Michael Brown:
Mt. Everest in High Definition
Still, Brown found these inconveniences to be minor — and even outweighed by a few benefits. “You don’t think of it,” he notes, “but in some ways there were advantages to Erik’s blindness. For example, on summit day. We wear oxygen masks and goggles to protect our eyes from freezing, and when it’s very cold, and you’re breathing as hard as you can, the goggles fog up — you can’t see. If you’re used to seeing, you can have a heck of a time. But Erik just grabbed the biggest ol’ mask and goggles he could find, and smeared them on, and started up really fast. And he got to the summit first!”
Brown also discovered that it can be easier to film a blind subject. “Erik can’t tell when I have the camera on him,” he explains, “so he doesn’t get as self-conscious as a sighted person. And you don’t have to worry about him looking into the camera.” Ultimately, he says, seeing — or not — wasn’t the issue. “It was more about him being able to climb the mountain than about being blind,” he says simply.
Teamwork and Storytelling
It’s easy to assume that an expedition like Weihenmayer’s would demand sacrifices from the team of climbers who supported him every step of the way. But again Brown bucks the notion that this special ascent incurred extra hardship for the others. “Sure, we had to think about Erik all the time,” he says. “And in a way that means sublimating your own desire to reach the top. But I think that was one of the keys to our huge success. Because we actually set the record for the number of team members to summit. We only had two who didn’t make it, and that had nothing to do with Erik — they just got sick.”
Brown explains the different way this team worked. “We had to slow down a bit and be more thoughtful, and that kept us working together. What often happens in expeditions is that people start competing over who has the best chance to summit. Some of that is left over from the old days, when an expedition was a success if one or two would make it. But something about the way we worked made it so that all who were able, got to the top.” Eleven of the 13 climbers and eight of the nine Sherpas reached the tip of Mt. Everest.
“Sure, we had to think about Erik all the time. But I think that was one of the keys to our huge success. Because we actually set the record for the number of team members to summit.”
Searching out the human drama of such an undertaking is what motivates Brown to venture to the furthest reaches of the globe. “Without a camera,” he says, “I wouldn’t climb big mountains. I don’t see the appeal of it. I never would have tried to go up Everest if I wasn’t making a film about it. For me, travel for travel’s sake — without telling a story through pictures or film — just isn’t that fun.”
Audience Chemistry
Continues Brown, “The film gives the trip a purpose. I’ve always been intrigued by storytellers, and I’m always hoping to do something that makes people think.” Brown laughs, noticing unexpected similarities between mountain climbing and filmmaking.
“They’re solitary pursuits,” he realizes. “You have to reach the top on your own… and you lock yourself in a room alone to make a movie. But both are really about sharing what you felt on the climb, what you saw.”
The Hillary Step with Luis Benitz and blind climber Erik Weihenmayer May 25, 2001. Photo by Michael Brown.
When Brown attends screenings of his films, he watches and listens to the audience. “There’s chemistry in a movie theater,” he says. “It’s the most amazing feeling, sitting there and seeing people laugh or cry. You watch for that first scene you hope will evoke something, to see if you’ve got ‘em… The biggest reward for me is being there with 1,000 people and getting that energy, when you know they’re hooked.”
In “Farther Than the Eye Can See,” Brown’s first “hook” comes right at the beginning. “Erik is helping his baby daughter Emma put on her coat,” he relates, “and he accidentally bops her in the head. Then he laughs and says, ‘Daddy’s always hitting you in the head, isn’t he?’ The film gives you these huge insights into what it’s like to be a blind person who has a wife and a baby, the everyday things that happen.” Says Brown happily, “Every audience laughs when they see that little scene. They get it. That’s when you know you’ve connected with them.”
Michael Brown is hardly shy of challenges. In fact, after the ascent with Weihenmayer he summitted Everest yet again. Why? “The first time I figured it was luck or an accident,” he reflects, “and when I went back with Erik we climbed the same side. So I guess I had to show I could do it from a different angle.” He does believe the third time was the charm. “I hope I’m done climbing Everest,” says Brown. “I have no desire to prove any more.” Still, the mountain — and its stories — are out there. And teams begin planning spring expeditions in December. “Every winter,” he sighs, “the calls start coming in…”
