What is, THE HIGH: MAKING THE TOUGHEST RACE ON EARTH about?

It is three in the morning and it is happening again. I am waking up from a dead sleep and gasping for breath, but this time it is combined with a nightmare that I am suffocating and it makes it all the more frightening. It’s the 3rd night in a row now and I am scared to fall asleep, and even more scared that this whole thing is going to come to an end before it starts. After 30 minutes, I try again but then panic – my mouth wide open grasping for air.

HIMALAYAS OF NORTHERN INDIA
Where am I and what am I doing here? I am in the Himalayas of Northern India at 12,000 feet and I am following a rare group of ultra running trailblazers at the 2nd running of the highest altitude ultra in the world, and have been acclimatizing to the altitude now for three days.

HIMALAYAS OF NORTHERN INDIA

It has been a year ago since I followed up on an email telling of an ultra running doctor out of New Delhi who was creating a new race that included running the two highest motorable passes in the world. I called him up and he started by telling me of how he thought up the idea. It was a day-run up to a place called Rohtang La (the pass of piled corpses). The goal was just to have fun running with friends up to 13,000 feet. An elevation challenge for an ultra runner bound to his homeland, India, for work. But the run was cut short by a landslide and they found themselves in a warm café drinking tea and staring into the wave-like road map of the Manali–Leh Highway, wondering what if.

It wasn’t apparent to me at the time I was hearing this, but the idea of running at these altitudes seems insane. The first time at 18,300 feet, the body doesn’t respond all that great and the pulse-ox meter that one runner is testing tells us so. The heart rate is at 112 beats of the normal 60 and the body’s O2 is down to 76% of its norm of 98%. But the body does change. Red blood cell building and O2 adapting, slowly the lungs make better use of the oxygen and as the days pass, we are all starting to see our heart rates drop and blood O2 levels go up, and this is a good thing. It means I am not going to get on that plane and fly home. It means I am going to see the starting line after all.

After Rohtang La, Rajat returned home to his family and found himself struggling to think of anything other than this map of the Himalayas. His mind started to crunch the numbers and his fingers started to punch up the details and in 9-months time he had constructed a race crossing 137-miles (222km) covering the passes of Khardung La (18,300ft) and Tanglang La (17,583ft) before finishing in the Morey Plains at 15,000 feet. Now all that was left was finding runners to run it.

2011 START OF THE HIGH

ULTRA HIGH: RUNNING AT 18,000 FEET
Sifting through the ultra running pool, he found 30-runners to say yes, but as time would have it that number trickled down to one – Molly Sheridan – and now that one was standing in front of me at the second running of what became the documentary film Ultra High: Running at 18,000 Feet (released in 2010 at 1 hour 10 minutes and distributed internationally, later becoming available on streaming platforms).

Next to her, pacing like race horses were Ray Sanchez (USA), Lisa Tamati (NZ), Samantha Gash (AU), Jason Rita (AU), and Sharon Gayter (UK). And so while I sat backwards filming on my motorcycle, they were waiting to take on this challenge before it took them.

The run to Khardung La isn’t all that bad. Once your body has acclimatized to the altitude it is pretty good at taking on the first 26 miles. By the time the runners get to the peak each of them are still moving at a pretty good pace and looking at a long 26-mile downhill into Leh before planing off for a 45-mile stretch through the high desert of the Leh Valley. But the comforts of this flat land can turn dark. The continuous hours of low level O2 can sneak up on you leaving you with exhaustion, dehydration, cramps, and worse. It is something to be aware of and it was this element that crept up on the runners in that first year’s event and almost ended the entire race before it began.

Rajat’s thirty runners had turned to one and that one runner, Molly, helped turn it into three. By race day of 2010, Rajat was poised at the starting line doing the countdown and with a click of a second those faithful three were off and carrying with them the unknown question of if this race could even be done.

Molly at Khardung La (18,300ft), 2010
Months before this moment Rajat had worked to do his math. He was a doctor after all and it wouldn’t look good for a doctor to have dead runners on his hands. So he visited the Special Forces branch of the Indian Military to gather information on how to prepare the body for the high altitude. Standing square in the office of some of the highest officials in the land there was dead silence as the officers listened to his race idea before looking him in the eye and stating, “Are you mad! No one can do this…it is impossible”.

Words to live by one might think, but not Rajat. Not the man who grew up in a home where the word “NO” to his running interest was all too common a theme. A theme that left him seeking the very outlet of this race today. And so he set off to make this race bulletproof and prove to the military, his country, and the ultra world that this run could and would be done. But now 24-hours into his own race, two of his runners were in the ICU with one getting evacuated for further emergency care.

It was Molly who went first to the ICU. She had gone too long without water coming down Khardung La and needed an IV to recover. Bill Andrews came second and shortly after with problems that required an immediate flight out. And so there was only one – Mark Cockbain – and the questions again arose of if this race was even possible.

Why do you do it? That was the question I used to ask. Why do you run these distances? I was only just learning about this sport and the answer for them was simple, “because we can”.

MARK COCKBAIN, TANGLANG LA 2010

Humans can endure amazing things and in that endurance we can discover something about ourselves that we never knew.

By this time, Rumptse was the town on everyone’s mind. It is the last cutoff point before the finish and the place to rest before the final push up Tanglang La.

Mark Cockbain on his way to Tanglang La 2010
I thought about myself for a moment when I first met Mark in the UK for an interview. Would I have been willing to drive towards that finish line all alone? There was no glory in this. There were no competitors to go up against. There was only the long dirt road ahead and an empty finish line. And the answer is I don’t know. For Mark however, none of that really mattered. All that mattered was that he was only a few steps from crossing over the top of Tanglang La and needed to go down.

Watching Mark cross over the top, Rajat hopped back in his car to finalize plans with Molly and Bill. Arriving at the hospital in Leh, Bill was in bad condition and Molly was by his side. Assessing that more proper medical care was in order, they booked tickets and hopped on a plane home. Leaving the ground it became clear for them both that the race was over, but not finished.

Standing at the finish line one year later, surrounded by cars, ambulance, crews, and a banner, the excitement of the 2nd year’s finish was in the air. Walkie-talkie updates were coming in and it wasn’t certain who would arrive first. In those last 14 hours at around 17,000 feet, Sharon Gayter overtook Ray Sanchez and fought to keep the lead ever since. Watching with excitement you could vocally hear her panting as she turned the final 100-yards towards the finish. Pushing herself to her limits, her lungs were screaming for air as she crossed the finish line and collapsed into the hands of the medics. The crew was in a roar – the first runner had officially made it, but there was more to come and others were still out there.

Sharon Gayter crossing a landslide 2011
Seeing Molly and Bill off on the plane, Rajat now was driving back to find Mark with a million thoughts on his mind. Did they make it? Are they safe? Do we have a race or is this a lost cause? But the answer wasn’t easy. After leaving them at Tanglang La the night before, Mark and his crew made a dangerous mistake. Tired and exhausted from all they had done, and suffocating from a lack of O2, they pulled the car off the road and with Mark inside each fell asleep.

I imagine Mark’s last dream up there was similar to mine during acclimatization. Laying there in the back of that truck suffocating and hypoxic, he snapped out of that slumber and rocked forward with one thought in mind, “We have to get out of here and start moving or we are just going to lay here and die”. First with the right foot and then with the left, Mark kept moving and one step at a time he made his way down to lower ground and the finish.

It was daylight now and Rajat was headed to the rendezvous point of Whiskey Junction. He had checked the finish line first to see it empty without sign of Mark or crew. Now he was searching for them in the last place they could be. Pulling into the rest area he looked around quickly and found them down by the river, bathing their feet. Grabbing his breath and looking more closely, he could see they were smiling. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. With that it became apparent they had finished the race and it was done. The impossible had become possible and it was time to go home and celebrate.

SHARON GAYTER CROSSING A LANDSLIDE 2011

Sitting here at the finish and rethinking through the 2010 race, I am now starting to wonder where Molly is. Listening to the radio I heard that she didn’t make the cutoff at Rumptse and I don’t know where she is now, but I do know one thing: I really hope she makes it. It isn’t because she didn’t finish the first race last year or that I want to see a comeback story come true. It’s because Molly is that person who gives you that little push in life, the push we all need to get our dreams going towards true, and now I want to see her get that push so that hers come true too.

As seconds turned to minutes and the clock struck down to under one hour, we saw that last runner coming around the final turn and it was her. Out in front of me, holding the finish line banner and waiting for her arrival was Rajat and most likely he was thinking about all that it took to get them here: the dream of doing it, the work to make it, and the moment when Molly said she would stay by his side. Watching her cross the finish I knew it was complete. It was finished for her and for him as well. Standing there in front of my camera was a pair of people – one who dreamt the impossible and one who believed it could be done.

The remarkable story of making this ultra marathon has been captured in the featured documentary Ultra High: Running at 18,000 Feet (released internationally and now available to watch on streaming platforms like Apple TV and Prime Video).

          

The Corporation, directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott

The Corporation, directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott, and based on the work of Joel Bakan, is not a film designed to entertain or keep you on the edge of your seat. It does not rush through information for the attention impaired, nor does it offer small, bite sized talking points meant for casual conversation at work. Instead, it is a film grounded in facts and analysis. It speaks less about the problems already visible and more about those looming ahead. At its core, it challenges untethered capitalism and asks us to consider how being the best at what you do can be as dangerous as it is beneficial.

By outlining the corporation as a psychopathic, self obsessed, disconnected, and manipulative entity, the film focuses on the unsettling reality that corporations are legally defined as persons and granted the same rights that come with that designation. Achbar, Abbott, Bakan, and their team sift through roughly one hundred and fifty years of history, tracing how corporations shaped American legislation to evolve into what they are today. By tackling the legal definition of corporate personhood head on, the filmmakers turn the very centerpiece of corporate power against itself, exposing how dangerous this terminology truly is.

Placing this corporate “person” into the seat of a psychologist, the film methodically evaluates it against the criteria used to assess a healthy human being. One by one, the corporation fails. Each trait reveals a pattern of behavior that would be deemed socially destructive if found in an individual. Over its one hundred and forty five minute runtime, The Corporation makes it painfully clear that if left unchecked, the modern corporation will become, is becoming, and in many cases already has become, a monster capable of consuming everything in its path.

The central question that lingers throughout the film is deceptively simple. What does any of this have to do with me? While the documentary addresses how the system affects individuals, it spends less time examining how individuals affect the system. The answer, perhaps uncomfortably, must come from within. Because no matter how clearly we understand the dangers posed by corporations like Walmart, McDonald’s, Nike, and others, they continue to make our lives easier. They offer convenience, efficiency, and comfort, quietly dulling our sense of urgency.

Even as they manipulate laws, exploit global labor, and shape future consumers from childhood, these corporations remain embedded in a system most of us do not feel compelled to change. And perhaps that is exactly how they would prefer it to remain.

If you get the chance, rent a copy and experience it from your own perspective. Let me know when you do.

Thanks for reading.

TRAILER & EXTRAS

 

Mindscape of Alan Moore, directed by DeZ Vylenz

There are times in life when you come across a film that is neither great in its entirety nor dynamic in structure, yet when it ends, it leaves you feeling changed, wanting more, and still trying to digest what you have seen. Mindscape of Alan Moore, directed by DeZ Vylenz, is just such a film.

Hidden behind a mass of hair and beard, mysteriously adorned with gothic style rings, a cutoff T-shirt, and a deck of magical cards constantly in motion, Alan Moore at times resembles a softer, more introspective version of Charles Manson. He is the kind of character who might send those with a weaker stomach running from the outset. But if you can see past the visual distraction, resist the urge to dismiss him outright, and keep your own wisdom intact, the film rewards you with moments of thoughtful insight into creativity, perception, and the human condition.

The film opens with Moore facing the camera and narrating his own life story. Early on, he demonstrates his manipulation of language by reframing the word trafficking, typically associated with illegality, to describe his approach to writing fiction. “I traffic in fiction,” he explains. “I do not traffic in lies.” While initially distracting, this wordplay quickly colors the portrait of the man, offering an early glimpse into the philosophical case study that follows.

Turning to his childhood, Moore reflects on his formative years with remarkable composure. Sharing deeply personal memories, mistakes, and realizations in what feels almost like a single uninterrupted take, he displays an ease that draws you closer. Sitting under lights with a crew present is rarely comfortable, yet Moore moves through stories of failure and defeat with a calm that helps explain the man he has become.

After dropping out of society and drifting through the lower rungs of working life, cleaning toilets and handling animal carcasses, Moore makes what he calls a “shot in the dark” decision to become an author. In doing so, he articulates one of the film’s most striking ideas: that to truly create, one must abandon both the fear of failure and the desire for success. The idea that the purest actions are those performed without lust for results is unexpected coming from someone whose appearance might suggest otherwise, and it is here that the film fully earns attention.

As Moore moves through his career, he opens up about his work for DC Comics on The Swamp Thing and his relocation to America, which he describes as part of a “brain drain.” His critiques of American fascism, authorship, and cultural misuse are delivered obliquely, but these ideas seem to crystallize in his most famous work, Watchmen, later adapted into a feature film. When discussing fame, Moore offers surprisingly grounded insights into its dangers and distortions, ultimately choosing to live out his beliefs by returning to Northampton, England, and beginning a new chapter away from the spotlight.

At forty, Moore declares himself a magician, and it is here that both the film and the man begin to drift further from concrete ground. Logic, history, and metaphor blur as Moore reframes reality through a mystical lens. These moments can feel confusing or even alienating, yet they also provide an unusual window into the thought structures of a deeply intelligent and imaginative mind.

By aligning modern writers with ancient shamans and portraying contemporary authors as cultural prostitutes stripped of authority, Moore emphasizes the power of the written word and its frequent misuse. At the same time, he moves freely between fact and metaphor, a skill sharpened through years of crafting fiction. This is where his insights become both compelling and potentially dangerous, and where the viewer is best served by maintaining a healthy sense of caution.

Ultimately, Mindscape of Alan Moore invites you into locked rooms of thought and offers keys shaped by Moore’s own interpretations. Over seventy-eight minutes of dialogue, his slow, hypnotic voice works through nearly every major facet of life. He challenges the limits of perception, redefines how individuals understand their surroundings, critiques distorted ideas of sex and war, invites participation in what he calls creative mind space, and reflects on the overwhelming influx of information driven by modern technology. In the film’s final moments, he delivers some of the most imaginative and provocative ideas presented throughout.

In closing, if you can set aside the film’s sometimes intimidating visuals, move past surface judgments of appearance, and take the time to engage seriously with the thoughts being presented, Mindscape of Alan Moore proves to be a mentally stimulating and creatively challenging experience. You may walk away with a deeper understanding of a worldview very different from your own, and perhaps a few new ways of thinking unlocked along the way.

Thanks for reading.

DIRECTOR DeZ Vylenz
http://www.shadowsnake.com/biogeo_dez.html