Climb, The
The story of Hermann Buhl's climb of Nanga Parbat

Format	Video	Category	Non-Fiction
Title	Climb, The	Mins
Starring		RRP
Director		Reviews	1
Edition		Ave Rating	(4.50 of 5)

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Mad Dog 8/8/2003

First off, I'll explain my rating. I see a fair number of 4 star reviews here, including one on K2, the fiction movie. This flick doesn't have the action nor the video quality of K2, but at least this is a true story. So I would have given this 3 or 3.5 stars, but bumped it up to put it in line with my opinions on movies already rated here. I have a video tape of this movie I got off of satelite TV. It's a mediocre copy, but the original doesn't look much better. I forget when it was filmed, but I'd guess it was around 1960 or so. If you've read Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage, you already know the story. At the time Hermann climbed Nanga Parbat, he was already a very well known climber in Europe, with a reputation of being bold, fast and talented. Hermann managed to get on Karl Herlingkoffer's expedition to Nanga, but I doubt that many on the team thought he'd have much of a shot at the summit. As the expedition progressed, Hermann proved to be the strongest climber on the team. Herlingkoffer liked to be in total control of his expeditions and Hermann didn't quite fit the mold of the submissive climber, so when he found himself high on the mountain with a shot at the summit, he paid no attention to the orders from base camp and went for it. His partner wasn't feeling well on the climb to the summit and turned around, but Hermann continued, summited and eventually was benighted on a small stance on his way down. The true gems of the movie are the scenes of Hermann fighting his way to the summit and surviving a night out at 8,000 meters. If you're a mountaineer, armchair or active, you'll get a kick out of this movie.