FILM/SNEAK PEEK : IMAX ON TOP OF THE WORLD.

Byline: - Bob McCarthy

Two-thirds of the way up Mount Everest, the human brain becomes starved for oxygen. The lungs can fill with fluid, the body begins to break down, and the mind works in slow motion. The human body wasn't made to operate at this altitude.

On May 23, 1996, filmmaker David Breashears and an IMAX film crew stood on top of the world, only days after the worst climbing tragedy in the history of Everest. The ascent and the awful drama unfold in the spectacular documentary ``Everest,'' which opens today at the California Science Center's IMAX Theater.

The IMAX party - American Ed Viesturs, Jamling Tenzing Norgay of India, Spain's Araceli Segarra and Sumiyo Tsuzuki of Japan - followed the route taken by Sir Edmund Hillary on the first successful ascent of Everest in 1953.

Viesturs was a friend of New Zealand climber and guide Rob Hall, who died with seven others when a storm trapped climbers on the mountain on May 10, 1996. As temperatures dipped to 100 below zero, the 23 men and women in that party were blinded by 80 mph gusts that made a descent impossible. Journalist Jon Krakauer, who was a member of the Rob Hall-Scott Fischer party, gave a survivor's account of the tragedy in the best-selling ``Into Thin Air.''

``Everest'' doesn't set out to tell the story of the tragedy. It does, however, include footage of the storm and the miraculous survival of Beck Weathers, who was given up for dead.

Rather than turning ``Everest'' into a documentary on the tragedy itself, Breashears and writer/producer Steve Judson concentrate on how it directly affected the IMAX team, which was out of danger at a base camp below.

Breashears and his team, in fact, had decided not to push for the 29,000-foot summit that day because the camera would have been too unwieldy in the high winds. As fate would have it, the Hall-Fischer party passed them.

To the Sherpas and Tibetan monks who live in its mammoth shadow, Everest demands respect. Failure to treat the mountain with due reverence can be a fatal mistake, given the hazards of icy cliffs, deep crevasses and the ever-present danger of avalanche. (If you've ever wondered what an avalanche looks like just before it buries you, you'll find out.)

Spirituality was very much a part of the everyday ritual, which producer/director Greg MacGillivray believes the film reflects.

``Even people who go to Tibet, as I have, or to Nepal to visit the mountains get a sense that there is something more powerful there than just a massing of rock and ice,'' he said. ``Every day, Jamling would say prayers for each one of the climbers and for the success of the day's mission. Before the climbers would move into the icefall, each one of the ice axes and crampons were blessed through a Puja ceremony, when the implements were passed through juniper smoke and blessed by prayer.''

``Everest'' has an existential feel, due mainly to a combination of incredible scenery and spartan narration. The higher the climbers go, the more they must conserve their energy. Conversation is clipped, and there is an economy of words in the rarefied air. So exhausted was Segarra - who was trying to become the first Spanish woman to conquer Everest - that she wanted to stop and rest after every step on the climb's final leg.

The climbers also assisted researchers studying the geology of Everest and earthquakes in the region (northern India and Nepal), where four quakes of magnitude 8 or more have hit in this century. By setting up ground stations for the global positioning system (GPS), more precise ground measurement readings can be taken and used to study the geologic forces at work. Also, rock samples from the upper reaches of Everest were carried back for further study.

Mount Everest, in northeast Nepal, is part of the Himalayan range, a 1,500-mile swath of mountains dividing India from China to the north. The Himalayas arose 45 million to 50 million years ago when two land masses collided, causing geologic uplift. Even today, the movement continues to push Mount Everest 3 to 5 millimeters higher each year.

One of the most successful IMAX movies ever, ``Everest'' wowed Southern California audiences in Irvine, Ontario and San Diego before making its way to the California Science Center in Exposition Park. It's a piggyback ride to the top of the world without ever leaving sea level.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Everest.''

When: Noon, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8 p.m. daily. A Spanish-language version will screen at 11 a.m. weekdays, starting Oct. 27. Today through Jan. 3.

Behind the scenes: Directed by David Breashears, Greg MacGillivray and Stephen Judson. Written by Judson and Tim Cahill.

Running time: 45 minutes.

Playing: IMAX Theater at the California Science Center, 700 State Drive, Exposition Park, in Los Angeles.

Price: $6.50 for adults, $5 students, $4.50 seniors and $3.75 children.

Information: [phone].

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Photo

Photo: In a scene from the IMAX movie ``Everest,'' the climbing party tackles the Khumbu glacier, a moving waterfall of ice that is one of the deadliest places on the Himalayan peak.