Movie Review: Meru - Sun., Sept. 20

Meru is a documentary about three world-class mountain climbers -- Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk -- who wanted to summit 20,700' Mount Meru on the Shark's Fin route in the Gharwal Himalayas. It had never been summited before.

The movie jumps right into the portaledge (hanging tent) of the three climbers as they're hanging from a cliff thousands of feet in the air. That got our attention!

From there, the documentary takes us back three years and introduces us to the three climbers. We learn about their families, their climbing experience, their mentors, and the pull of climbing the mountain.

Climbing Mt. Everest is a hike compared to climbing Mount Meru. On Mt. Everest the Sherpas carry the gear. On Mount Meru, the climbers must bring up their own gear which  means limiting what they can take. Also, the climbers need to be very experienced in all types of technical climbing: mixed ice, big wall, overhangs.

Conrad Anker had over 30 years experience in technical climbing. Jimmy Chin had climbed with Conrad Anker before and trusted him. Renan Ozturk was a relative unknown to Jimmy, but Conrad knew of his climbing skills. A three-person climbing team is considered optimal due to the amount of supplies needed. They have to consider every single thing they take up the mountain with them, including amount of food, climbing equipment, camera equipment and personal hygiene gear.

The movie is intense. So many things can go wrong such as injuries, avalanches, rockfall, severe weather, loss of equipment, even doubting your own abilities.

This filming done for this climb was done for their own benefit; they hadn't considered making a documentary out of it. Jimmy and Ozturk filmed the climbs they made, but it was Jimmy who came up with the idea to make their film into a documentary. He wanted to share aspects of climbing that were important to him that other people might not understand.

The film is excellent. In addition to the climbing, which is breath-taking, you learn about the people who did the climbs as well as the support people in their lives. Bob and I love this movie. A cliffhanger! Five stars.

After the movie, we headed out to Random for pizza and beer then we headed back to the 5th wheel. Now Bob's watching the Seahawks vs. the Green Bay Packers.

The Liberty Bar - photo by Jamie A. (from Yelp photos)

The Liberty Bar - photo by Tricia P. (from Yelp photos)

Last night after work, I took Bob to dinner at The Liberty Bar. We had never heard of it until a guest at the RV park discovered it on a bike ride. The restaurant is on Alamo St. in the King William Historic District. The building housing the restaurant is bright pink. Years ago this lovely building was a convent. Now it is a well-kept-secret eatery.

I ordered Codorniz con mole verde (quail with green mole) which was served with roasted tomatoes and potatoes. It was wonderful, but a lot of work to eat! Bob chose a chicken salad sandwich with potato salad and he was very happy with his choice too. We will definitely return again and again to check out more of their eclectic, fresh, yummy food. I'll be recommending this place to Travelers World RV Resort guests!

Travel Bug out.