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Above All Else: Everest Dream
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List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $11.87
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Product Details
- Starring: Joe Leavitt, Kerry Yo Nakagawa, Abraham Gordon, Dean Dittman, Johnny Silver
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- Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
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- Binding: VHS Tape
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- EAN: 9781575237244
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- Format: Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
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- ISBN: 1575237245
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- Label: Allumination
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- Manufacturer: Allumination
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- Number of Items: 1
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- Product Group: Video
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- Publisher: Allumination
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- Release Date: 1999-02-23
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- Studio: Allumination
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- Theatrical Release Date: 1985
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- Title: Above All Else: Everest Dream
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- UPC: 711027045232
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Avg Customer Rating: 
Product Description: There are always two stories in mountain climbing, the story of the mountain and the story of the people trying to climb it. We know the story of Everest well after the tragic news stories and the IMAX film about it. There may be more technically difficult mountains to climb, but none have the mystique of Everest. Above All Else is the story of Alan Hobson and Jamie Clarke's third and final attempt to scale the mountain. The two climbers, who had failed twice in 10 years to conquer Everest--once only 400 meters from the top--balance each other well; Clarke's surfer style is offset by Hobson's thoughtfulness. Clarke never lets things get too serious as he mugs for the camera, describing avalanche footage as "cool." Hobson on the other hand openly expresses the concentration it takes to suspend fear when crossing crevasses, moving beneath house-size chunks of ice that could fall at any moment, or climbing up high in the dead zone where there is hardly any oxygen. Knowing how Hobson feels about the risks makes the scenes in the terrible Khumbu icefall, a maze of broken ice and crevasses, much more frightening. The film also shows parts of an expedition that are rarely seen, from the tedious organizational work that takes place before a climb, to the practice runs in the Canadian Rockies. There is also a touching scene of the mountaineers' families huddled next to a fax machine half a world away waiting to hear about the climbers' fate. While Hobson and Clarke give the film a human element, the star is Mount Everest. The cinematography is well shot and there are some epic scenes of the peak. It is hard to understand what it takes to climb Everest, but Hobson says it best when he describes crossing the Hillary Step: "Eight thousand meters down on one side is China, eight thousand meters down on the other side is Nepal, and you are standing on a ridge all of two to three feet long. It just takes you apart emotionally." In its own way Above All Else does the same, while showing the deep, desolate beauty of Everest and the humanity of the climbers trying to attain its epic peak. --Aaron Abrams
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Customer Reviews
The Message - Don't Give Up
This documentary recounts how Canadian climbers Jamie Clarke and Alan Hobson made 3 attempts on the summit of Everest over the span of 10 years.
Jamie seems to be a passionate climber. Alan appears more like a person who is just curious. On their first attempt in 1991, they tackled Everest from the more challenging north face. 500m short of the summit, gale-force winds put an end to the expedition.
On their second attempt in 1994, they took the northern route again. And again, the weather was punishing. 200m from the summit, the lead climber was down with HAPE. The team abandoned the summit bid to rescue him.
On the 3rd attempt, the new team abandoned the north face (which they didn't really explain why) and headed to Nepal for another attempt on an easier route. This time, we get great views of the Khumbu Icefall. There is a great amount of excellent footage on this section of the climb.
Alan and Jamie battle with illness as the window of clear weather begin to close. Quality of the footage deteriorates higher up, which is understandable. Everybody is tired to the marrow. From Camp 4, they used oxygen. The summit bid started in darkness. Alan fell behind and almost wanted to give up, but his Sherpa urged him on.
They both made it. It was an emotional moment for Alan. His voice cracked when he reported from the summit. Jamie seems a lot more philosophical about their success. Alan seeemed forgotten when he struggled down to Camp 4 but both men descended safely. A Sherpa fell into a crevasse in the icefall, but was rescued.
It's truly an inspiring video. You can feel the joy of their successful summit. However, these men are not professional mountaineers. It would have been more interesting if they had tackled the north face and succeeded on their 3rd attempt. Still an amazing feat. The moral of the story - don't give up and try an easier route.
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Great Inspiration
This is a hard earned success adventure that shows both the joy and the sacrifice of great achievement in the face of great challenges. Well filmed and presented, it will lift your spirits and your steps
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Two Thumbs Way Up!
Read everyone else's review then come back to mine...This DVD is Awesome!! ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!
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Realistic and Moving
I have seen 5 of the 7 Everest DVD's I own and this one was the most 'human' in terms of feeling real and emotionally moving. So many of the others are more like generic documentaries on Everest and its climbing legends. This DVD was just what I wanted. No fancy camera shots or special effects, just plain and simple the realites of a challenge and how it affected those on the expedition. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who just want to see it from a more simplistic and real angle. I would also like to see the unedited version.
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Good Stuff - Good Everest film
Jamie Clarke and Alan Hobson are two canadians who organized an Everest Expedition in 1997 totally funded by Sponsor's( Lotus, Colliers, etc), that would attempt to summit the mountain by the south face just one year after the worst season in Everest history (1996 - 15 deaths).They attempted the summit two times before, both times by the north face, both times without any sucess on the summit.
The film has some great scenes about the "entire" climbing, from Base Camp to Camp 4 , being the most notorious the ones in ; the Khumbu Icefalls, the Lotse Face(Camp3), the South Col(camp 4), the Hillary Steps, the South Ridge and of course the summit. Both guys actually make comments about the summit day and also of other difficult moments(Alan at the Icefalls). Jamie did pretty well on the summit day(proving to be a strong climber), but Alan had some serious trouble on the way back after almost giving up on the way up because of problems with oxygen and cold(very resilient).This is a good film about climbing everest with a great message in it. Note: the climber that appears hanging dead on the Hillary Steps is a british climber named Bruce Herrod. Before commiting his body to the mountain, a camera was found and the film in it was still intact.The camera was delivered to his former girlfriend, and the film in it revealed later that he actually summited but unfortunately died on the way back at the Hillary Steps. The picture of Bruce Herrod on the summit can be found in the last chapter of David Breashears book (High Exposure).He was the last person to summit in the 1996 season.
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