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Watch Awesome Time Lapse of Mount Everest

A time-lapse journey from the roof of the world with over 3,400 still images has been stitched together to portray a single day in the Himalayas.

The story behind the images from filmmaker Elia Saikaly: “Some of us are vocal and social when it comes to our pain, others suffer silently and quietly like warriors waiting out the storms of life. As I assembled these images, I was flooded with memories I had tucked away deep in the vault of my past, images in some cases I am only seeing for the first time after almost five years.

2014 and 2015 were devastating years on Everest with the highest recorded number of fatalities. I was there for both seasons. I got lucky in 2014 and was trapped above the avalanche that claimed the lives of 16 Sherpa men.

Into the death zone – just beneath camp 4 on the world’s tallest mountain. . This is the triangular pyramid of Mt. Everest. Nearly 7 weeks into the expedition, it all comes down to this. The final climb. . You’ve completed your acclimatization rotations. You’ve spent a grueling night above 7500m. You’ve begun breathing supplemental oxygen and you’ve officially entered the death zone. Your body is screaming for oxygen and it’s deteriorating faster than it can recover. Everything must line up just right. The weather. Your health. Your performance. Other teams’ behavior and actions. And Everest herself. . Just around the corner is one of the most hostile environments on the planet – the South Col, also known as camp 4. People often die in their sleep from exhaustion after their summit push. You’re already higher than most mountains on Earth and there’s another 850m to ascend. . This is it. It’s now or never. You do your best to rest for a few hours, wake up around 10pm in sub-zero temperatures and like a warrior preparing for battle, gear up, strap your oxygen mask to your face, emerge from your tent, look up at the night sky, observe the black pyramid with transient climbers’ headlamps in sight – and flip the switch. . It’s on. The summit is in sight. No time for pain. No room for errors. All of your training comes down to this. . Climb. . . . . . #Everest #summitclimb #8848 #topoftheworld #nepal #himalayas #earth #beautifulearth #adventure #explore #expedition #8000m #Canon #shotoftheday #dreamsbecomingreality #travel #shotoncanon #voyaged #natgeo #pyramid #mountaineering #camp4 #natgeoyourshot #natgeo100contest

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In 2015 I was hit directly by the tidal wave of snow that took out basecamp that claimed the lives of over 18 people. I was again, fortunate to survive. It took a long time to sort this all out emotionally and psychologically. I took a break for a few years while I constructed a new narrative and quietly dealt with the post traumatic stress. Leaving the footage alone on my hard drives was a part of that strategy.

You’d never know by watching the imagery, in particular the time lapse-pan at basecamp (1:35) by day with the low hanging clouds, what was really going on during that time. Focusing on the beauty rather than the devastation was the only way I knew how to deal with the situation at the time.”

Everest

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