"Meru" Documentary Shows Real-Deal Climbing, Not Trendy Peak-Bagging

Last week, I attended a lunch at New York’s 21 Club celebrating the hit mountaineering documentary, “Meru.” The film’s producer/director E. Chai Vasarhelyi and her husband climber/cameraman Jimmy Chin were the featured guests. During dessert, the two took center-stage to be questioned by Tom Brokaw about the subject of their movie: a precarious ascent of the 20,702-ft. Shark’s Fin on India’s Mt. Meru. Never heard of it? It’s considered one of the toughest sheer faces in all of climbing.