[Music] Laza ancient and mysterious hardly touched by the 20th century where centuries-old religious traditions are as profound today as they were when the first Dalai Lama ascended the golden throne Tibet's Capitol perched high on the remote trance Himalayan plateau has a special fascination for the modern world poor Lhasa is the Northern Gateway to the world's greatest mountain Everest Lazar is a transition a time transition from modern reality to the timeless snows which form the route to the roof of the world a route that five young Australians were determined to conquer Tim McCartney Snape at 28 and experienced Mountaineer a natural leader Lincoln Hall also 28 who shares the leadership duties Andy Henderson a computer engineer completes the trio of 28 year olds while Jeff Bartram who travels the world as a climbing instructor is the veteran at 33 Greg would AMA 32 is a geologist whose work has taken him as far as the mountains of Antarctica ten hours out of Lhasa the road to Everest suddenly stopped the Tsangpo River barred the way flooded by melted snow trucks had been waiting for six days since the normal ferry was stranded this was the answer a flimsy coracle made from yak hide a mode of transport almost as old as man himself but it did the job and moved the team across the river gotcha [Music] my laughter dusty mile over the worst roads in the world closer and closer to Everest and as the air grew thinner as the altitude increased the sense of expectation soared three years before the team had said its goal to become the first Australians to reach the summit of Everest and now the object of these years of planning persistence and dedication was about to reveal itself [Music] they could feel the fabled mountain but low cloud veiled it suddenly the clouds lifted to unveil Everest [Music] Everest - the people of Tibet she is the mother goddess of the earth evoking majesty power and destiny in the foothills stand the memorials to other men and women who came to conquer and gave their lives instead for the young Australians it was time for their appointment with destiny [Music] basecamp just about 5,000 meters and 20 kilometres from the mountain this was the end of the line for the trucks and from here on the three tons of food and equipment had to be hauled up the mountain by man or yak hello it seems like a mass of equipment in real terms the Australian expedition has one of the smallest ever attempts to take the mountain historically the technique was to mount an army style assault to lay siege with an army of Porter's dozens of climbers and bottled oxygen this technique first conquered the mountain in 1953 when Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing gained the summit but in this attempt the young Australians intend not to attack the mountain but to seduce her they are therefore chosen to use an Alpine approach no oxygen a minimum of equipment and only five climbers the old technique is cumbersome but it does allow the climbers an escape route if they need it with this approach each climber is virtually on his own an Alpine climb needs constant planning assessing and reassessing the mountain to determine the exact route the expedition should take mr. Chu from the Chinese mountaineering Association is a veteran of the mountain again the summit in 1960 but during the climb he lost his toes and some of his fingers to frostbite now East Ridge Rock yeah right hmm early go early and early to camp right they will have to go and establish a camp to another reality of high-altitude climbing is the lack of air the climbers enter a world almost devoid of oxygen where the threat of death comes from a condition known as cerebral edema a fatal retention of fluid in the brain it can be avoided by careful acclimatization and dr. Jim Duff's main task is to ensure the team undergoes that acclimatization successfully any headaches or any symptoms of time to move several expiratory trips up the valley have paid off and the Australian team has found an ideal site for their advanced base camp the three tons of equipment and stores must be carried up the mountain by man and beast [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] those packs they're carrying weigh about 40 kilos but despite the thin air and the load of their packs and him Tim still found strength to sing [Music] and you're right that water is freezing hi into the wrong book Valley where the scenery is breathtakingly or inspiring [Music] and it was good to see that yaks definitely have a mind of their own [Music] advanced base camp which would become the expedition's headquarters was quickly established in a small valley at the fork of the wrongful glacier the only moment a panic came when Tim realized the last time he'd seen his climbing boots was in the bedroom of his Sydney at high altitudes food becomes even more vital the calorie drain is so great that the climbers knew they needed high energy meals to survive the expedition ran a vegetarian menu with an emphasis on natural foodstuffs and each item had to be checked and repacked for ferrying up the mountain oh by the way Tim's boots turned up a totally oblivious Andy had them in the bottom of his kit bag from advanced based the acclimatization process went on with the team making sorties into neighboring Peaks getting stronger on a daily basis as their bodies became accustomed to the rarefied air [Music] but these sorters weren't without hazard and one of the incidents retold to sharpen our ancestral showed that each day on the mountain was a day spent with fear tending when instead of you you can't see from here but the moraine reach above the glacier was really pretty dangerous it looked like think it was going to commit suicide at one stage you cut out the middle of this moraine slightly go diagonally across it these Hawks type in countdown just because it suddenly they got warm and all the snowed start to melt and suddenly has this fusion really loose really loose and there's one rock came bouncing down about the size of a washing machine or something bounced about 100 feet in the air and then just kept bouncing and it's last bounce was about sort of 30 yards away from us and all this you know we were up on a bit of a rise but then all the shards went everywhere we thought well let's go and wait on the glacier for him was amazing a curious mix here Tara with tranquil natural beauty and that was the setting for the young Australians as they grew stronger day by day preparing for their assault on Everest [Music] [Music] with the establishment of advanced base camp as a functioning unit the next step was to move on to the mountain proper to set up camp one but that would have to wait the weather closed in there was a great feeling among the team living in each other's pockets in cramped and uncomfortable conditions facing constant danger could have had everyone on it but the mood was up and his addiction to that most Australian of spreads Vegemite had puzzled the team's other nepalese member tensing Sherpa who remand on andis consumption it's possible to use the yaks to transport equipment part of the way to camp one until they strike the glacier which even the seemingly unstoppable yak can't handle remember we said yaks had a mind of their own watch that box contains some of the camera gear which luckily for the sake of this program wasn't damaged the yaks turn back it's up to the climbers to carry the gear up the mountain and it's becoming increasingly apparent the snow cover is much heavier than anyone expected which means the avalanche danger is continual [Music] so with heavy snow still cladding the North Face of Everest the decision is made to set up camp one about two kilometers away an area the young Australian team believed to be relatively safe from avalanche danger it's bitterly cold with a strong wind sweeping down the valley but once Duran has set up his kitchen and is specially a spicy vegetable and noodle stew were sending our tantalizing aromas well it was almost like home camp one established and it was time to finalize the route they'd use for their attempt on Everest two things became apparent on their climb to the base of the North Face the first was that the glacier which guarded the approach was secure no hidden crevasse into which a climber breaking through the snowy lid could fall into white oblivion or none which they found secondly that here at 6,000 meters the heat became intense with the Sun reflected from mile high ice falls and only a minimum of radiation absorbed by the thin atmosphere the climbing became agonizing the Rope down there finding the right route became all-important almost like an exam the mountain was setting the young Australians no grades here though this was success or failure coming down through there sits back down through this year better be okay and then you'd have a bit of diagonal part at the top and it doesn't look too steep once you can ice that next all right and once you make steps it'll be good it had been a long time since any of the team at climb seriously especially on snow and ice and getting geared up was not without its problems it'll make a good start make it a good start for a next day well it could be icy over the rocks ropes ice axes and the vital crampons lightweight alloy frames with 12 spikes would strap one of the climbing boots allowing a stable foothold on ice [Music] [Music] 3000 meters of almost vertical ascent awaited them and a lucky break a choke of snow formed an icy bridge under the face which made a comparatively easy start to the climb precision precision and concentration but muscles unused for months came into play and with each upward step a growing confidence in their own and each other's ability and with that confidence fear of the I see vertical lessened to be replaced with the sheer joy of climbers Nirvana oh what a day it's just so bloody big that thing well it didn't feel so big when we were on it when you get back down at the glacier and look up I tell you all we got up about a thousand feet from the Berg's run it up really really fast good angle that's what's good about the face I reckon get you up quickly let's confess um what really convinced that it's the best I think the most surefire I want to success would be the Japanese rate but to dunya dunya rate I guess it it's the line that we're on me I'd be good there's one of those big scoops who we've gotta cross because I mean there's no choice I mean just gotta cross it and the best thing to do is probably cross it more or less horizontally so I'm gonna cause it pretty quickly I mean s the afternoon Sun was getting around into the hollow of that quite a lot of us was starting to come down you know quite big bits I mean only that sort of size but enough to make a nice sound with your helmet and bruise your arm so there's a good place to finish your it good days good first day on the hill for sure the safeguarding the climbing gear backwards and forwards from camp under the ice face it was stashed in a crevasse in an area thought to be safe from avalanche danger as the weather began to close in Greg Jeff and Andy made it back down from higher on the face where they'd found a possible site for camp two and it buried vital equipment in another spot also considered free from avalanche danger there's a tenuous but reasonable camp slightly and there may even be one another that another 400 feet above but that remains to be seen now it's just a probably another too long rope links to the point where we can get above the clits and then after that going into the cooler looks quite easy quite easy even walking really spectacular and this was the scene next morning a heavy snowfall overnight ruled out any climbing for days the avalanche danger had been bad enough before now it would be suicidal time for a spot of socializing the mountains bad news and the climbers grapevine has reported the arrival of a large American expedition over the spur from the Australian base camp well welcome to the Everest Hilton [Music] would have been a lot shorter it would have been about a third of the distance to walk or carry the three as opposed to what we did these Americans are old Everest hands they have seen the mountain in all her moods and the team veteran David Myers probably as good a working knowledge of a foible x' as any man alive so we're pretty happy with this way it's um it's safe up to here beautifully direct his climb it's just an all-time classic it's it's really clean and it's straight ahead it's comparable I think it's it's finer route than what the Japanese did an 80 and variation of the Hornbein couloir good so I just wish we were really backed ourselves in the same place not where we're at personally I feel a lot better about it which means in climbing terms but the young Australians have chosen a really tough route [Music] the weather gods were being more than fickle another night another 30 centimeters of snow and camp one was a mess Jeff and Greg had stayed on at Camp 1 waiting for a break in the weather to resume the push up the face but there was no chance right now 3 or 4 inches of fresh snow yesterday afternoon was very hot the snow from the previous night avalanched off but with this fresh snow on the mountains the mountains out of condition for probably another 2 or 3 days overall decided to go down Valley and stayed in an advanced base camp and stop eating all the food that with sad laborious the clock Kyle died Peter camp 1 the avalanche danger down the now it's just too high if the day we had some phenomenal advice just drop off and wear this now again it looks like it's ready to do it again this afternoon advanced base camp hadn't fared any better the mess and equipment tents were sagging badly and as all the snow shovels have been taken to camp 1 Lincoln had to use the pressure cooker lid for a job it had never been designed to do Tim dragged himself away from the Americans luxurious base camp to the Spartan existant of the Australian advance base and Dave Myers comments about the proposed Australian route were eagerly dissected quite a big drop in there here whereas here is not so much of a drop that was in the core was getting up there take me to know hopefully so I've got 1500 feet two of these isn't here and then another 1,500 feet of just plodding through snow very interesting see oh it shouldn't be too windy yet the bill would be enough to yeah they'll be interesting to see especially in here - he's kind of a really deep snow the weather cleared spirits were high until the advance party suddenly discovered the mountain had yet another trick up her sleeve the face had avalanched and the gear that Gregg Jeff and Andy had so painstakingly carried up the face to set up camp to has been swept away in tons of snow but more importantly the assessment had been wrong anyone spending the night there would have ended up like the equipment buried in an icy grave it was a valuable lesson on the face and we found the the tent that's intact but the rest of the stuff must be buried way down over we can see a little bit of the first red fixed rope going up then another bit going over that small rocky cliff and then it looks like there's a bit that Traverse I did across the gully so the fixed rope could well be or layer we're going down go up now and check the Berkshire and and see what's happened to our gear up there the news at the Bertrand was even worse the stash with all the climbing equipment again in a presumably safe area had also been hit by a massive avalanche boots crampons and ice axes all gone the immediate problem if the equipment wasn't found could the expedition continues and the reason we have dug such a big hole looking for it all is because it's fairly important stuff like boots and crampons and ice axes so people have to find it so I just have to keep digging until we do [Music] [Music] it could be a real problem there I think we can overcome it by scraping gear together but for instance people like Tim who have very large feet couldn't hope to find another pair of boots another Avalanche couldn't hope to find another pair of boots but I think everything else we can scrape together okay it's just two days wasted basically running good Bobby here somewhere okay you're ten backs we down yeah okay yeah yeah sure don't find the night lose my boots if we do find them then you give me 50 bucks the equipment was never found it probably will be in 2,000 years time when the glacier empties itself at the foot of the mountain but the expedition did continue ice axes and crampons were scrounged from the film crew Greg and Lincoln managed to find climbing boots but Tim sighs twelve and a half's were unfit able so he was forced to wear cross-country ski boots over boots and crampons the fixed ropes labora sleep oould into place days before had been frozen in by the avalanches so it was with a feeling of resignation that the slow difficult job of freeing the ropes began pressing hard into the near vertical face the young Australian team had to concentrate their very being into every labored upward step trying to ignore their rasping coughs the thinning air and the searing cold of every lungful but now the climb had real purpose every meter upward was one closer to their goal the only problem at the moment was a pack of thick black clouds rolling up to wrong book Valley this time the weather closed in with a vengeance it's 20 below [Music] days passed in impossible conditions nothing to do but wait on the mountain and the whims of the weather gods then as suddenly as it began the bad weather cleared [Music] the immediate problem was to locate a suitable site for camp to the expiry climes at the difficult phase had been less than encouraging and it was vital that a safe comfortable camp be established to secure a firm foothold on the mountain the unspoken thought among the team was that the previously selected site for camp 2 had been totally blitzed by a huge avalanche so with the fickleness of the weather and the ever-present threat of avalanches it was back to the vertical environment nothing looked promising until the team dug a precarious narrow ledge which would almost take a small tent but not quite for a nun climber the drop is terrifying 1000 meters of almost vertical slope [Music] another link in the chain the camp was christened 1.8 in the hope that by the next day the young Australians would find a far more secure campsite sunrise is a red and angry dawn on the mountain and it's a tents Greg Mortimer who relays the events of the previous night there out of the precarious camp as soon as sunlight hits the slope moving up in what's become a critical search for that much safer site [Music] the barrier is this frozen rocky overhang above lies easier territory but to break through needs audacious climbing and while Jeff belay is the rope and tries to hold the camera steady Greg tackles the climb of his life it's the worst possible climbing surface icy flaky rock but he's through and then every upward step Greg takes on the spur unleashes more snow to bombard the unhappy camper [Music] well you got two options you guys you had to come down and you stay up there it'd take you a couple of hours to get down only so you'd still be time to come down just come down okay great we'll make its recent tomorrow night then on a hopefully luxurious campsite at the top of the ridge we went up and led all day and Greg did the second lead really magnificently dupper a rock cliff the Sun didn't get to us till about or 12 o'clock one o'clock us place by which time Greg was inside the gully inside the rock gully he left his pack down below and he left his glasses in there and he then continued on up up and over the rock cliff and into the snow again he spent about probably two and a half hours to three hours of in the snow without his glasses haven't heard from him yet this morning but I'm really quite worried that both that he's lasted the night all right in the tent and also that he hasn't got snow blindness because there was an awful long time he spent in the snow yesterday without his glasses on but Jeff's worst fears were realized how are you feeling over [Music] yeah if you spend any time at all in the sunlight you must wear extra protection or even put something like a bandage or a sock over that eye over the next day with Greg immobilized with snow blindness Lincoln and Tim carry on the search for a suitable site for camp 2 even with the fixed ropes and what's now been called Greg's gully it's a dicey climb almost at 7,000 meters and Tim's found some good deep snow suitable for a snow cave so how's Greg getting on with his snow blindness Tim he's got on but then he's in the sunlight at the moment feeling good enough to come up to camp too proper to the comfortable confines of the okay that's really good news just tell him that it's most important to keep putting the cream in really for the duration of the expedition so he's got to be much more careful than he was over Greg and Tim move on to the exposed face while Lincoln's deep within the snow cave and then it happened avalanche and a monster [Music] I was carrying a load up to the newly established camp - and actually I just finished relieving myself beside the fixed ropes and I looked over my shoulder because I heard a rumble and I saw this huge cloud but a half mile wide just billowing up over the ice cliffs coming straight down for us Greg was a little higher up the ropes and I could see it was going to get him - and it just stopped me off my feet I was on a dimmer one Jim and I had a nice action and I just knocked those you know knocked the Isaacs out so just went down on the strip to the rope but it just you know stretched in a long long way sort of figured that the anchor might pop because it was such crappy snow but then I got an action again and I could stand up well the only thing I could do is lunch for an anchor which was on the fixed ropes and cling to it and I just enough time to grab the rope and I was smothered in oh I suppose it must have been traveling at well over 50 or 60 miles an hour and it lasted for ages and ages just snow kept snow and ice just kept pouring down on top of me push the head into a into a footstep and I put my hands in front of my face trying to keep the pattern of a nose in the mouth but it just sort of pounded my head into the snow so I couldn't breathe for a while finally after must have been exposed about 40 seconds I realized that I was going to survive my first instinct was just just get up and realized the anchored held ok so maybe by miracle under there it stopped there's still a white cloud surrounding me I couldn't see much where the Greg was ok or not but I knew the Avalanche had finished means shaking like a leaf Greg and Tim had come within a hair's breadth of a tumbling white death they were saved by a rope the size of a clothesline and tiny snow anchors and luck good fortune or fate or as Greg said this is a miracle but the terror of sudden death remains I'm afraid it looks to me that the face is still just Laden and your avalanche has made no impression doll on the face I'm not trying to I guess I'm not trying to put anyone else off but I must admit um I'm just afraid of coming up I just don't want to get the chop over and Jeff had other reservations it's got to the states now it seems to me that we're really just not climbing with skill but we're climbing on our luck and to me that's not very good mountaineering you can only do that for a short period of time I have a real probably an almost paranoid fear of avalanches I was buried in one in 1980 on Annapurna 3 in Nepal I had to be dug out but the avalanches that are coming down off Everest now are bigger than I've ever seen in my life at 7,000 meters the young Australians had reached an impasse time was beginning to run out with the approach of winter conditions which were unbelievably harsh before would become unremittingly hostile when winter struck in a relatively short while and with a constant weather delays a sense of urgency overcame the young Australian team when conditions were good with camp two well established it had to be stocked with food and supplies in readiness for the summit push [Music] fears within the party were put aside with the realization that now it was all or nothing the entire team slog through the lungs training tener consolidating while Lincoln ropes as high on the physically and emotionally drained after the hard slog camp one is an oasis of warmth and neurons pancakes a goo maze the optimism is bubbling dreadful so cold this morning it's hard to know how much is the cold how much the altitude be bad it really takes it out it's hard to tell also because when you've been out there for a while you still tend to get less strong anyway so it's hard to tell how much is the extra height and how much is affective cumulative weakening huh it's a big phrase that's impressive for you did someone throw it at the info right [Music] a tactical retreat is called and the team spends a few days at advanced base camp in the peaceful sunlit Valley they must regain their strength and their mental stamina focusing their all on the summit it's a time for reflection [Music] one of the things about a small trip like ours is the fact that with five people I mean now when the weather is perfect we're not on the mountain because we're recovering from our efforts of before it reduces your success having fewer people reduces your chances of success having fewer people but it makes it more satisfying if you do succeed waiting now wouldn't necessarily achieve anything what we'll gain in the snow coming off the face and so a decrease in avalanche danger we'll lose by the wind becoming more intense and the wind up high if it does increase will will just be horrific so I think this next week it will be a week of making it or breaking it why the climb to the summit all have to retreat and call it a day I guess over there there's a lot of unforeseen things that can can happen I still got this gut feeling that things are the things are gonna be okay I'm quite I'm quite positive now even though there's a there's a there's a million things that can go wrong I think everybody physically is fit enough to get to the top really what the problem is it's trying to build off enough metal inertia to keep going just to be able to throw yourself into quad mode and slowly rather bloody minded way grind your way to the top when mr. solid Everest he ended up crawling and I know I mean if mr. crawls and I don't quite prepared to crawl to get to the tough I think it's just going to be bloody hard work to make it to the top it's going to take everything we've got and I think the last few hundred feet to the Sun are going to be the hardest thing that I've ever done and the way I find that exciting the weather held now was the time to move out but the tranquility of the valley had disguised the change in seasons because stealthily autumn had given way to winter the temperature had dropped but the snow clouds stayed away the years of planning the preparatory climbs had distilled into this moment the young Australians knew they were pitting themselves against horrendous odds climbing without oxygen attempting a new route climbing into an Everest winter all thought about the lack of oxygen because reactions were slowed and the dangers of mountaineering were doubled or traveled in extreme altitudes death they knew was never far away at the base of Everest Lincoln knew he'd come to the end of his tether the cuff which had plagued him for weeks had suddenly degenerated into bronchitis at each mouthful of frigid air cut into his lungs like a knife his body was telling him that to go on would place not only himself at risk but also jeopardize the others for Greg Mortimer Lincoln's decision was devastating as soon as I sort of take good lung-lung for the Colbert I just it could take ages I mean when two men I don't know I don't know what he had with head boom Carla saw what he had but he wasn't taking anybody so it would he got a cough just from going up there for a day or two I mean it was eight days before he came back up again he was that you know then he came up we cannot later than you because he wanted to hang down in extra day you know it's great knew the team needed Lincoln strength if they were going to make it he had to convince him to continue well do you think about in terms of former sputters tips alright the jiffy bag Hoskins right don't you I still reckon we've only got one here we've got the story for one hood yeah [Music] that's tomorrow once we can do tomorrow yeah strength few more days after that yeah I know he's just after buddy pull his finger out and they had a good talk Tim tonight or up there we kept - you know you will the stock realization that Lincoln is determined to stop is shattering [Music] a terrifying prospect winter conditions time rapidly running out one of the team down still more than half the mountain left to climb and the weather closes in well last night's weather report was pretty dismal up we're about where you are now at 7,000 meters it's meant to be minus 16 with a 29 net wind and at the top of Everest it's minus 30 and a 30 knot wind which according to windchill charts minus 56 so doesn't sound too good up there over [Music] the optic Jetstream has ravaged his way across the frozen wastes of Tibet to Hell itself with blinding fury on Everest upper slopes with a force capable of plucking a mere human from the face and hurtling him into oblivion [Applause] chastened by this vast display of natural power the climbers move out from the safety of camp one this time though they're back to full strength the enforced rest has given Lincoln time to recover a mass taking the edge from the freezing air [Music] the climb up to camp two as fraught with danger as ever had become familiar territory and the safety of the snow cave is reached relatively quickly a decision is made to rest at the cave overnight to conserve strength and Tim is bursting with anticipation we've been waiting for this for well years and the conditions are right tomorrow morning as as soon as it's light we'll set off from here carrying tents food sleeping bag but making it as light as possible and we'll try and climb up to the top of the cooler which is about 4,000 feet above here there we'll find a campsite and try and have the camp are comfortable at night as possible the next day weather permitting we'll go to the Sun above 7,000 meters thoughts come slowly mansions happen with a dreamlike quality the oxygen less air drugging the mind but the cold was real cutting through the fabric and the skin deep into the bone measured in real-time Australian farewells were more than two months old by the mountains time they could have left Australia's several lifetimes ago because reality was a cold vertical void gasping breath and one careful foot in front of the other [Music] a rocky barrier to overcome leading up to the vast snow slab they'd christened white limbo those days spent analyzing the mountain probing for weaknesses have paid off the plan was working [Music] up to seven thousand three hundred meters and at least the snow appeared less likely to avalanche and faces further down [Music] [Music] with the full team strung out on white limbo everything appeared to be going well until watching movement on the face and one time is static but it looks like somebody's turned back just above the rock in the middle of the white void it was just the last climber on the ropes and presumably they're exhausted or dehydrated or feeling the effects of the altitude so we can't really put a name to it it was Jeff with all the symptoms of cerebral edema I started it in the last half-hour to get really violent headaches and and my leg started to go from under me any higher and Jeff would have died the only remedy is to get down and get down quickly a violent headache double vision shaky legs and Jeff begins the loneliest and most important climb of his life it's slow and it's careful [Music] a split second of blind panic for the watches below Geoff's dropped his pack and it looks too much like a body for anyone's comfort [Music] 7,500 meters and a slight respite because instead of the incessant upward drive the route takes them on a traverse to the bottom of the Grand couloir instead of looking straight up though everyone becomes aware of the vast drop to their left just one slip it's best not to think [Music] just on Sunset Greg and Tim discovered a perfect site for camp three in a natural crevasse which Tim tried to burn down as soon as the Sun leaves the slopes the temperature drops 20 degrees and the ice cave provided a chilly Haven time for a meal of soup cheese and noodles then exhaustion brings a sleep filled with half-remembered dreams they're still 1400 meters to climb to the summit they're exposed beyond any help well and truly into cerebral oedema territory and if that wind starts again they're dead was going to die last night scared to fall asleep at Camp 2 in case he never woke up he's made it back to camp 1 and Jim duck pumped some of the medicinal oxygen into him hopefully Jeff's safe woman born and for strong feelings on water food while Jeff's getting the life-giving oxygen high on the mountain the day begins brilliantly at camp Sri the decision is not to use ropes climbing conditions perfect on the icy faced crampons biting firmly into the surface don't think about slipping it's going to be impossible to break the fall of one and a half kilometers don't think about the spindrift avalanches maybe they won't get bigger don't think about the rasp in the throat or the red-hot iron bands around the chest just climb [Music] deep into the grand coule wa sunset coming on and they must reach the top of this giant gully and find a campsite before dark [Music] a miniscule ledge was all that was needed for the base of camp fall it would provide shelter certainly but warmth what time you'll start tomorrow then for the summit over three quarters of the greatest mountain in the world has been conquered the final quarter no one could predict that we'll be down here watching every every move so keep yourself warned go further there's a belief the mountain chooses just who will conquer her right now that choice was being made the climbers have passed 26,000 feet down and are well into the what we call a Death Zone and they'll be dehydrating with breathing so rapidly they'll be gasping every upward step will be a mighty effort and they've only got a few hours the survival time of their even through the telescopic lens the climbers look like ants but a recovered jeff's or enough to know someone was in trouble it was Lincoln a heart shattering decision but the only one here today there's no way get back only three left the day is nearly over just a few hours of daylight left conditions are inconceivable and Moran's worried but not today they're nothing only tomorrow yeah yeah already too late now they're gonna make it up today today yeah they're getting the crack in the final rock barrier we got two to three and a half hours sunlight left and once they're through this rock barrier and they're all going quite strongly even Andy is catching up now they're gonna uh they've got an easy walk easy walk the summit ridge nothing's easy up here but Jim's climbing strongly is packed with all his survival equipment back at camp for the cold is intense deep bitter and nagging the sun's just about to set Andy's broken his crampon two choices fixed the crampon or die but to fix the cramp on the gloves must come off and the fingers will be frostbitten decision take off the gloves and fix the crampons and so fifty meters from the summit Andy Henderson takes a decision that saves his life destroys his hands and ruins his summer chance god boy they're so close the Sun only Greg and Tim left and the Sun is setting on the world it's hard to believe a new timer dearest [Music] [Music] they're at the Sun they're on the top [Music] their wildness [Music] this is some of Mount Everest Chomolungma when the goddess of the earth world is absolutely staggeringly beautiful from up here it it's beyond superlatives [Music] no elation now just relief the elation and joy would come later a climb to be enshrined in mountaineering annals a new route no oxygen now they have to get back safely a nightmarish climb in the dark and his hands dead great fading fast from cerebral edema even Tim's strength sapped safety at camp four but it's obvious Greg Mortimer is in a bad way while Andy Henderson's distress is painfully obvious triumph comes costly on Everest three days at extreme altitudes have taken their toll but they're alive Andy painfully inches his way down the ropes unaware that higher on the mountain Gregor's slipped swooped down the ice managing to break his fall only meters from a kilometer high drop and his hands need attention and quickly [Music] first oxygen then to find out just how badly damaged is the tissue if he lets me drive then let's get down to sea level and in the meantime as much oxygen as possible because these tissues need it to heal but they never did you four months later and II underwent surgery in a Sydney hospital to remove one thumb and all this fingers and Greg was to recover a low slowly from his close call with death weeks later Sydney Airport [Music] [Applause] [Music] sorry [Music] [Music] they're on the top gays in or and reflect on the courage determination and mental stamina which were two young Australians on the roof of the world a stage far removed from 20th century civilization a stage where only the brave can act out their play of life [Music] you
