Icefall Doctors

Angnima Sherpa, the original "Icefall Doctor", has held the most dangerous job on earth on the slopes of Mt. Everest for 30+ years.​  A kaleidoscopic and meditative view on his last season as leader of the Icefall Doctors before his death.

Angnima Sherpa, the original "Icefall Doctor", has held the most dangerous job on earth on the slopes of Mt. Everest for 30+ years.​  A kaleidoscopic and meditative view on his last season as leader of the Icefall Doctors before his death.

As one family’s lives interweave under Everest’s shadow, the beloved matriarch Samdo Sherpa, so as not to be a burden to her family, moved to Kathmandu after her husband’s (Icefall Doctor leader, Angnima Sherpa) premature death to become a Buddhist nun in a monastery. She is now in a state of limbo, discouraged to leave of her own free will and unable to see some of her children who desperately miss her. All that remains is the love for her family and the resolve and inner strength to die with dignity.

On 18 April 2014, 16 climbing Sherpas died on the slopes of Mt. Everest in the most treacherous and deadliest part of the mountain, the Khumbu Icefall. Follow the Icefall Doctors, who hold the job of building and maintaining the route through the icefall, during the Spring climbing season to experience the most dangerous job on earth and the avalanche’s deadly aftermath.