The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975)

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This was a serious mountain expedition movie. I really appreciate what was done here. Climbing Everest in 1970 (the actual date this was done) is one horrifically challenging thing, but attempting to ski straight down 40-45 degrees of hardened snow and ice rocks is unreal. Kudos to Miura for showing the world what it is like.This is a documentary about Japanese skier Yuichiro Miura who launched an expedition to ski down Everest's South Col face (26,000 feet). His expedition consisted of 800 men and 2 tons of equipment. The poetic narration (done by Douglas Rain - the voice of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey) is taken from his diary and writings.The first thing to note is that Miura is an amazing individual. He was the world speed record holder in skiing in 1964 and became the oldest person to climb Everest in 2003 at the age of 70.Just getting to the top of the South Col of Everest is an achievement. The tragic deaths that occurred during the expedition only underscore the risk involved. Performing the physically and mentally demanding activity of vertically skiing down the face with a parachute is amazing. He is lucky to be alive.This is not a high-energy, rock music-filled extreme sports movie. Most people would probably die doing something like this. This is about a disciplined, world-class athlete near the peak of his skills doing something extraordinary. If you like Everest expedition movies, definitely watch this.

I saw this film when it came out. Let me see now--this guy who had earlier skied down Mount Fuji manages to accumulate the funding and hire personnel to document what sounds on the surface like a bold and daring act---to ski down the world's highest peak. Well--AND HERE COMES THE SPOILER--what happens, see, after a large crew of people manage to help him get near the top--and a life is lost in the bargain--he gets on his skis, manages to make it down a very very short way, at which point his PARACHUTE OPENS...and that's that. And instead of burning the footage to hide this amazingly anticlimactic ending to an embarrassing debacle, the guy goes ahead and releases it. SPOILER ENDS I do admire the amazing courage and effort it must have taken the film crew to get some of the stunning shots they got. ANOTHER SPOILER--Oh yes, one of the Sherpas is killed by falling into a crevasse. The narrator, who is quoting the "daredevil skier, casually remarks that, according to the Sherpa religion, since this man's body cannot be recovered his soul will roam the world forever and never know rest. Is it worth it, the narrator muses. YES he answers--because it served the purpose of letting this clown "ski down Everest." I can't remember ever seeing a more meretricious piece of celluloid. This is one to miss at all costs.

I found this gem in a rack the local video rental store had of tapes which are exchanged among various rental outlets. 'The Man who Skied Down Everest'. Hmm... never heard about it. The box reads of some Japanese fellow who always wanted to ski down Everest and actually did it. Sounds interesting. I rented it. As expected it was documentary style. The first part can be summarized so: "I always wanted to ski down mount Everest". This is followed by some footage of preparation for the event. LOTS of preparation footage. OK, I suppose it takes a lot of preparation. Then we are treated to a protracted piece on the skier, Yuichiro Miura's philosophy on life etc. More filler follows and I begin to wonder where the skiing fits in to this show. More preparation is shown and they begin to make the trip to the mountain. More philosophy is shown. At last they arrive at the mountain and maybe perhaps he will get around to skiing down the friggin' thing. Lots of climbing footage later there is a description of the parachute device intended to slow Miuras' speed on the steep slope. Finally he straps on the skis and gets ready to go.He's off... He skis about twenty feet and his skis shoot out from under him, he deploys the parachute and tumbles in an inglorious bundle for some distance down the mountain and that's that. End of story. What the heck was that? OK I can buy that he always wanted to ski down Everest, made extensive preparations and actually tried it with camera crew in tow. It didn't work and he ended up tumbling down and almost killing himself, so what egregious hubris would inspire the man to release a film of it and call it skiing down Everest? Perhaps the title,"The Man Who's Feet Shot Out From Under Him and He Slid On His Ass Down Everest" was just too long for the tape box.

Before extreme skiing gained popularity there was Yuichiro Miura of Japan who pulled off the most and still extreme downhill run of all. A shot down the earth's highest peak Mt Everest. An interesting documentary which shows the preparations, ascent and eventual descent down Everest on skis. This 1975 film is rarely shown and with the apparent decline of skiing interest in the United States a film such as this one certainly can excite people about the sport. While the actual footage of Miuras descent on his skis is short in length the film essentially is about the determination of an individual to achieve a goal that seems both challenging and unrealistic. If you're a fan of skiing films the likes of what Warren Miller produces then you'll enjoy this one.