Discovery to Make Documentary of Deadly Avalanche, Canceled Everest Jump

While tragedy struck late last week on Mount Everest, the Discovery Channel is looking to turn footage for a planned televised event into a special documentary about the disaster.

As first reported by Deadline, Discovery will repurpose content they amassed for the highly-publicized Mount Everest jump that was scrapped on Sunday after an avalanche took the lives of 13 Sherpa guides Friday. Camera crews were on hand for the tragic occurrence, documenting the single deadliest event in the history of the peak.

The crews were at base camp when the avalanche stuck, shooting footage in advance of five nights worth of live programming that would be capped off with climber Joby Ogwyn’s peak jump on May 11. The avalanche struck a group of about 50 Sherpas who were tasked with carrying equipment and supplies to camps for climbers looking to make the summit; among those were Sherpas preparing to participate in the Discovery event.

In addition to the captured footage, the documentary will also incorporate reaction from the local Sherpa community, grieving, ceremonies for the deceased, as well as interviews with Ogwyn. He and his team took part in the recovering bodies following the disaster.

As of it, it is uncertain as to whether the documentary will be one hour or two, and to what degree NBC News, which gathered the footage, will be involved. Discovery is also in the process of finding a Sherpa charity for which to make donations and likely encourage viewers to do the same.