Into Thin Air: Death on Everest
| Into Thin Air: Death on Everest | |
|---|---|
DVD cover
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| Based on | Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster |
| Written by | |
| Directed by | Robert Markowitz |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Bernard Sofronski |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Columbia TriStar Television |
| Release | |
| Original release | November 9, 1997 |
Into Thin Air: Death on Everest is a made-for-TV movie based on Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster (1997). The film, directed by Robert Markowitz and written by Robert J. Avrech, tells the story of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster. It was released on November 9, 1997.
The film portrays the 1996 Mount Everest disaster and the events that preceded it. The film mainly follows Jon Krakauer, the author of the book on which the film is based (Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster (1997)); it also follows the climbing teams of summit guides Rob Hall and Scott Fischer.
The film begins with Krakauer giving a monologue about the events about the disaster. The guides, Rob Hall (Nat Parker), and Scott Fischer (Peter Horton) introduce themselves, their teams, and discuss with the clients how they intend to reach the summit by the set date. Halls group contains Doug Hansen, a mailman from Seattle. Krakauer, Yasako Namba, and several others. Fischers group contains a New York socialite, Sandy Pittman, who will perform what Krakauer does for Halls group, reporting and bring attention. At base camp, Hall speaks with his pregnant wife Jan, in New Zealand, about potential names for their daughter. The groups slowly make their way through camps 2,3, and 4, and then begin their ascent for the summit. However, in camp 2, Fischer is forced to go all the way back down, so he can take a sick client, Dale Cruz, down for help. Scott refuses help, and returns exhausted and out of breath.
The ascent begins well, with both groups making steady pace. However, upon reaching the bottom of the Hillary step, their realize that there are no fixed ropes. The Sherpa there states it's a two-person job, and the other Sherpa never arrived, mostly due to being too tired and sick from dragging Pittman and all of her heavy equipment all the way up. Mountain Madness guides Anatoli Boukreev and Neil Beidelman set the fixed ropes, but by then dozens of climbers had already reached the step, and now a large jam is at the bottom. Krakauer continues up, and reaches the summit with Anatoli Boukreev, where shortly afterward they are joined by Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris. Krakauer begins his descent, but reaches the step only the find the jam has only gotten worse, and is forced to wait it out. Meanwhile, Hall, is forced to tell client Doug Hansen, that they have to turn around and go back. Hansen refuses, as he failed to reach the summit the year before, and he knows he won't be able to afford a third attempt. Hall and Hansen argue about it, and finally Hall caves in, and they continue, breaking Halls 2:00 PM turnaround time. Finally, the path down the step clears, and Harris begins to descend, Krakauer meanwhile, begins to hallucinate from a lack of oxygen. Earlier he had asked Harris to decrease his oxygen flow, but Harris instead increased it, and Krakauer nearly falls over the side, but manages to catch himself. He makes his way down the step and to Harris, and realizes something is wrong with Harris, who thinks the completely full bottles at the oxygen drop are empty. As he descends, he runs into Hansen and Hall, and points out to Hansen that storm clouds are making their way up through the valley and up the mountain.
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