A new movie is out, The Last Mountain. No recreations, the entire movie is of actual footage.
The movie covers a lot of ground, from what I can make of it, but seems to be about a family coping with loss. In this case, the loss of two family members. The first Alison Hargreaves, the first woman to solo Everest without oxygen, among other achievements. The second is her son, Tom Ballard, who was only six when Alison died on K2.
This BBC movie examines how the Ballards were impacted by the loss of their mother and brother.
Tom and his Italian girlfriend, Daniel Nardi, died attempting a winter ascent of the Mummery Spur on Nanga Parbat in 2019. and I get the impression Nardi's family was all that pleased that she went on the expedition with the more-experienced Ballard.
It doesn't strike me as the warm and fuzzy movie that Torn was, with footage of people making accusations and speaking of the deaths in harsh tones that Torn seemed to elide.
There is also the problem that the son had more footage than the mother, so it should come as no surprise that his story gets more screen time, even as a the movie focuses less on climbing and more on the family. Indeed, I get the impression this isn't much of a climbing movie at all.
I haven't watched it yet. It's streaming on Amazon.
Spoiler Alert:
Some corrections, mostly of one paragraph: The movie covers a lot of ground, from what I can make of it, but seems to be about a family coping with loss. In this case, the loss of two family members. The first Alison Hargreaves, the first woman to solo Everest without oxygen, among other achievements. The second is her son, Tom Ballard, who was only six when Alison died on K2.
This BBC movie examines how the Ballards were impacted by the loss of their mother and brother.
Tom and his Italian climbing partner, Daniel Nardi, died attempting a winter ascent of the Mummery Spur on Nanga Parbat in 2019. Tom's fiancé did not go and speaks near the end. get the impression Nardi's family was not that involved and likely not all that pleased as the Ballard's seem to elude that the Mummury Spur, still unclimbed at the time of the film, was Nardi's route he had to have.
Tom had been the more prolific climber below 7,000 meters with his apparent claim to fame was climbing the six European North walls in one winter, a feat some had given his mom, although she took an NW route on one of them. Nardi, OTOH, had a few 8,000 meter peaks under his belt, no mention on how he got those done. He may have been on some very strong teams. Nardi had tried on multiple occasions to get up the Mummury and seemed to be obsessed with this route. It's almost a straight line straight up to the summit while the other routes tend to hug ridges less prone to falling seracs and avalanches.
Alison was a female alpinist in a time when women were only getting some coverage in Yosemite Valley, and some questioned women belonging in the death zone. She had done Everest and was caught descending K-2 in a deadly storm that claimed several that year. (In the mid-90's she graced EMS' expedition weight base layer "Bergeline" for women's packaging. Once she had died and after the family went to K-2 It was thought that Tom was one day go back to K-2.
I watched it yesterday, very good, thinking it is mostly a cathartic piece for Tom's sister and maybe Dad. When she goes back to Nanga Parbat's base camp, she meets the local man, maybe a porter in 1995 who had carried her as a child in a basket when she went to K-2. As a parent, I wonder what goes through the father's head; could you have bombarded an eight-year-old with other activities hoping he learns to love soccer or rugby or something else. However ill-fated, was climbing the best way for Tom to feel connected to his Mom? Some families just need risk, which is odd as I don't get the feeling dad is an adventure junkie. At the end, Katie, Tom's sister is seem floating in the, I believe the French, sky para-skiing. (I also read a review from a climbing mag or website, I was not a Nardi fan or would have know Tom had never been above 7,000 meters)
