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Coming from a middle-class family,
David’s family life was both the best and the worst period.
His father, a Major in the US Army, had everything a son could
admire in his father. But his violent behaviour took away all
the peace from their life. Distance crept in. And one day, he
quietly left, leaving them all alone to fend for themselves.
David’s mother,
a strong-willed woman, soon found herself a job. The financial
crunch they initially felt, withered away. But David knew that
he had to make a mark of his own in his own way.
It was during this
time that he came across a photograph of Tenzing Norgay standing
atop the Mount Everest. And from then on started his journey, a
journey of courage, self-determination and endurance. Everest
became his dream and he started working towards it.
Who could imagine
then that this passionate 12-year-old boy from a small community
of rock climbers of Colorado would one day bring the IMAX
footage from the top of Everest?
While others his
age went to university, David was busy with his new project,
which he named the ‘Perilous Journey’.
The forested
hills, south and west of Boulder, had an out-of-the-way cliff
called the Mickey Mouse Wall. Very few people went up there
because of the long and tedious hike. The route he had
envisioned offered great challenge. The smooth and shallow
surface of the rock did not provide the kind of grip he was
looking for. Moreover, there was hardly any place to fix a nut
on. And a slip would have brought an end to his expedition and
his life. But he went on and within minutes stood atop the ‘Perilous
Journey’.
His successful
ascent of the Mickey Mouse Wall did not bring him any
recognition nor the remuneration which he badly needed. Money
was the biggest stumbling block. So he started looking for a
job. Wyoming offered an opportunity and he went on to grab it.
As far as his film
career is concerned, he began as an assistant cameraman for
shooting documentaries on climbing, one of which ultimately
brought him to the Everest.
After a lot of
struggle and hard work, a big project came his way in the form
of Greg MacGillivay’s offer to shoot Everest for the IMAX’s
80 ft wide and six-storey high screen.
In his 15 years of
experience in film making, he always wanted to convey his
experience of Everest but the small television screen was a
constraint. The very idea of presenting the Everest on the large
screen electrified him.
But carrying an
IMAXcamera (weighing 42 pounds) to the top of the Everest was
not an easy task. Besides, a magazine had to be changed bare
handed at minus 20°C and the camera had to be mounted on a
tripod and a tripod head (alone weighing 84 pounds).
It was the end of
March, 1996, and the IMAXfilming expedition walked into the base
camp, hoping for the best. But destiny had something different
in store for them.
In what was called
the Everest’s cruelest disaster, eight persons, including
David’s close friends died. Other expeditions resolved to go
back, but David decided otherwise. He "could not see the
mountain in disarray....He wanted redemption", as he says
in the prologue.
The IMAX Everest
proved out to be a big success. But behind this success lay
the unforgettable memory of the tragedy and the vow of not
returning to the mountain. Yet he went back.
The author feels
"an unexpressible serenity, a full-blooded reaffirmation of
life, on Everest’s icy ridges". It is this feeling which
forces people to go back to the mountain even after facing
calamities.
The author
says,"The risk inherent in climbing carries its own reward,
deep and abiding, because it provides as profound a sense of
self-knowledge as anything else on the earth. The mountain is
perilous, true; but it is also redemptive".
Written in a
lively style, the book shows that behind every crisis lies an
opportunity in some form or the other. The need is to find where
it is and to grab it.
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FOR
some it is a passion, for some a source of permanent happiness
and for some others, the ultimate testing ground.
