Lost in Everest's Death Zone. Michael Matthews

there are unfortunately a lot of bodies on Everest my understanding of things of 160 bodies now for the ogre hate 800 climbers over the reach the summer and many of those bodies are on the mountain someone dies on Everest and you get a phone call you have nothing to relate it to you don't believe you wouldn't believe it you'd hang on for days thinking you'd and someone would emerge from the storm alive people believe that it's a simple jaunt up Everest the movies and the books have glorified it in a sense and so you feel as though if you have enough money you're strong fit 21 and invincible you too can climb everything the danger of Everest has possessed Mountaineers for decades 1 in 7 climbers who've reached the summit has died on the mountain since the mid 1980s for large fees commercial expeditions have been offering guided services to take amateur climbers to the top of the world in 1999 22 year-old Michael Matthews a high-flying trader from London paid $40,000 for his shot at the summit but the organization of the expedition Michael joined fell apart and he found himself alone separated from his team fighting a vicious storm Michael Matthews became the hundred and sixty second person to die on Everest to some he was another inexperienced climber caught out of his depth in a bad storm but the other clients in Michael's team tell a different story they feel the expedition was a shambles and Michael's death might have been avoided this is the story of how a trader from the city came to be alone and dying in Everest deaths own [Music] trader gets here in the Dacey's which way the markets going when it does kick off it happens very very quickly you have a split second to make a decision of the calibre of Mike walk you through the door and getting it and just having that extra sense to do that little bit extra that you don't know where they get it from he was probably one of three that have ever been through the door here Mike I had a gift for for trading he was making more than the rest of us trading big positions it was very difficult to tell whether Mike was that money how much is up whether is down or how much was down he just clicked with it it was it kind of came naturally to him before long he was the top trader within within the company there's no flashing us about him in any way four other people were buying Ferraris Porsches things like that yeah I didn't even cross Mike's mind that's not what he's in it for age 22 Michael Matthews seemed to have it all a job in the city that could earn him hundreds of thousands a flat in the heart of Fulham and a fast-paced career that was the envy of many but one day at work a magazine article would change Michaels life forever as far as I can remember at first happened when I picked up a magazine something like FHM around GQ and there was an article about various activities that involved a bit of risk but things that were worth really worth going after and one of them was an article on Everest I knew that Mikey had done some climbing as well so we had a little bit of a common interest so I just went down to his desk through the magazine on his desk and said do you fancy doing that and he just looked down and said you know rather and oh so that was that was how it all started there was just this idea hey let's gang let's go and do this and it sounds quite flippant now no it was just the start of an idea and you always gonna be fairly optimistic when you start things off on you the company featured in the article with a british-based outfit OTT they ran commercial expeditions all over the world at $40,000 Everest was their most expensive ott had an excellent track record of getting clients successfully to the summit and had never lost anyone on the mountain some of these teams now are making huge amounts of money we're really selling you almost an ego thing I suppose you hear who are offering Everest and look the profit margins are fairly reasonable you can punting was charging 30,000 another forty fifty sixty four one hundred thousand the profit margins are significant time and time again we see people with a whim and money to satisfy that whim they come here and teams are prepared to take them and yet when you really look into it they've got no experience whatsoever and you know that's dangerous at the end of the day unfortunately lot of people hope that the mountain is going to turn them around they're going to take one look at the mountain and decide that their experience clearly is not up to it I'm not sure that's right [Applause] [Music] Michael and Jamie arrived in Katmandu ready to go for Everest they'd signed up with OTT and met the criteria for the expedition by summiting aconcagua in Argentina the highest peak in the Americas Everest was to be the start of a great adventure together [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] on their 1999 Everest expedition ott had signed up 13 clients each paying a minimum of $40,000 for a shot of the sunnat' over the first two weeks the clients trek through Nepal to Everest Space Camp for Jaime and Michael it was freedom from the city we won we won we think and that's too much Michael was very exuberant lively larger-than-life he just was such a nice natural down-to-earth young kid going on a run a great adventure and I think that's what I liked about it you can see little bits of Everest from about I think about seven days out from base camp and that's when you start to realize this thing is it was really high really really high [Music] after two weeks trekking Michael and Jaime reached base camp on the Khumbu Icefall as ott began to set up camp they had a chance to get to know the other clients among them were a Canadian team doctor Dennis Brown and cameraman Dave Rodney katia starches from holland hope to be the first dutch woman to summit and john Crellin from the isle of man was a novice climber who like michael and jamie had climbed aconcagua to many of the other guides on everest that year the mixture of OT T's team could be a problem now they go TT that year were a fairly diverse bunch of characters there's no doubt about it they were all after different things but that was what they were confronted with they had to buy large not work together much but climb together and that's that's quite difficult that produces with such diverse bunch of people all sorts of other pressures and and you could see that bubbling up from the very beginning right in Katmandu I was very alarmed that we did not have a team meeting there was no team meal there is no introduction this is this person from this place and here are the other teammates and tell us a little bit about yourself at Basecamp for the first time we had all of the climbers together and it was very obvious that we had two teams now I had not realised that and I personally thought the whole thing was quite unwieldy I was really concerned about the fact we didn't had team meetings every day because I think there are so many important issues to talk about and then finally also you're thinking I'm not a leader I'm I'm just a participant well if this is the way we are doing the expedition if this is to where well so be it [Music] although the clients had concerns about the ad hoc nature of the team meetings at the start they soon had a bigger worry to focus on they faced another 11,000 feet to the summit of Everest the route they would take passes through four camps to acclimatize they had to start climbing the mountain in stages the first obstacle was the ice for one of the most dangerous parts of the climb everybody it's just before 8 o'clock on April the 11th here we are at Wow 18,500 feet been climbing since just after six o'clock onward and upward although climbing on ice was new to Michael he mastered the technique of the Icefall well and over the first couple of weeks the ott team made good progress in acclimatizing [Music] but unlike the rest of the team things didn't go to plan for Jamie on his first climb in the Icefall he was struck down with severe headaches dizziness and exhaustion his lack of experience and altitude had hit him physically I was feeling like I was just going to collapse I was feeling like I was losing control of my body and I was thinking [ __ ] this is it I'm on the way out I have no control over this Jamie was in a critical condition and diagnosed as having altitude sickness the only way to recover was to go down the mountain his Everest attempt was over and Michael would be left alone Mike was upset that I was going and I was upset to be leaving Mike we'd done everything together as a team up to that point although it was becoming clear that even if I did carry on we were going to be doing things separately because he was leaps and bounds ahead of me and his ability to acclimatize and just climb the mountain my last words to Mike right just I told him I loved him and that there were lots of people who loved him that were waiting for him at home not to take any unnecessary risks he said I know I won't tell everyone I am I love them I'll see you in six weeks and that was pretty much the last last few things we said [Music] when Jamie left the Everest expedition Michael had to put the loss of his best friend behind him the team had finished acclimatizing and were about to begin a summit push but unbeknown to the clients a problem had emerged with the oxygen they will be using higher on the mountain the team leaders at Basecamp were just becoming aware that it could jeopardize everyone's expedition I first realised there was a problem about oxygen in 1999 when the oxygen arrived late at base camp and I was co-located with Henry Todd he was supplying oxygen to many teams on the mountain and there was this strange huddle where Henry and his guide Andy lapkus will go off into the tent for almost two days clearly there was a there was a problem and we weren't told at the time what that problem was it later became apparent that when they tested the oxygen bottles when they tried to fit the regulator to the bottle it wasn't working Henry Todd had been supplying teams on Everest with oxygen for many years the industry standard was poise the Russian bottled oxygen and regulator [Music] but in 1999 Todd had a mixture of bottles on Everest some were the smaller poisk ones but others were bigger American and British bottles the problem Todd had was the russian poisk regulator didn't fit the bigger bottles to make it work they had to file down the thread on the connection or insert a small plastic pen either way it was proving difficult to get to work in that brochure OTT stated they only use Russian oxygen that year on Everest the expedition leader was John tinker now he was faced with a potentially dangerous problem clearly ott had a big problem with us John tinker particular is very angry that he he was getting oxygen that wasn't working throughout OT T's acclimatization climbs Sherpas had carried the oxygen bottles and stored them at camps three and four ready for the summit push when John tinker found out about the problems it was too late the mixture of Russian and adapted bottles were already high on the mountain of course there was always the option to call the mountain expedition north but you were dealing with people who were desperate to climb a mountain the chances of them accepting that decision were limited at Basecamp it became clear to us that the oxygen system was undergoing certain alterations but we didn't know exactly what because we were assured that everything was going to be fine a slightly different system but it would work perfectly the oxygen equipment I thought we're going to use was as they'd stated in there as if we're there that itinerary it was the latest poisel system and a reliable oxygen system some of the clients felt Tinka hadn't told them the whole story about the oxygen they wouldn't find out about the adaptations to the bigger american and british bottles until they were higher up the mountain unaware of the problems ahead Michael on the first team of clients eagerly set off through the Icefall for their summit bid up through camps one to four [Music] once through the Icefall the team made it to camp 2 also known as advanced base camp it was here that guide Nick geekus introduced them to the basics of how the Russian oxygen system would work I filmed Nick ekeus explaining the oxygen system an advanced base camp graduate from 1:7 immediately to his left is Michael Matthews he's describing how my voice system would work and how things would work with this American system which is basically the same not just connected guys Justices spake clip pushes panics in position Oh Chester after explaining the Russian system kickers went on to tell the clients of the adaptations to the bigger American and British bottles but some of the clients weren't happy there are different levels of ease and unease I was quite uneasy but this whole bottle issue of trying something twice the size I've made from a different system in a different country I didn't like the idea at all and other people were blissfully naive I don't know if in advance there was something known about the oxygen problems it to my knowledge it appeared only in camp 2 that there were problems so I'm surprised when they said oh we've had a change in oxygen cylinders but it's gonna be to your advantage it was made out to be that these cylinders with them last longer and be just as good so it's the last day of April we have exactly one month to finish this off it's been the arrest day although there's been a fair bit of nerves which has made it not so restful there's quite a big concern regarding the amount of oxygen bottles that we have and regulators and masks and all sort of stuff but we're gonna leave that up to all the other boys to figure out that's what we're paying them the big bucks for from camp to Michael and the team made it through camp 3 and the final steep climb into camp 4 [Music] after spending the night there weather permitting the following day they would stand on top of the world [Music] [Music] but by the next morning the situation had drastically changed overnight expedition leader John tinker had suffered a minor stroke and team dr. Dennis Brown decided he must go down to safety in the confusion Michael and the whole team were ordered down by tinker and Nicky cos their summit bid was over the story that I got from John tinker was that he'd had an episodes of numbness tingling a little weakness mainly affecting his face I was concerned that he could possibly have suffered a small transient type of stroke I was alarmed enough to say that I think we should be going down we were coming down the loads he faced at one stage we stopped at camp three and I said you know I don't know where Dave is this is a bit strange you know and we waited and waited and there was no tape so we got on radio to try and find out where he was and we found that he'd stayed up at Camp four I thought okay we've got 35 Sherpas on the team we have a number of guides on the team why is it that an entire team would go down I thought while we're here if we can take a shot we should take it Kika Scott on the line and said you go up you can consider yourself off this team unless you come down immediately your trip is over reluctantly Dave Rodney agreed to go back down to camp 2 the following day tinker and the team headed back to base camp but once again Dave Rodney refused to go he understood the plan was to take tinker back down and then head back up as the weather looked good for the next few days in a summit bid was still possible Rodney was sharing a tent with Michael and together they decided to resist Nikki cos his decision and waited camp 2 for the team's return why should we go six kilometres back to camp one descend a thousand vertical feet then descend very very perilous 2,000 vertical feet more through the Khumbu Icefall and just come right back up and do it all over again that didn't make any sense but one day turned into two turned into three it was a number of days Mike and I we're at camp to the other Shore down below my feeling is a number of people in team were a little jealous that we didn't have to take that extra trip back down at base camp tinkers condition hadn't improved and after a full examination Dennis Brown advised him that he should return home to England to get hospital treatment [Music] as Mike and I were sitting at camp - we were made aware that John tinker was going back to England Nick ekeus was in charge you must have been about day five why the reports coming in because we were told there was a five-day weather forecast that was absolutely terrible no way would there be a summit attempt so it was no uncertain terms that Mike and I must come down because of this high wind five-day weather forecast [Music] mike and i after descending from camp 2 to base camp the first thing that we found out about i believe it was from dennis was that we were going straight back up not the next day but the day after that i was blown away had the weather forecast changed like that at Basecamp when Dave Rodney and Michael found out the weather had improved and they were going straight back up for a second summit push not only were they tired out from the descent they also felt a change in the atmosphere now that expedition leader John Tinka had returned to England and Nick geekus was in charge all I know is that the mood of the camp was that Mike and I were somewhat ostracized didn't have any words with Nick ekeus or any of the other guys the feeling simply was that Michael and I were on the outside whilst Michael and Dave Rodney had stayed at Camp two the rest of the team had had five days more rest at the lower altitude of base camp there they'd been able to regain their lost energy quicker from the first aborted summit bed a factor which worried Dennis Brown when we set off from base camp again on our second attempt the Dave Rodney and and Michael Matthews had only had I suppose a day and a half rest at base camp and that did concern me primarily concerned with Michael because he seemed to be slowing down he wasn't quite his bright cheery self he was having more trouble getting up early in the morning he just seemed to be a little slower I think that false ascent and the turnaround at camp for coming down and then spending a couple of extra days at camp to takin a fair amount out of Michael he'd slowed down quite a lot I was just hoping that his natural strength would be a Kereama as Michael and the team set off on the second summit push they faced a long couple of days climbing back up to camp three as other team members forged ahead both Michael and Dave Rodney were a lot slower by the time they reached camp they were beginning to feel the strain I checked my watch here and it tells me it's almost 8 o'clock just over 23 and a half thousand feet we must be at Camp three what a day this has been maybe 11th boy did I ever suck wind from ABC the bottom of the lot say face if it wasn't for my good friend Mike Matthews a little pep talk I don't know if I would have made it ready okay it's true hey shine the light on your face how you feeling pal I'm feeling just fine right it's like golf because of the dry Abbott I'm sure Dave soup will make everything alright I had anything it to add to the viewers at home well just to sleep over here so wonderful Wow it looks like we're ready buddy leaving camp three the team made it up to camp 4 at 26,000 feet once again they were close to the summit are now inside Everest's death zone from here upwards the body can no longer adapt to the altitude they would need to use oxygen but some of the clients were concerned that the adapted American and British bottles wouldn't work so I went over to the Sherpa climbing leader Lhakpa Galen I said to can I take a bottle of oxygen and make sure it's working I said help yourself so I try one and it's not working I'm sucking on it it's like a plastic bag nothing coming through I try another it's not working and a third the same it would screw in but nowhere would come out of it it would connect but no way I would come out no oxygen would would come out so then I'd go out and get another cylinder which I thought was I thought that I'm John something wrong here he finally finds one yeah and lakpa Gala gives me a big black felt-tip pen and he says Dave could you please put your name on it because this bottle worked with my regulator and mask I start to put my last name on there and out of the corner of my eye I see someone approaching me very very quickly something over their head it's Nick key cos with an oxygen bottle ready to pop me over my head I see this I'm sprinting across the south call of Mount Everest I turned around and I said what are you doing I demand an explanation there was a terrible scene outside how tense sexy probably fifty or so meters away and there was screaming and shouting and it was obvious that that Nick ekeus was chasing Dave Rodney and we just looked out and we couldn't believe what was going on the two of them were shouting and screaming he and each other and then Dave came back to the tent and burst into tears it was very traumatic he was emotionally devastated very upset and an incredibly angry kickers claims Rodney's account as pure fabrication and blames Rodney for interfering with his leadership and organization of the oxygen bottles it was only hours before the team would leave in the pitch black of night for their summit bid now at the time that good organization was vital especially for inexperienced clients like Michael but after the confrontation the atmosphere at Camp four hit rock bottom things began to fall apart we should all have had a very good solid talk this is what will be happening because you're all coming back alive some of you may not get to the summit but you're all coming back to life and that philosophy was never really communicated to any of us and especially to someone like Michael whose ego and his confidence level said I'm getting to the top no matter what when you ask a question of what was the organizational feeling going into our final summit attempt I can't help but laugh because the word organization doesn't belong in the sentence things were thrown together from the start it was an accident waiting to happen I recall talking to Michael I'm sure I asked him why you ready set go for the summit and of course Michael was so confident and he said yes he was ready to go and he was a little slower but not too worried he would he would be fine [Music] dear James and Ferg lots of sudden sex sand and surf and sangria wish you were here as you can see the clubs pubs and chicks are everywhere ok so I finally cracked on a serious note team one with eight members have finally fully acclimatized after sleeping at camp 3 and we're hopefully going to start our summit bid in a few days therefore knock on wood I shall see you sooner than expected give my regards to the rest of the crew loss of love Mike Mike Aldous and sort of said to us you'd be amazed what's going on here I can't wait to tell you everything that's happened but he didn't actually say anything they're specific I remember hearing my query exasperated saying that I wouldn't believe it when he was disabled to come and sing you know when he wasn't when you'd be down and recovering and to tell us the stories that he said you just won't believe what's going on up here [Music] give me up guys putting the crampons on buddy here we go all right ten midnight and we're hit it off this is the big one let's hope the winners good for us here we go just before midnight on the 12th of May 1999 Michael and the rest of the team set off for the summit of Everest they'd scoured camp for to find as many oxygen bottles as they could that seemed to work and although unsure of the organization they headed into the night I think it was either going to be the 12th or the 13th that they summited and when the 14th we hadn't heard anything I started saying today that you know why haven't we heard anything it was possibly the next day that we got a call from John tinker first thing in the morning who said that Mike had been lost on the mountain for 20 hours [Music] Michael and OTT summit day had gone badly wrong from the start the weather conditions look good the wind was quite high but the sky was clear after climbing through the night the first clients reached the summit just after 9 a.m. I thought this is fantastic I'm getting my chance despite all of the problems with OTT whether they be oxygen or logistics or communications or sweeping or whatever I'm actually getting my chance and I got to the top and the first thing that I did was I sat down in the snow and just enjoy the moment the most emotional moment was not arriving on the summit but it was just before the summit it was the moment I thought there is the summit I going to make it and I can't climb any higher on the world I was taking two or three steps at a time collapsing on my ice ex and then dragging myself up another two or three steps just to collapse again for some reason Michael had slowed even more than his teammates on summit day and had fallen way behind as the team were beginning their slow descent back down to camp four they passed Michael on his way up some distance behind him was guide Mike Smith head sharper lakpa Galu felt that Michael was too far behind and moving too slowly to make the summit safely the wind was growing stronger and the weather could change he told Michael to turn around and go back down that boogaloo had been coming down from the summit and just come down the Hillary step and Michael was going up and because of the wind he yelled at him he said he had to yell because of the wind and he yelled at him you must turn around turn around now but guide Mike Smith didn't know a Sherpa told Michael to turn around and said he would accompany him to the summit there was still time by now Michael was less than 400 feet away and he said he wanted to go [Music] in one sense Michael is being told to turn around by a Sherpa but a guide is saying no I'll come with you to the summit I mean it seems very obvious that Michael would would leap at that opportunity to go up to the summit with the guide I mean gee it sounds pretty safe and secure but within the next couple of hours the weather began to change severely and the wind grew a lot stronger I knew just looking at the weather feeling the wind that the conditions were changing I could see the tell-tale wind hitting the top that's the summit ridge and and I knew once you get caught in that wind you're in a lot of trouble well we had a very dramatic descent back down to camp four very high winds deep snow we could hardly see there was spindrift blowing around it was very cold I'm sure the wind was well over 100 miles an hour and it was 40 below I kept looking over my shoulder hoping and praying that Mike and Mike were coming back safely very quickly but every single time I looked up to the South Summit I didn't see any of them and as I've said this childhood dream was quickly turning into a nightmare I thought Oh [Music] Michael and guide Mike Smith reached the summit at midday when the weather still seemed fine Michael though exhausted had made it to the top the youngest ever Briton to summit Everest Mike Smith took photographs of Michael checked his oxygen was working and they began their descent but Michael began to slow drastically the wind grew stronger and the storm blew in before long Michael and Mike were caught in winds of over a hundred miles per hour and in whiteout conditions [Music] it wasn't until dusk that Mike Smith staggered in to camp for where the rest of the team were desperately trying to shelter from the storm but Michael Matthews wasn't with him I think it was two hours after I arrived in camp for that Mike Smith arrived in the tent so I was the first person I think to know until year that Michael was missing and he came back alone it was a terrible moment but he he said it as a fact but also a little bit hopeless I can remember only that I was asking my things and then I was thinking a little bit but it can't be possible that a guide is leaving the client [Music] the storm raged all night long at Camp four and the team struggled to fight off the freezing temperatures by the next morning it had grown worse and the clients were exhausted NIC kickers and Mike Smith decided the team should head back down the mountain any search for Michael now would only risk more lives the weather was so bad we were trying to almost stay alive in a sense but far worse than that was the inner turmoil that was going on just knowing that we had turned our back on Michael in a sense we've left him up there and there was very little likelihood that he would have survived I desperately wanted to run up that mountain and and carry him down and my teammates quickly convinced me that it was already too late that there's no way that he could have survived the night by now the OTT team had fallen apart the clients wanted answers they'd been told that Michael had slowed dramatically fighting the storm Mike Smith had gone ahead of Michael to cut a path through the snow and pull out the rope that were following but the clients wanted to know more Howard Mike Smith lost contact with Michael a meeting between the guides and the clients was called on the last night before they left for home even though he was expedition leader Nick ekeus wasn't there sir Mike Smith was left to answer the questions alone Mike Smith's report was that somewhere below the cells summit and before the balcony he looked back and couldn't see Mike he waited for some time he tried to get radio contact he said that didn't work he tried to go up but because of the wind 100 miles an hour - 40 the amount of snow that had fallen it he said that it was like the treadmill and he couldn't get anywhere he waited some more he made another radio call for help his toes were getting very very cold and he decided that it was best that he went down without Mike I just don't understand how a guy puts himself in that position where he gets so far ahead that he looks back and he can't see his client he can't get up to him he can't get help from down below so he leaves that's not good enough after Mike Smith's explanation the mood of the meeting changed more of the 13 clients began complaining about the oxygen they've been given on Summit day the first to talk about having trouble of oxygen was August Ortega he said that his son that was cutting in and cutting out whilst he was climbing he was upset about the oxygen but he was supplied with and then constant Antiochus came in and he too had had oxygen problems and it just went on from there everybody was complaining about the oxygen they were given it wasn't right it was just cutting in and cutting out so then Mike Smith he apologized he said I'm sorry about this he said it appears that Henry Todd this guy called Henry Todd he supplied the oxygen cylinders and he was sorry that they didn't work and that was it he was just sorry it was just bizarre he then turned around and said to us whole look at me especially because you know I'd fallen out of otz the word weed I've been treated and he said let's not mention this problem of oxygen to the Matthews family because it will only upset them [Music] we would overdue the phone call and it was weighing greatly on his mother's mind and endeth phone went was John tinker and I greeted him quite cheerfully because I felt he was going to ring and say that all was well and Mike was down and done it and in fact he said that it was difficult news everybody was down bar Mike Mike was up there had been some sort of accident information was sketchy I replied by asking if there was anybody with Mike and there wasn't and and the weather was very bad so knows that you know realization that that it couldn't be worse well straightaway I knew that he was dead and I felt John had waited and rang when he thought that there was no more hope what happened in the next day or two after Michaels disappearance was that we talked a lot to John tinker he said he'd had a word and he wrote to us about this he'd checked into things and he was pleased to vote to tell us OTT had been fine on the hill on the day there's no no problems etc etc to try to find out more about Michael's death the family then met with John tinker Nick ekeus and Mike Smith again they were assured that the team had operated well on Everest the danger of the mountain had killed Michael things changed we started to our family to try to adjust as families due to the loss of a mother of a much-loved member there was very early one morning telephone went and this voice came on you don't know me my name is John Carlin and I was on the climb with Michael I have reason to believe that you've been told a load of rubbish about the circumstances I just wonder if you know that there were major problems with oxygen on that expedition David was upset but he composed himself well he said I knew there was something wrong he said when I had my meeting with OTT it was just something in the air I just knew I knew in my bones as an old dealer that I knew I knew it was fishin knew there were things that I wasn't happy about I started to ring round and I spent days doing this I contacted pretty well everybody who'd been on the climb I mean I got Dave Rodney and Dennis Brown and so I'm straight people incredible thing about it was that all of the client climbers on the OTT 1999 Everest summit in in May said one thing and and it was completely the opposite of what they ot T John tinker Nick key because Mike Smith story was on the other just the opposite [Music] it's been two years since Michaels death OTT now called Alpine mountaineering maintain their team of guides operated professionally on the mountain they say the storm killed Michael and inquiry by the British Association of mountain guides found their guides had acted according to professional standards but the families and clients concerns about the oxygen and team organisations still remain in Michaels memory the Sherpas built a memorial close to base camp the questions that our family would like answering about Michael's death is whether or not he was provided with proper oxygen whether or not he was deserted descending from the summit of Mount Everest by his professional guide and whether or not the stories of shocking mismanagement and he'll tempered behavior on the hill are true or whether they're not it just too soon for Mike to die he was only just 22 then this doesn't seem fair that he was taken taken from from us I think what happened to Mike would always be mystery in part but it's one the reasons I think you can't guide up there in those circumstances at that height in the world it's by large every man for himself [Music] what's really crucial is why Michael wasn't better looked after that's really the bottom line he was slow maybe his oxygen was malfunctioning why didn't why weren't the watch dogs put onto him watch Michael like a hawk it should have been the best day of my life and Mike's in pretty much everywhere it was the absolute worst was that worth the summit was it worth the trip absolutely not would I trade the summit for a safe return with Mike absolutely but I can't [Music] [Music] next Wednesday at 9:00 an intimate insight into Mick Jagger's personal life in being Mick check it out in a moment next on four antoine gives us access to Eurotrash

Channel: Larry Bees

Views: 1,042,436

Keywords: everest death zone, michael matthews, mount everest death zone, everest documentary 2018, everest documentary, lost on everest, mount everest, everest death, death zone, everest deaths, michael matthews everest documentary, mount everest documentary, mt everest, climbing mount everest, lost in everest, lost in everest death zone, mt everest documentary, death on everest, mount everest (mountain), mt. everest, mountain climbing

Id: HwVYnD2X3vU

Length: 48min 59sec (2939 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 08 2018