Liz and I have a shared obsession with Everest docs. It’s fascinating to watch these people do such a dangerous thing. The footage is obviously amazing, but really for me it’s the psychological aspect of it. What is the type of person who does this? How do you see people literally dead and frozen to the rope line, unclip to get past them, and then continue on. Like, that was a person just a few hours ago and now they’re dead, doing exactly what you’re trying to do. That’s…wild. Just wild to me.
The latest one is called Mountain Queen, and it’s about the women’s record-holder for most Everest summits finally coming back to the mountain after almost 20 years away, and trying to summit once more. She’s a Nepalese native, too, and grew up in the area. It’s, man…it’s an intense doc already. What a story she has. We haven’t finished it yet, but I can already tell I like it.
I never want to climb mount Everest. At least not the way people do now. If there’s, like, a gondola someday that will take you up there, sure. But that’s never going to happen. It’s too remote, the weather is too intense…I think Everest will ALWAYS be an intense experience. Too intense for me. I don’t want to DIE doing my fucking hobby, you know? I’m not about that. Some people are. And I appreciate why. I mean, I get it: you want to be on top of the world. There’s literally nowhere higher. And the danger element only adds to it. But, it’s just not for me. I looooove learning about it, though. Like, there are HUNDREDS of bodies up there, many (most?) you literally have to hike past to get up to the top. That. Is. Wild.
Writing was a little rough today. Sigh. But I did all my reading/editing, so that was a win. Back at it tomorrow. It’s so tempting to just push hard through to the end, but I’m going to stick with my steady pace instead. Getting there.
Night night.