Ballooning Over Everest

Directed by Michael Balson

In 1991, in a field near the Nepalese hamlet of Gokyo, four men climbed into two fragile wicker baskets and poured flame into their hot air balloons. They were to become the first balloonists to fly over Mount Everest. For Leo Dickinson and Chris Dewhirst, the cameraman and pilot in one of the balloons, the flight was to settle old scores after three previous attempts and several life-threatening crashes. This documentary follows their successful flight over the finest panorama on earth in the oldest of flying machines, before their final crash landing in a remote corner of Tibet. Their voyage remains the only balloon flight over Everest to this day.