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Everest: The Other Side Chronicles Tragic Ascent and Descent
· Confirmed
In Short: Directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, 'Everest: The Other Side' documents the tragic journey of Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson.
Nelson's death on Manaslu in 2022 reshaped the film Vasarhelyi and Chin were making, turning it into a chronicle of tragedy and grief.
Morrison and Nelson, partners in love and adventure, reached the top of a Nepalese mountain in 2022 while preparing for their Everest expedition.
Morrison grapples with the loss of his life partner, questioning the risks they took in the mountains.
The documentary combines intimate footage from body-worn, handheld, telephoto, and drone cameras to convey the extreme conditions and the emotional toll.
Nelson was struck by an avalanche on Manaslu, falling approximately 5,900 feet.
The film opens in theaters on October 30, offering a glimpse into the lives of climbers who push the limits of human endurance.
Vasarhelyi and Chin, known for their previous works like 'Free Solo,' bring their personal experiences to the film, adding depth to the narrative.
The documentary explores the cultural and ethical questions surrounding mountaineering, including the impact on local communities and the ethics of filming near-death experiences.
Up there, at 26,781 feet, the wind tugged at a string of prayer flags secured to the peak.
Background
Jim Morrison, a mountaineer and backcountry skier, is one of the people who has gotten the chance to experience Everest.
"Everest: The Other Side," directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, chronicles the tragic journey of mountaineer Jim Morrison and his late partner Hilaree Nelson.
Everest: The Other Side is a 2026 documentary film directed and produced by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. A co-production of the United States, China, and Nepal, it follows Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson as they fall in love and share a dream of climbing and skiing down the North Face of Mount Everest.
What's confirmed
- Nelson’s death reverberated through the mountaineering world and it reshaped the film Vasarhelyi and Chin were making.
- On a similar expedition in 2022 while biding their time for Everest, Morrison and Nelson — partners in love and adventure — reached the top of a Nepalese mountain.
- Given the long stream of mountaineers that queue up on the south face, you could call it the most drastic feat ever of avoiding a lift line.
- AP Film Writer Jake Coyle writes in his latest review that the film “Everest: The Other Side” is as much a document of tragedy and grief as it is of extreme sport.
- “Everest: The Other Side,” by “Free Solo” filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, is the big-screen chronicle of their mission.
- Jim Morrison, a mountaineer and backcountry skier, is one of the people who has gotten the chance to experience Everest.
What's still developing
- It’s easy to trivialise its effect by reading the statistic that over 7,000 people have summited Everest and by seeing the photos of queues at the summit, suggesting a semi-transformation into a tourist attraction.
- But it is a formula, and one that follows predictable beats.
- Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2026 Venice Film Festival.
- Whatever dramas had been unfolding between Vasarhelyi and Chin at the time (their break-up had been occurring during production) are kept offscreen, but they still gnaw at the edges of what is a climbing-doc spectacle at 29,000 feet, but a considered relationship story down at sea level. (2015’s “ Meru,” in which Chin scaled a Himalayan mountain amid much tension-supplying disaster, gave us a taste of the wear and tear these ascents put on their relationship.) Nelson’s first and only marriage cratered beneath her own career-long death drive, a relationship where a thousand tiny hairpin cracks in the ice eventually split them in half.
- It was 3:00 A.M. when Jimmy Chin got a phone call from mountaineer Conrad Anker, who told him about Nelson’s fatal fall on Manaslu.
- Jim Morrison and Jimmy Chin (Photo: National Geographic/Savannah Cummins) Just after 10:40 A.M.
- Chin is not merely behind the camera calling shots from a comfortable distance; he is on the mountain, an active member of the expedition bearing crampons and ropes.
- For Vasarhelyi and Chin, the terrain carries familiar professional weight.
- Almost nobody attempts the North Face from the Tibetan plateau.
- Morrison and his partner Hilaree Nelson aspired to summit Mount Everest on the north face, something only five people had ever done.
- It’s a little impossible to talk in depth about “Everest: The Other Side” without talking about its inciting incident, which is also its most shocking.
- The middle-aged couple have made a life together at 25,000 feet, the personal cost of which Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi detail while marveling at the pair.
Sources
- Bozeman Daily Chroniclelink
- Heyuguyslink
- IndieWirelink
- Outsideonlinelink
- Resonate Voiceslink
- Rocky Mount Telegramlink
- Roughdraftatlantalink
- TheWraplink
- Thesunbreaklink
- Warpbeatlink
- WarpBeat — background on "Everest: The Other Side" Chronicles Tragic Ascent and Descent link
- Wikipedia — background on Everest: The Other Side link
- The Cinema Vault — video link