Jamling Tenzing Norgay

“I climbed Everest so that my children wouldn’t have to.”

Ever since Jamling Tenzing Norgay’s father, Tenzing Norgay, spoke these words to his son, Jamling had been seized by a passion to follow in his father’s historic footsteps — to step onto Mount Everest’s icy skin and learn the lessons she has to teach. Destiny reserves the telling of some tales for certain people.

In the illustrated presentation, Touching My Father’s Soul – An Odyssey to the Top of Everest, Jamling brings to life a profound and compelling adventure, interweaving the lives of a family, a mountain, a people, and climbers facing nearly insurmountable obstacles. It is a story of disaster, triumph, professionalism, and the resilience of the human spirit.

It takes an unusual level of aspiration to decide to attempt Everest. To reach the summit and return safely to base camp demands extraordinary commitment and perseverance. On Everest, the stakes are high: Only one climber in seven who attempt it reaches the top. Of every five who do reach the summit, one dies trying.

In Touching My Father’s Soul – An Odyssey to the Top of Everest, Jamling uses expedition slides to illustrate the organization and dynamics of the IMAX Filming team’s Everest climb. He explores the natural and human events that led to the loss of 8 climbers in one storm and 12 climbers over the season. The IMAX team responded skillfully and compassionately to the tragedy by shifting gears and immediately dedicating all their oxygen and resources to the rescue. Two weeks later, following intense soul searching, consultation with Jamling’s family priest, and study of weather conditions, they reached the top with the IMAX camera. One seldom sees such a level of organization and team effort: to film from the summit required that 11 people reach the top along with the camera, while 40 others delivered supplies and provided critical backup.

Throughout, Jamling interweaves the little-known story of his father’s historic first ascent in 1953 with Edmund Hillary and shows how the mountain has changed in the past half century — and how it hasn’t.