Monday, August 26, 2013

Jim Whittaker rocks the house.

"We had been in the Death Zone for 2 months. Nothing grows there. There's no life. We were walking back down to Katmandu. We were carrying Willi and Barry. We'd been in the Death Zone for 2 months. I looked ahead and  everybody had stopped. I came up behind them and asked why and they all said 'Look!' I stopped and I tears started ... 'Look!' We all had tears in our eyes 'Look! A blade of grass!' ...and it was so green... a bright emerald green...'Look! There's a flower!' ... life.... again... we live on a beautiful planet... we're so lucky... leave no child inside... leave no child inside"

Jim Whittaker closed Mountainfilm in Aspen with that story.

Saving  the most spectacular visuals for last, not to mention some serious hometown talent, Mr. Whittaker was there for a screening of "High and Hallowed" the story of his 1963 Everest expedition and the trek back for the 50 year anniversary.




The 1963 American expedition to Everest, was the first summit by an American, Jim Whittaker

Nawang Gombu was with him on the summit they kept their friendship going.



They ascended the Sol Col route, the same one that Sir Edmund Hillary used in the first ascent.

That alone is a remarkable accomplishment but the thing which makes the 1963 expedition stand out is the West ridge ascent and traverse by Willi Unsoeld and Tom Hornbein. Luke Jerstad and Barry Bishop made an ascent via the South Col on the same day. Both teams summited, both teams bivouaked on the Sol Col descent at 27,450 feet. It's a hell of a story.

The visuals from 1963 are stunning because it was sponsored by National Geographic and Barry Bishop was a NatGeo photographer and scientist.



For the 50th anniversary of the 1963 ascent a team went back, including Jim Whittaker and his son. The visuals for that were by our very own Kent Harvey . It was great to be able to follow Kent's tweets from the mountain and dispatches on the Eddie Bauer site during his 2009 "First Ascent"expedition - nerve racking when the avalanche happened on the West Ridge- but great to hear he was okay.



The contrasts in equipment are dramatic.


The changes on the mountain- more sobering


...as the glacier shrinks the rockfalls become more frequent and the ice gets glassy hard.

As usual Mountainfilm does not disappoint. There were highlights, "The Summit" was sobering as it was beautiful. Tom Shadyac was effervescent about his upcoming remake of "The Intouchables"



I got to see my name in the credits for "Keeper of the Mountains" (kickstarter rocks) what a sweet little short. Thank you for honoring Elizabeth Hawley.

my favorite film was still "Slomo"




His goal for the rest of his life is "not to be an asshole." 

Nice goal, not easy, but something to which we can aspire... 











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