Storm over Everest - Frontline PBS May 13

[Gris]

Third paragraph: Yes, a guide stays with his client(s) right to end, no matter what, for which Rob Hall will always be remembered.

If so, then maybe Beck's comment was directed at Beidelman, who left him and the one lady to die not far from their tents. Or did he send Boukrev out in his stead, making it OK.

In any event, the "thought they had it wired" comment would explain some things for me, if true (not saying it's not, just find it troubling that anyone would become complacent up there...).

 

[WinterWarlock]

No matter what anyone thinks, I still believe it's hard to say exactly what happened there...

Not long ago, I went to a talk at our local EMS by Kevin Flynn - Rochester's own Seven Summiter (and I believe a 46r)...he showed some video of him and his team at Camp 4, and without oxygen, they were fumbling for words and forgetting what they were saying mid-sentence. I can only imagine how much worse these effects were for the climbers involved in this disaster.

I suspect even the participants in that fateful night have cloudy memories, and cloudy judgments inevitably happened on the mountain, as DougPaul mentions. God only knows what or how these folks were thinking at the time - and I doubt we'll ever know for sure.

 

[The-Green-Man]

I haven't been on the site in a while since April 4th - 4 days before my daughter was born: Let’s just say it’s been a couple busy months!

Anyway, I watched the documentary and I found it fascinating. The politics and ethics of what happened made it a really interesting piece (as stated before, the extra features on the PBS site are great and expand on this). The photography is stunning and the interviews are great - I got a great feel for how alone and terrified they must have been, and that Rob Hall was very brave.