Epic Mountaineering Documentary 'Meru' - Exhilarating and Inspiring

Academy Award-Winning Film Director Jimmy Chin's thrilling documentary 'Meru' spotlights passion, grit, and determination.

Meru / Jimmy Chin

Meru is a 2015 documentary film co-directed by Jimmy Chin and his wife Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. The awe-inspiring film examines the 2011 first ascent of a new route up a 4,000-foot wall known as the Shark's Fin located on the northeast side of Meru Peak in the Indian Himalayas. This ascent was preceded by a failed attempt in 2008 by the same climbing team of Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk – all featured in Meru. The film, which covers both the 2008 and 2011expeditions, is awesome – displaying complex and elite climbing skills, creativity, and perseverance. Jimmy Chin comments on balancing climbing and filmmaking in extreme conditions: "You know, I'm always a climber first, I'm always thinking about the safety of myself and the team. And I make that evaluation before I take the camera out." I have watched this documentary over five times, and will do so again before any major climb - very inspiring!

On Jimmy Chin’s website, he describes the premise of the Meru documentary: “On Meru, a 21,000-foot peak in India, trust was everything. In 2008, I traveled to India with Conrad Anker and Renan Ozturk to attempt the Shark’s Fin route on Meru Central. Considered by many to be the ultimate prize in Himalayan big-wall climbing, this hugely technical face has seen more failed attempts by elite teams over the past 30 years than any other climb in the region. For 19 days we battled sub-zero temperatures, withstood a huge storm while pinned to the smooth granite wall in a portaledge, and survived on only seven days’ worth of food. We were beaten back by the conditions just 300 feet below the summit. In 2011, we returned to try again. This film examines obsession, friendship, dreams, and sacrifice, on and off one of the world’s most challenging mountains.”

Meru Awards and Recognition                                             Winner! Sundance Film Festival 2015 – Audience Award, Documentary
Official Selection True/False Film Festival
Official Selection Nashville Film Festival
Official Selection Telluride Mountainfilm 2015
Winner! Telluride Mountainfilm 2015 – Charlie Fowler Award
Official Selection San Francisco International Film Festival

Meru / Jimmy Chin

Jimmy Chin is an Asian American elite athlete, known for his mountaineering prowess, and accomplishments throughout the world. In 2006 he achieved the first successful American ski descent from the summit of Mount Everest with Kit and Rob DesLauriers. Jimmy has been a professional climber and skier on The North Face Athlete team for over 20 years. He is a National Geographic photographer, Academy Award-winning film director, and New York Times Best Selling author.  Chin is the ultimate adventurer and artist – combining the worlds of mountaineering, skiing, storytelling, filmmaking and photography. In alliance with the North Face, Jimmy has worked with some of the greatest adventure athletes and explorers in the world – including his team on Meru.

Jimmy’s documenting expeditions and climbs from the Sahara to the Himalaya has been featured in leading publications, including National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Outside Magazine and others.  In 2019, Jimmy was awarded the National Geographic Photographer’s Photographer Award by his peers. His first book of photography documenting his career in the mountains, There and Back, became a New York Times Best Seller in 2021.

Jimmy co-directs with his wife Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. Their documentary Free Solo won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, a BAFTA and seven Primetime Emmy’s.  Free Solo had the highest grossing opening weekend in history for a documentary. Jimmy and Chai’s latest documentary, The Rescue, chronicles the daring rescue of 12 boys and their coach from a cave in Thailand. The Rescue has won numerous awards including the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.