National Geographic's Surviving Everest: The Collector's Edition

Starring:National Geographic
Studio: Nat'l Geographic Vid
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Surviving Everest, produced by National Geographic, bills itself as a "collector's edition" and is really three videos in one. The first segment of a half-hour's length is titled "Surviving Everest" and features informative interviews with men who have made it to the summit and back. Their insights into the horrendous conditions faced by mountaineers on the world's highest peak are moving, and their explanations of particular obstacles (such as the treacherous Khumbu Icefall) on the way up the mountain add much to one's understanding of the feat. The second part of the video, lasting for nearly an hour, is titled "Return to Everest" and is a profile of Sir Edmund Hillary, who in 1953, along with the Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay, first conquered Everest. Hillary has often returned to Nepal, and his involvement helping the Sherpa people is lovingly chronicled. The final segment of the video is a brief interview with Hillary that surprisingly--considering the high production standards of National Geographic videos--suffers from an odd audio problem in which Hillary's thoughtful answers are very clear but the questions put to him can barely be heard. All in all, this is a highly informative tape for those with a general interest in Everest, and the photography, as befits a Geographic production, is never less than spectacular. --Robert J. McNamara

Description

Surviving Everest includes the historic one-hour program and interview with the first man to reach Mt. Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary; plus a bonus half-hour program featuring first-hand accounts of those who climb the mountain; an additional exclusive interview with Hillary; an assortment of Mt. Everest-related photographs in the Photo Gallery; a Mt. Everest map; an interactive trivia quiz and trailers of other related National Geographic programs.

Customer Reviews:

Not a movie about the mountain..........2005-08-14

This movie plays out like a dry cultural movie of the Nepalese people and Edmund Hillary's life. The movie focuses on all that Hillary has done since he first climbed Everest, and how he has dedicated his life to helping the Sherpa people. All this is fine, but the title: "Surviving Everest" implied that the movie has something to do with the climbing of Everest, when in actuality it's just a half-baked biography / cultural lesson.

It is rather slow, and contains no exciting parts. If you're goal is to find out more about the mountain, the other NG movie "50 Years on the Mountain" is actually about the mountain and is a pretty well-produced film. I also thought "Above All Else" was pretty good, especially for its price.

Disappointing and misleading.......2001-01-16

The DVD quality is poor. It feels like an old VHS tape. Most disappointing, considering this is from National Geographic! Collector's Edition my foot.

The title is misleading. This dvd has nothing to do with Everest. It mostly discusses Hillary's social endeavors in Khumbu region-- which is nice, but not what I purchased it for. If you want to see anything about surviving Everest, watch the Nova series: "Everest: The death zone".

Disappointing and misleading.......2001-01-16

The DVD quality is poor. It feels like an old VHS tape. Most disappointing, considering this is from National Geographic! Collector's Edition my foot.

Disappointing - Not really about Everest Climb.......2000-02-19

This DVD was, frankly, a disappointment. Very little of it is about Mt. Everest or Sir Edmund Hillary's climb. A better description of the main feature would be "What Sir Edmund Hillary did AFTER he climbed Everest". It is about the culture of the people who lived around the base of the mountain, and how Sir Edmund has helped them by building schools and teaching them about conservation. VERY LITTLE of the main feature is about his climb of the mountain.

There is an extra featurette called "Surviving Everest: First hand accounts" where individuals who have climbed Mt. Everest talk about their experiences and there is a fair amount of footage on the mountain. However, the quality of this footage is not as good as I had hoped. If you want to see major mountain climbing footage, look elsewhere. The IMAX DVD has gotten mixed reviews, so I don't know what to recommend. You may want to wait for "The Conquest of Everest" the movie made of Sir Edmund Hillary's first ever climb of Everest. I have never seen this, but it must have more climbing footage than this DVD did.

One other bone to pick, the main feature and the "extra" interview with Sir Edmund specifically mention that he had a cameraman with him and they got some amazing pictures on his first climb - BUT, these were sadly left out of the too-small "Photo Gallery".

So far, the other two National Geographic DVDs I have are pretty good: Battle for Midway (incredible battle footage) and Secrets Of The Titanic.

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