--- title: See the Real Climb Behind the Movie 'Everest' description: The true story of a 1996 climb inspired the film canonical: https://time.com/4040739/everest-time-cover-story/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-25T16:00:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:01:36.743Z article:section: History og:title: See the Real Climb Behind the Movie 'Everest' og:description: Two documentary filmmakers were on the 1996 ascent og:url: https://time.com/4040739/everest-time-cover-story/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c290d912fbbaa08/698864442dce019f929e595b/19971020_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Oct. 20, 1997 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See the Real Climb Behind the Movie 'Everest' twitter:description: Two documentary filmmakers were on the 1996 ascent twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c290d912fbbaa08/698864442dce019f929e595b/19971020_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Pictures of the Tragic Climb That Inspired the New Movie _Everest_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 25, 2015 4:00 PM UTC  The Oct. 20, 1997, cover of the Europe/Asia edition of TIME The Oct. 20, 1997, cover of the Europe/Asia edition of TIMECover Credit: PHOTOGRAPH BY ED VIESTURS  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 25, 2015 4:00 PM UTC The new movie _Everest_ is all Hollywood, with big movie stars meant for a big IMAX screen. But the story it tells is very real. When images and accounts of the 1996 climb on which the movie is based were published in the book _Everest: Mountain Without Mercy_, TIME examined how the disaster—in which a storm resulted in eight deaths—came to pass. The story was also an opportunity to look at how a tragedy in one of the world’s most remote spots ended up so well-documented (including in Jon Krakauer’s 1997 book _Into Thin Air)_. As it turned out, two IMAX filmmakers David Breashears and Ed Viesturs were there with cameras. Everest, as TIME’s Jeffrey Kluger explained, had become a popular destination despite the isolated and challenging environs: --- > “” --- **_Read the full story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Mountain Without Mercy](http://time.com/vault/issue/1997-10-20/page/93/)  The Oct. 20, 1997, cover of the Europe/Asia edition of TIME Cover Credit: PHOTOGRAPH BY ED VIESTURS  A spread from the Oct. 20, 1997, issue of TIME TIME  A spread from the Oct. 20, 1997, issue of TIME TIME  A spread from the Oct. 20, 1997, issue of TIME TIME See the Real Climb Behind the Movie 'Everest' ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4040739/everest-time-cover-story/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4040739/everest-time-cover-story/"},"headline":"See Pictures of the Tragic Climb That Inspired the New Movie Everest","datePublished":"2015-09-25T16:00:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:36.743Z","description":"Two documentary filmmakers were on the 1996 ascent","url":"https://time.com/4040739/everest-time-cover-story/","keywords":["movies","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c290d912fbbaa08/698864442dce019f929e595b/19971020_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c290d912fbbaa08/698864442dce019f929e595b/19971020_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Oct. 20, 1997","caption":"Oct. 20, 1997","creditText":"Cover Credit: PHOTOGRAPH BY ED VIESTURS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4040739/everest-time-cover-story/","name":"See Pictures of the Tragic Climb That Inspired the New Movie Everest"}}]}] ```