"14 Peaks" The Movie

Mark Pilatewrote:

It all seemed very impressive until .....
......
.......  Amazing.  Nirmal is the new Shackleton.  

Whoa! Slow down now....

I know I'm nitpicking but, I'm not so sure i'd put these two in the same boat.

Nirmal did not go into the unknown as Shackleton did.

carry on...

jcs

jackscoldsweatwrote:

Whoa! Slow down now....

I know I'm nitpicking but, I'm not so sure i'd put these two in the same boat.

Pun intended?   

Nirmal did not go into the unknown as Shackleton did.

carry on...

jcs

Not comparing or characterizing the endeavor or accomplishment as much as I’m comparing the skill set and character of the men. 

Chris Trautzwrote:

Does it make me a bad person to think the whole thing a hoax?

What makes you think it's a hoax?

Someone asked, "what's different about this movie?"

Simple.

Nepalese, number one. 

The accomplishment, number two. MESSNER was one of the commentators for it, giving them huge kudos.

Number three, well, it's simply a very good film. Beautiful, good storytelling, and well done post production stuff. 

Watch the credits more carefully. Nims and the others he selected are the videographers. Yes, this is a Chin & Co production, but, not from the outset at all. 

Best, Helen

I found it interesting that the goal of Project Possible was to conquer these mountains by any means necessary. I could be off base here, but that attitude towards the expedition feels like antithesis of how the Nepalese culture generally views their relationship with the mountains. This isn’t to criticize, just an observation. I personally find Nim’s accomplisment remarkable and unlikely to ever be duplicated in my lifetime.

I would have really enjoyed learning more about the logistics of the trip, the approaches, specifics of the routes used on each peak, and how the link-ups were accomplished. I’m hoping there will be a book that goes into the gritty climbing details that didn’t make it on the big screen.

Cronwrote:

I found it interesting that goal of Project Possible was to conquer these mountains by any means necessary. I could be off base here, but that attitude towards the expedition feels like antithesis of how the Nepalese culture generally views their relationship with the mountains. This isn’t to criticize, just an observation. I personally find Nim’s accomplisment remarkable and unlikely to ever be duplicated in my lifetime.

I would have really enjoyed learning more about the logistics of the trip, the approaches, specifics of the routes used on each peak, and how the link-ups were accomplished. I’m hoping there will be a book that goes into the gritty climbing details that didn’t make it on the big screen.

There is a book being released. His website has information but no details.

He was lucky to get financing and the logistics cleared. A problem facing many climbers.

I think Purja's attitude is something necessary for almost anyone who takes on this sort of challenge. Bigger than life and proud of it. It was never a, say, humble pursuit from the beginning. He was out to prove something. The fact that he did it so well, speaks to his unique God-gifted physical and mental abilities. That same attitude can also get you killed. Close to hubris, but I think he had a good handle on his abilities and the challenge so not quite irrational exuberance.

Chris Trautzwrote:

Does it make me a bad person to think the whole thing a hoax?

We were talking about how often climbing stories have been embellished historically all during the movie. I believe he summited all 14 in 6 months+ , the other stories who knows.

Great movie, especially with his minimal years of experience.

Ward Smithwrote:

I'm judging the comparison, not the  achievement,  which as I said is awesome.

 I've only been to the top of Denali and Axoncagua, and I was definitely feeling the altitude. Always wanted to go to the big peaks, but then I broke my ankle in an avalanche and became a sport climber.

Didn’t they say the oxygen was only used above 8K?
Amazing human doing super impressive feat. He’s comment at the end of the movie was spot on, any westerners did this it’d be talked over for ages. FFS the new Reel Rock has a feature about Wide Boyz climbing bridges, so rad!

Teton Climberwrote:

There is a book being released. His website has information but no details.

He was lucky to get financing and the logistics cleared. A problem facing many climbers.

I think Purja's attitude is something necessary for almost anyone who takes on this sort of challenge. Bigger than life and proud of it. It was never a, say, humble pursuit from the beginning. He was out to prove something. The fact that he did it so well, speaks to his unique God-gifted physical and mental abilities. That same attitude can also get you killed. Close to hubris, but I think he had a good handle on his abilities and the challenge so not quite irrational exuberance.

That kinda defines climbing motivation for a lot of us, lol!

H.

For all those saying "but he used oxygen" I'd say so what.  The guy set a crazy goal (that most noted was likely impossible) and killed it.  Would it be more impressive without oxygen- hell yes, but let's not pretend anyone ever dreamed of doing this even with oxygen (not to mention it wasn't only Nims, 4 other Nepalese cranked out the same ascents, ones that most of us could only dream of doing one of, and on oxygen. 

Look at the commentary from Messner...  Man straight up respected something that was a far out goal.  Was it different than his achievement without O2 (and 16 years longer), yes but it was a feat worth sitting in awe and watching and one he rightfully commended and respected. Plus the fact that his team was laying the lines on many of these mountains as well was equally impressive (not to mention the logistics of each base/summit). This wasn't some guided trip up the worlds highest peaks where you have Sherpa's who give you the safest way up and cheer you on - it was a superhero team of 5 men doing a ton of the hard work, planning, route setting even getting to basecamps etc.

I wished the movie were a bit longer.  Appreciated the nod to the Sherpa's who are the real athletes that support the westerners, and more importantly oxygen or not I don't think anyone can deny this is one of the (or a few) greatest mountaineering feats to date.  For the doubters, his K2 winter ascent was sans O2.  That's just baller (let's pound out the first winter ascent and do it without O2)... 

That's strange that focus of this discussion was on Nims attitude, mental toughness, organization skills etc.
The most important key success factor was Nims ability to work hard over multiple days at high altitude.
He inherited a nice set of genes and this is the most important factor.

Nims himself wrote that as soon as he has started climbing in Himalayas he noticed that he was faster than Sherpas and was able to maintain the same pace next day etc.

Yurywrote:

That's strange that focus of this discussion was on Nims attitude, mental toughness, organization skills etc.
The most important key success factor was Nims ability to work hard over multiple days at high altitude.
He inherits a nice set of genes and this is the most important factor.

Nims himself wrote that as soon as he has started climbing in Himalayas he noticed that he was faster than Sherpas and was able to maintain the same pace next day etc.

News Flash: "One of the world's best high altitude mountaineers has a natural talent for high altitude mountaineering!!!"

I know we get used to hearing Honnold or Siegrist or whoever claiming that they have no talent for rock climbing, but they're wrong. It's just a talent that is harder to measure than a high VO2 max is. And so what that any of them are gifted; they still work as hard as fuck and deserve credit for it.

J W wrote:

Correct. The elevation at which the mountains become mountains we collectively care about, that’s when they used oxygen. Down where the mountains aren’t newsworthy, they didn’t use oxygen.

Well color me stupid for I didn’t know that hiking up 7K peaks is just a pastime for us ordinary folks. 

Yurywrote:

He inherits a nice set of genes and this is the most important factor…

There’s a point that was just tangentially and subtly touched upon in the movie —His parents.  Mom was clearly an ass kicker in her own right..and perhaps like many women of her generation, never got a chance to fully explore her own potential, but the badass doesn’t fall far from the tree 

M Mwrote:

Great movie, especially with his minimal years of experience.

Yeah, exactly, and he’s this overweight pudge at the beginning of the film.  Definitely a strong, bold, badass climber - but it also seems a soft record where the greatest barrier is a bunch of money to cover logistics.  

There was a statement made that his project had an efficiency to his end goal of just getting up the peaks given combining approaches, acclimatization, etc. of multiple peaks at a time.  Given he’s dealing with family and partying between phases, it all seemed less astonishing than witnessing true athletic limits.  

What I saw is how non-elite the entire pursuit is - for this guy to waltz in and crush everyone.  Freesolo El Cap or break even 4 hours on the Nose or freeclimb any of those routes in 5 yrs - not as likely.

Bill Wwrote:

Not a hoax but perhaps a bit of Hollywood magic with the story telling.

I was following this guy on social media for months while it was happening, before the film came out. He was documenting things, and it was most definitely not a hoax 

James Wwrote:

"but it also seems a soft record where the greatest barrier is a bunch of money to cover logistics. "

^this, this the the armchair critique so steeped in self hubris I am afraid your head might explode.

The guy was U.K. Special Forces for 10-years. I'm pretty sure his fitness, survival skills and training are elite levels and yes I'd say quitting is not in the blood of such a person. He doesn't strike me as an average guy in any way at all. Quitters don't make it in special forces.

I'm interested to see what he does from this point. Looking up his military service I stumbled across his commercial website. Its clear he intends to capitalize his new-won fame and good for him, and his team. Its high time a Nepalese guiding company thrives on the scene. Its also clear he has other big goals, perhaps goals worthy of future movies. I'm interested to see what and how he promotes for Nepal and her people too. 

I don't understand the need to nitpick at the guy or his accomplishments. I don't understand the need to compare him to other mountaineers. Can't he just be himself and let his body of work do the talking? I sure hope so. And I hope he, his company, his guides and support crew all do very well and make lots of money doing it.

For context, Annapurna has a success rate of 33%, and a death ratio of around 3:1, for every 3 climbers that summit one dies 

(266 summits and 71 deaths. 27.2% chance of death if you are really going for it.)

Nanga Parbat has 400 summits and 83 deaths, so 20.75%.

K2 has 367 summits and 85 deaths. 22.8% chance you die. 

Kangchenjunga has 300 summits and 45 deaths. 15% chance of death. 

Many of those people used oxygen.

Oh yeah and lets not forget Nims did have a "small" but impressive resume going into this, and then after this summitted K2 for the first winter ascent without oxygen. 

Point being, not a normal dude, not a soft record. 

Cherokee Nuneswrote:

Its high time a Nepalese guiding company thrives on the scene.

Ultimately, that would be my wish for him and the highest best goal of the endeavor - to put the westerners out of business.

James Mwrote:

For context, Annapurna has a success rate of 33%, and a death ratio of around 3:1, for every 3 climbers that summit one dies 

These big peaks are also no talent wanker magnets, so factor that in.  IMO, a local and frequent climber’s knowledge is most of what made it all work - the best of the Sherpas were calling all the shots, with no weak players involved.