Peter Habeler

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A team of Slovak mountaineers attempt the ascent of the southwest face of Everest, dubbed "the hard way" by Mountaineer Chris Bonington.

Born in 1944 in South Tyrol, Reinhold Messner was introduced to climbing peaks by his father as a child. He has since climbed the fourteen mountains of the world culminating at more than 8,000 meters, and notably has to his credit the first ascent of Everest alone and without oxygen in 1980. This portrait is made up of the story given by mountaineer of his journey as well as testimonies from his loved ones and traveling companions. The interviews are interspersed with reconstructed scenes and extracts from archive films recounting his exploits. But there is no question here of becoming hagiographic, because Messner also draws his strength from his failures. When he's not climbing or roaming the desert, this troublemaker devotes his energy to various causes. In his Juval castle, located in his native South Tyrol, he exhibits the equipment of his expeditions as well as various objects, notably Tibetan. He has also written around fifty works to date.

On 8th May 1978 Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler were the first humans to reach the 8,848m high summit of Mount Everest without additional oxygen. Therewith they exceeded a limit which wasn’t considered to be possible and initiated a new era of Alpinism.

The Tyrolean David Lama has climbed an 8a route already at the age of ten, and he has become several times Youth World Champion and European Youth Champion in bouldering and lead climbing. In 2010, at the age of 20 years, David decided to leave the indoor climbing and competition world behind him. Since then, he is focusing on Alpinism, the most difficult routes and first ascents in the Alps, but as well in India and America. This documentary portrays David Lama from his first climbing attempts as a little boy to his big adventures in present time. We see famous locations, such as the climbing paradise on Lake Garda, the notorious Sagwand Face in the Zillertal Alps, and the 7.821m high Masherbrum in the Karakorum with its still untouched north east face.

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Don Whillans was one of the leading rock climbers of his generation. This film examines Don’s gritstone horrors, his hard routes in Wales, then follows him to the Alps and beyond on several of his epic expeditions. But it also focuses on Don’s unique humor, his devastating oneliners that pricked pomposity wherever he found it and poked fun at those who deserved it. Don may have died 20 years ago but the myth surrounding Whillans can still be heard whenever climbers reminisce about a time when hard men were hard and legends were being made. Perhaps his partner Joe Brown best sums him up, 'Don was unique'.

The second episode of the 2 part series 'Everest: Mountain of Dreams, Mountain of Doom', explores the triumphant (and tragic) expeditions of the modern era and takes an in-depth view of the terrible events of 1996, the deadliest year in the history of Mount Everest. From George Mallory to the 1996 tragedy, the series explores the major personalities and expeditions covering an 80-year span. The first episode, titled 'The Quest', includes the incredible stories of the early climbers, including George Leigh Mallory and Sir Edmund Hillary's legendary summit climb, and much more.

In this documentary first broadcast in 1993, Chris Bonington looks back at the first ever expeditions to conquer Mount Everest and the effect that the achievement of climbing the mountain had on climbing as a whole worldwide.

Record of the first ascent of Everest made without the use of oxygen equipment, made in May 1978 by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler. Could it be done? Would their blood vessels burst? Would they suffer brain damage leading to madness? Nobody was sure. Messner: 'I would never come here for trying Everest with oxygen. That is not a challenge for me.' A fascinating piece of history, well filmed by Leo Dickinson and Eric Jones (above the South Col Messner used a cine camera to continue the filming), featuring Messner and Habeler's thoughts. The film follows the usual sequence from Namche to Base Camp, through the Icefall, to Camps I, II and III. It also shows historical footage of the pioneering Mallory and Shipton expeditions.