By Hudson Moura
Why would anyone risk their life climbing one of the world’s most dangerous mountains, only to descend it on skis? This question lies at the heart of Everest: The Other Side (2026), directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. Produced by National Geographic Documentary Films, the documentary follows elite ski mountaineers Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson in their ambition to climb Mount Everest’s direct North Face, located in Tibet, China, and attempt an unprecedented ski descent.
Unlike the more frequently climbed southern routes, Everest’s direct North Face is among the mountain’s most difficult and dangerous approaches, with only five climbers having successfully reached the summit by this route before the expedition. Accessing the Chinese side also requires special authorization, adding further complications to an already extraordinary challenge.
Yet the documentary is not simply about mountaineering. Behind the spectacular landscapes and dangerous expedition lies a deeply personal story about love, grief, determination, and the reasons people pursue seemingly impossible dreams.
Beyond the Mountain: Grief and Personal Motivation
The most compelling aspect of Everest: The Other Side is not necessarily the expedition itself, however astonishing, but the emotional motivations driving those who undertake it.
The documentary gives particular attention to the personal losses experienced by Morrison and high-altitude cinematographer Erich Roepke. Morrison has endured devastating family tragedies, while Roepke recounts losing his father in an avalanche. Their experiences introduce an important emotional dimension, suggesting that the pursuit of extraordinary physical challenges can also become a way of confronting grief and searching for meaning after profound personal loss.
At an altitude approaching 9,000 metres, the mountain seems almost to acquire a spiritual dimension. One might wonder whether reaching such extraordinary heights offers the climbers a sense of transcendence, a momentary connection with something beyond ordinary existence, or even a way of approaching those they have lost.
The documentary repeatedly raises a question that viewers are likely to ask themselves: why would anyone voluntarily expose themselves to such extreme danger?
Interestingly, the climbers themselves attempt to answer this question. They recognize how difficult it is for outsiders to understand their motivations, while acknowledging that their own reasons are not always easy to explain. This makes their experiences more accessible, allowing audiences to appreciate not only the extraordinary nature of their ambitions but also the emotional complexity behind them.
Grief becomes particularly important as the narrative develops. An unexpected and profoundly affecting event transforms the emotional significance of the expedition, creating one of the documentary’s most powerful moments. Without revealing this development, it is enough to say that the story takes a surprising turn, one that would seem almost like a dramatic plot twist in a fictional film.
These moments bring considerable emotional depth to what might otherwise have remained a conventional adventure documentary.
A Collective Dream
Although Morrison remains the central figure, one of the documentary’s most interesting dimensions is its portrayal of the expedition as a collective undertaking.
A team of more than twenty participants, including international mountaineers, local climbers from Nepal, guides, logistical specialists, and cinematographers, contributes to the project. Each member performs a specific function, from establishing routes and assessing conditions to coordinating the expedition and documenting the climb.
What makes this particularly interesting is that these individuals are not simply helping Morrison accomplish his dream. Each participant has personal ambitions and motivations for taking part in such an extraordinary adventure.Their different objectives come together through a shared experience in which everyone’s contribution becomes essential.
Jimmy Chin’s involvement is also significant. As co-director, cinematographer, and experienced mountaineer, he is not simply observing the expedition from a distance. Having attempted the same route more than twenty years earlier, he shares a personal connection with the challenge and participates directly in the adventure. His presence makes him both a filmmaker and one of the documentary’s protagonists.
The documentary also introduces another perspective through the climbers’ families, particularly the children who must accept their parents’ prolonged absences and the extraordinary dangers of their profession.
For the mountaineers, spending nearly two months away from home represents the fulfilment of a dream. For their children, however, these expeditions mean long separations and considerable anxiety about their parents’ safety. These intimate moments provide an emotional counterpoint to the spectacular climbing sequences, reminding us of the personal relationships that remain beyond the mountains.
Spectacular Images, Conventional Storytelling
From a cinematic perspective, Everest: The Other Side presents an interesting contrast between its extraordinary subject and its relatively conventional documentary form.
Its spectacular locations and IMAX presentation offer an undeniably immersive visual experience. The immense mountain landscapes, dangerous cliffs, vast expanses of snow, and seemingly inaccessible routes are breathtaking. Watching climbers suspended above enormous precipices or navigating narrow passages produces genuine astonishment.
It is almost impossible not to wonder how these individuals reached such places, let alone how the film crew managed to accompany them.
Nevertheless, the spectacular nature of the images should not be confused with an equally sophisticated cinematic approach.
Despite its theatrical presentation, Everest: The Other Side largely follows the conventions of television adventure documentaries. Its narrative relies heavily on interviews, explanatory sequences, and chronological accounts of the expedition. The approach is informative and emotionally effective, but formally rather conventional.
The film is associated with National Geographic and prominently features The North Face, the expedition’s sponsor. This places it within a recognizable tradition of adventure documentaries built around extraordinary physical achievements, spectacular landscapes, and personal testimonies.
Although the images are impressive, I would have appreciated a more ambitious approach to cinematography and storytelling. The cinematography team, including co-director Jimmy Chin, Leo Hoorn, Christopher Murphy, Clair Popkin, Erich Roepke, and local cinematographer Pemba Sherpa, captures extraordinary footage under extremely challenging conditions. Nevertheless, the documentary’s visual achievements do not always translate into an equally compelling cinematic treatment.
The documentary also contains extraordinary dramatic material, yet its presentation rarely moves beyond familiar documentary conventions. Much of its impact comes from the remarkable experiences being recorded rather than from the originality of its cinematic form.
This does not diminish the quality of the production. The film is carefully assembled, accessible, and frequently moving. However, its narrative approach does not always match the extraordinary potential of its subject.
Five Years in Pursuit of a Dream
One of the documentary’s greatest strengths is the extraordinary persistence required to achieve the expedition’s objective.
The pursuit of climbing and skiing Everest’s North Face extends over five years, during which the participants confront numerous obstacles, including dangerous mountain conditions, logistical challenges, and the difficulties of obtaining authorization from Chinese authorities.
What makes this prolonged undertaking particularly compelling is the determination of those involved. Despite the difficulties and unexpected developments, the participants continue pursuing an objective that initially seems almost impossible.
The documentary also contains moments of genuine surprise. Particularly in its first half, certain events are so unexpected and emotionally powerful that they radically change the audience’s experience of the story. In a fictional film, such developments might be carefully constructed through a screenplay. Here, their impact comes from the fact that they are part of the participants’ real lives.
The persistence of the expedition, the risks undertaken, and the remarkable situations captured on camera make the film consistently engaging, even when its documentary structure becomes predictable.
Ultimately, Everest: The Other Side is a well-made, emotionally powerful, and highly entertaining adventure documentary, despite its relatively conventional cinematic form. Its extraordinary landscapes are certainly impressive, but the human experiences behind the expedition are what make the film particularly memorable.
The documentary’s greatest achievement lies in going beyond the spectacle of climbing Everest to explore the question that remains throughout the film: why do these individuals feel compelled to pursue such dangerous and seemingly impossible dreams?
Rating: 3.8/5
Info: Everest: The Other Side (2026) – Imdb