Alpine Documentation

Norman Dyhrenfurth, the son of the Himalaya pioneers and filmmakers Prof. Dr. Günter and Hettie Dyhrenfurth, follows the footsteps of his parents and, between 1952 and 1986, he participates in seven large expeditions to the Himalayas. Most of the... more

In 2006, ten extreme mountaineers set off to climb the 8,084 metre high Broad Peak. They chose the route of the first ascent by Hermann Buhl. Although the equipment of today cannot be compared to the equipment of then, there are some parallels... more

As darkness fell on May 10, 1996, a fast moving storm of unimaginable ferocity trapped three climbing teams high on the slopes of Mount Everest. The climbers, exhausted from their summit climb, were soon lost in darkness, in a fierce blizzard, far... more

What did „mountaineering“ mean in the GDR, in a land without high mountains and “behind a wall”? Bettina Wobst worked for a year to answer this question, she talked with contemporary witnesses, who give insights into the socialist climbing scene... more

This "modern time adventurer" had a motto: "To live, you have to take chances!" He chose nature as his "field of battle”. In his quest for extremes and discoveries, Jean-Marc Boivin was mountain climber, skier, hang glider pilot, explorer,... more

„The true adventures are not in your mind but out there. And up here you can feel them”, says a note written in the summit book of the highest mountain in South Tyrol. This extraordinary film, made with good humour, tries to explore the aims of... more

Nepal, 12 December 2005. Western slope of the fifth highest peak on the planet. Altitude: 5300 meters. Jean-Christophe Lafaille readies himself to accomplish a new feat. At the threshold of the Himalayan winter, he begins acclimatizing himself to... more

It is the holiest mountain among the eight-thousand metre peaks, but also the most dangerous: 40 of the 190 couragous mountaineers climbing the Kangchendzonga in the north east of Nepal have lost their lives. In May 2006, the Austrian Gerlinde... more

The death of Englishman David Sharp in May 2006 as he attempted to reach the summit of Mt Everest for the 3rd time thrust the debate surrounding commercial high altitude guiding firmly back onto the front pages of the world’s newspapers. Mark... more

In 1979, Dr. Jaeger tested his resistance to hypoxia, the lack of oxygen, by living two months at an altitude of 6,700 meters - before disappearing a year later on his way to Mount Everest. more

Mountaineers often dream of untouched summits, of places that are so remote that they have remained mostly undiscovered even today. In April 2006, three mountaineers and one doctor set off on a sensational expedition to the Gyalthang mountains in... more

For many years, the Institute of Cartography at the Technical University of Dresden focused on Central Asia. Questioning the reliability of the old data of that area, it initiated a research study about the Swedish adventurer, scholar and explorer... more

TranGOgirls is a movie about three Slovenian climbing girls - Tina, Tanja and Sandra - that put their strength, experience and dreams together into reaching as a first all female party the very magnificent granite needles of Trango Towers in the... more

Winter climbing on the highest peaks in the Himalayas is an extremely hard challenge. Only half of all the 8000+ have been climbed in winter. After a 16-year-long break in first ascents a Polish-Italian team left for Shisha Pangma (8027m) in... more

Two years ago, the largest ever Swiss high altitude research expedition set off to the 7,546 metre high Muztagh Ata in west China. The aim of the expedition was to learn more about high altitude acclimatisation and the phenomena of high altitude... more

In 1999, best friends Alex Lowe and Conrad Anker were overcome by an avalanche while climbing in the Tibetan Himalaya, only Conrad survived. Conrad suffered terribly from Survivor's Guilt and in comforting one another, he and Alex's widow,... more

In May 2006, the two friends Tormod Granheim and Tomas Olsson were standing on the top of Mount Everest, ready to ski down the mountain. After four years of preparations they were going to be the first in the world skiing down Everest. Only one of... more

The exceptional family tradition of the Dyhrenfurth family as pioneers in the Himalayas and as filmmakers started in the late 1920ies, when German mountaineers arrived first in this area to participate in the competition for an eight-thousand... more

Christopher Harris was a very naughty baby. He was forever out of his cot. At four years of age he started climbing rockfaces, and very soon after, mountains. At twelve he had climbed the highest mountain in Australia, New Zealand and Africa. At... more