you suggesting that the accomplishment was in some way falsified? Seems like there were witnesses outside his party on all the peaks and they do have photos from every summit. The only thing that I guess was maybe not normal versus a traditional climb on any one of these peaks was that they appeared to be helicoptered in to many of the base camps versus trekking in. That obviously saves time on the trek in, which can be weeks for many of these mountains, as well as fatigue from the extra miles carrying extra supplies for this in addition to supplies for the actual climb.

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Not at all. I'm suggesting that the movie as presented is the "Facebook account" (only the highlights) of the experience, which, in my opinion, detracts from the accomplishment. They are shown flying up these mountains, and partying/drinking/smoking and enjoying themselves, which is not your typical 8000m peak experience (at least not as typically documented.) Also not typical is getting helicoptered into base camp (as you pointed out), fully acclimated from "yesterday's 8000m climb.

The only stumbling blocks that get documented were in assisting other climbers and even that they got airlifted part way and on film it seemed even more casual than a winter rescue on Franconia Ridge (WHICH we all know it was not.) Put another way, it would be more credible/believable if there were a few documented hurdles beyond the Chinese Government and Shisha Pangma. (It's possible I missed any hurdles and if so, please let me know... I may watch it again.)

Remember, I started out my opinion with

bikehikeskifish said:

I have to say, however, that either he had one fantastic stroke of luck after another or they simply didn't show the delays, hardships, or turn backs

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Tim

Compared to say “Meru,” which was all about the push to climb a single line on a single mountain peak and allowed you time to really be in the same place as the climbers themselves at least in terms of imagination, this entire documentary seemed quite frankly disjointed and weird. The military stuff, strange Yeti graphics, etc etc, I mean there was no thread that you were able to really lock in on for more than a minute and a half. Dude is obviously a monster in the mountains but the documentary really failed draw me in mentally on any level other than a celebration of this guy’s ego. Even Jimmy Chin was like “WTF?”

sierra said:

I understand that principle, but the Sherpas on expeditions are "working" they are not out for glory, they out for a paycheck. Not that they don't deserve some glory, don't misunderstand me. Many a Westerner has stood on a Himalayan summit, because of the work of the Sherpas and only because of that work.

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In Mark Synott's book "The Third Pole" he writes about glory within the Sherpa community. At one point the climbers drop the news to the Sherpas that their main objective is to find Irvine's remains not necessarily go to the Summit. This sets off a lot of unrest as there are Sherpas among the expedition that have been working hard on other trips but have yet to summit Everest. For these Sherpas it is very important to summit and retain the glory as it can greatly affect their personal futures going forward within the Sherpa community and their future paycheck.

^^^

Well, it’s fundamentally objectionable/offensive to refer to the Sherpa as a collective devoid of individual personality characteristics across the generations. Think of the vast differences between an American Gen Xer and Millennial and then consider how that compares to a Sherpa on a George Mallory expedition (where nearly all are mostly scared and subservient) to a modern day Sherpa peak-bagger who uses every bit of western technology (from personal gear to helicopter capabilities) to hustle for his/her own personal glory. Not that there’s anything wrong with that (LOL) but it just underscores western bias towards the Sherpa as simplistic beings at the mercy of 20th/21st century values.

I feel perfectly at ease liking or disliking an individual Sherpa based on personality characteristics. In the case of “14 Peaks,” I don’t find much to like about the protagonist even as I respect his awesome accomplishment.