You paid $60,000 to climb Everest and now your Sherpa’s dragging your half-frozen body like a duffel bag.
This isn’t a highlight reel—it’s a brutal reality check on what it really takes to stand on top of the world.
This 3-season series (19 episodes from 2006–2009) aired on Discovery Channel and follows real Everest expeditions—where success often means losing a few fingers or toes. Or friends.
My teammate, Rob Kelly, ranks this doc as #1 in his post, The 17 Best Everest Documentaries (ranked and updated in 2025).
Trailer for “Everest: Beyond the Limit”
You Can’t Make This Sh*t Up
- Double-amputee Mark Inglis, using prosthetic legs, becomes the first of his kind to summit Everest in 2006.
- British climber David Sharp dies in the “death zone”—as dozens of other climbers walk past. The footage sparked worldwide controversy.
- Danish climber Mogens Jensen falls 15 feet after his piton slips—he nearly dies but still summits despite asthma and crushed ribs.
- 71-year-old Katsusuke Yanagisawa becomes the oldest person (at the time) to reach the summit in Season 2.
Watch “Everest: Beyond the Limit”
You can watch the series on Discovery+ (if you’re a subscriber) or buy it on Amazon and Apple TV. Check JustWatch for the latest streaming options.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 89/100
- IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: not yet rated
Director’s Note: This series was created by high-altitude filmmaker David Breashears, known for “Everest” (1998 IMAX) and multiple National Geographic projects.
Release Date: November 14, 2006 (Season 1 premiere)
My Review of “Everest: Beyond the Limit”
The Setup
The show follows real climbers with zero sugarcoating. A former NFL player, a double amputee, a 71-year-old retiree, and a Danish asthmatic all risk their lives to summit Everest. The stakes? Brain damage, blindness, or a frozen corpse at 26,000 feet.
More Highlights from the Doc
- Expedition leader Russell Brice uses helmet cams and radios to monitor climbers in real time—often having to talk them down from deadly decisions.
- Sherpa Phurba Tashi summits Everest 14 times during filming—putting everyone else to shame with his calm, unmatched strength.
- One climber goes blind from snow blindness at Camp 4. Another has to be dragged back by Sherpas while vomiting blood.
- The show reveals how Everest’s “death zone” is often littered with corpses too dangerous to retrieve—and some are used as trail markers.
Wrap Up
“Everest: Beyond the Limit” doesn’t glorify mountaineering—it strips it bare. It’s reality TV where the cost of a bad decision is death, not elimination.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc