Sun Valley resident Gerry Moffatt returned home this week from the top of Mount Everest after spending 73 days as a film expedition guide for Altitude Everest Expedition 2007.
The expedition was formed to produce a documentary film that will air on PBS in the winter.
Moffatt, a world-class kayaker, was part of the expedition that retraced the steps of the legendary and deadly 1924 Mount Everest expedition of British climber George Mallory and his climbing partner Sandy Irvine.
Moffatt is an experienced organizer of teams and equipment used in outdoor productions.
Film producer Anthony Geffen, also a Sun Valley resident and founder of Atlantic Productions, brought together the world's best climbers to document the fateful June 1924 expedition when Mallory died on Everest.
World-class mountaineer Conrad Anker, who found Mallory's body in 1999 on the north, Tibetan side of the mountain, was part of this year's Altitude Everest team.
Moffatt said there was a point the entire production was in jeopardy of shutting down.
"Investors back home were on the edge," Moffatt said. "It was four days to the summit. We thought we could not do it and considered canceling the entire production.
"Geffen said he would lose half a million pounds (more than one million dollars U.S.) even with the insurance he had for the project."
With the entire film crew lost to altitude sickness, two guides from New Zealand managed to fill in.
"They were doing all the rigging up high," Moffatt said. "We could only do three shots on summit day. The production crew was supplemented by very experienced Sherpas, who were taught by the cameramen to set up shots with the large High Definition digital cameras."
In charge of the entire production was Russell Brice, who has been leading expeditions to the Himalayas since 1974.
"Russell was the man," Moffatt said. "He had two productions and commercial clients with 70 people under his command. At the end of the expedition, we needed the mountain emptied so we could clear the ropes and ladders to recreate Mallory's climb to the summit. The logistics were incredible."
Moffatt said that climbing has changed forever due to the ability to forecast the jet stream with solar-powered satellite weather monitoring equipment.
"Moving a movie production around at 8,000 meters (26,000 feet), shots have to be choreographed at a lower level because they were only one-take shots, and everyone had to be in place and coordinated," Moffatt said. "If you do not keep moving, you will lose digits."
At Camp 3, at 27,000 feet, Moffatt recalls looking over to see who was sleeping in the snow, and it was the body of a young Czech who had died three weeks before.
"As morbid as it sounds, it's a surreal experience. It's sobering and you feel you are on borrowed time up there," Moffatt said.
For more details on the Altitude Everest Expedition 2007 film project, visit www.ueverest.com.
Courtesy photo
Sun Valley resident Gerry Moffatt celebrates with Sherpa Sonam at Advanced Base Camp after a 19-hour descent from the summit of Mount Everest.
