Ultimate Survival: Everest (2004–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Acclimitization Begins - full transcript
- On the last episode
Everest.
The Discovery team
arrived in Base Camp with a plan,
to climb the tallest
mountain in the world,
and video tape every step of the way.
So far, team leader Ben Webster,
his girlfriend Shaunna Burke,
and professional mountaineers
Andrew Lock and Hector Ponce de Leon,
have met every challenge the
mountain has thrown at them.
They have sidestepped avalanches.
- We live to fight another day.
- We cheated death.
- We've cheated it again!
- They've overcome
changes in air pressure.
- Feels like somebody's
taken a couple of needles
and is just driving into the ears
at the moment.
- And, they've
walked into and out of
some very sticky situations.
- I actually told myself,
Don't look down, because that's
when you're gonna lose it.
- Under Ben's direction,
the team has gone safely from Base Camp,
up to Camp One, and back down again.
So far, the quest for the summit
has gone according to plan.
But today is just day
six of a 50 day schedule.
Plans change on Everest.
The mountain might even
have a plan of its own.
- For the last two years,
Ben Webster's life has
been nothing but planning
this Mount Everest expedition.
Just getting the team this far
has been a logistical
feat of epic proportions.
Consider, Ben has brought together
an international group of 34 people,
along with six tons of equipment,
3,000 pounds of food,
100 bottles of oxygen,
16,000 liters of fuel,
and 1,500 meters of rope.
He's organized everything
from Nepalese park
permits to yak caravans.
There's little details, like
which kind of lanterns to buy
and big details, like which
kind of radio system to bring.
On the mountain, Ben is the deal maker,
the ambassador, and most important,
he dictates how and when
Team Discovery climbs.
He's the president of his own
small but expensive republic.
This expedition is costing
half a million dollars US.
The stress of spending that money
has been splitting his focus.
- I'm a bit worried
about Ben because I know,
I can see that his energies
are being pulled partially
towards the project and
partially towards climbing.
And I've seen a shift over
him in the last 48 hours
where I can see he's now focusing in on
going for the summit and climbing.
So, I'm happy to see that
he's made that shift.
And I think it's, it
was absolutely needed.
It was something he needed
to do, because I could tell
that he wasn't totally
committed to the climb.
- Unlike Ben,
most team leaders don't do the climb.
They simply run their
expedition from base camp.
Ben planned on being in top
physical shape right now,
but his organizational
efforts have left him drained.
- Really low energy.
I've never felt this low on a climb.
I'm usually a reasonably high energy guy,
and it's really draggin' me down,
and I'm sure it's the sickness.
So I'm hopin' it's gonna
clear, it better clear.
Or I'm gonna have a hell
of a time up on the hill.
- The plan today
is to climb from Base Camp,
past Camp One, all the way to Camp Two,
elevation 6,500 meters.
Leaving early this morning is crucial,
but Andrew and Hector
haven't gotten up yet,
and Ben has an equipment problem.
- My problem is...
Something happened on my way
climbing the other day.
I developed real bad bruise and hot spot
on the side of my foot and I thought
a couple of days off would help it.
But instead it's not, and any contact
with the side of the foot is
really, really, really painful.
So what I'm gonna do, 'cause
I would prefer to climb today
as opposed to taking a few more days off,
I'm just gonna hack the
crap out of the boot,
until it
doesn't touch anything.
- For the first
time on this expedition,
it's Shaunna who is most ready to go.
- Yeah, I'm very excited.
I see today as the real
game that's beginning.
- But nothing is beginning.
This day is getting off on the wrong foot.
Andrew arrives, he hasn't slept.
He aches all over and his
lymph nodes are tender.
As a professional
high-altitude mountaineer,
Andrew knows his body's limits.
- Let's rearrange the plan here.
- Here's Ben's new plan.
Andrew will stay behind, rest,
and make his acclimatization
climb when he's able.
Ben and Shaunna will still
climb for Camp Two this morning,
along with Hector.
That is, if Hector still feels up for it.
- What's the matter
with you, again, Hector?
- I had stomach cramps in the night.
Yeah, I don't know what
was it, came so sudden.
- After reaching Camp Two,
the team is supposed to sleep
overnight, rest for a day,
and then head off for Camp Three.
It's a critical part of the
acclimatization process,
and it has to be accomplished
sooner, rather than later.
But if climbers aren't healthy...
- The best thing you can do is recover
and get your health back
and then go up when you're strong.
- Bad boots
and a mystery virus.
Ben makes another new plan.
The entire team will now rest one more day
here at Base Camp.
They they'll all head
for Camp Two tomorrow
with a rejuvenated spring in their step.
- Hopefully I'll
be up to it tomorrow,
but really, with a niggle like this,
if you don't kill it down in Base Camp,
it just stays with you the
whole trip and can really
get in the way of a summit
attempt later in the expedition.
- The stuff that's sort of been occurring
around the expedition
has been uncomfortable.
And obviously, prefer to
have everybody, you know,
100% percent healthy the entire time,
but that's not realistic.
- Ironically,
the person suspected
of bringing the mystery virus to camp
is Team Discovery's doctor, Matt Arentz.
- I don't know if you've
heard from Lama Chongbu,
but did he come over here?
I'm wiped, I've been wiped
for the past couple days.
The most frustrating thing
is it just won't get better.
- The only
member of the Discovery Team
who's healthy and ready to go
is the rookie, Shaunna Burke.
- I was a little bit disappointed
with the decision, I think,
because I spent so much time
last night preparing myself for today.
I felt ready mentally,
as well as physically.
I had all my gear ready,
I could feel the
competitive juices flowing,
so, I was disappointed.
- Just days
ago, Shaunna was worried
she would hold her team back.
Now, they're holding her back.
The poet Lord Byron wrote,
"I live not in myself,
"but I become a portion of that around me.
"And to me, high mountains are a feeling,
"but the hum of cities, torture."
What would be torture to most city folk
is a natural feeling for these
two high mountain climbers.
They have become a
portion of the mountain.
And the mountain has
become a portion of them.
Why do people come here?
What's the point?
For Will Cross, the point is simple.
He wants to show the world that diabetes
might slow people down,
but it should never hold them back.
- With diabetes, I don't recover as fast
as a regular climber.
So I have to take it slowly,
so that my body gets in
tune with the mountain.
At a pace that I can handle.
But I think that when we
have obstacles in our lives,
it is our choice
because it is our life.
To either get out there
and get on with it, or not.
But I think the world is a bigger place
and it's important we get out and see it.
- Will Cross, a 37
year-old high school principal
with Type 1 diabetes, is
an adventurer on a mission.
In a series of expeditions that he calls
The Peaks and Poles Challenge,
Will has set out to climb
the highest mountain
on every continent,
and walk to both the
North and South Poles.
So far, he has made it to both Poles
and he's summitted four
of the seven mountains,
with only the Russian and Australian
left to conquer after Everest.
- Time to get the job done,
so, all in all, I feel good.
I have good teammates, good preparation.
And now we just get on the ice
and hope the weather holds.
- Will's goal
today is to reach Camp One.
To get there, he must navigate his way up,
over and through the
treacherous Khumbu Icefall.
- It's like
you're running across a,
like a slate roof,
and at any point one part could fall in.
And I actually started to hyperventilate,
which I was not very impressed with.
I mean, my job as a climber
is to assess the situation,
get my emotions in check, and do the job.
And I assessed the situation,
and tried to get my emotions in check,
I just thought, My
God, this is terrifying.
They don't get any easier that's for sure.
That's a long way down.
- As Will hones in on Camp One,
illness continues to
ravage Team Discovery.
Head Sherpa Lhakpa Gelu has come down
with the merciless Khumbu Cough.
He's come to the Base Camp
hospital for treatment.
- I'm just going to feel your neck.
When do you go up?
- I went tomorrow.
- Tomorrow, okay.
I think I can give you
a little bit of codeine,
but I also want to give
you a breathing inhaler.
I think will help a lot
up on the mountain, okay?
- Lhakpa Gelu
has made it to the summit
of Everest 10 times.
He didn't used to use Western medicine,
but these days, drugs
are a part of climbing.
The most common medication
of this mountain is Diamox,
a diuretic that relieves brain swelling.
There's lots of antibiotics
and painkillers, too,
but nothing can cure the Khumbu Cough.
Sometimes sufferers cough so hard,
they break their own ribs.
- You can start today, and
all the way, take it with you
when you climb, morning and evening.
I think it'll do a lot of good.
Then I'll give you some
pills for nighttime
that'll help when you're
coughing at night.
Try, take a dose here, okay?
- Dose now, right?
- Yeah.
- 600 vertical
meters about Lhakpa Gelu,
Will prepares to give
himself a shot of insulin.
It's a complicated process,
made more difficult by the temperature.
If Will's insulin freezes,
it becomes useless.
At altitude, diabetics also have to be
concerned about circulation, infection,
and sudden drops in blood sugar levels.
- Don't try that at home.
That should do it.
I also need to keep enough
blood sugar in my system,
in case there's an
accident or a sudden need,
to really work hard, get
someone out of a crevasse,
move through an area quickly
because suddenly it's moving.
So in that sense, it's, you
know, it's a lot different
than someone who's just worrying about,
When am I gonna eat,
when am I gonna drink?
I don't have enough energy right now.
And I know that I'm hydrated,
so I know that I need to eat more food.
But if I'm gonna eat more food,
I need to get more insulin to make me.
'Cause I gotta, that insulin
will make the food worthwhile.
- The odds are stacked heavily
against Will making it to the top.
Not because he's diabetic,
because despite his impressive resume,
he's never been above 8,000 meters.
- For someone who's never
been on an 8,000 meter peak,
reaching the summit is
like one in a 10% chance,
something like that, something really low.
- Annabelle Bond
is a socialite daughter
of a wealthy British bank owner.
She's a mountain climbing greenhorn,
who has taken a serious
risk by coming here.
Mount Everest has killed many climbers
who were stronger and more
experienced than Annabelle,
and she knows it.
It's like she's trying to
run before she can even walk.
- I don't know if you
could tell on the camera,
but I actually had some panic attacks,
where I was like.
I was finding it really hard to breathe.
And I don't really
wanna let the team know,
for them to think that
I'm completely neurotic.
So I was trying to hide it
but it was like,
you know, this complete, you're surrounded
by this seracs everywhere,
and, I don't know,
I just felt a little bit panicky.
I have to tell myself a
lot that I can do this,
that other people have done it,
and I've definitely got the strength
and the ability to do it.
So, I have to keep talking to myself
and talking to myself that I can do this.
And not to get scared.
I mean, I do get scared
about crevasses, and heights,
and you know, this is one tough mountain.
- This vicious
environment attracts mostly men.
Serious, focused, alpha male men
make up 96% of Everest climbers.
Annabelle is different,
not just because of gender,
but also because of attitude.
She smiles and laughs through
every hardship Everest offers.
- I think I'm gonna stay hooked
in while I jump across this.
Don't want to step onto that little piece.
Does it feel like it's making
you kind of hunch over?
- Annabelle
evolves as a climber
and walks upright.
- My God, heart attack!
- Back at Team
Discovery's Base Camp,
Andrew is also on his feet.
The team is weak but
desperate to get going.
They can't waste any
more time sitting here.
If they're going to summit
Everest, they need to climb
no matter what physical
condition they're in.
- I just don't feel strong.
I've been sick for the first, you know,
three weeks of the expedition,
and it's taken a big toll on me.
- This morning,
Team Discovery is finally mobile again.
Leaving Mount Everest Base
Camp and headed for Camp Two,
the climb develops a problem.
It's Ben, the team leader feels weak.
At Camp One, Ben drops out.
He needs to rest.
Andrew, Hector, and Shaunna
press on for Camp Two,
across the wide open Western Cwm.
On Everest, there's a story in every tent.
Today, Will Cross had a moving experience.
- There were a few moments.
There was one moment in particular
where my teammate was down
crossing over some ice,
and sort of the whole thing shifted.
And that certainly was exciting
and nerve-racking for him.
You know, you could feel
the whole earth move.
But you know, that's climbing,
that's reality climbing.
- To stay climbing,
Will usually needs six
insulin injections each day.
If he misses even one,
he will weaken quickly,
and could blackout completely.
Camp Two is known as Advanced Base Camp.
It has a well-stocked kitchen tent
and a full communication center,
all prepared ahead of time by the Sherpas.
- There we go.
- You're the girl.
You are the girl.
- There you go, enjoy, boys.
- Shaunna, Andrew,
and Hector have arrived safely
and are settling in for
a full night's sleep,
followed by a full day's rest.
Ben knows that if he doesn't
reach Camp Two today,
his plan will have to change again.
Reflecting on yesterday,
he already sounds defeated.
- I just crash and burned at Camp One.
And I really, my
confidence was really low,
'cause it had been the worst performance
I had had on Everest.
On all the expeditions
I'd been on up here,
it was the single worst
day I think I had ever had.
- But when Ben
rises, he feels new strength
and makes it to Camp Two ahead
of his Sherpa companions.
After a fitful sleep with
his girlfriend Shaunna,
Ben is back on schedule, and seems eager
to move the team onward and upward,
even if most of them are still sick.
Here's the plan.
Lhakpa Gelu, along with his cough,
will lead Mingma and Hector,
along with his stomach cramps,
to Camp Three, and then even
higher, to secure safety lines.
Everyone else will climb
only as far as Camp Three,
then they'll turn around.
The whole team must be back
here at Camp Two before dark.
Annabelle Bond and her team share the same
acclimatization schedule
as the Discovery Team.
In fact, a lot of people
share the same schedule.
The Lhotse Face may look lonely
from afar, but look closely.
It's a very popular
spot this time of year.
Popular and deadly.
- Going up the Lhotse Face,
which is a steep, steep slope.
At the very bottom is a huge crevasse.
And that's where a lot of
dead bodies have accumulated.
It could be just because they've made,
you know, a small mistake.
You know, they forgot to clip in,
or they've clipped a crampon,
or an ice axe, you know,
has blown out of the side of the mountain.
And that reminder,
and knowing that that crevasse is there,
I think the first time when I cross it,
is gonna make me think about my mortality.
- The whole Lhotse Face
seems a little bit daunting.
It's way, way, way steeper
than I anticipated.
And I have to say it's
freezing right now.
I think it's 6:30 in the morning
and I can hardly feel my hands and feet.
But anyway, we're here
to give it a go today.
- Going part
way up the mountain
and then coming back down
again is a physiological trick
that climbers play on their bodies.
By going to a high altitude,
and then resting at a lower altitude,
a mountaineer's blood changes
and is able to absorb
more oxygen in the future.
- From my
perspective, under no account
would I say it's an easy mountain.
Anything over 8,000 meters is
something to be reckoned with.
And I think you've got
to respect the mountain.
We've got fixed lines which help us,
but you know, anything
can happen up there.
- You can literally
fall off the Lhotse Face.
At some places it slopes
70 degrees and more.
This is where survival really
becomes an uphill climb.
- This bit of the mountain
that we're climbing through now
is called the bergschrund.
It's where the Western Cwm, the valley,
meets the bottom of the Lhotse Face.
It's about a 100 meter ice
cliff and it's been the scene
of many climbers' accidents.
Two years ago, the day
I arrived in Base Camp,
one British climber took a
fall down the Lhotse Face,
over the schrund, and was killed.
In 1991 when I was here, one
of my teammates was avalanched
down the Lhotse Face and
somehow, miraculously,
the avalanche took him
right over the bergschrund,
down onto the Western Cwm and he survived.
The challenge for each
expedition is to find a path
through the bergschrund, which
lets us avoid the steepness
of the cliffs and get
up onto the Lhotse Face.
And that's the route I'm on now.
It's at the very bottom of the Face.
And we have a long way
to go to Camp Three.
- Ben and Shaunna
move slower than Andrew,
but because of a good weather forecast,
they've chosen to start later.
Today's climb will be the highest
in the entire acclimatization plan.
Every meter gained in altitude today
is like money in the energy bank,
when the fight for the summit begins.
- When does the panting stop?
- Ben climbs
out from the bergschrund
and onto the Lhotse Face.
There's a whole new way to die here.
Look up, but cover your eyes.
Shaunna is below a group of climbers
who are inadvertently causing
jagged hailstones of ice
to rain down the mountain.
- When it's no shit, lock your shit off.
Always use your ascender
when you can, babe,
'cause you don't know when
somebody might knock a piece off,
will wipe you out.
You got your carabiner, you
know the length of the pitch.
If you have your jugger on, you'll stick.
It may hurt a little bit,
but you're not goin' for a long ride.
- When Ben says jugger,
he means Shaunna's ascender,
the essential climbing tool
she's clipping in right now.
- First pitch of the Lhotse Face,
sort of a snow pitch.
We'll get into the harder
blue ice that you can see
the climbers up above
are already kicking into.
We'll try to get up as quick
as we can in through here,
and get behind the queue of the climbers.
All right, off you go.
- This is steep!
- Yes, it's steep, and it's
only gonna get steeper.
Up, so slow and easy.
The key here is again,
regulate your breathing.
You hyperventilate and it takes you
five or 10 minutes to recover.
It's better to go slow, easy.
Stay at a regular, you know, heart rate.
You know, if you max out,
I've had my heart rate
go up to 200 here, and it
takes you forever to recover.
So, the idea, slow and
steady, get your heart rate
maybe 130, 140, and sort of cruise up.
- On the Lhotse
Face, climbers' hearts
can be traumatized emotionally,
as well as physically.
Several dead mountaineers are
frozen right into this ice,
preserved for all to see.
Climbing teams establish
four camps on Mount Everest.
Camp Three looks like an unbelievable set
from a Hollywood action movie.
Annabelle Bond wants to get there
and back down to Camp Two before dark.
- Kiko?
- Yes?
- How far do you think we've got
'til we get to Camp Three?
- Four hours, maybe three.
- Three more hours?
- Two and a half.
- From here, are you serious?
- Yeah.
- Really?
- Two and a half.
- Two and a half, but I
thought it was just there.
- Well, we have to climb 250 meters.
- Okay, I've just had
the bad news delivered,
two and a half hours to go.
- Maybe.
- Help.
I was thinking like one.
- Maybe two.
- Boo hoo.
- Andrew Lock knows rope.
His life depends on it.
What does he know about the rope
he's clipping into right now?
He knows he didn't put it there,
so he doesn't trust it.
- These fixed ropes are
a great safety line,
but we never know the history.
Someone could have trod
on it with their crampon,
ice could've cut the rope above me.
It's good back-up but the ice axe
is my best friend on the mountain.
I never like to climb without it.
- Okay,
so, as you can see.
It's bloody hard work climbing
the Lhotse Face.
We're on a steeper
pitch here and below me,
you can see how it goes vertical
and then down into that bergschrund.
Everything feeds down into that
huge crevasse at the bottom.
This is the reason why you have to focus,
hour after hour after hour.
One misstep or one mis-clip,
and you'd have no way of stopping
on vertical ice like this.
You'd just be bouncing down
the Face until you ended up
in that graveyard known
as the bergschrund.
But we seem to be doing okay.
Hard glacial ice.
This is really
hard, hard, hard ice.
And there's not a lot of snow cover.
So we're kicking in here
using a lot of effort
and a lot of energy, just to
make sure our feet are secure
before we move up the line.
If there had been snowfall
that had stuck to this ice,
would've made the climbing easier,
but that wasn't to be,
so we'll climb with what we have.
- Going up any
steep face involves a routine.
Rope is fixed to the
mountain every 50 meters
with titanium ice screws.
Climbers must stop at each one of these.
Ben moves his carabiner,
which is attached to his safety harness,
from below the ice screw to above it.
This is when he's most vulnerable.
It's clumsy, it's time consuming.
And when fingers get cold, it's dangerous.
It's like unclipping and
reclipping your seatbelt
while you're speeding down the highway.
Still, many purists believe
this rudimentary equipment
has made climbing Mount Everest too easy.
They say these communal
safety ropes attract hikers
who have no business being on
the world's tallest mountain.
- This is quite a bit
steeper than I thought.
Going upward you can't
really tell how steep it is.
But what's gonna scare me
the most is comin' down.
- An ear
infection, a foot injury,
and the ongoing stress
of producing this climb
are taking their toll on
the Discovery Team leader.
If Ben crashes, the entire expedition
could snowball into disaster.
Headed toward Camp Three,
every climber on Mount Everest
comes face to face with the
cold, hard reality of death.
Annabelle Bond pays respect to
the mountain and the fallen.
- I've just
seen my first dead body.
And I'm not really
enjoying that experience.
As a matter of fact, I'm
finding it really off-putting.
And Camp Three couldn't
come soon enough in my eyes.
I guess I'll keep going.
I'm tired, there's no question.
And I've gotta go back down, as well,
so it's gonna be a big day.
And I can't help, now I can see the body
as I'm talking to you, so,
I think I might keep going.
- Bodies are rarely
recovered from this altitude.
Frozen remains are respectfully
dropped into crevasses,
dragged out of sight, or
left right where they fall.
At over 7,300 meters altitude,
just above the snowed-in Camp Three,
Hector, Mingma, and Lhakpa
Gelu are securing safety lines.
Their goal is to make it to 7,800 meters,
where Everest changes to yellow marble,
a milestone called the Yellow Band.
- Lhakpa Gelu and Mingma,
they're beginning the first
lead out of Camp Three.
To start, you know, fixing our ropes
up to the Yellow Band.
I don't know how far we're gonna get today
because, well, it's snowing a little bit,
and conditions of the
snow don't look very good.
There's some ice as we
can see, over there,
so might take some effort and some time
to do every 50 meters stretch
of rope up above Camp Three.
- It's not the
job of any one person or team
to put safety ropes on the mountain.
Weaker teams never do it.
They wait and trust that stronger teams
will spend the energy and the
money installing the hardware.
Once the route is established,
all teams will use it.
For Team Discovery, today's
effort is the end of the line.
They're going back to Base
Camp when this job is done.
Fixing the rest will have
to be done by someone else.
- I have to say, the altitude,
I can start feeling it.
We're at 7,400 meters approximately.
And pretty much a thousand
meters above Camp Two,
and now every
step is really, really
requiring even concentration.
It's like, you have to
take one step
and think about two or
three times breathing.
So little oxygen up here.
- Safety lines on Everest
are usually secured by
Sherpas and only Sherpas.
Hector can't abide by that.
- I really need to feel I'm doing my share
of the fixing of the climbing,
and that I'm earning my
way up this mountain.
If I don't do that, after
a while I start feeling
like I haven't earned,
I haven't deserved it.
- With Lhakpa
Gelu playing out the line,
Hector soldiers up the mountain.
Also headed up the
mountain are snow clouds,
rising through the Khumbu Valley.
Team Discovery needs to get up high
for acclimatization, but they
also need to get back down
to Camp Two before dark.
Ben and Shaunna are caught
between their long-term goal
and their short-term safety.
- Well, the weather's started to come in
and little light flurries.
Visibility, very little at the moment.
- To fully acclimatize,
the plan of every climber
is to reach Camp Three.
But before Ben and Shaunna can get there,
the winds pick up, the snow swirls,
and they can go no higher.
Leaving late has cost them.
They have to turn around
just short of their goal.
- It's pretty hard to walk
down when you can't see, over.
- Yeah, sometimes going down
is a little harder than goin' up.
- Absolutely, okay.
We'll talk to you in a bit.
We're gonna go real, real slow,
and real, real careful
on the way down, over.
- Above Ben, Andrew
has made it to Camp three
and is now beginning his
descent with Annabelle,
whom he knows from Base Camp.
Further up, Hector,
Lhakpa Gelu, and Mingma
are also retreating.
Blowing snow presents a world of trouble.
Everyone high on the
mountain has turned back
and is headed for Camp Two.
Now, it's a race against time.
This weather is a big problem.
When snow falls, so do climbers.
And on Everest, falling kills.
Thanks to this whiteout,
Ben and Shaunna can't
see footholds in the ice.
Deep crevasses are covered up.
And the slippery Lhotse Face
is becoming an avalanche
waiting to happen.
- This has got to be
the most difficult part
of the climb for me.
The scariest, I should say.
Hard to see anything.
- Hard to see, hard to breathe.
Hard to walk, hard to stay warm.
Hard to remember why you thought
this would be a good idea
in the first place.
Climbing Mount Everest is like
being on a rescue mission,
except on this rescue,
the same person is simultaneously
the victim and the hero.
This is what high-altitude
mountaineers do.
They spend their lives getting
themselves into trouble,
then getting themselves out.
That's the buzz.
- Very hard
conditions to retreat.
Very good decision
to retreat when we did.
- Ben and
Shaunna make it down safely,
but things aren't going according to plan.
They haven't climbed as high
as their other team members.
Shaunna's having a hard time sleeping,
and Ben is still suffering
from the mystery virus.
- I didn't have my A Game today.
I didn't feel strong,
I didn't feel powerful.
And I haven't, for the last
probably two or three weeks.
It's just something that's ongoing.
I think I have to get
down into a lower altitude
and get healthy.
- With two
hours of daylight left,
people are waiting in Camp Two.
Staring up at the mountain,
wondering, praying.
Hoping the next people who appear
through the shroud of falling snow
will be their friends, their team members.
This time it's Andrew and Annabelle,
happily returning from
their successful climb
to Camp Three, 7,400
meters above sea level.
- You caught me before I
could clear up my face.
Thank you, I'm on my
absolutely last cylinder.
No comment.
It's been a really, really tough day.
I've seen a dead body.
I've had frostbite on my fingers,
all captured by Andrew.
Andrew saved the day
by helping me get down.
It was way tougher than I anticipated.
I'm looking forward to
going back to Base Camp.
- With one
hour of daylight left,
the last of Team Discovery make it back.
The Sherpas are casually drinking
tea, warming their bones.
For them, this was just
another tiring day at work.
- I'd say, pretty much the wind chill
was something like minus 20, you know.
Considering the air temperature
and the wind blowing
something like 40 miles an hour,
so, as I said, this does wear you out.
- Now Ben's plan
is to get the whole team
back to Base Camp, and
rest for an entire week.
As soon as they're in
fighting shape again,
Team Discovery will start up the mountain
for the final time, with
two monumental goals.
First, they plan on
making it to the summit.
Then, they plan on making
it back down alive.
But, on Everest, plans change.
The only thing chiseled
in stone around here,
is the mountain.
On the next episode of
Ultimate Survival:Everest,
Annabelle is at the end of her rope.
Two climbers go missing.
- This morning I've been
looking at the Lhotse Face
trying to spot people and I
haven't still seen anyone.
- And Team
Discovery's newest summit plan
doesn't include Shaunna.
- I don't know how to deal with it.
It's, I feel like I'm waiting.
What is gonna happen to me?
Everest.
The Discovery team
arrived in Base Camp with a plan,
to climb the tallest
mountain in the world,
and video tape every step of the way.
So far, team leader Ben Webster,
his girlfriend Shaunna Burke,
and professional mountaineers
Andrew Lock and Hector Ponce de Leon,
have met every challenge the
mountain has thrown at them.
They have sidestepped avalanches.
- We live to fight another day.
- We cheated death.
- We've cheated it again!
- They've overcome
changes in air pressure.
- Feels like somebody's
taken a couple of needles
and is just driving into the ears
at the moment.
- And, they've
walked into and out of
some very sticky situations.
- I actually told myself,
Don't look down, because that's
when you're gonna lose it.
- Under Ben's direction,
the team has gone safely from Base Camp,
up to Camp One, and back down again.
So far, the quest for the summit
has gone according to plan.
But today is just day
six of a 50 day schedule.
Plans change on Everest.
The mountain might even
have a plan of its own.
- For the last two years,
Ben Webster's life has
been nothing but planning
this Mount Everest expedition.
Just getting the team this far
has been a logistical
feat of epic proportions.
Consider, Ben has brought together
an international group of 34 people,
along with six tons of equipment,
3,000 pounds of food,
100 bottles of oxygen,
16,000 liters of fuel,
and 1,500 meters of rope.
He's organized everything
from Nepalese park
permits to yak caravans.
There's little details, like
which kind of lanterns to buy
and big details, like which
kind of radio system to bring.
On the mountain, Ben is the deal maker,
the ambassador, and most important,
he dictates how and when
Team Discovery climbs.
He's the president of his own
small but expensive republic.
This expedition is costing
half a million dollars US.
The stress of spending that money
has been splitting his focus.
- I'm a bit worried
about Ben because I know,
I can see that his energies
are being pulled partially
towards the project and
partially towards climbing.
And I've seen a shift over
him in the last 48 hours
where I can see he's now focusing in on
going for the summit and climbing.
So, I'm happy to see that
he's made that shift.
And I think it's, it
was absolutely needed.
It was something he needed
to do, because I could tell
that he wasn't totally
committed to the climb.
- Unlike Ben,
most team leaders don't do the climb.
They simply run their
expedition from base camp.
Ben planned on being in top
physical shape right now,
but his organizational
efforts have left him drained.
- Really low energy.
I've never felt this low on a climb.
I'm usually a reasonably high energy guy,
and it's really draggin' me down,
and I'm sure it's the sickness.
So I'm hopin' it's gonna
clear, it better clear.
Or I'm gonna have a hell
of a time up on the hill.
- The plan today
is to climb from Base Camp,
past Camp One, all the way to Camp Two,
elevation 6,500 meters.
Leaving early this morning is crucial,
but Andrew and Hector
haven't gotten up yet,
and Ben has an equipment problem.
- My problem is...
Something happened on my way
climbing the other day.
I developed real bad bruise and hot spot
on the side of my foot and I thought
a couple of days off would help it.
But instead it's not, and any contact
with the side of the foot is
really, really, really painful.
So what I'm gonna do, 'cause
I would prefer to climb today
as opposed to taking a few more days off,
I'm just gonna hack the
crap out of the boot,
until it
doesn't touch anything.
- For the first
time on this expedition,
it's Shaunna who is most ready to go.
- Yeah, I'm very excited.
I see today as the real
game that's beginning.
- But nothing is beginning.
This day is getting off on the wrong foot.
Andrew arrives, he hasn't slept.
He aches all over and his
lymph nodes are tender.
As a professional
high-altitude mountaineer,
Andrew knows his body's limits.
- Let's rearrange the plan here.
- Here's Ben's new plan.
Andrew will stay behind, rest,
and make his acclimatization
climb when he's able.
Ben and Shaunna will still
climb for Camp Two this morning,
along with Hector.
That is, if Hector still feels up for it.
- What's the matter
with you, again, Hector?
- I had stomach cramps in the night.
Yeah, I don't know what
was it, came so sudden.
- After reaching Camp Two,
the team is supposed to sleep
overnight, rest for a day,
and then head off for Camp Three.
It's a critical part of the
acclimatization process,
and it has to be accomplished
sooner, rather than later.
But if climbers aren't healthy...
- The best thing you can do is recover
and get your health back
and then go up when you're strong.
- Bad boots
and a mystery virus.
Ben makes another new plan.
The entire team will now rest one more day
here at Base Camp.
They they'll all head
for Camp Two tomorrow
with a rejuvenated spring in their step.
- Hopefully I'll
be up to it tomorrow,
but really, with a niggle like this,
if you don't kill it down in Base Camp,
it just stays with you the
whole trip and can really
get in the way of a summit
attempt later in the expedition.
- The stuff that's sort of been occurring
around the expedition
has been uncomfortable.
And obviously, prefer to
have everybody, you know,
100% percent healthy the entire time,
but that's not realistic.
- Ironically,
the person suspected
of bringing the mystery virus to camp
is Team Discovery's doctor, Matt Arentz.
- I don't know if you've
heard from Lama Chongbu,
but did he come over here?
I'm wiped, I've been wiped
for the past couple days.
The most frustrating thing
is it just won't get better.
- The only
member of the Discovery Team
who's healthy and ready to go
is the rookie, Shaunna Burke.
- I was a little bit disappointed
with the decision, I think,
because I spent so much time
last night preparing myself for today.
I felt ready mentally,
as well as physically.
I had all my gear ready,
I could feel the
competitive juices flowing,
so, I was disappointed.
- Just days
ago, Shaunna was worried
she would hold her team back.
Now, they're holding her back.
The poet Lord Byron wrote,
"I live not in myself,
"but I become a portion of that around me.
"And to me, high mountains are a feeling,
"but the hum of cities, torture."
What would be torture to most city folk
is a natural feeling for these
two high mountain climbers.
They have become a
portion of the mountain.
And the mountain has
become a portion of them.
Why do people come here?
What's the point?
For Will Cross, the point is simple.
He wants to show the world that diabetes
might slow people down,
but it should never hold them back.
- With diabetes, I don't recover as fast
as a regular climber.
So I have to take it slowly,
so that my body gets in
tune with the mountain.
At a pace that I can handle.
But I think that when we
have obstacles in our lives,
it is our choice
because it is our life.
To either get out there
and get on with it, or not.
But I think the world is a bigger place
and it's important we get out and see it.
- Will Cross, a 37
year-old high school principal
with Type 1 diabetes, is
an adventurer on a mission.
In a series of expeditions that he calls
The Peaks and Poles Challenge,
Will has set out to climb
the highest mountain
on every continent,
and walk to both the
North and South Poles.
So far, he has made it to both Poles
and he's summitted four
of the seven mountains,
with only the Russian and Australian
left to conquer after Everest.
- Time to get the job done,
so, all in all, I feel good.
I have good teammates, good preparation.
And now we just get on the ice
and hope the weather holds.
- Will's goal
today is to reach Camp One.
To get there, he must navigate his way up,
over and through the
treacherous Khumbu Icefall.
- It's like
you're running across a,
like a slate roof,
and at any point one part could fall in.
And I actually started to hyperventilate,
which I was not very impressed with.
I mean, my job as a climber
is to assess the situation,
get my emotions in check, and do the job.
And I assessed the situation,
and tried to get my emotions in check,
I just thought, My
God, this is terrifying.
They don't get any easier that's for sure.
That's a long way down.
- As Will hones in on Camp One,
illness continues to
ravage Team Discovery.
Head Sherpa Lhakpa Gelu has come down
with the merciless Khumbu Cough.
He's come to the Base Camp
hospital for treatment.
- I'm just going to feel your neck.
When do you go up?
- I went tomorrow.
- Tomorrow, okay.
I think I can give you
a little bit of codeine,
but I also want to give
you a breathing inhaler.
I think will help a lot
up on the mountain, okay?
- Lhakpa Gelu
has made it to the summit
of Everest 10 times.
He didn't used to use Western medicine,
but these days, drugs
are a part of climbing.
The most common medication
of this mountain is Diamox,
a diuretic that relieves brain swelling.
There's lots of antibiotics
and painkillers, too,
but nothing can cure the Khumbu Cough.
Sometimes sufferers cough so hard,
they break their own ribs.
- You can start today, and
all the way, take it with you
when you climb, morning and evening.
I think it'll do a lot of good.
Then I'll give you some
pills for nighttime
that'll help when you're
coughing at night.
Try, take a dose here, okay?
- Dose now, right?
- Yeah.
- 600 vertical
meters about Lhakpa Gelu,
Will prepares to give
himself a shot of insulin.
It's a complicated process,
made more difficult by the temperature.
If Will's insulin freezes,
it becomes useless.
At altitude, diabetics also have to be
concerned about circulation, infection,
and sudden drops in blood sugar levels.
- Don't try that at home.
That should do it.
I also need to keep enough
blood sugar in my system,
in case there's an
accident or a sudden need,
to really work hard, get
someone out of a crevasse,
move through an area quickly
because suddenly it's moving.
So in that sense, it's, you
know, it's a lot different
than someone who's just worrying about,
When am I gonna eat,
when am I gonna drink?
I don't have enough energy right now.
And I know that I'm hydrated,
so I know that I need to eat more food.
But if I'm gonna eat more food,
I need to get more insulin to make me.
'Cause I gotta, that insulin
will make the food worthwhile.
- The odds are stacked heavily
against Will making it to the top.
Not because he's diabetic,
because despite his impressive resume,
he's never been above 8,000 meters.
- For someone who's never
been on an 8,000 meter peak,
reaching the summit is
like one in a 10% chance,
something like that, something really low.
- Annabelle Bond
is a socialite daughter
of a wealthy British bank owner.
She's a mountain climbing greenhorn,
who has taken a serious
risk by coming here.
Mount Everest has killed many climbers
who were stronger and more
experienced than Annabelle,
and she knows it.
It's like she's trying to
run before she can even walk.
- I don't know if you
could tell on the camera,
but I actually had some panic attacks,
where I was like.
I was finding it really hard to breathe.
And I don't really
wanna let the team know,
for them to think that
I'm completely neurotic.
So I was trying to hide it
but it was like,
you know, this complete, you're surrounded
by this seracs everywhere,
and, I don't know,
I just felt a little bit panicky.
I have to tell myself a
lot that I can do this,
that other people have done it,
and I've definitely got the strength
and the ability to do it.
So, I have to keep talking to myself
and talking to myself that I can do this.
And not to get scared.
I mean, I do get scared
about crevasses, and heights,
and you know, this is one tough mountain.
- This vicious
environment attracts mostly men.
Serious, focused, alpha male men
make up 96% of Everest climbers.
Annabelle is different,
not just because of gender,
but also because of attitude.
She smiles and laughs through
every hardship Everest offers.
- I think I'm gonna stay hooked
in while I jump across this.
Don't want to step onto that little piece.
Does it feel like it's making
you kind of hunch over?
- Annabelle
evolves as a climber
and walks upright.
- My God, heart attack!
- Back at Team
Discovery's Base Camp,
Andrew is also on his feet.
The team is weak but
desperate to get going.
They can't waste any
more time sitting here.
If they're going to summit
Everest, they need to climb
no matter what physical
condition they're in.
- I just don't feel strong.
I've been sick for the first, you know,
three weeks of the expedition,
and it's taken a big toll on me.
- This morning,
Team Discovery is finally mobile again.
Leaving Mount Everest Base
Camp and headed for Camp Two,
the climb develops a problem.
It's Ben, the team leader feels weak.
At Camp One, Ben drops out.
He needs to rest.
Andrew, Hector, and Shaunna
press on for Camp Two,
across the wide open Western Cwm.
On Everest, there's a story in every tent.
Today, Will Cross had a moving experience.
- There were a few moments.
There was one moment in particular
where my teammate was down
crossing over some ice,
and sort of the whole thing shifted.
And that certainly was exciting
and nerve-racking for him.
You know, you could feel
the whole earth move.
But you know, that's climbing,
that's reality climbing.
- To stay climbing,
Will usually needs six
insulin injections each day.
If he misses even one,
he will weaken quickly,
and could blackout completely.
Camp Two is known as Advanced Base Camp.
It has a well-stocked kitchen tent
and a full communication center,
all prepared ahead of time by the Sherpas.
- There we go.
- You're the girl.
You are the girl.
- There you go, enjoy, boys.
- Shaunna, Andrew,
and Hector have arrived safely
and are settling in for
a full night's sleep,
followed by a full day's rest.
Ben knows that if he doesn't
reach Camp Two today,
his plan will have to change again.
Reflecting on yesterday,
he already sounds defeated.
- I just crash and burned at Camp One.
And I really, my
confidence was really low,
'cause it had been the worst performance
I had had on Everest.
On all the expeditions
I'd been on up here,
it was the single worst
day I think I had ever had.
- But when Ben
rises, he feels new strength
and makes it to Camp Two ahead
of his Sherpa companions.
After a fitful sleep with
his girlfriend Shaunna,
Ben is back on schedule, and seems eager
to move the team onward and upward,
even if most of them are still sick.
Here's the plan.
Lhakpa Gelu, along with his cough,
will lead Mingma and Hector,
along with his stomach cramps,
to Camp Three, and then even
higher, to secure safety lines.
Everyone else will climb
only as far as Camp Three,
then they'll turn around.
The whole team must be back
here at Camp Two before dark.
Annabelle Bond and her team share the same
acclimatization schedule
as the Discovery Team.
In fact, a lot of people
share the same schedule.
The Lhotse Face may look lonely
from afar, but look closely.
It's a very popular
spot this time of year.
Popular and deadly.
- Going up the Lhotse Face,
which is a steep, steep slope.
At the very bottom is a huge crevasse.
And that's where a lot of
dead bodies have accumulated.
It could be just because they've made,
you know, a small mistake.
You know, they forgot to clip in,
or they've clipped a crampon,
or an ice axe, you know,
has blown out of the side of the mountain.
And that reminder,
and knowing that that crevasse is there,
I think the first time when I cross it,
is gonna make me think about my mortality.
- The whole Lhotse Face
seems a little bit daunting.
It's way, way, way steeper
than I anticipated.
And I have to say it's
freezing right now.
I think it's 6:30 in the morning
and I can hardly feel my hands and feet.
But anyway, we're here
to give it a go today.
- Going part
way up the mountain
and then coming back down
again is a physiological trick
that climbers play on their bodies.
By going to a high altitude,
and then resting at a lower altitude,
a mountaineer's blood changes
and is able to absorb
more oxygen in the future.
- From my
perspective, under no account
would I say it's an easy mountain.
Anything over 8,000 meters is
something to be reckoned with.
And I think you've got
to respect the mountain.
We've got fixed lines which help us,
but you know, anything
can happen up there.
- You can literally
fall off the Lhotse Face.
At some places it slopes
70 degrees and more.
This is where survival really
becomes an uphill climb.
- This bit of the mountain
that we're climbing through now
is called the bergschrund.
It's where the Western Cwm, the valley,
meets the bottom of the Lhotse Face.
It's about a 100 meter ice
cliff and it's been the scene
of many climbers' accidents.
Two years ago, the day
I arrived in Base Camp,
one British climber took a
fall down the Lhotse Face,
over the schrund, and was killed.
In 1991 when I was here, one
of my teammates was avalanched
down the Lhotse Face and
somehow, miraculously,
the avalanche took him
right over the bergschrund,
down onto the Western Cwm and he survived.
The challenge for each
expedition is to find a path
through the bergschrund, which
lets us avoid the steepness
of the cliffs and get
up onto the Lhotse Face.
And that's the route I'm on now.
It's at the very bottom of the Face.
And we have a long way
to go to Camp Three.
- Ben and Shaunna
move slower than Andrew,
but because of a good weather forecast,
they've chosen to start later.
Today's climb will be the highest
in the entire acclimatization plan.
Every meter gained in altitude today
is like money in the energy bank,
when the fight for the summit begins.
- When does the panting stop?
- Ben climbs
out from the bergschrund
and onto the Lhotse Face.
There's a whole new way to die here.
Look up, but cover your eyes.
Shaunna is below a group of climbers
who are inadvertently causing
jagged hailstones of ice
to rain down the mountain.
- When it's no shit, lock your shit off.
Always use your ascender
when you can, babe,
'cause you don't know when
somebody might knock a piece off,
will wipe you out.
You got your carabiner, you
know the length of the pitch.
If you have your jugger on, you'll stick.
It may hurt a little bit,
but you're not goin' for a long ride.
- When Ben says jugger,
he means Shaunna's ascender,
the essential climbing tool
she's clipping in right now.
- First pitch of the Lhotse Face,
sort of a snow pitch.
We'll get into the harder
blue ice that you can see
the climbers up above
are already kicking into.
We'll try to get up as quick
as we can in through here,
and get behind the queue of the climbers.
All right, off you go.
- This is steep!
- Yes, it's steep, and it's
only gonna get steeper.
Up, so slow and easy.
The key here is again,
regulate your breathing.
You hyperventilate and it takes you
five or 10 minutes to recover.
It's better to go slow, easy.
Stay at a regular, you know, heart rate.
You know, if you max out,
I've had my heart rate
go up to 200 here, and it
takes you forever to recover.
So, the idea, slow and
steady, get your heart rate
maybe 130, 140, and sort of cruise up.
- On the Lhotse
Face, climbers' hearts
can be traumatized emotionally,
as well as physically.
Several dead mountaineers are
frozen right into this ice,
preserved for all to see.
Climbing teams establish
four camps on Mount Everest.
Camp Three looks like an unbelievable set
from a Hollywood action movie.
Annabelle Bond wants to get there
and back down to Camp Two before dark.
- Kiko?
- Yes?
- How far do you think we've got
'til we get to Camp Three?
- Four hours, maybe three.
- Three more hours?
- Two and a half.
- From here, are you serious?
- Yeah.
- Really?
- Two and a half.
- Two and a half, but I
thought it was just there.
- Well, we have to climb 250 meters.
- Okay, I've just had
the bad news delivered,
two and a half hours to go.
- Maybe.
- Help.
I was thinking like one.
- Maybe two.
- Boo hoo.
- Andrew Lock knows rope.
His life depends on it.
What does he know about the rope
he's clipping into right now?
He knows he didn't put it there,
so he doesn't trust it.
- These fixed ropes are
a great safety line,
but we never know the history.
Someone could have trod
on it with their crampon,
ice could've cut the rope above me.
It's good back-up but the ice axe
is my best friend on the mountain.
I never like to climb without it.
- Okay,
so, as you can see.
It's bloody hard work climbing
the Lhotse Face.
We're on a steeper
pitch here and below me,
you can see how it goes vertical
and then down into that bergschrund.
Everything feeds down into that
huge crevasse at the bottom.
This is the reason why you have to focus,
hour after hour after hour.
One misstep or one mis-clip,
and you'd have no way of stopping
on vertical ice like this.
You'd just be bouncing down
the Face until you ended up
in that graveyard known
as the bergschrund.
But we seem to be doing okay.
Hard glacial ice.
This is really
hard, hard, hard ice.
And there's not a lot of snow cover.
So we're kicking in here
using a lot of effort
and a lot of energy, just to
make sure our feet are secure
before we move up the line.
If there had been snowfall
that had stuck to this ice,
would've made the climbing easier,
but that wasn't to be,
so we'll climb with what we have.
- Going up any
steep face involves a routine.
Rope is fixed to the
mountain every 50 meters
with titanium ice screws.
Climbers must stop at each one of these.
Ben moves his carabiner,
which is attached to his safety harness,
from below the ice screw to above it.
This is when he's most vulnerable.
It's clumsy, it's time consuming.
And when fingers get cold, it's dangerous.
It's like unclipping and
reclipping your seatbelt
while you're speeding down the highway.
Still, many purists believe
this rudimentary equipment
has made climbing Mount Everest too easy.
They say these communal
safety ropes attract hikers
who have no business being on
the world's tallest mountain.
- This is quite a bit
steeper than I thought.
Going upward you can't
really tell how steep it is.
But what's gonna scare me
the most is comin' down.
- An ear
infection, a foot injury,
and the ongoing stress
of producing this climb
are taking their toll on
the Discovery Team leader.
If Ben crashes, the entire expedition
could snowball into disaster.
Headed toward Camp Three,
every climber on Mount Everest
comes face to face with the
cold, hard reality of death.
Annabelle Bond pays respect to
the mountain and the fallen.
- I've just
seen my first dead body.
And I'm not really
enjoying that experience.
As a matter of fact, I'm
finding it really off-putting.
And Camp Three couldn't
come soon enough in my eyes.
I guess I'll keep going.
I'm tired, there's no question.
And I've gotta go back down, as well,
so it's gonna be a big day.
And I can't help, now I can see the body
as I'm talking to you, so,
I think I might keep going.
- Bodies are rarely
recovered from this altitude.
Frozen remains are respectfully
dropped into crevasses,
dragged out of sight, or
left right where they fall.
At over 7,300 meters altitude,
just above the snowed-in Camp Three,
Hector, Mingma, and Lhakpa
Gelu are securing safety lines.
Their goal is to make it to 7,800 meters,
where Everest changes to yellow marble,
a milestone called the Yellow Band.
- Lhakpa Gelu and Mingma,
they're beginning the first
lead out of Camp Three.
To start, you know, fixing our ropes
up to the Yellow Band.
I don't know how far we're gonna get today
because, well, it's snowing a little bit,
and conditions of the
snow don't look very good.
There's some ice as we
can see, over there,
so might take some effort and some time
to do every 50 meters stretch
of rope up above Camp Three.
- It's not the
job of any one person or team
to put safety ropes on the mountain.
Weaker teams never do it.
They wait and trust that stronger teams
will spend the energy and the
money installing the hardware.
Once the route is established,
all teams will use it.
For Team Discovery, today's
effort is the end of the line.
They're going back to Base
Camp when this job is done.
Fixing the rest will have
to be done by someone else.
- I have to say, the altitude,
I can start feeling it.
We're at 7,400 meters approximately.
And pretty much a thousand
meters above Camp Two,
and now every
step is really, really
requiring even concentration.
It's like, you have to
take one step
and think about two or
three times breathing.
So little oxygen up here.
- Safety lines on Everest
are usually secured by
Sherpas and only Sherpas.
Hector can't abide by that.
- I really need to feel I'm doing my share
of the fixing of the climbing,
and that I'm earning my
way up this mountain.
If I don't do that, after
a while I start feeling
like I haven't earned,
I haven't deserved it.
- With Lhakpa
Gelu playing out the line,
Hector soldiers up the mountain.
Also headed up the
mountain are snow clouds,
rising through the Khumbu Valley.
Team Discovery needs to get up high
for acclimatization, but they
also need to get back down
to Camp Two before dark.
Ben and Shaunna are caught
between their long-term goal
and their short-term safety.
- Well, the weather's started to come in
and little light flurries.
Visibility, very little at the moment.
- To fully acclimatize,
the plan of every climber
is to reach Camp Three.
But before Ben and Shaunna can get there,
the winds pick up, the snow swirls,
and they can go no higher.
Leaving late has cost them.
They have to turn around
just short of their goal.
- It's pretty hard to walk
down when you can't see, over.
- Yeah, sometimes going down
is a little harder than goin' up.
- Absolutely, okay.
We'll talk to you in a bit.
We're gonna go real, real slow,
and real, real careful
on the way down, over.
- Above Ben, Andrew
has made it to Camp three
and is now beginning his
descent with Annabelle,
whom he knows from Base Camp.
Further up, Hector,
Lhakpa Gelu, and Mingma
are also retreating.
Blowing snow presents a world of trouble.
Everyone high on the
mountain has turned back
and is headed for Camp Two.
Now, it's a race against time.
This weather is a big problem.
When snow falls, so do climbers.
And on Everest, falling kills.
Thanks to this whiteout,
Ben and Shaunna can't
see footholds in the ice.
Deep crevasses are covered up.
And the slippery Lhotse Face
is becoming an avalanche
waiting to happen.
- This has got to be
the most difficult part
of the climb for me.
The scariest, I should say.
Hard to see anything.
- Hard to see, hard to breathe.
Hard to walk, hard to stay warm.
Hard to remember why you thought
this would be a good idea
in the first place.
Climbing Mount Everest is like
being on a rescue mission,
except on this rescue,
the same person is simultaneously
the victim and the hero.
This is what high-altitude
mountaineers do.
They spend their lives getting
themselves into trouble,
then getting themselves out.
That's the buzz.
- Very hard
conditions to retreat.
Very good decision
to retreat when we did.
- Ben and
Shaunna make it down safely,
but things aren't going according to plan.
They haven't climbed as high
as their other team members.
Shaunna's having a hard time sleeping,
and Ben is still suffering
from the mystery virus.
- I didn't have my A Game today.
I didn't feel strong,
I didn't feel powerful.
And I haven't, for the last
probably two or three weeks.
It's just something that's ongoing.
I think I have to get
down into a lower altitude
and get healthy.
- With two
hours of daylight left,
people are waiting in Camp Two.
Staring up at the mountain,
wondering, praying.
Hoping the next people who appear
through the shroud of falling snow
will be their friends, their team members.
This time it's Andrew and Annabelle,
happily returning from
their successful climb
to Camp Three, 7,400
meters above sea level.
- You caught me before I
could clear up my face.
Thank you, I'm on my
absolutely last cylinder.
No comment.
It's been a really, really tough day.
I've seen a dead body.
I've had frostbite on my fingers,
all captured by Andrew.
Andrew saved the day
by helping me get down.
It was way tougher than I anticipated.
I'm looking forward to
going back to Base Camp.
- With one
hour of daylight left,
the last of Team Discovery make it back.
The Sherpas are casually drinking
tea, warming their bones.
For them, this was just
another tiring day at work.
- I'd say, pretty much the wind chill
was something like minus 20, you know.
Considering the air temperature
and the wind blowing
something like 40 miles an hour,
so, as I said, this does wear you out.
- Now Ben's plan
is to get the whole team
back to Base Camp, and
rest for an entire week.
As soon as they're in
fighting shape again,
Team Discovery will start up the mountain
for the final time, with
two monumental goals.
First, they plan on
making it to the summit.
Then, they plan on making
it back down alive.
But, on Everest, plans change.
The only thing chiseled
in stone around here,
is the mountain.
On the next episode of
Ultimate Survival:Everest,
Annabelle is at the end of her rope.
Two climbers go missing.
- This morning I've been
looking at the Lhotse Face
trying to spot people and I
haven't still seen anyone.
- And Team
Discovery's newest summit plan
doesn't include Shaunna.
- I don't know how to deal with it.
It's, I feel like I'm waiting.
What is gonna happen to me?