Customer Reviews

The Man Who Skied Down Everest

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Winner of the 1975 Best Documentary Oscar©, and certainly among the greatest adventure documentaries of all time, THE MAN WHO SKIED DOWN EVEREST (Image) might also be the first extreme Zen film.

The opening, widescreen shot shows Everest (29,002') through a gap in the clouds just as the morning sun hits the forbidding peak. And then this quote: "Throughout time, mas has aspired to great heights in search of peace of mind and a quiet heart. This is the story of such a man..."

The man in question is Yuichiro Miura, poet, adventurer and world champion skier (he set a speed record). The film follows his audacious attempt to ski down the upper slopes of Everest. The film, shot in 35MM Panavision, begins in Katmandu where 800 porters begin a trek of 185 miles with 27 tons of equipment.

Along the way, Miura visits Sir Edmund Hillary, who, in 1953, was the first climber (with his Sherpa partner Tenzing Norgay) to conquer Everest and return. Hillary says, "When we stop looking for challenges, human beings will be in a very bad way."

The poetic Miura is quoted as saying, "The challenge of the peaks is the challenge of life itself: To always struggle higher." Later he's quoted again: "We have wandered from the paths of the wind and become children of fear."

After trekking 185 miles across the high passes to Tibet and the base of Everest they take on 400 Sherpas. It takes another 40 days to traverse the next three miles.

Exquisitely photographed in beautifully composed shots, the breathtaking vistas are a dance of light and shadow and the memorable, poetic thoughts of Miura as he acclimates for his high altitude challenge in his "life of adventure to escape the labyrinth of the city."

During the treacherous climb, death claims six team members as they cross an icefall. About a thousand feet from the summit, Miura dons his skis, and with oxygen and a parachute, begins his descent. Zooming, almost free-falling, over ice and rock, he travel upright almost a mile and half. And then it happens. The wind knocks him off balance, he hits a big rock and falls, skidding, bouncing, across rocky ridges, skipping like a stone for 1,320 feet. He is stopped by a snowfield seconds away from the sure death of the Bergshrund Crevasse.

I have never seen a movie anything like this. If you have a big, widescreen TV, the pristine, high resolution images of this exotic place and extreme challenge will fill your field of vision and bend your mind until it literally takes your breath away during the last five minutes. This is an ultimate armchair adventure.

This is one of the most amazing documentaries I have ever seen, one that grabs you and does not let go for the entire film. It is about a Japanese skier named Yuichiro Miura, and his attempt to ski down Mt. Everest, the highest mountain in the world.

Yuichiro Miura starts out the quest to ski down Mt. Everest in Kathmadu, where he prepares a large expedition with everything which will be necessary on the mountain. The numbers are truly staggering; 800 men will help carry up the 27 tons of gear and equipment necessary for the expedition.

Yuichiro Miura adds Buddha-like narrative (taken from his personal diary) to the film throughout, making clear his love and respect for mountains, and nature in general. This is made infinitely clear when he says higher up on the mountain that he can no longer tell where he stops and the mountain begins, for the mountain dictates when and whether he can eat, sleep or even focus his mind clearly. One can see early on, and throughout the entire film, that Yuichiro Miura is not only one of the most capable athletes ever to have graced the slopes of Mt. Everest, but also one of the most spiritual, reflective and introspective. When six of the Sherpas on his team are killed by a cave-in of ice high up on a glacier, he openly states that he now wonders whether his attempt is worth the toll it is taking......a type of humility you will not often find in a world-class athlete. If nothing else, The Man Who Skied Down Everest gives one an insight into one of the most remarkable men you will ever come across. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, not because of the simple fact that he was able to ski down 8000 icy feet of Everest, but because with every day, he offers new insight and wisdom which makes this a film one can watch repeatedly.

I often wondered throughout the film exactly how this was filmed at all. They did an incredible job of getting cameras up to the most inhospitable of places, and in place at multiple views for every shot. And it should be noted that along the way to Everest, Yuichiro Miura stops and talks with Sir Edmund Hilary, the first man to "conquer" Mt. Everest, at a hospital he had set up in the village of Khumjung.....this is something that all history buffs of Everest will be interested in, as it is really part of history.

As a final note to this but entirely unrelated to the film review, it should be noted that Yuichiro Miura (Age 69 years and 6 months at the time) and his son Gota Miura reached the summit of Mt. Cho Oyu (8,201m) in Nepal in 2003. This expedition made Yuichiro the oldest person to reach the summit of an 8000m peak.

This fact however, will probably not surprise anyone who watched the film.

This is one of the most incredible true stories that I have ever seen. Until viewing the documentary I couldn't believe that skiing down Everest even was possible. To be able to see Yuichiro Mirua almost die while accomplishing his dangerous goal is breath taking. Although this film was shot in 1975 the quality of the picture is incredible, it is very clear. The narrator in this film is perfect; his voice aids what is being seen to be transferred into deep feelings and thought. I recommend this film to anyone with an interest in real life adventure.

Yuichiro Miura must stand as one of the greatest athletes and (in conventional terms) craziest people in the world. There is no limit in my admiration for the man, and (fortunately for my wife) no way in the world you could get me to emulate him. He is a tremendous skiier and a wonderful poet; his narration (voiced by Douglas Rain, of HAL9000 fame) is highly appropriate for the terrain, the climb itself, and the very brief event of his near-deadly run down the slope of the South Col.

Well worth seeing for both the skiing and Miura's gentle observations about pretty much everything.

This movie has been out of print for decades but you could buy used VHS copies for a great price over the years. Finally they have done the right thing and put it on DVD!! Why these companies wait for years to reissue and transfer these classics to DVD is beyond me!!! For example..the Jimmy Stewart classic "The Spirit of St. Louis" has just now been put on DVD! And the movie "Mind Walk" is still only on VHS..and it took them YEARS to put the sailing movie "Wind" on DVD..and half a century to put the John Wayne classic "The High and the Mighty" on ANYTHING..(it is now on DVD!!).yet these companies are willing to instantly put the trashiest movies on DVD within weeks of the theatrical release. Go figure..

Anyway...I saw this AWARD WINNING movie in its original theatrical release in 1975. That impression lasted me for the rest of my life. It was the best filmed mountain movie EVER up to that time....Great expense was put into filming it and really it is about the journey. I felt the actual skiing part down the slope was almost incidental!!!

The music, sounds on the trek, and most of all the photography is monumental. It stands the test of time (the IMAX movie "Everest" AND that soundtrack would be the other part of that litmus test).

This movie is a MUST BUY. Is there a soundtrack?? There should be.

Let's get back to the photography....I really don't think many have topped this...and the format is for the big screen LCD's...staggering/breath taking photography.....

Nothing about this film is rushed through...it is very gritty at times but the attraction of just panning all those high mountains never escapes the director... This is a magnificent work of art....the name of the movie adds some sort of circus atmosphere to the whole affair and at first glance looks to be a stunt movie...but the "stunt" part is right at the end and for me was not the draw...it was the the cinematography.

The narration could have been more poetic and woven into this movie more carefully...if there was a weakness here..this was it.

Compare the Imax "Everest" narration of Liam Neeson and it makes my point. On this re-release they possibly had a chance to rethink this narration element since that part DOES sound dated and weak compared to the movie's very contemporary feeling re the "extreme photography" (for lack of a better expression) and the beautiful music and sounds of the trail. But it is what it is and you just go with it.

When I saw this on a huge screen in the theater....it was the first time I had seen the Roof of the World in this manner. This is certainly one of those films that MUST be seen on the big screen. It would be nice if this was put in the theater again compared to the junk they are showing these days...but it would demand the rework of the narration.

Buy this movie and if you don't have the IMAX "EVERST" one..buy that as well and the soundtrack..

Another great piece of travel/geographic photography is "Over Canada"...I think that is available here as well as the excellent soundtrack...Again listen to the narration used in "Over Canada" and compare it with "The Man Who Skied Down Everest".....

I have been fascinated with Mount Everest since reading Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air". There was an underlying message in that book that made me want to understand more about why someone would risk their life and struggle through overwelming physical challenges just to say they had climbed the mountain. There was also a picture, in words, of a rugged beauty that served, in part, to explain that puzzle. I have purchased and enjoyed a number of cinematic accounts of Everest climbs and the beauty and the questions still remain. "The Man Who Skied Down Everest" is probably the best of those videos because the cinematography is outstanding and the quest is beyond the scope of just wanting to climb Everest; Yuichiro Miura wanted to ski down it. Indeed, it did not appear that Everest was summitted but, rather, plummitted.

The film begins as a sort of "how to" and shows all of the equiptment and provisions that needs to be hauled up to the base camp (I forget how many tons but it was a lot). It takes us through the route that the porters (and climbers) had to journey. That seemed like a challeging enough trek in itself. We get to the base camp area of Everest which appeared as though Miura and his crew had sole reservations to. This was in the early 1970's and was, apparently, before the climbing of Everest became such a popular sport. Knowing about the thin air from Krakauer's book and other sources, I was astonished to see one of the party smoking a cigarette. I recalled the time I did that in the Andes and almost passed out. There is a tragic accident due to a cave in and half a dozen native porters are killed. I pondered the superhuman efforts that must have occurred in order to recover the bodies.

Eventually, we see Miura ski down a major portion of Everest and it is, by itself, worth the price of the DVD. The uncredited part of this video presentation is the camera work that was done to bring this event into our homes. Even on the single-file portering of the provisions up to the base camp, we get incredible camera shots from quite a distance. It may be by plane in some cases but the shots vere very steady and I'm not sure that would have happened in an air-borne vehicle at that thin-air altitude. The shots of the skiing also seemed to come from parrallel angles but the there was a noticeable decrease in clarity so it might have been shot from quite a distance at a lower altitude. Either way, we got the feeling that we were seeing things from a relatively close perspective.

I remembered the title of this movie from the Academy Awards from 1975. It's title is compelling. The film is even more so.

It is a fantastic work. The sherpas, the small towns they pass through, the culture that was alive back in the 1960s still, all that is beautifully filmed. All that is gone, changed forever now. The mountain, the challange, the courage, all can be felt in this film. I highly recommend it to everyone, but most especially to those who can remember supreme adventuring before goretex, gps /cell phones and high tech equipment. It's a remarkable film on many levels.

This documentary was made from the beginning of the trail to the top of the trail at 26,000 ft then skiing down the Everest. Few tons of load to be carried by the 700 Sherpas, with the diary of the skier narrated so real that the whole process will shock you for the scenery and the accomplishments. I have seen many Everest documentaries but none shows the trails like this one. Directed nicely without the stupid music overpowering the narrator. Not only it will educate you in regard to Everest but more importantly the quality of the cinematography and clarity of the DVD will amaze you even after over forty years since it is done extremely well. You will not be able to find another Everest documentary like this one. Superb is the understatement of the century for this quality production. That unbelievable skier should receive a trophy for his diary since he truly expresses all the feelings that he experiences taking on such an adventure and a challenge which is truly impossible, so nicely and emotionally that keeps you glued watching every second of the DVD with amazement. Unbelievable. Shocking. Amazing. Entertaining. Bravo.

Excellent - loved the narration of his journal, gave a glimpse of the mind of someone "one with the mountain"

Wonderful reportage that I had seen many years ago. I am very happy to have found it on Amazon.com after looking for it for so long!

Thank you!