Base Camp: 40 Days on Everest

In the spring of 2010, filmmaker Whelan made her second trip to Everest as a member of the Asian Trekking expedition which included Arjun Vajpai, who became the youngest non-Sherpa to summit. In this personal and eye-opening exposé, she shares gripping stories of Maoist rebels, avalanches and bodies surfacing out of a dying glacier. From Base Camp, she interviews climbers, doctors, and Sherpas all living for months on end in the belly of the mountain as they wait for a weather window to summit the top of the world. In this push to achieve the summit, many do not survive. Woven into the personal stories is the devastating truth of the human impact on the mountain and the eerie and unforeseen effects of climate change. This book is a nice companion to Whelan’s film ‘40 Days at Base Camp’, (DVD 88 min #26198).