Voyage to Himalaya - The Kangchenjunga Expedition 2022

I'm a Himalayan mountaineering documentary nut, as I LOVE seeing the unique beauty that this region has to offer, both from a climbing perspective as well as cinematic view. As a mountaineer myself, I appreciate the difficulty in making these documentaries, as they are not only technically difficult but their cost is MASSIVE.

At this time, there is only one other review (10/10) and I agree that the cinematography is phenomenal in this. Lots of shots of the massif - both video and still- and thoughts offered by the climbers. I always appreciate when docs give us the eye candy as well as the private thoughts from climbers.

That said, this short doc (44 minutes) really should have been longer. In fact, it felt a bit wasted to me. Here they spend all this money on the expedition, but only turn out a 44 minute product, which DOES NOT include any summit video. If you saw the National Geo Everest doc that filmed every step of the journey, and are hoping for the same thing from Kangchenjunga, you will be sorely disappointed. I had truly hoped to see a more complete documentation of the expedition, especially the more technical parts of the climb. Most mountaineers rate this as the 3rd or 4th hardest of all the 8000ers, only behind K2 & Nanga Parbat. The claim is that it is a harder technical climb than than the others, and I had really hoped to see some of this in the doc. Unfortunately there was very little shown of the technical parts of the climb, only big, long, snowy ascents. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing those parts, but I just felt a little cheated that on an 8000m peak they only pulled 44min of video, and even then, the first 15-20 minutes is all about the travel before arriving at base camp.

So all in all, it's a beautifully shot piece in one of the single most isolated places of the world. It missed an opportunity, however, to truly document the expedition climb, instead opting to show us travel arrivals and meetings in 4star hotels, in Nepal.

It is always impressive to see footage from this remote, geographically astonishing area of the earth, and to be reminded of what it takes for climbers and documentarians to get there. Summitting or not, the hardships and dangers are always present to those who participate in such adventures.

I wished for English subtitles when Romanian was being spoken, and for better ears when the narration was nearly swallowed by the music, but it was still very satisfying for this armchair climber!

Congratulations to the Expedition team who put this event together. And, as always, thanks to the amazing Sherpas whose effort and support made the climb and the return, especially for those whose health was at great risk, a success.