Trama

This Oscar-winning documentary tells the story behind Japanese daredevil Yuichiro Miura's 1970 effort to ski down the world's tallest mountain.

A Japanese skier ultimately dreamed of literally skiing Mt. Everest. He planned to ski some 8,000 feet down an icy glacier at a 40 to 45 degree angle, from the 26,000 foot level near the summit. This documentary chronicles this incredible feat and the tremendous task of climbing Everest itself. The narrator reads from the diary that the skier personally kept.—Andrew Baird-Kerr <andrewbk@networx.on.ca>

This Oscar-winning documentary tells the story behind Japanese daredevil Yuichiro Miura's 1970 effort to ski down the world's tallest mountain. Miura's trek to the top of Everest provides much of the film's drama, as several members of his climbing team die in the process. The arduous trek gives way to footage of Miura's stunning descent, which requires him to use a parachute to control his speed. The action is supplemented by passages from the journal Miura kept during the adventure.—Jwelch5742

Extreme adventurist Yûichirô Miura's 1970 attempt to ski down a portion near the summit of the world's highest mountain, Everest, is presented. While he could simulate certain conditions in preparation on other mountains, he and his team could only visually inspect that segment of the mountain from a distance, it with pitches as steep as forty-five degrees which would propel him to speeds he would have never experienced on skis before, ninety percent ice to ten percent snow, and visible rock outcrops, the bottom of which was just above a deep crevasse. As such, this will be a one only attempt if that. The expedition required the human resources of over one hundred people in the actual expedition up the mountain, with only a handful with Miura at the summit if they make it that far. The team not only has the issues surrounding Miura's ski, but the many regular issues of climbing Everest itself. The moving picture footage is largely accompanied by recitations from Miura's written diary that he kept on the expedition.—Huggo