produced by: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
directed by: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Shannon Dill, Anna Barnes, Bob Eisenhardt & Janet Yang
rated: PG-13 (for thematic material and brief strong language)
runtime: 115 min.
U.S. release date: October 30, 2026

In a documentary about Mount Everest, you would expect harrowing, breathtaking moments. However, “Everest: The Other Side,” the latest film from Oscar-winning directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, isn’t a straight-up documentary about the world’s tallest mountain. It has several poignant, emotional moments, and the most impactful one happens in the married couple’s kitchen. Chai Vasarhelyi asks Chin how many of their friends who have sat at their dinner table have died. That’s definitely not a typical question one hears from a spouse, but if you’re familiar with the couple’s artistic pursuits over the years, it’s understandable.

Chin, a professional mountain climber, pauses and loses count. That moment just sits there, and it says it all. It’s a sobering moment of reflection, or at least it should be, especially considering the question comes after the death of one of the climbers this documentary focuses on.

Yes, that’s a spoiler, since you probably didn’t know that ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson died on September 26, 2022, when a sudden avalanche occurred while skiing the summit of Manaslu in Nepal (the 8th highest peak in the world) with her husband and fellow ski mountaineer, Jim Morrison. They were on the Nepal side of the Himalayas, since the Chinese side was still closed to climbers due to COVID. I definitely didn’t know that. The documentary includes footage of Nelson’s death, and viewers certainly won’t be prepared for it. I certainly wasn’t.

Right away, it becomes clear this isn’t just a documentary about a ski mountaineer (Morrison) whose goal was to scale up and ski down the North Face of Everest. No one else has done that, so there’s a definite draw to the conceit of “Everest: The Other Side.” We know going in that this will be a breathtaking viewing experience, filmed with IMAX cameras and made to be watched on the biggest IMAX screen possible. That’s a given.

Until Nelson’s death, “The Other Side” introduces us to Morrison and Nelson and their working relationship with Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi as they pursued the mountaineer partner’s personal Everest goal, captured on film over five years. We get some backstory on Morrison and Nelson as a couple; both had been married before, and they reside in Tahoe, California, with her sons from her previous marriage, Quinn and Cayden. The film shows footage of the family of four well before Nelson’s death, along with some after, and the tone is obviously different considering the life shift they’ve unexpectedly experienced. The difference between the before-and-after talking-head moments with Nelson’s sons is heartbreaking and raises so many questions about whether the risks their mother took were worth it.

Risk is prevalent throughout many of Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s films, even their one narrative feature, “Nyad”, but the risks here can sit alongside what can be found in “Meru” and “Free Solo”, their two previous mountain-climbing documentaries. It’s easy to admire, or at least be impressed by, the courage, discipline, and determination it takes for these adventurers, and it’s easy to see the camaraderie they find in the climbing community and the high that comes from taking on one challenge after another. At the same time, there’s no doubt in any viewer’s mind that watching any of these documentaries is how we could potentially witness someone dying. These climbers know it could happen at any time they go out. Despite all of their careful preparation, it’s still them against nature in the most extreme situation possible.

But that doesn’t mean viewers are prepared to watch it, nor does it mean that the audience can understand the ultimate decision Morrison makes to carry on with the Everest excursion in 2024. It’s even more unbelievable considering the personal tragedy from Morrison’s past that is revealed. It’s understandable that we can feel both admiration and disdain at the same time. Sure, what Morrison is doing alongside Chin and the other two climbers/cinematographers, Clair Popkin and Christopher Murphy, is impressive, but it would be just as impressive if he chose not to, which would be much more considerate of Nelson’s sons. While this is an overall compelling documentary that’s absolutely insane and unexpectedly heartbreaking, the two moments that linger in my mind are the footage of Nelson’s death and the painful numbness that can be found on both her sons’ faces.

It’s certainly impossible not to feel a sense of awe once Morrison reaches the tip-top of Everest. All I could think at that moment was that it’s only half the trip, and now he’ll have to ski down. The way down is almost as harrowing as the climb up. Sure, it’s the human spirit of it all, but then what?

Back to that moment in the kitchen between Chin and Vasarhelyi, where I sensed a fracture in their relationship. It’s the first time in any of their documentaries, at least that I can recall, where we see the two of them share an emotionally vulnerable moment. For all we know, such a fracture could’ve definitely been preexisting, but it all adds up when I learned that the couple divorced in 2025. There’s an unimaginable toll these adventures have on relationships and families, and while highlighting this may not be the ultimate goal of “Everest: The Other Side”, I’m glad these moments are there for us to ponder.

RATING: ***1/2