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From the Ocean to the Sky
Film (Excerpts) – 1979
This Feltex Award-winning documentary follows a 1977 expedition where Sir Edmund Hillary and crew (including son Peter) attempted to jet boat upriver from the mouth of the Ganges to its Himalayan heart, before making the first ascent of Akash Parbat. The adventure pilgrimage was a proof of concept for the Kiwi-invented boat, and a return to action for Ed after the death of his wife and daughter in a 1975 plane crash. The mission faces epic white water, altitude sickness and tigers. Director Michael Dillon revisited the trip for his 2019 big screen documentary Hillary: Ocean to Sky.
It was a sort of dream that Ed had had for a long time: the idea of going all the way up a river from the ocean and finishing up on the top of a mountain. It was quite an appealing sort of idea, and I think when he suddenly realised that he could do it in an indigenous New Zealand machine — the jet boat — that it really struck on.– Graeme Dingle, in 1989 documentary Magic Kiwis - Sir Edmund Hillary
Key Cast & Crew
See all 13 credits
Produced by
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Hillary Films
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