In what one Everest climber and writer calls “an age of greed” on the world’s highest mountain, Lance Trumbull says that his expedition to the summit was made to inspire world peace.

Trumbull filmed the international team he led in 2006, the same year that Michael Kodas, author of  High Crimes: Everest in an Age of Greed, made his second assault on the summit. Four hundred and sixty climbers summited Everest that year and a dozen died trying.

The death of one, David Sharp, whose final hours were witnessed by climbers who stepped over him to reach the summit, prompted Sir Edmund Hillary to decry what has become a lucrative business fueled by wealthy adventurers who pay millions every year to guides, outfitters and porters.

“I think the whole attitude towards climbing Everest has become quite horrifying,” Hillary said. “People just want to get to the top. They don’t give a damn for anyone else who may be in distress.”

“Negativity sells,” Trumbull told the Fitzhugh when asked about the book, and he followed with an email message, “but there is the other side – one being our Climb for Peace expedition – but peace doesn’t necessary sell as well as people dying.

“We had a UN-endorsed climb that had Palestinians and Israelis on it! We climbed in Tibet and the Dalai Lama has endorsed our film. Our film touches on both of these important, topical, and socially-relevant issues.”

Everest: A Climb for Peace is said to have some of the most incredible footage ever shot on the world’s highest mountain, including dramatic scenes of a rescue from near the summit.

The film is being brought to Jasper by Wanda Vivequin. an Edmonton writer who runs a small Himalayan trekking company and raises money for health projects in western Nepal. She was also on Everest in 2006 and knows Kodas and Trumbull. She praises the achievements of both men. 

Everest: A Climb for Peace will be shown at the Downstream Bar, April 17, 7 p.m. It runs 63 minutes. Admission is by donation and the money will go towards a cataract surgery camp and building an accommodation block for the families of patients at Citta Hospital in Simikot, Humla Nepal.