Narration: Last month, our documentary film "Himalayan Ladder" successfully obtained its public screening permit, and the editing of the five-episode TV version has gradually seen the light at the end of the tunnel. This film, which has haunted our dreams for six years and kept us working day and night for three, has finally reached the moment to meet everyone. Looking back, emotions are inevitable; thus, I made a vow to organize these three years of shooting notes in three entries per day starting today, so that friends can learn more about the ins and outs before watching the film, and also to constantly remind ourselves of our original intention, to complete the final editing and promotion.
2012Year8Month26Day was the day we first encountered the ladder. That afternoon, when we first arrived at the base camp, Mount Everest was entirely hidden in cotton-candy-like clouds, with only a patch of snow on the mountainside visible. As the sun slowly set, the snow gradually glowed golden, while the clouds continued to dissipate. Finally, after sunset, the deep blue world’s summit emerged from the clouds and appeared before our eyes.
For Lao Lei, this was his second time seeing Mount Everest.2009Years ago, as a photographer, he followed a TV crew to Tibet to shoot a documentary on mountaineering and first arrived at the foot of Everest, bringing along a bundle of scriptures. It was this bundle of scriptures that became the origin of "Himalayan Ladder." On that trip, before departing from Lhasa to Everest, Lao Lei met a young student named Cipei at the Tibet Mountaineering School. Hearing that the crew was going to Everest, he prepared this bundle of scriptures and asked the crew to deliver them to his father, an elderly lama at Rongbuk Monastery at the foot of Everest.
After returning to Beijing, Lao Lei wrote "Himalayan Ladder" on the small blackboard by his desk as an upcoming project. We talked many times about this group of young Tibetan children represented by Cipei. Their relationship with their parents reflected not only the connection between modern Lhasa and the rural areas of Shigatse but also the link between Tibet’s traditions and future. The image of the "ladder" came from the small ladder patterns painted in white on rocks that we kept seeing along the way from Lhasa. Tibetans believe that the souls of the deceased can ascend to their heavenly paradise via such ladders. Similarly, in Tibetan and many other cultures worldwide, mountains are also seen as ladders to the divine realm; and these young Tibetan mountaineering students are the ladders that help climbers reach the summit of the world.
Although it was August, the Everest base camp was still cold at night. We stayed in canvas tents, listening to the howling wind outside, and fell into a drowsy sleep under varying degrees of altitude sickness. In the middle of the night, I faintly heard the sound of people entering and exiting the tent, vaguely saw two white legs flash by, and then heard Xiao Han whisper excitedly to his wife: "I just went out to pee wearing nothing but my underwear, and I didn’t feel cold at all!"
Without Xiao Han, the "Himalayan Ladder" on Lao Lei’s office blackboard might still have been a distant dream. Xiao Han was introduced to us by Old Ge from Zhejiang. For the previous three years, we had tried various documentary funds and had discussed the idea with TV station friends many times. The responses could be summarized into two points: the subject matter was excellent, but the cost was too high. Just a few days after meeting Xiao Han, Lao Lei, as usual, began pitching the Ladder project.
"I estimated that a shooting budget of a million or so would do," Lao Lei confidently told Xiao Han.
Xiao Han didn’t seem to hesitate much and agreed right away. And thus, there was2012Year8Month’s first research trip. Also joining us were Liu Shuo and Chen Chuanlu from producer Qingying Interactive, and Xiao Han’s wife. In Lhasa, we formally introduced the concept of this documentary project to Principal Nyima Tsering, observed the high-altitude footage previously shot by Shengshan Company, met the newly enrolled eighth batch of students at the Mountaineering School, and finally took a bus to the Everest base camp to personally experience the climbing environment and the magnificence of Everest.
The next morning, the clouds around Everest completely dissipated, and the snow-white Everest finally appeared in its full glory before us, marking the successful conclusion of our first research trip.
After two days of bumpy travel back to Lhasa, Lao Lei revised his estimate of the shooting costs: "Two or three million would be enough!" We all agreed. But no one at the time expected that over the following three years, this figure would gradually grow to five million, seven million, ten million, and eventually settle at the current thirteen million.