Hike up and ski down was Jim Morrison’s relatively straightforward dream, albeit not on your typical ski hill.
The couple divorced in 2025, though their separation goes unmentioned in the film. Nelson’s death reverberated through the mountaineering world and it reshaped the film Vasarhelyi and Chin were making. The movie lingers on the moments when Morrison and his team leave their homes, parting with children for two-month stints during which they’ll risk their lives on desolate peaks on the other side of the world. When Nelson dies, she leaves behind two boys. As the years tick on in the documentary, we watch them grow up without their mother. Deciding to continue with the project is its own debate for Chin and Vasarhelyi. They have two children of their own. Their proximity to extreme expeditions has already brought tragedy close to home. “How many people who have eaten at our dinner table have died? Vasarhelyi asks him.
In “Free Solo,” which documents Alex Honnold ascending El Capitan in Yosemite without ropes or a harness, the filmmakers had to contemplate the possibility that Honnold might fall to his death. “This movie, the worst happened,” Vasarhelyi says in a brief moment on screen. But in “Everest,” questioning whether it’s worth it is front and center.
The higher Morrison climbs, the less inquisitive the movie gets. On the first attempted ascent, some of the Sherpas grow wary of the risks involved. Their sensible hesitations don’t put Morrison, handsomely outfitted by his North Face sponsor, in the best light. By the time Morrison realizes his dream, it feels as though many have, off camera, moved on with their lives. The families back home fall out of the movie. Maybe that’s appropriate. Morrison’s extreme compulsion inevitably pulls him away from us, leaving behind a more disquieting film. Even he can’t help but notice while hiking up that the snow conditions he’ll be skiing down are rock hard and terrible. The descent, lasting four hours, is a feat of skill, perseverance and bravery. Even on a bad day, he’d have to grant, the skiing would have been better back home.
“Everest: The Other Side” grows increasingly shy of them While these debates are often present in the documentary. “Everest: The Other Side” becomes a mournful and increasingly solitary march.
