Everest programme last night - Ant Middleton

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 Babika 12 Nov 2018

Seems to be a glut of Everest programmes around - what did you think of this one? 

I've never heard of Ant Middleton but I thought he came over as arrogant and annoying eg berating other climbers for holding him up on the ice ladder climbing and insisting on being last off the summit but then moaning he was held up descending, but was intrigued by the fact that this seemed a relatively small scale attempt without a massive commercial team. 

I was also horrified at the idea that Sherpa's would "cut off" a climber who couldn't stand up on the rope on the Hillary Step and presumably drop them to certain death? Would this really happen?

And the reference to walking past a dying person without stopping - which I guess does happen.

All a bit sobering. 

 

 

 

 

4
 JohnnyW 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

When the bloke was on that daft SAS programme it was bad enough, but on this, he was a complete a**e. Everything (I hope and experience) that we as mountaineers aren't............ dreadful 

3
 SteveD 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

Yep, came across as a complete dick, wingeing about how incompetent everyone else was while complaining about a situation, entirely of his own making.  Made it sound like he was alone on the hill for most of the dialogue then thanked his Sherpa for never leaving his side. well, which was it??

I actually had more time for his cameraman.

Steve

3
 Phil79 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

I saw this was on last night, but decided to watch this instead.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/11/they-shall-not-grow-old-peter-...

Very glad I did because it was absolutely amazing.

 andyd1970 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

I haven’t watched it yet but I plan too.

 hang_about 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

I found him berating the other climber cringeworthy. It's not as if he didn't know that was going to be commonplace on Everest. Then deliberately delaying his descent struck me as bizarre. The weather was closing in and there was a queue - self preservation says get off quick. But I'm no mountaineer.....

 Dave the Rave 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

What channel was it on ? Ta

 Rampikino 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Phil79:

> I saw this was on last night, but decided to watch this instead.

> https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/11/they-shall-not-grow-old-peter-...

> Very glad I did because it was absolutely amazing.


Sorry to hijack the thread - I watched the Peter Jackson film too and it was stunning, haunting, funny, grim and utterly compelling.

 andyd1970 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Dave the Rave:

Channel 4 I think!

I recorded it 

 Iamgregp 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

Yeah I thought he came across as your classic "climb-Everest-so-you-can-talk-about-it-at-dinner-parties-for-the-rest-of-your-life" bellend.  

3
 PeterM 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Iamgregp:

Aw c'mon, not only did we not see much of everest, but we also had the privilege of that most awesomest Garmin advert featuring Mr. Middleton...

 Geras 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

Yes watched it and as others said thought he was a complete Richard, a bit like that other special forces TV personality that likes to 'do' adventure. It was never clear to me what his previous climbing experiance was, and very little of the footage showed him doing much in any case. He did not look that sure footed in the few sequences they did show.

It was obvous that he had disdain for the commercial outfits and their customers, but was happy to use their ropes and was never upfront about how his attempt was any different. I take your point about the apparent lack of a circus around him, but that could have been by omission. I.e he could have bought in to a services package at basecamp, so got all the backup without having to decalare it in the Film.

2
 DancingOnRock 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

I think celebrity has gone a bit to his head. However, I’m wondering whether he was looking at mountaineers on Everest from a military perspective. If he’s a ranking officer trained and used to telling people who don’t know what they’re doing, what to do, under extreme pressure, that side of him will come out. 

I’ll watch it again tonight, I was knackered and kept falling asleep so missed chunks of it. He did admit to being very scared at one or two points and that he wasn’t used to feeling scared, even during active service. 

Post edited at 14:46
 andyd1970 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

I suppose when you’ve been trained to get the job done whatever it takes, which could include loosing your own life, it would probably make you that way.

 

 

3
Bellie 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

It was 'more of the same' fodder.  Nothing new learned about Everest. It wasn't even much of an interesting programme either. I can't say I knew who Ant Middleton was before, and I'm not sure I'll be rushing to watch any more of his stuff either.  Thats just my opinion.

 

 

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 Mikek 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

As in many of these programs, the camera man is the unsung hero. Don't know who he was and what mountaineering experience he had, presumably a lot, but he had to do a lot more than AM and was savvy enough to get down asap instead of trying for some glory thing about last man on the summit.

 Iamgregp 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Mikek:

Yeah the whole "I waited until I could be the last to leave so I could be officially the highest man on earth" was a very poor judgement call on his part.  

Obviously people at altitudes judgment can be severely impaired, but the fact that he had already noticed that the weather had taken a turn for the worse whilst on the summit shows that he still had some awareness.

 He was lucky his decision didn't cost him fingers and toes, or even his life.  

All so he can add in that "officially" at dinner parties, and on lecture tours.  

 beardy mike 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

Had the misfortune to be bored enough to read a few paragraphs of his book over the shoulder of my plane neighbour yesterday. Total macho drivel which appeals to the absolute lowest common denominator. Won't be watching his programmes...

1
Bellie 12 Nov 2018
In reply to beardy mike:

Made even more dull by a Shaun Dooley commentary, so you wont miss much. 

1
 mountainbagger 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Mikek:

> As in many of these programs, the camera man is the unsung hero. Don't know who he was and what mountaineering experience he had, presumably a lot, but he had to do a lot more than AM and was savvy enough to get down asap instead of trying for some glory thing about last man on the summit.

I think it was Ed Wardle: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Wardle

 Wft 12 Nov 2018
In reply to mountainbagger:

What a crap job.

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 Sean Kelly 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

It was not just me thinking what a tosser. What I find amazing is the complete absence of either poles or an axe. when he was descending the fixed ropes he was falling everywhere and couldn't get his balance, but if he had a couple of poles it would have been easy.

If I was walking down the back streets of Manchester he would be OK as a companion but not on the end of my rope, getting up Everest or not!

No doubt the follow up book should be titled 'Full of myself!'

Post edited at 19:41
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 Sean Kelly 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Phil79:

Tooth decay was very evident!

 planetmarshall 12 Nov 2018
In reply to JohnnyW:

> Everything (I hope and experience) that we as mountaineers aren't............ dreadful 

I don't think that's really true. Mountaineers are just people, and some people are dicks. Look at the whole Bonatti/Compagnoni affair on K2, or the numerous conflicting accounts of who did what on Everest in '96.

 

 Mikek 12 Nov 2018
In reply to mountainbagger:

Thanks for that Mountainbagger! Shame he didn't feature more prominently in the program, maybe Ant Middleton should have been filming!

 Shani 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

I thought Ant Middleton's program was a re-enactment of Ben Fogel's Everest attempt.

2
OP Babika 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Shani:

....minus the blubbing!

 

 Dave the Rave 12 Nov 2018
In reply to andyd1970:

Ta

 Dave the Rave 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Iamgregp:

Not watched it yet but have seen a few of his programmes. The one reenacting the Blyth voyage was great and he came across a s very caring and personable. My Mrs didn’t like him from the SAS shows but this one changed her mind.

Also he was on the beach when the round Britain swimmer got out and again he was a personable chap, full of praise for the swimmer.

 

 Dave the Rave 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Bellie:

Hunt out the series where they re enact the Captain Bligh, Mutiny on the Bounty journey. It’s very good and he comes across very well. 

 Phil Murray 12 Nov 2018
In reply to beardy mike:

I just watched it on channel4 catch-up. Waste of time - it's bell-end central. Cameraman is the best bit, as said by others. 

His keenness to be, & repeating of "i'm the highest person on earth!" was cringeworthy. Nearly cost him his life, too.  Narcissist? 

1
 Phil Murray 12 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

They were trying to get him to blub, with questions about his late father etc. , but happily we were spared that. 

For me the worst bit was when he entered Sagarmartha national park & said "5000-odd people have been through here!" or something, & the cameraman said "How does that make you feel"?

Who would care about how anyone "feels" about whether or not lots of other people have previously been through a gate before them, in the countryside? Please. 

1
 tagscuderia 13 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

For those that have seen him in SAS: Who Dares Wins and Mutiny, it's obvious that he's well out of his comfort zone for the entire program! He's overcompensating as a result, which is understandable given his character, and I lay more blame at the feet of the editors than Ant for how he comes across.

It was a program aimed at the masses and interesting enough I thought. As always, the cameraman is the star, that's always the case though I think. Free Solo will be the exception

Bellie 13 Nov 2018
In reply to tagscuderia:

Sounds like a fair appraisal, given I hadn't seen him before.

I recall now that Ed Wardle was the guy who filmed himself alone in Canada - and left after the loneliness and lack of food did for him.

 

 Dark-Cloud 13 Nov 2018
In reply to tagscuderia:

I think that's a good point, i would imagine during his military service he's been programmed to show machismo in a response to fear, you could tell he was out of his comfort zone and was trying not to show it so put a front up and that came across all kinds of wrong.

 Derry 13 Nov 2018
In reply to Geras:

 

> It was obvous that he had disdain for the commercial outfits and their customers, but was happy to use their ropes and was never upfront about how his attempt was any different. I take your point about the apparent lack of a circus around him, but that could have been by omission. I.e he could have bought in to a services package at basecamp, so got all the backup without having to decalare it in the Film.

case and point - the helicopter flying him off from basecamp, after just blubbing over his sherpa who never left his side. "See ya later mate"

In fairness, I didn't mind him in the SAS stuff he did, and I'm sure the general public will have lapped this up. But I had to keep telling my missus how contrived it was all made out to be with the fixed ropes, ladders etc. Hundreds of hours of poorly paid work by the real men of the mountains!

 tehmarks 13 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

“When your surroundings are unforgiving… that’s when you find out who you truly are” - Ant Middleton.

Lifted straight from a Garmin advert on Facebook. Unfortunately apt!

1
kmhphoto 13 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

A rather disappointing film obviously edited to make it out as though it was himself, a sherpa and a cameraman when in fact he spent much of his time there with Ben Fogle and others from Madison Mountaineering. 

Post edited at 16:55
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 malk 13 Nov 2018
In reply to tehmarks:

"To see the tears on his team’s faces was enough to bring me to tears.” - Ben Fogle

 Rob Parsons 13 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

I watched this on catch-up telly.

> I was also horrified at the idea that Sherpa's would "cut off" a climber who couldn't stand up on the rope on the Hillary Step and presumably drop them to certain death? Would this really happen?

None of that part of the programme made any sense to me:

  1. Alan Arnette's 'Everest 2018' summary (see http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2018/05/24/everest-2018-season-summary-reco...) says the Hillary Step is now a '30-degree snow slope' - so what was the hold-up/problem?
  2. Nobody would cut a climber off the rope in the circumstances described. (Would they?)

As you ask - was it really about to happen?

(Incidentally, the above blog also has a picture of that traffic jam section in the icefall. Ugh, not for me: I hate crowds ...)

> And the reference to walking past a dying person without stopping - which I guess does happen.

Again, the statement in the programme was that the person - implied literally to be dying - was a Sherpa. But the above blog records no deaths of Sherpas on the southern route. So, again, I am not sure that that which was described actually happened.

I'd be interested in any clarifications.

 

 

Post edited at 19:00
Bellie 13 Nov 2018
In reply to Rob Parsons:

The expedition took place in 2017 so you'd need to check the logs from then, not this year though.

 

 Rob Parsons 13 Nov 2018
In reply to Bellie:

> The expedition took place in 2017  ...

I'm not sure about that either: he was evidently on Everest at the same time as was Ben Fogle - which was this year, wasn't it?

 

 leon 1 13 Nov 2018
In reply to Rob Parsons: Summited May 2018  Using the same agency as Fogle

https://madisonmountaineering.com/everest-expedition-recap-success-and-safe...

 

Post edited at 20:15
Bellie 13 Nov 2018
In reply to Rob Parsons:

Seems some mix up on dates. I was taking my info from Ed Wardles info which said he climbed it with Ant in 2017, which doesnt seem to be right when you check it against Ants info. My apologies.

 Jamie Hageman 14 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

If you want to watch an excellent film on Everest, look at Tim Macartney-Snape's 1984 expedition which is now available to watch on Youtube in full.  youtube.com/watch?v=hPa10_uuSjE&

 malk 14 Nov 2018
In reply to Jamie Hageman:

1984 was a good year for Everest documentaries- there's also this: youtube.com/watch?v=Z79MK1eQnEU&

 Jim Fraser 15 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

I just watched this and I really don't know what most of you are on about. 

A couple of Europeans and a couple of sherpas in thin air on an overcrowded mountain. WTF did you expect? Just your normal Everest stuff but maybe less death and less frostbite than a lot of the stories I have come across. 

(And the Ed Wardle fan club grows.)

 felt 15 Nov 2018
In reply to Jim Fraser:

Yes, I agree. Seemed unremarkable, except for the uncharacteristic outburst at the guy struggling up the ice and the fact that such a highly conditioned SBS chap seemed somewhat physically out of his depth. But he kept it together upstairs. I found him relatively endearing.

 Tricky Dicky 15 Nov 2018

The Shaun Dooley commentary made it for me, he commentates on the Guy Martin programmes and I kept expecting to see Guy Martin's head pop out of a tent with the biggest mug of tea in the world saying "eh up chief, fancy a brew?"

 

 Tobes 15 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

Agree with the last couple of posts.

I'd not heard of Ant Middleton before this thread and was vaguely aware of the SAS: Who Dares Wins programme (though hadn't watched any of them)

I watched the Everest programme then to get a broader perspective watched an episode of the SAS programme.

I was surprised that I enjoyed the SAS programme as much as I did. I thought it was well structured and saw a genuine evolution in the 'participants'. I also thought the role the 'instructors' played was spot on.

It was clear in the Everest programme that Ant wasn't/isn't a mountaineer (though he'd never claimed to be either) but he illustrated that with reasonable fitness (ex SAS) and a few weeks training (and a decent weather window) a successful ascent is possible though what that says about the actual status of climbing Everest is another point altogether. 

He seemed genuine enough though out of his depth and comfort zone at some points (his words) respectful of the 'locals' and aware of the Everest industry. Waiting to be the last off the 'top of the world' was pretty stupid, which he seemed to admit in retrospect.

Other than that didn't think it was as bad as some made out in this thread. I'd imagine time in the SAS would supply more interesting stories for the dinner parties than climbing (?) the worlds highest mountain though. 

 tehmarks 15 Nov 2018
In reply to Tobes:

> I'd imagine time in the SAS would supply more interesting stories for the dinner parties than climbing (?) the worlds highest mountain though.

Minor point - he served in the SBS rather than the SAS. I'm sure the stories would be equally captivating either way mind.

 

Post edited at 11:34
 Tobes 15 Nov 2018
In reply to tehmarks:

Cheers. Just assumed (wrongly) it was SAS due to title of the other programme. 

 McHeath 15 Nov 2018
In reply to Rob Parsons:

That's an interesting summary, thanks for the blog link.

Had to laugh at one photo caption though: "Nobukazu Kuriki lost nine fingertips to frostbite in 2012 courtesy of the times"

 downsouth 16 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

Well he made no bones about the fact that his mum didn't want to know him.  Not the action of your average mother so maybe she has good reason.

6
 Dave the Rave 16 Nov 2018
In reply to Babika:

Watched it the other night and actually found it quite good. No problem with the bloke. 


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