Neal Beidleman Interview

To recreate the storm as accurately as possible, we flew Neal Beidleman, who survived the storm, down from his home in Aspen, Colo. Neal was able to let us know when there was too much snow covering the rocks, too little wind coming out of our wind machines and how close the members of the huddle were to each other during the night. Here he talks about what it was like to relive the storm.

Wind Machines

This video clip illustrates the set-up for recreating the struggle that Rob Hall and Doug Hansen faced on the ridge between the Hillary Step and the South Summit. The noise of the two wind machines was deafening. The wind machine you see is a six-foot round gas-powered fan. The other wind machine was a fan boat set up on a boat trailer. Snowbird ski patrol members stood in front of the fans throwing snow in front to get the gusts of snow that you see in the final film.

"That's a Wrap"

In this clip, producer/director David Breashears has just come off the set after filming some point-of-view shots of Rob Hall and Doug Hansen's struggle on the ridge. To get the shots, David had to get up on the ridge with a camera. He put on crampons and a harness to ensure his safety before clipping in to the fixed ropes on the ridge and filming in the blowing wind and snow.