Everest: The Other Side
National Geographic's Everest: The Other Side (2026) is a documentary about Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson and their quest to climb and ski the North Face of Mount Everest.
Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Academy Award winning directors, provide a glimpse of the lives of extreme mountaineers and filmmakers.
Before trying to climb and ski the North Face of Mount Everest, Jim and Hilaree had already earned great respect in the extreme ski mountaineering world. They earned that respect by successful ascents and ski descents of numerous high and extreme altitude peaks around the world.
Everest: The Other Side opens in select theaters on October 30, 2026.
Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison's Everest Dream
The focus of the film is the relationship of Nelson and Morrison.
Prior to being a couple, they both earned numerous accolades as ski mountaineers. Their next goal was to climb and ski the North Face of Mount Everest.
Directors' Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi were originally contracted by the climbing company, The North Face, in 2014, to produce a documentary titled North Face.
The North Face route is reportedly one of the most difficult routes on Everest. Thousands of climbers have summited Mount Everest through the southeast ridge of Nepal. Relatively few climbers have reached the summit via the north route.
For the audience member searching on 123movies Online, expect a theatrical release documentary from National Geographic's Documentary Films.
The movie isn't focused on how to accomplish such a climb, but rather on Morrison and Nelson's desire to take on such an endeavor.
The main challenge The North Face provides a different kind of objective from Everest's established routes.
The documentary notes that the climb is physically demanding and describes the ski line as perhaps the most coveted in all of ski mountaineering. No one had ever accomplished a full, continuous ski descent of the route prior to Morrison and Nelson attempting it.
It obviously became quite an influential undertaking in the world of ski mountaineering.
Chin and Vasarhelyi don't take a macho, alpha-male approach to the mountain.
The film is very emotionally driven and shows the effect it has on families and relationships. The climb doesn't define the film. The decisions and sacrifices people make along the way do. The film isn't just a standard sports documentary. It has more of an intimate, character-driven narrative.
Things change after the loss of Hilaree Nelson in 2022. The goal of Everest changes to something Morrison must consider on his own. The directors state Morrison's determination to keep pursuing the goal is the center of the film and demonstrates resilience in the face of tremendous grief.
The film covers far more than one climbing season.
Vasarhelyi states the project took approximately 7 years. During this longer production period, the filmmakers could cover not only the central relationship in the story but also how the central meaning of the relationship changed and evolved.
While the mountain is important, the stakes emotionally are much greater than being able to ski or climb a particular route.
While climbing and extreme sports movies have developed a cult following, fans will tell you that the images of the mountains are almost as enjoyable as the climbing.
Jimmy Chin Knows This World
Chin is exceptionally connected to this subject. As a filmmaker and climber, he has spent many years documenting major climbs.
In his Venice statement, Chin wrote he has shared climbing experiences with Nelson for about two decades and has also climbed with Morrison, so he is not just filming people he does not know.
Chin, Clair Popkin and Christopher Murphy are the other documentary cinematographers.
Vasarhelyi directs and produces with Chin, and the two combine to create an excellent outdoor documentary, as they did for Free Solo.
For individuals seeking out the film due to interest in 123 movies, this creative team is important because they integrate large-format Himalayan photography and a personal story.
Takes Years to Produce A Documentary
Everest: The Other Side was produced by National Geographic Documentary Films and Little Monster Films.
In the credits for the 2020 Venice Film Festival, the producers are listed as Vasarhelyi, Chin, Shannon Dill, Anna Barnes, Bob Eisenhardt, and Janet Yang.
Bob Eisenhardt and Simona Ferrari did the editing, and Caroline Ho wrote the music.
The festival version runs 115 minutes. IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes indicate the U.S. theatrical version is 110 minutes.
The documentary premiered in the Venice International Film Festival, Venice Open, in 2026.
The production span of the film; U.S., China and Nepal, represents the climbers as well as the geography covered by the film.
Everest: The Other Side opens October 30
Everest: The Other Side opens October 30, 2026. National Geographic Documentary Films, with Walt Disney, will distribute.
The goal of the film is to show the first person to climb and ski down the north face of Everest. However, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi place that goal in the background of the story, showing how Morrison and Nelson had an idea of how to lead a fulfilling life, together. Morrison and Nelson shared a vision. When Morrison and Nelson parted ways, their shared vision died. Because of this, the film shows how losing someone leaves a void that can be filled with different meaning.
The relationship gives it meaning. The climbing gives it scale.