Out of Mind

In 2014, climber and documentary maker Joe French was about to fulfil a dream of a lifetime – to climb Everest and film it. Then tragedy struck and sixteen Sherpa were killed in the Icefall. Joe returned in 2015 and narrowly survived the earthquake avalanche that killed twenty-two people at Base Camp and around 9,000 across Nepal. Between those two disasters, Joe’s wife Julie was diagnosed with cancer.

The accumulation of trauma took its toll: suffering from post-traumatic stress, Joe was haunted by the horrors he’d witnessed. In an attempt to find a resolution, he turned to his love of the outdoors. Running barefoot through the forests and glens around his house in Scotland, Joe discovered the means to find a return to health and peace of mind.