To the Summit (2021)

Genre: Documentary Director: Ye Junce

Storyline:

Every year, many mountain climbers attempt to summit

Mount Qomolangma, the world’s tallest peak, for the challenge it presents. Among them, Xia Boyu is the first from China who successfully scaled the mountain fitted out with prosthetic limbs. Xia joined the Chinese mountaineering team in 1975. Unfortunately, a severe bout of frostbite while assisting fellow climbers led to the amputation of both legs at the shanks. Nevertheless, he never gave up his dream of reaching the top. During the following 43 years, he tried five times despite paralysis and cancer. With sheer persistence and enthusiasm, he finally reached the summit at the age of 69 on May 14, 2018. This also led him to win the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards in 2019, the fifth Chinese winner of this world-renowned sporting prize.

Highlights:

As the highest mountain in the world, Mount Qomolangma holds a sacred reputation among climbers and enthusiasts. The movie documents Xia Boyu’s 43 years of unrelenting perseverance till he reached the summit, highlighting the difficulties and dangers he encountered during his final climb toward the summit. Facing towering mountains, Xia only focused on just what lay under his feet to achieve his goal of reaching the peak. In an interview with the China Movie Channel of China Central Television, he bluntly said that it was while watching this film that he realized the dangerous environment and difficult conditions of climbing that he was up against. At the beginning of the film, a question is put to Xia: “Why do you want to climb the mountain?” He has a simple yet powerful answer by the end, “I love climbing,” inspiring those watching to pursue their dreams.