Tigress Productions filmed two teams on Everest this past spring and tonight, advice The Discovery Channel aired in the U.S. the first three episodes of the five part season.
For the first time they filmed on the Nepal, south, side of Everest since the Chinese made it too difficult to climb from the north in 2009. Also they followed two teams, Eric Simonson’s International Mountain Guides in addition to their regular; Russel Brice’s Himalayan Experience (Himex).
In a departure from their formula of interpersonal conflict, exaggerated drama and defiant climbers; this season focused almost exclusively on climbing.
In the previous two seasons, Himex climbers were followed as they met in base camp and spent several weeks acclimatizing through a series of climbs to ever higher camps. We got to know each climber individually and, of course, all the characters. This time, the producers choose to focus on a couple of climbers each hour with most of the footage above base camp. We really never got to know any of them.
Episode 3 was my favorite. I enjoyed the helmet mounted camera shots. It was most impressive to follow Scott Parazynski and his immediate Sherpa team as they climbed above the South Summit, the Hillary Step and onto the summit in the early morning hours. Fellow climber, Dawes Eddy was there and became the oldest American to summit and return safely to base camp – at least for that moment. He was 66.
Episode 2 focused primarily on John Golden and his amazing performance with a reconstructed knee that was inspirational but left some viewers wondering about the risks. In a throwback to previous seasons, the cameras had tight shots of a pained Golden negotiating with Simonson after he allegedly broke his ribs. Golden wanted another shot at the summit and Simonson said no.
David Tait, a gifted climber from Briton was the star of the first episode but it felt extremely rushed for what he accomplished – summiting with the Sherpa who were fixing the ropes. The avalanches from Everest’s West Shoulder dominated the first episode showing in detail the crevasse rescue of Walter Laserer and the death of Lhakpa Nuru.
Some viewers were hoping for more scenes of the process of climbing Everest including the trek to base camp from Lukla. This section makes a south side climb very unique in the world of climbing and quite different from the north. It is a shame the producers left this out. Also, a bit more on life at base camp would have been nice.
There are only five episodes this season and the final two focus on Himex.
I hosted a Twitter Chat during the three episodes and it seemed that most people enjoyed it but preferred the previous format. As a climber, I liked the climbing scenes and less of the over-hyped drama. But I can also see that many people enjoy watching the antics of people driven to summit at all costs like we have seen in previous seasons. One point, I am sure everyone agrees, no annoying “Ever-ever-ever-Rest-rest-rest” from the narrator.
Climb On!
Alan
PS I will host another chat on Wednesday for the final two episodes. Just follow me or search Twitter for #EV09.
7 thoughts on “Everest: Beyond the Limit – a review”
Having been a fan of the past series, I couldn’t wait to view these episodes for Season Three. I was heartily disappointed. I felt the narrator was boring and repetitive. I never felt like I had any connection to the climbers and, avalanches and all, made none of that connectivity that would get me excited about what awe inspiring feats they were accomplishing before my eyes.
I despise most Reality TV for overdramatized piffle but I’d much rather get that feeling that I followed a trekker through the entire stage of their journey rather than the oddly disjointed,and slightly surreal feeling of ‘ I climbed Everest in 40 minutes’.
First off, I am not a climber and have enjoyed the series to date.
The first episode seemed both rushed and full of “fake” narrator drama. The drama may have been real, but it felt fake the way it was portrayed. Repeatedly saying how dangerous the mountain is, cutting to commercial after saying all teams have checked in but one after an avalanche, and questioning the sherpa’s rope skills all seemed over the top. The shots of the avalanches were impressive. If the avalanche hit our hero’s as the narrator implied, it would have been nice to have seen what they did to stay safe.
I enjoyed the footage of the climbing up high. It provided an amazing perspective on what it must really be like up there.
I thought the story telling and narration was pretty poor though. They kept hyping tired cliches like being in “the death zone” and insisting that Tait achieved some kind of notable record. The editing of his entire climb was very rushed which made his decision about oxygen confusing.
Even though the previous seasons could be knocked for over hype as well, there was just something about those shows that made them come across better.
Thanks Alan, I am relieved to read your point of view. The climb is absolutely the main reason for me watching the show plus the views of and off the mountain … I was just confused to find so many bad reviews in a row there. But if I think about all these different reactions, I am even more excited to see EBTL3 than I was before.
I couldn’t watch the show as we poor folks in Europe have to wait until 2010 for EBTL3 to be aired … 🙁 but I got curious and switched through several message boards including the TWoP forum where many fans of the show come together since season one to discuss what’s going on on the show, and I was very shocked to read so many negative comments about the new format and about what Tigress seem to made out of it at all. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say it here but they even described the first three episodes as “terrible” and as an “amateurish mess”. After I was waiting so long for season three to begin I don’t know whether I’m looking forward to seeing it or if I should better not be that enthusiastic, so I won’t be too disappointed at the end.
Steffi, If someone was disappointed then it is clear they wanted to see a repeat of the previous seasons. As Keith Cowling commented below, there was a lot of content crammed into the three episodes so it may have felt a bit rushed at times.The previous series was criticized for showing too much of Biker Tim and not enough climbing so it shows you can’t please everyone. I don’t think you will be disappointed if you love climbing. The scenes of the South Col and route to the summit were excellent as were the avalanches on the Icefall. This season appears to be more for climbers.
Having been at EBC with IMG supporting Scott Parazynski, serving a Discovery Channel blogger and webcast editor (http://onorbit.com/everest) and sharing a tent with the Tigress team I have to say (biases aside) that the Tigress folks managed to cram a lot of complicated drama, weather, and other things into 3 cohesive and well-paced episodes. I wish they had shown Scott with the moon rock we carried with us – and yes, the trek in is also something that I think people should see. Let me tell you, having been there for those two avalanches, they were other worldly – almost cataclysmic in their sheer physical impact.
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