Climbing Mount Everest has become a major industry, with individuals paying close to six figures to make the journey. They could not succeed without Sherpas, Himalayan locals who, for minimal pay, work as guides and undertake the perilous task of moving supplies up the mountain. Sherpa filmmaker Jennifer Peedom trains her lens on longtime guide Phurba Tashi Sherpa as he prepares for his record 22nd ascent. The filmmaker is present for the tragic 2014 avalanche near base camp that kills 16 Nepalese guides. Compelled to pay respect for the deceased and frustrated by the response from the Nepalese government, the Sherpas refuse to continue on the ascent. Meanwhile, the men and women who have paid to make the climb—and who know they will not be refunded—grow frustrated that the venture may not go forward. Filmed from inside the turmoil, this compelling and suspenseful document tracks the Sherpas’s story as complicated forces, natural and commercial, build to a series of emotional confrontations.  ST