Never before had a mountaineer managed to ski down Mount Everest’s rarely climbed north face. In 2018, Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison successfully skied down Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest mountain. Everest then became their next goal. But in 2022, Nelson died after being caught in an avalanche on Manaslu in Nepal. The loss of his partner drove Morrison to pursue the dream they had shared. In 2024, he set off with a camera crew for the world’s highest mountain.
Everest: The Other Side is more than a record of an almost-superhuman feat of endurance. The descent on skis can only be attempted after the monsoon rains, when there is enough snow, but all that snow also increases the risk of avalanches. Morrison therefore puts not only his own life at risk, but those of his fellow climbers as well. When Sherpa Yukta Gurung breaks a leg at an altitude of 8,000 meters and has to be carried down, Everest has thwarted their first attempt. Co-director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (Free Solo) openly questions whether, this time, the risks may simply be too great.
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