The Man Who Skied Down Everest

I first saw this beautifully filmed documentary many years ago and never forgot it. The most interesting parts for me were the trek to base camp and traversing the ice fall. Many of the shots in the movie offered unique perspectives that really showcased the scale and grandeur of the region. I felt that sometimes the thoughts of Miura were overly philosophical and romantic, but what I was hearing was a translation from Japanese to English, so final conclusions are not possible without understanding Japanese. The actual skiing down Everest sequence was short but dramatic. I think that skiers could empathize more with the difficulties of trying to stay in control on such hard and bumpy ice! Crazy stuff! One reviewer had noted that Miura had died shortly afterward but this is not the case. Apparently he became the oldest person to summit Everest when he did it at age 75 in 2008. Quite a man! All these years later, The Man Who Skied Down Everest is as much about climbing Everest in 1970 as about actually skiing down Everest.

Reading the synopsis above does a pretty good job of explaining how crazy/ambitious of a stunt this was, but doesn't really do justice to the price that was paid by so many who were hired to help get Mr. Miura up Mount Everest so he could put on a pair of skis and do one of the craziest things a person has ever attempted. This film really is a dichotomy between the grandeur of the stunt vs. the price paid for this entirely self-indulgent, off the wall crazy foray into one's ego. The actual stunt itself is probably the most thrilling thing ever put on film and is incredibly exciting especially for a generation brought up with extreme sports, but only showing this scene betrays the intent of the film, which is to portray the unnecessary suffering of the poor Sherpa's who lost their lives because they had no other option but to accept the job. This film is incredibly sad and exciting at the same time and is a perfect metaphor for the first world (Miura's Japan) taking advantage of the third world (the ethnic Sherpa people of Nepal) for purely selfish means. For the classroom it checks several boxes because of the fact it is immensely exciting, borderline crazy, yet manages to illustrate how the inequality in economic power between nations can lead to pure exploitation, damaging the indigenous cultures so you can for instance, ski down Mount Everest!

This follows Japanese adventurer Yuichiro Miura as he attempts to ski down Mount Everest. That's it. That's all there is and it's great. This has an Englishman narrating his diary entries. It's a neverending train of thought. He is part of a large group of Japanese scientists, fellow travelers, and local porters.

Real life Everest adventures are usually compelling although Miura's destination isn't all the way to the iconic top. That part is rather unusual. The visuals are amazing and I love the 70's aesthetics. He does need a 1st POV camera shoot going downhill. The cameras of that time may be too heavy for him to carry.

This one has the reality of the people. Miura makes himself very personable. There are real deaths and real bodies. This gets real real fast. I feel like I went on a journey with him and that is one of the highest praise for a documentary.

I saw this movie many years ago on TV, and thoroughly enjoyed it. As a previous reviewer said, the title is somewhat misleading; I usually refer to it as "The Man Who Fell Down Everest"!

What struck me about this film is that the expedition is so *Japanese*. For example, all the equipment is stencilled "JESE" for "Japanese Everest Ski Expedition". They carry collapsible bridges for crossing crevasses. And they lugged old-style videotape equipment up the mountain so the skier could record and critique his practice runs; there is a funny scene of the Sherpas watching _Bonanza_ tapes dubbed into Japanese.

All in all, I found it fascinating. And it won the Oscar for best documentary that year.

The movie is well made with great photography and narration. However, the subject of the film takes himself way too seriously. His actual feat of skiing "down Everest" is massively exaggerated. From what I could tell, he appears to be skiing down about half of the Lhotse face. The narrator claims that he is skiing from a level where the 1952 Swiss expedition reached. Not true. They reached 28,500 feet, just short of the Hillary step. Miuri starts from somewhere below the South Col (26,000 feet) with the aid of a parachute too slow him down. He tries to hold a wedge shape (an amateur move to control speed) then sits down on a traverse at about 24,000 feet and subsequently slides/bounces on his butt another 500 to 1,000 feet. I figure he skied from about 25,500 to 23,000 feet.

This is presented as a successful and amazing run. Miuri states "I cant believe I'm alive" and "why have I been allowed to survive?", blah blah blah...etc. I'd like to know how the 800 porters, sherpas, other climbers, and families of the 6 dead men feel about this. I'm surprised the Japanese expedition didn't try to put some climbers on the summit while they were there. Apparently, it was all about Miuri and his lame ski run.