In the twilight evening of 10 May 1996, a swift and ferocious storm unexpectedly hit three climbing teams during their expedition on Mount Everest. The exhausted climbers, near the top of the world's highest peak, found themselves hopelessly lost in darkness and hurricane-strength winds, 8000 metres from the safety of camp. The film is about the story of the five mountaineers that meet their death in that fateful storm, during one of Mount Everest’s worst tragedies. Beyond tragedy, the film is also the story of the eleven survivors, caught in the chaos of the storm and desperately struggling for their lives on a mountain that doesn’t care about man and in a situation with no way out.
Director
DAVID BREASHEARS
David Breashears is an America mountaineer and film-maker born in 1955. His work and passion lead him to travel to the farthest regions of Tibet, China, Nepal, India, Pakistan, South America and Africa. He is well-known for being the first American to reach the summit of Everest twice, in 1985; he has also successfully climbed to the summit of HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ama_Dablam"Ama Dablam in the HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayas"Himalayas. In 1996 he was on Everest to shoot in Imax format, when a fierce blizzard caused a disaster in which eight mountaineers perished. This tragedy was made famous by Krakauer’s book Into thin air. Only in 1998 he filmed, co-directed and co-produced the Everest Imax film, whose footage was shot during his 1996 expedition. He also worked as a cameraman in other films such as Sette anni in Tibet, Cliffhanger and Red Flag over Tibet and during his career he has won four Emmy Awards. He has also written an autobiography about his greatest passion, entitled High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places.