Ultimate Survival: Everest (2004–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - Deadly Descent - full transcript
On the last episode
of Ultimate Survivor Everest,
Team Discovery climbers Andrew
Lock and Hector Ponce De Leon
made it to the summit of the
world's tallest mountain.
- Yeehah.
Just one day
after British socialite Annabelle Bond
and her Chilean teammates
stood on the famous peak.
- God, can't believe I'm here.
It's amazing.
While diabetic climber Will Cross
was slowly heading to Camp 3,
Mexican climber Andreas
Delgado was suffering
through his painful attempt
at summiting without oxygen.
But not every
climber went for the top.
Team Discovery leader Ben
Webster stayed at Camp 2
and he sent his girlfriend,
Shauna Burke, back to base camp.
They're resting for their push,
slated to begin in five days.
There has been countless
close calls this season,
but mercifully, no deaths,
however on Everest, most lives are lost
when the exhausted climbers
are descending, and so far,
no summiter has made it
safely back down the mountain.
It's noon on May 16th.
30 climbers are inching their
way back down to Camp 4,
having made it to summit of Mount Everest
earlier this morning.
Passing them on the famous Hillary Step
are more climbers still
on their way to the peak.
Most have a turnaround
time of two o'clock.
That means, wherever they
are en route to the summit,
they plan on turning around at 2 p.m.
so they can make it safely back to Camp 4
before night falls or the weather turns.
Team Discovery are all
healthy and descending well.
So far, everything is going perfectly.
Just below what's called the Balcony,
Andreas Delgado is alone on his quest
to summit without oxygen.
For a hit of energy,
this married father sucks on liquid honey.
Sucking on oxygen would help him more.
Climbing without oxygen
is almost impossible.
Less than 8% of all Everest summits
have been done without supplemental gas.
At this rate, it'll be almost dark
before Andreas sees the summit.
That's too late.
He's climbing into unspeakable danger.
Human body parts, still swathed
in Gore-Tex, frozen in time,
remind climbers that if you falter,
this mountain will simply destroy you.
Andreas is unrelenting.
Congratulations Andrew, on--
Way down at Camp 2,
you can't wipe the grin off Ben's face.
Having six of his team
members make it the top
is something he revels in.
But when Hector radios down that a climber
is in trouble above 8,600 meters,
Ben gets right back to business.
- There's an emergency
high on the mountain.
I just talked to Andrew.
What has happened is our
group, as a group descent,
came across what I believe to be old Tom
from the Mexican-Canadian group.
He seems completely out of it.
It's Tom Masterson,
the 58-year old mountain
guide from Colorado
who's climbing without oxygen.
He's become delusional and irrational.
You can't go
anywhere with a busted--
Andrew tries to
be patient, but Tom is ranting.
He has broken footwear,
his safety harness hangs
sadly at his knees,
yet he's convinced he can make it.
- Thank you, leave me alone.
- If he's falling down now on his way up,
he'll never come home.
Stop Tom from going from climbing
and help him come down.
Can you do that, can you rescue him?
Lac Bagaylu and
Mingla fix Tom's crampon.
Tom thinks it's to help him go up,
he has no idea he's being rescued.
Andrew has seen this
kind of insanity before,
it's most likely being caused
by high-altitude cerebral edema,
which means Tom's brain
is probably so swollen,
it's squeezing against itself,
causing confusion and
loss of motor skills.
If he's unlucky, Tom could have a stroke.
- I will go down, no problem.
- At base camp, Tom's
team member Jose Luis,
has lost control of his climbers.
While Tom's life is being
saved, another team member
is also in dire straits,
having run out of oxygen.
Once again, Ben informs base
camp that team Discovery
is dealing with the crisis.
- Just below the summit, ran outta gas,
and we were able to give
him a bottle of gas,
our team was able to
give him a bottle of gas.
Team
Discovery has extra oxygen
leftover from their summit portion.
Hector prepares a spare tank
with a mask and regulator
before seeing off to meet Andrew and Tom.
Andreas has made it to Tom's side,
Tom now breathes bottled oxygen.
But he's refusing a dex
shot, a hypodermic needle
that will alleviate his brain swelling.
I think on top of the oxygen
you guys are getting him,
it makes sense to go
ahead and give him the
dexamethosone shot and the diamox,
if you can get him to take it, over.
Absolutely, I'll
relay that up to Andrew,
who's with the climber
right now, and we'll get the
information to him, and I'm
sure he'll get back to us, over.
Andreas encourages
Tom not to take any drugs
if he doesn't want to,
Tom doesn't want to.
Tom's teammate Luis has taken Andrew's
last bottle of oxygen,
Luis needs help to go down.
Seeing his team in tatters like this,
Andreas must decide
which is more important,
his own climb or the safety of his team.
Wisely, he accepts oxygen from Hector.
Andreas has correctly
decided to turn around,
and go down with the team.
Very good decision on everybody's part.
Unfortunately it wasn't
that teams day today,
they had a few incidents,
so as it stands now,
the climbers have support, they have help,
but it's going to be a very long descent,
and probably a very stressful
descent down into the camp.
Normal rules
of life don't apply here.
For example, what goes up Mount Everest,
doesn't necessarily come down.
There's a rescue technique
called short roping.
Climbers tie themselves
together with a short rope.
The stronger climber then
lowers the weaker one.
Tom is being short roped
down by the Sherpa's,
while Andrew is waiting to
help another lost climber.
From base camp, Jose Luis sends a message
to his faltering teammates.
- Just we wanted to tell them all to
be brave, and we are
waiting for them here,
and well just be strong to come down.
Andreas leads the team down,
revitalized by Hector's gift of oxygen.
Above him, Luis is ready
to be short roped down.
Everest is larger than life.
This vein of marble,
called the Yellow Band,
is the highest fault line in the world.
Will Cross is feeling the strain
of climbing up the Yellow Band.
He's been on his feet for four
hours, and he's not done yet.
- We're rock climbing at 24
and a half thousand feet,
and that's exhausting, even on oxygen.
So welcome, rock band.
- Yeah we got about two hours to go.
We had a death rock just fly by us,
and the oxygen system's
working really well,
you can hear it pulse,
and that fires the oxygen into the system.
Will has
climbed the highest mountain
on four of the seven continents,
and he has skied to both the
north and the south poles.
Today, he's leading the
third wave of climbers
headed for the summit of Mount Everest.
Five teams are leaving
Camp Three this morning,
hoping to arrive at the
peak 24 hours from now.
If Will makes it to Camp Four,
he will eat, take insulin,
rest until just after dark,
and then head for his destiny.
But first, he must make his
way past the Yellow Band.
Annabelle and Adronico are
both still higher than kites
following their successful
trip to the summit.
It's an ecstasy that was
worth every hardship.
- Happy to be going down.
Great lesson.
- Thank you so much.
You did a great job?
- It was so tough.
Pulling himself
up and over the Geneva Spur,
Will is honing in on Camp Four.
It's only half an hour away now.
Things are going very well for Will.
He was a little nervous trying out his
brand-new, untested oxygen system here,
but it's getting him all the gas he needs.
- It's good to be here,
what a wonderful place.
As Will arrives
at camp, he sees exactly
what he's going to be in for this evening,
and he must leave in the dark.
- So now we hydrate, and,
I think the plan in the morning will be,
to leave relatively early.
I tend to move rather slowly, on purpose,
got me to the pole,
the reason for that is,
that's what works best with the insulin.
As he settles in to his tent
for some last minute
rest, Will hears a voice
that invigorates him more
than oxygen ever could.
Hi Will, this is Amy at base camp,
how are you honey?
- Hey wifey, good to hear from ya.
The climber's
who've made it to the summit
of Mount Everest this morning,
are starting to filter
back down to Camp Four.
Most look worse for wear,
but are stoked to be alive,
with stories of epic glory.
- It's been a great day so far,
we summited, all of us, for
sure passing the two westerners.
While the
Sherpa's wait for Lac Bagaylu
and Mingma to return, Will
Cross waits for his wife
to contact him on the radio.
She has trekked it to
base camp to cheer him on.
- Hi Will this is Amy at base camp.
- Glad you made it up to base
camp, how are things for you?
- Things are great here
but I'd like to know
how your climb went today.
- Sexy climbing today,
it was hard, it was high,
and there were rocks and ropes involved,
so if you can't get turned
on by that as a climber
you're in the wrong
game, it was a great day.
- Oxygen helps and a good teammate helps,
so we are hydrating and eating right now,
and then looking to
leave early, copy that?
- What's your estimated
time for departure?
- We're gonna look to leave
camp between 8 and 8:30PM,
which is rather early,
but as anyone at base camp
can tell you the last
24 hours has been epic,
and we're aiming to avoid that.
- Copy that Will, sounds like a good plan,
that'll bring you home to me a lot sooner,
so I like the sounds of that.
- I have a turnaround
time in my mind of noon,
to keep things safe and reasonable,
and to put you and Max ahead of the game.
- That's great babe, well I love you a lot
and I can't wait to have you
back down here at base camp, safe.
I know you're gonna do well
tomorrow, tonight and tomorrow.
- Thanks Amy, it's good to hear.
Love you a lot, we're standby.
- Okay babe I love you
so much, take it easy,
I'll be with you the whole time,
I'll be thinking of you, and that's it.
I love you, over and out.
- It's good to have your wife
on the mountain, very good.
Lac Bagaylu and Mingma Sherpa
are back at Camp Four.
They're late and drained because
they helped rescue Tom Masterson.
Up high, Tom was talking to
people who weren't there,
he was staggering like a drunk,
now he seems better but
he's refusing to believe
he was ever in trouble.
Tired but better,
once you lose altitude, okay.
Then, after
20 hours of climbing
in the death zone, Andrew
Lock comes back to camp.
What a day.
Hey Andrew--
He summited Mount Everest
and helped save two lives.
You must be wasted man,
good job, you brought that guy down.
Good job Andrew.
- Thank you very much.
Andrew is thrilled
with his performance today,
but he's only at Camp Four,
it's too soon for celebrations.
Down at Camp Two, happiness
for the Chilean team
is totally unrestrained.
Annabelle and Andronico
receive a hero's welcome
from their team manager, Rodrigo.
- You did it, I knew I knew I knew.
- My god.
- I made it, I made it.
- Very well done, marvelous.
- Thank you.
People
climb Everest so they can
stare death in the face.
When death stares back, it
either scares the life out
of them or it makes them realize
everything they have to live for.
Six climbers will be dead
when the season ends,
Andronico, will be home with his family.
We are Chile!
- Most people are in shock that I made it,
I don't think people could
believe that I've actually
done it which is a nice thing,
it's good to surprise people,
rather than to have them
expect you to do it.
We are Chile!
Alone in a tent,
8,000 meters above sea level,
Will Cross administers
himself a shot of insulin.
He's exhausted, but ready
to go for the summit.
- Now feeling pretty good
after a long day hauling up,
well it's showtime, are you
gonna get out there and do it,
hope the weather holds,
hope the oxygen holds,
hope our bodies hold, and
that's about it really,
now we gonna do it.
At 8:30 PM,
Will Cross left camp four,
headed for the summit of Mount Everest.
It's 2:30AM now, and Will has
stopped just below the balcony
at an altitude of 8600 meters,
his climb is suddenly, shockingly, over.
Trusting an untested oxygen
system has cost him everything.
- Problems with the oxygen,
so could've made it to the top,
couldn't have made it back
down, tell you that much.
Keeping a
promise he made to his wife
to come home safely, Will
sacrifices his climb,
and turns around.
In the morning, Hector leaves camp four
headed back down to camp two,
it's going to be a tougher
climb than he had planned on,
because yesterday, he gave away
all of his remaining oxygen.
I'm tired, for sure,
it's not the kind of fatigue
in which you feel if
you're going fast or slow,
you just can feel that
your body has burned
down to the last calorie,
that's the kind of tired I am.
Will Cross arrives
safely back at camp four,
it's painful to think, if his
oxygen system hadn't failed,
he would be approaching
the south summit right now.
Failure comes in many forms on Everest.
It's what keeps this
mountain so intriguing.
- Yeah that's the name of the game,
you win some you lose some.
Didn't summit today, and that's obviously
what we came to do, but it's
a decision I can live with,
and today it was the right one.
So, there you have it.
- God, what you have to
go through just to get
as far as he did, shows that
he's got great endurance,
great strength, good heart, strong mind,
so I'm really proud of him.
Shauna Burke
is leaving base camp,
headed for camp two.
She hopes to be making a summit assault
with her boyfriend Ben
Webster in three days time.
But while she's been away from
him, Ben's body has weakened,
and he doesn't believe
he can summit anymore.
- My first priority, and I
don't have a problem saying it,
is to get Shauna the best
possible opportunity and shot,
that'll be a defining thing in her life
and I absolutely will go
high, but I am worried about,
where I'm going to be when I do go high,
emotionally, mentally, and physically.
When Shauna gets to camp
two, Ben will break the news.
He's not going to go
for the summit with her.
- I'm going to go up to the Col.,
I gave a personal commitment to Shauna
that I would see her off,
so I'll climb with her
up to camp four at which point
I'll sit with a safety Sherpa
and several bottles of oxygen,
in case there's a problem
high on the mountain at which point then
I'll be forced to climb with the Sherpa.
Since they
summited two days ago,
Andrew and Hector have been
reluctant to celebrate.
Walking safely into base camp,
Hector is ready for a party.
When I reached
the summit I never feel
the kind of relief or even
excitement that I feel
when I'm down the ice fall,
definitely if you're not here
at base camp, you don't
feel like, that relief,
and that excitement of
having summited, all of that.
Tonight, the Sherpa's are
partying in the kitchen tent.
This beer-fueled bash is their
toast to a job well done.
The singing, dancing and
drinking goes on strong,
well into the night.
Today is May 20th, after
being away from his wife,
Amy, for over two months,
Will Cross is about to reunite with her.
He's descending down through
the last section of the ice fall.
Will!
With so many stories to tell,
he doesn't know where to start.
Good to see you.
- It's great to see you.
During his
expedition to Mount Everest,
Will Cross missed seeing
his infant son, Max,
take his first steps, and
Amy Cross missed her husband.
I love you.
I know it was so hard.
You were awesome, you
did such a great job.
I love you so much, thank you
for coming back down to me.
You've gotta be so tired.
I'll take care of you.
- I'm beat.
- Yeah.
- You look great.
- That's good.
I feel like dirt.
- No it's okay, I just
gotta get my spikes off
and eat some food and take some insulin.
- Yeah I brought it for you.
- Okay great.
Everything to do
with diabetes was fine,
that was not the problem,
plenty of guys up there
who didn't get as far as we did
and who are just as tired as
we are who don't have diabetes
so I think in terms of that it was fine.
I think the thing to do now is to
go back to the drawing board, and,
you know figure out what
we can do differently,
and give her another crack another time.
Days turn into
nights, and nights into days,
while Shauna waits at
camp two for the weather
to improve enough that
she can go for the summit.
- At this point, all we're
hearing from the weather reports
is that the winds are high
and that the humidity is high.
It's not looking good,
but I think that I'll
get my chance anyway
to attempt the summit.
On May 23rd,
her chance finally arrives.
In the last six days, several climbers
have died high in the mountain.
Still, Shauna and Ben will
climb for camp three today,
and camp four tomorrow.
From there, Shauna will head
for the summit, without him.
- Well it's gonna be a
great day climbing today.
Been waiting a long time for this.
- Go time for everybody, alright.
Shauna is still suffering
from the debilitating
effects of the khumbu cough.
- Whenever I cough I
feel cramps in my tummy,
and food will often surface,
which is not very fun,
but--
All part of the game
- All part of the game.
At this stage in the game,
Ben feels even weaker than Shauna.
- Alright buddy, let's go do it.
And we're off.
Last week, Ben
achieved his professional goal
for this expedition; he
got a series of cameras
to the summit of Mount Everest.
Now, he's climbing to
achieve a personal goal.
He wants to get his girlfriend,
Shauna Burke, to the top of the world.
Ben heads up the mountain.
It's the first bit of real climbing
he's done in over two weeks.
He'd rather go home, but he's
made a commitment to Shauna,
that he's determined to honor.
How many marriages
or how many relationships
are layered with masks that we hold on to,
and you really never get
to know who that person is
that's sleeping beside you.
In this case those masks
will be dropped down,
and it'll be raw and it'll be real
and it either brings you
together because you're happy
with what you see in each other,
or it doesn't, and shatters it.
I think we'll
learn a lot about each other,
about our relationship, and
if everything all goes well
I think it'll bring us that much closer.
Ben has been at
6500 meters altitude
for the last two weeks.
Coordinating the
expedition from that high,
for that long, has robbed
him of his strength.
Halfway up the Lhotse face,
just two hours into his climb,
Ben is slowing down, stalling, fading.
He can't take it anymore, he has to stop.
- I'm struggling, feels like I'm gonna
vomit most of the time,
which is never fun.
I'm just really suffering,
I'm really suffering today.
Ben and Shauna are supposed
to get to camp three today.
At this rate, they'll never make it.
- Alright, here's the situation.
Ben knows
he only has one choice.
- Gimme one minute.
Ben is gonna turn back.
- I honestly believed that
I could get to camp three,
get on oxygen, and get
to the Col. tomorrow
to support Shauna and her bid,
but I had no idea that I was this toast.
I'm absolutely fried, I'm
having a terrible climb.
Absolutely awful effort
today, never felt like this,
I got nothing, I almost
feel hollow in my body.
I got nothing left, less than nothing.
Alright guys, that's it, I'm sorry baby.
I know I know I love you too.
You're gonna do this, I'll
talk to you on the radio,
love you baby.
- Good day Ben, have you
here, how're you going?
Over the
radio, Andrew and the team
learn that Ben is retreating.
- So absolutely I'm descending,
I'm gonna send Shauna off,
I can only tell you on a personal level,
I can't even begin to tell
you the sorrow I feel,
having made the commitment
to her to get her to the Col.
and be there during her
push and now to realize,
that I won't be because
I'm not strong enough,
I gotta let Shauna go on her own,
which is heart-wrenching for
me, but be accepting the fact
that I didn't do what I had set out to do,
anyway, Ben out.
I'll talk to you on the
radio and I'm sorry love.
Ben doesn't
feel like he's abandoning
his climb, he feels like
he's abandoning Shauna.
- I'll miss him tremendously
on the climb up,
but I have to be strong.
You do gotta be strong baby.
It's your time, it's not my
time, it's your time, alright?
Be strong, be strong for both
of us, it's your time now.
- Okay.
Ben comes down the mountain.
Shauna goes strongly up the mountain,
arriving here means that
after more than a year
of preparing, and training and waiting,
Shauna is finally in place for her
Mount Everest summit assault.
Welcome to camp three.
- Well, made it to camp three.
This is Shauna's last gasp,
climbing season closes in six days,
her summit must come now, or never.
It's May 24th, as Ben arrives
dejectively back at base camp,
Shauna is slogging her
way up to camp four,
with every step Shauna takes,
she climbs higher than
she's ever been in her life.
Great new
challenge, not an easy climb,
the oxygen helps a lot.
Even though Shauna
is doing fine without him,
Ben feels guilty for
leaving her on the mountain.
- I pouted for 20 minutes,
accepted the fact that
I failed, and that will leave scar tissue,
and I'll have time to deal with it,
with a bottle of whisky,
three or six months from now.
Someone from the team
has to be at camp two
in case something goes wrong up high.
Hector volunteers to go.
Shauna arrives at camp four,
and discovers it's
still an active village.
- It's nice to see there's
other teams up here.
We're not alone.
Shauna was told
the weather up here tonight
would be good, apparently
no one told that to
Mia Laksangma, the God of Mount Everest.
It's minus 30 degrees celsius,
the wind is almost gale
force, and it's getting worse.
Even so, Shauna must be
ready to leave at 10PM,
that means oxygen, hot
drinks, and 10 hours of rest.
- Base camp to south Col. over.
From the base
camp communications tent,
Ben speaks with Shauna at camp
four, and Hector at camp two.
It's an hour before Shauna
is supposed to leave
for the summit, but the weather
is too grim for climbing.
- Hi Hector I hear you
got bad weather there.
We can hear
the wind from, over.
- Unless there's some radical
change up there Hector,
in the next minute or two,
we're gonna shut it down for tonight,
I'm gonna see if they'll
stay at the Col. one day,
and then I'm gonna have to
do some serious hustling
to get enough gas to
support it tomorrow, over.
To survive
her extra day at camp four,
Shauna and the Sherpa's have
to breath bottled oxygen,
but unbelievably, they
awoke this morning to find
their oxygen supply has been stolen.
Ben is working with Keely
to solve the problem.
- First thing is tell
them that we're gonna send
Gaojun down, and then we gotta start,
we need them to look for half
bottles to get through today,
'cause that'll give
them, on the summit push,
if only Nehru, Dannero, and Shauna go up,
all we need is seven bottles.
And tell 'em that he needs
to talk to the Sherpa's.
For a margin of safety,
Ben tries to get more oxygen delivered
to one of the most obscure
locations on earth.
- I know it's tough babe but
you just gotta roll with this,
and believe in your heart of hearts
that you're gonna get your
shot, that the weather'll
come good late tonight and
you'll get your shot, over.
Okay I'll,
keep my finger's crossed.
The Sherpa's sift
through used oxygen bottles
that have been left behind as litter,
setting beside any that still contain gas.
They'll use this pile
today while they rest,
and tonight, they'll take
their remaining full bottles
to the summit, if the wind dies down.
At Mount Everest base camp, Ben listens in
as Shauna tells Hector her summit push
is being postponed, again.
Camp four this is base camp, over.
Yeah hi Ben, over.
- I'm sorry to hear about
the situation Shauna,
I just heard from Guy Cotter
and his people were saying
the same thing, that it's
high winds still up there.
Give me a call in an
hour and I'll give you
an update on what's going on, over.
Okay talk to
you 7:00 over and out.
- This is base camp standing by.
Ben knows what
Shauna's going through.
Four years ago, he was
stuck in the exact same spot
she's trapped in now,
Mount Everest death zone.
At 8,000 meters, Shauna is wasting away,
losing strength and literally dying.
Barring a miracle, time
has run out for her.
Bringing 'em down,
I was pretty much committed
to bringing 'em down.
In the morning, Ben suspects
that his girlfriend won't
be making it to the summit
of Mount Everest, but Shauna
is still clinging to her dream.
How do you personally feel, over?
- If I knew the winds were down tonight,
I would give it a shot, but
you told me they're not,
so there's no point in
waiting it out, over.
- My concern is the fact
that you've now been up there
for two nights at 8,000 meters,
and I start to worry that
some bad things can happen.
It would depend on whether
we can find someone
to actually stay with you as
well, not just stay with you,
but felt strong enough that they could
get to the summit and back home, over.
Ben then talks
to Shauna's lead Sherpa.
- Nehru I need an honest assessment now,
now that you guys are up and moving,
did you jack the oxygen
level up a little bit, over?
Yeah.
- Okay I understand what you're doing,
I'm asking you how you're feeling.
Ben talks
to Nehru, and as he does,
camp four is being torn
down around Shauna.
Determined, she stays in her
tent hoping for good news.
It doesn't come.
Shauna, I'm sorry
to tell you, I wanna go down.
Okay.
We have already
spent two nights here,
and I have told you
yesterday very frankly,
the previous night will be our last try,
if we could not be able
to make previous night,
we go down, I hope you remember.
Yeah I remember.
I just wanted to know maybe
if Dannero wanted to stay.
He wants to go.
- All wants to go, yeah because you know,
when we all stay, we're
all good team spirits,
we have been already spent
two nights, all five,
and when we split, feel
very bad, you know,
feel very bad, and even,
for two Sherpa going
down, the tears comes,
thinking about the Sherpa's staying here.
Okay.
So I'm sorry Shauna.
No problem.
- Yeah I hope you don't mind.
- Nope, that's okay.
- You can understand us.
So what I think, is better,
our life is more important,
it's better we safely get
down, and today if we can,
we get down best we can,
if you don't mind, Shauna.
- Sure.
- I'm sorry.
No I understand,
I don't want to put
anybody in danger so
if that's how you feel.
- Yeah I know, it makes you a
little sad but I'm very sorry.
- The decision is made, we're going down.
Shauna feels angry.
If she could've gone for the summit
in the first window of opportunity,
maybe, she would've made it.
The way it played out,
she never had a chance.
- Well I have no idea what to say to her.
Shauna, please be careful on the way down,
and let us know when
you're leaving the Col.
We're on standby, and I'm just
very very very sorry, over.
You think you're sorry, over.
Right now,
Shauna is 800 vertical meters
from the summit of Everest,
but she's closer to her home
in Ottawa than she is to the
pinnacle of mountaineering.
It's hard on everyone.
Ben did you
copy last communications?
- Yeah I copy, Shauna, I copy, over.
Everest, it's
more than just a mountain,
it's a massive philosophical question,
why on earth do people risk
life and limb to get here?
Some climbers come for
ego, some come for beauty,
and some come so they can squeeze
every last drop out of life.
This mountain knows the
world's greatest joy,
and the saddest heartbreak.
They say that ultimately Mount Everest
is climbed for one reason,
because it's there.
Climbers may come and climbers may go,
but Mount Everest will always be there.
When this mountain ends, life goes on,
so what do people do when
they're done climbing Everest?
When this group of climbers arrived
at Mount Everest base camp 50 days ago,
Ben said the expedition would be a success
if everyone walked out alive.
It's been a much bigger success than that.
Andrew and Hector both
made it to the summit,
Ben produced television footage
on parts of the mountain
that have never been filmed before,
and for one divine moment,
Shauna was the highest woman
on the tallest mountain in the world.
These four people may
never be together again,
but they will always be team Discovery,
conquerors of Mount Everest.
of Ultimate Survivor Everest,
Team Discovery climbers Andrew
Lock and Hector Ponce De Leon
made it to the summit of the
world's tallest mountain.
- Yeehah.
Just one day
after British socialite Annabelle Bond
and her Chilean teammates
stood on the famous peak.
- God, can't believe I'm here.
It's amazing.
While diabetic climber Will Cross
was slowly heading to Camp 3,
Mexican climber Andreas
Delgado was suffering
through his painful attempt
at summiting without oxygen.
But not every
climber went for the top.
Team Discovery leader Ben
Webster stayed at Camp 2
and he sent his girlfriend,
Shauna Burke, back to base camp.
They're resting for their push,
slated to begin in five days.
There has been countless
close calls this season,
but mercifully, no deaths,
however on Everest, most lives are lost
when the exhausted climbers
are descending, and so far,
no summiter has made it
safely back down the mountain.
It's noon on May 16th.
30 climbers are inching their
way back down to Camp 4,
having made it to summit of Mount Everest
earlier this morning.
Passing them on the famous Hillary Step
are more climbers still
on their way to the peak.
Most have a turnaround
time of two o'clock.
That means, wherever they
are en route to the summit,
they plan on turning around at 2 p.m.
so they can make it safely back to Camp 4
before night falls or the weather turns.
Team Discovery are all
healthy and descending well.
So far, everything is going perfectly.
Just below what's called the Balcony,
Andreas Delgado is alone on his quest
to summit without oxygen.
For a hit of energy,
this married father sucks on liquid honey.
Sucking on oxygen would help him more.
Climbing without oxygen
is almost impossible.
Less than 8% of all Everest summits
have been done without supplemental gas.
At this rate, it'll be almost dark
before Andreas sees the summit.
That's too late.
He's climbing into unspeakable danger.
Human body parts, still swathed
in Gore-Tex, frozen in time,
remind climbers that if you falter,
this mountain will simply destroy you.
Andreas is unrelenting.
Congratulations Andrew, on--
Way down at Camp 2,
you can't wipe the grin off Ben's face.
Having six of his team
members make it the top
is something he revels in.
But when Hector radios down that a climber
is in trouble above 8,600 meters,
Ben gets right back to business.
- There's an emergency
high on the mountain.
I just talked to Andrew.
What has happened is our
group, as a group descent,
came across what I believe to be old Tom
from the Mexican-Canadian group.
He seems completely out of it.
It's Tom Masterson,
the 58-year old mountain
guide from Colorado
who's climbing without oxygen.
He's become delusional and irrational.
You can't go
anywhere with a busted--
Andrew tries to
be patient, but Tom is ranting.
He has broken footwear,
his safety harness hangs
sadly at his knees,
yet he's convinced he can make it.
- Thank you, leave me alone.
- If he's falling down now on his way up,
he'll never come home.
Stop Tom from going from climbing
and help him come down.
Can you do that, can you rescue him?
Lac Bagaylu and
Mingla fix Tom's crampon.
Tom thinks it's to help him go up,
he has no idea he's being rescued.
Andrew has seen this
kind of insanity before,
it's most likely being caused
by high-altitude cerebral edema,
which means Tom's brain
is probably so swollen,
it's squeezing against itself,
causing confusion and
loss of motor skills.
If he's unlucky, Tom could have a stroke.
- I will go down, no problem.
- At base camp, Tom's
team member Jose Luis,
has lost control of his climbers.
While Tom's life is being
saved, another team member
is also in dire straits,
having run out of oxygen.
Once again, Ben informs base
camp that team Discovery
is dealing with the crisis.
- Just below the summit, ran outta gas,
and we were able to give
him a bottle of gas,
our team was able to
give him a bottle of gas.
Team
Discovery has extra oxygen
leftover from their summit portion.
Hector prepares a spare tank
with a mask and regulator
before seeing off to meet Andrew and Tom.
Andreas has made it to Tom's side,
Tom now breathes bottled oxygen.
But he's refusing a dex
shot, a hypodermic needle
that will alleviate his brain swelling.
I think on top of the oxygen
you guys are getting him,
it makes sense to go
ahead and give him the
dexamethosone shot and the diamox,
if you can get him to take it, over.
Absolutely, I'll
relay that up to Andrew,
who's with the climber
right now, and we'll get the
information to him, and I'm
sure he'll get back to us, over.
Andreas encourages
Tom not to take any drugs
if he doesn't want to,
Tom doesn't want to.
Tom's teammate Luis has taken Andrew's
last bottle of oxygen,
Luis needs help to go down.
Seeing his team in tatters like this,
Andreas must decide
which is more important,
his own climb or the safety of his team.
Wisely, he accepts oxygen from Hector.
Andreas has correctly
decided to turn around,
and go down with the team.
Very good decision on everybody's part.
Unfortunately it wasn't
that teams day today,
they had a few incidents,
so as it stands now,
the climbers have support, they have help,
but it's going to be a very long descent,
and probably a very stressful
descent down into the camp.
Normal rules
of life don't apply here.
For example, what goes up Mount Everest,
doesn't necessarily come down.
There's a rescue technique
called short roping.
Climbers tie themselves
together with a short rope.
The stronger climber then
lowers the weaker one.
Tom is being short roped
down by the Sherpa's,
while Andrew is waiting to
help another lost climber.
From base camp, Jose Luis sends a message
to his faltering teammates.
- Just we wanted to tell them all to
be brave, and we are
waiting for them here,
and well just be strong to come down.
Andreas leads the team down,
revitalized by Hector's gift of oxygen.
Above him, Luis is ready
to be short roped down.
Everest is larger than life.
This vein of marble,
called the Yellow Band,
is the highest fault line in the world.
Will Cross is feeling the strain
of climbing up the Yellow Band.
He's been on his feet for four
hours, and he's not done yet.
- We're rock climbing at 24
and a half thousand feet,
and that's exhausting, even on oxygen.
So welcome, rock band.
- Yeah we got about two hours to go.
We had a death rock just fly by us,
and the oxygen system's
working really well,
you can hear it pulse,
and that fires the oxygen into the system.
Will has
climbed the highest mountain
on four of the seven continents,
and he has skied to both the
north and the south poles.
Today, he's leading the
third wave of climbers
headed for the summit of Mount Everest.
Five teams are leaving
Camp Three this morning,
hoping to arrive at the
peak 24 hours from now.
If Will makes it to Camp Four,
he will eat, take insulin,
rest until just after dark,
and then head for his destiny.
But first, he must make his
way past the Yellow Band.
Annabelle and Adronico are
both still higher than kites
following their successful
trip to the summit.
It's an ecstasy that was
worth every hardship.
- Happy to be going down.
Great lesson.
- Thank you so much.
You did a great job?
- It was so tough.
Pulling himself
up and over the Geneva Spur,
Will is honing in on Camp Four.
It's only half an hour away now.
Things are going very well for Will.
He was a little nervous trying out his
brand-new, untested oxygen system here,
but it's getting him all the gas he needs.
- It's good to be here,
what a wonderful place.
As Will arrives
at camp, he sees exactly
what he's going to be in for this evening,
and he must leave in the dark.
- So now we hydrate, and,
I think the plan in the morning will be,
to leave relatively early.
I tend to move rather slowly, on purpose,
got me to the pole,
the reason for that is,
that's what works best with the insulin.
As he settles in to his tent
for some last minute
rest, Will hears a voice
that invigorates him more
than oxygen ever could.
Hi Will, this is Amy at base camp,
how are you honey?
- Hey wifey, good to hear from ya.
The climber's
who've made it to the summit
of Mount Everest this morning,
are starting to filter
back down to Camp Four.
Most look worse for wear,
but are stoked to be alive,
with stories of epic glory.
- It's been a great day so far,
we summited, all of us, for
sure passing the two westerners.
While the
Sherpa's wait for Lac Bagaylu
and Mingma to return, Will
Cross waits for his wife
to contact him on the radio.
She has trekked it to
base camp to cheer him on.
- Hi Will this is Amy at base camp.
- Glad you made it up to base
camp, how are things for you?
- Things are great here
but I'd like to know
how your climb went today.
- Sexy climbing today,
it was hard, it was high,
and there were rocks and ropes involved,
so if you can't get turned
on by that as a climber
you're in the wrong
game, it was a great day.
- Oxygen helps and a good teammate helps,
so we are hydrating and eating right now,
and then looking to
leave early, copy that?
- What's your estimated
time for departure?
- We're gonna look to leave
camp between 8 and 8:30PM,
which is rather early,
but as anyone at base camp
can tell you the last
24 hours has been epic,
and we're aiming to avoid that.
- Copy that Will, sounds like a good plan,
that'll bring you home to me a lot sooner,
so I like the sounds of that.
- I have a turnaround
time in my mind of noon,
to keep things safe and reasonable,
and to put you and Max ahead of the game.
- That's great babe, well I love you a lot
and I can't wait to have you
back down here at base camp, safe.
I know you're gonna do well
tomorrow, tonight and tomorrow.
- Thanks Amy, it's good to hear.
Love you a lot, we're standby.
- Okay babe I love you
so much, take it easy,
I'll be with you the whole time,
I'll be thinking of you, and that's it.
I love you, over and out.
- It's good to have your wife
on the mountain, very good.
Lac Bagaylu and Mingma Sherpa
are back at Camp Four.
They're late and drained because
they helped rescue Tom Masterson.
Up high, Tom was talking to
people who weren't there,
he was staggering like a drunk,
now he seems better but
he's refusing to believe
he was ever in trouble.
Tired but better,
once you lose altitude, okay.
Then, after
20 hours of climbing
in the death zone, Andrew
Lock comes back to camp.
What a day.
Hey Andrew--
He summited Mount Everest
and helped save two lives.
You must be wasted man,
good job, you brought that guy down.
Good job Andrew.
- Thank you very much.
Andrew is thrilled
with his performance today,
but he's only at Camp Four,
it's too soon for celebrations.
Down at Camp Two, happiness
for the Chilean team
is totally unrestrained.
Annabelle and Andronico
receive a hero's welcome
from their team manager, Rodrigo.
- You did it, I knew I knew I knew.
- My god.
- I made it, I made it.
- Very well done, marvelous.
- Thank you.
People
climb Everest so they can
stare death in the face.
When death stares back, it
either scares the life out
of them or it makes them realize
everything they have to live for.
Six climbers will be dead
when the season ends,
Andronico, will be home with his family.
We are Chile!
- Most people are in shock that I made it,
I don't think people could
believe that I've actually
done it which is a nice thing,
it's good to surprise people,
rather than to have them
expect you to do it.
We are Chile!
Alone in a tent,
8,000 meters above sea level,
Will Cross administers
himself a shot of insulin.
He's exhausted, but ready
to go for the summit.
- Now feeling pretty good
after a long day hauling up,
well it's showtime, are you
gonna get out there and do it,
hope the weather holds,
hope the oxygen holds,
hope our bodies hold, and
that's about it really,
now we gonna do it.
At 8:30 PM,
Will Cross left camp four,
headed for the summit of Mount Everest.
It's 2:30AM now, and Will has
stopped just below the balcony
at an altitude of 8600 meters,
his climb is suddenly, shockingly, over.
Trusting an untested oxygen
system has cost him everything.
- Problems with the oxygen,
so could've made it to the top,
couldn't have made it back
down, tell you that much.
Keeping a
promise he made to his wife
to come home safely, Will
sacrifices his climb,
and turns around.
In the morning, Hector leaves camp four
headed back down to camp two,
it's going to be a tougher
climb than he had planned on,
because yesterday, he gave away
all of his remaining oxygen.
I'm tired, for sure,
it's not the kind of fatigue
in which you feel if
you're going fast or slow,
you just can feel that
your body has burned
down to the last calorie,
that's the kind of tired I am.
Will Cross arrives
safely back at camp four,
it's painful to think, if his
oxygen system hadn't failed,
he would be approaching
the south summit right now.
Failure comes in many forms on Everest.
It's what keeps this
mountain so intriguing.
- Yeah that's the name of the game,
you win some you lose some.
Didn't summit today, and that's obviously
what we came to do, but it's
a decision I can live with,
and today it was the right one.
So, there you have it.
- God, what you have to
go through just to get
as far as he did, shows that
he's got great endurance,
great strength, good heart, strong mind,
so I'm really proud of him.
Shauna Burke
is leaving base camp,
headed for camp two.
She hopes to be making a summit assault
with her boyfriend Ben
Webster in three days time.
But while she's been away from
him, Ben's body has weakened,
and he doesn't believe
he can summit anymore.
- My first priority, and I
don't have a problem saying it,
is to get Shauna the best
possible opportunity and shot,
that'll be a defining thing in her life
and I absolutely will go
high, but I am worried about,
where I'm going to be when I do go high,
emotionally, mentally, and physically.
When Shauna gets to camp
two, Ben will break the news.
He's not going to go
for the summit with her.
- I'm going to go up to the Col.,
I gave a personal commitment to Shauna
that I would see her off,
so I'll climb with her
up to camp four at which point
I'll sit with a safety Sherpa
and several bottles of oxygen,
in case there's a problem
high on the mountain at which point then
I'll be forced to climb with the Sherpa.
Since they
summited two days ago,
Andrew and Hector have been
reluctant to celebrate.
Walking safely into base camp,
Hector is ready for a party.
When I reached
the summit I never feel
the kind of relief or even
excitement that I feel
when I'm down the ice fall,
definitely if you're not here
at base camp, you don't
feel like, that relief,
and that excitement of
having summited, all of that.
Tonight, the Sherpa's are
partying in the kitchen tent.
This beer-fueled bash is their
toast to a job well done.
The singing, dancing and
drinking goes on strong,
well into the night.
Today is May 20th, after
being away from his wife,
Amy, for over two months,
Will Cross is about to reunite with her.
He's descending down through
the last section of the ice fall.
Will!
With so many stories to tell,
he doesn't know where to start.
Good to see you.
- It's great to see you.
During his
expedition to Mount Everest,
Will Cross missed seeing
his infant son, Max,
take his first steps, and
Amy Cross missed her husband.
I love you.
I know it was so hard.
You were awesome, you
did such a great job.
I love you so much, thank you
for coming back down to me.
You've gotta be so tired.
I'll take care of you.
- I'm beat.
- Yeah.
- You look great.
- That's good.
I feel like dirt.
- No it's okay, I just
gotta get my spikes off
and eat some food and take some insulin.
- Yeah I brought it for you.
- Okay great.
Everything to do
with diabetes was fine,
that was not the problem,
plenty of guys up there
who didn't get as far as we did
and who are just as tired as
we are who don't have diabetes
so I think in terms of that it was fine.
I think the thing to do now is to
go back to the drawing board, and,
you know figure out what
we can do differently,
and give her another crack another time.
Days turn into
nights, and nights into days,
while Shauna waits at
camp two for the weather
to improve enough that
she can go for the summit.
- At this point, all we're
hearing from the weather reports
is that the winds are high
and that the humidity is high.
It's not looking good,
but I think that I'll
get my chance anyway
to attempt the summit.
On May 23rd,
her chance finally arrives.
In the last six days, several climbers
have died high in the mountain.
Still, Shauna and Ben will
climb for camp three today,
and camp four tomorrow.
From there, Shauna will head
for the summit, without him.
- Well it's gonna be a
great day climbing today.
Been waiting a long time for this.
- Go time for everybody, alright.
Shauna is still suffering
from the debilitating
effects of the khumbu cough.
- Whenever I cough I
feel cramps in my tummy,
and food will often surface,
which is not very fun,
but--
All part of the game
- All part of the game.
At this stage in the game,
Ben feels even weaker than Shauna.
- Alright buddy, let's go do it.
And we're off.
Last week, Ben
achieved his professional goal
for this expedition; he
got a series of cameras
to the summit of Mount Everest.
Now, he's climbing to
achieve a personal goal.
He wants to get his girlfriend,
Shauna Burke, to the top of the world.
Ben heads up the mountain.
It's the first bit of real climbing
he's done in over two weeks.
He'd rather go home, but he's
made a commitment to Shauna,
that he's determined to honor.
How many marriages
or how many relationships
are layered with masks that we hold on to,
and you really never get
to know who that person is
that's sleeping beside you.
In this case those masks
will be dropped down,
and it'll be raw and it'll be real
and it either brings you
together because you're happy
with what you see in each other,
or it doesn't, and shatters it.
I think we'll
learn a lot about each other,
about our relationship, and
if everything all goes well
I think it'll bring us that much closer.
Ben has been at
6500 meters altitude
for the last two weeks.
Coordinating the
expedition from that high,
for that long, has robbed
him of his strength.
Halfway up the Lhotse face,
just two hours into his climb,
Ben is slowing down, stalling, fading.
He can't take it anymore, he has to stop.
- I'm struggling, feels like I'm gonna
vomit most of the time,
which is never fun.
I'm just really suffering,
I'm really suffering today.
Ben and Shauna are supposed
to get to camp three today.
At this rate, they'll never make it.
- Alright, here's the situation.
Ben knows
he only has one choice.
- Gimme one minute.
Ben is gonna turn back.
- I honestly believed that
I could get to camp three,
get on oxygen, and get
to the Col. tomorrow
to support Shauna and her bid,
but I had no idea that I was this toast.
I'm absolutely fried, I'm
having a terrible climb.
Absolutely awful effort
today, never felt like this,
I got nothing, I almost
feel hollow in my body.
I got nothing left, less than nothing.
Alright guys, that's it, I'm sorry baby.
I know I know I love you too.
You're gonna do this, I'll
talk to you on the radio,
love you baby.
- Good day Ben, have you
here, how're you going?
Over the
radio, Andrew and the team
learn that Ben is retreating.
- So absolutely I'm descending,
I'm gonna send Shauna off,
I can only tell you on a personal level,
I can't even begin to tell
you the sorrow I feel,
having made the commitment
to her to get her to the Col.
and be there during her
push and now to realize,
that I won't be because
I'm not strong enough,
I gotta let Shauna go on her own,
which is heart-wrenching for
me, but be accepting the fact
that I didn't do what I had set out to do,
anyway, Ben out.
I'll talk to you on the
radio and I'm sorry love.
Ben doesn't
feel like he's abandoning
his climb, he feels like
he's abandoning Shauna.
- I'll miss him tremendously
on the climb up,
but I have to be strong.
You do gotta be strong baby.
It's your time, it's not my
time, it's your time, alright?
Be strong, be strong for both
of us, it's your time now.
- Okay.
Ben comes down the mountain.
Shauna goes strongly up the mountain,
arriving here means that
after more than a year
of preparing, and training and waiting,
Shauna is finally in place for her
Mount Everest summit assault.
Welcome to camp three.
- Well, made it to camp three.
This is Shauna's last gasp,
climbing season closes in six days,
her summit must come now, or never.
It's May 24th, as Ben arrives
dejectively back at base camp,
Shauna is slogging her
way up to camp four,
with every step Shauna takes,
she climbs higher than
she's ever been in her life.
Great new
challenge, not an easy climb,
the oxygen helps a lot.
Even though Shauna
is doing fine without him,
Ben feels guilty for
leaving her on the mountain.
- I pouted for 20 minutes,
accepted the fact that
I failed, and that will leave scar tissue,
and I'll have time to deal with it,
with a bottle of whisky,
three or six months from now.
Someone from the team
has to be at camp two
in case something goes wrong up high.
Hector volunteers to go.
Shauna arrives at camp four,
and discovers it's
still an active village.
- It's nice to see there's
other teams up here.
We're not alone.
Shauna was told
the weather up here tonight
would be good, apparently
no one told that to
Mia Laksangma, the God of Mount Everest.
It's minus 30 degrees celsius,
the wind is almost gale
force, and it's getting worse.
Even so, Shauna must be
ready to leave at 10PM,
that means oxygen, hot
drinks, and 10 hours of rest.
- Base camp to south Col. over.
From the base
camp communications tent,
Ben speaks with Shauna at camp
four, and Hector at camp two.
It's an hour before Shauna
is supposed to leave
for the summit, but the weather
is too grim for climbing.
- Hi Hector I hear you
got bad weather there.
We can hear
the wind from, over.
- Unless there's some radical
change up there Hector,
in the next minute or two,
we're gonna shut it down for tonight,
I'm gonna see if they'll
stay at the Col. one day,
and then I'm gonna have to
do some serious hustling
to get enough gas to
support it tomorrow, over.
To survive
her extra day at camp four,
Shauna and the Sherpa's have
to breath bottled oxygen,
but unbelievably, they
awoke this morning to find
their oxygen supply has been stolen.
Ben is working with Keely
to solve the problem.
- First thing is tell
them that we're gonna send
Gaojun down, and then we gotta start,
we need them to look for half
bottles to get through today,
'cause that'll give
them, on the summit push,
if only Nehru, Dannero, and Shauna go up,
all we need is seven bottles.
And tell 'em that he needs
to talk to the Sherpa's.
For a margin of safety,
Ben tries to get more oxygen delivered
to one of the most obscure
locations on earth.
- I know it's tough babe but
you just gotta roll with this,
and believe in your heart of hearts
that you're gonna get your
shot, that the weather'll
come good late tonight and
you'll get your shot, over.
Okay I'll,
keep my finger's crossed.
The Sherpa's sift
through used oxygen bottles
that have been left behind as litter,
setting beside any that still contain gas.
They'll use this pile
today while they rest,
and tonight, they'll take
their remaining full bottles
to the summit, if the wind dies down.
At Mount Everest base camp, Ben listens in
as Shauna tells Hector her summit push
is being postponed, again.
Camp four this is base camp, over.
Yeah hi Ben, over.
- I'm sorry to hear about
the situation Shauna,
I just heard from Guy Cotter
and his people were saying
the same thing, that it's
high winds still up there.
Give me a call in an
hour and I'll give you
an update on what's going on, over.
Okay talk to
you 7:00 over and out.
- This is base camp standing by.
Ben knows what
Shauna's going through.
Four years ago, he was
stuck in the exact same spot
she's trapped in now,
Mount Everest death zone.
At 8,000 meters, Shauna is wasting away,
losing strength and literally dying.
Barring a miracle, time
has run out for her.
Bringing 'em down,
I was pretty much committed
to bringing 'em down.
In the morning, Ben suspects
that his girlfriend won't
be making it to the summit
of Mount Everest, but Shauna
is still clinging to her dream.
How do you personally feel, over?
- If I knew the winds were down tonight,
I would give it a shot, but
you told me they're not,
so there's no point in
waiting it out, over.
- My concern is the fact
that you've now been up there
for two nights at 8,000 meters,
and I start to worry that
some bad things can happen.
It would depend on whether
we can find someone
to actually stay with you as
well, not just stay with you,
but felt strong enough that they could
get to the summit and back home, over.
Ben then talks
to Shauna's lead Sherpa.
- Nehru I need an honest assessment now,
now that you guys are up and moving,
did you jack the oxygen
level up a little bit, over?
Yeah.
- Okay I understand what you're doing,
I'm asking you how you're feeling.
Ben talks
to Nehru, and as he does,
camp four is being torn
down around Shauna.
Determined, she stays in her
tent hoping for good news.
It doesn't come.
Shauna, I'm sorry
to tell you, I wanna go down.
Okay.
We have already
spent two nights here,
and I have told you
yesterday very frankly,
the previous night will be our last try,
if we could not be able
to make previous night,
we go down, I hope you remember.
Yeah I remember.
I just wanted to know maybe
if Dannero wanted to stay.
He wants to go.
- All wants to go, yeah because you know,
when we all stay, we're
all good team spirits,
we have been already spent
two nights, all five,
and when we split, feel
very bad, you know,
feel very bad, and even,
for two Sherpa going
down, the tears comes,
thinking about the Sherpa's staying here.
Okay.
So I'm sorry Shauna.
No problem.
- Yeah I hope you don't mind.
- Nope, that's okay.
- You can understand us.
So what I think, is better,
our life is more important,
it's better we safely get
down, and today if we can,
we get down best we can,
if you don't mind, Shauna.
- Sure.
- I'm sorry.
No I understand,
I don't want to put
anybody in danger so
if that's how you feel.
- Yeah I know, it makes you a
little sad but I'm very sorry.
- The decision is made, we're going down.
Shauna feels angry.
If she could've gone for the summit
in the first window of opportunity,
maybe, she would've made it.
The way it played out,
she never had a chance.
- Well I have no idea what to say to her.
Shauna, please be careful on the way down,
and let us know when
you're leaving the Col.
We're on standby, and I'm just
very very very sorry, over.
You think you're sorry, over.
Right now,
Shauna is 800 vertical meters
from the summit of Everest,
but she's closer to her home
in Ottawa than she is to the
pinnacle of mountaineering.
It's hard on everyone.
Ben did you
copy last communications?
- Yeah I copy, Shauna, I copy, over.
Everest, it's
more than just a mountain,
it's a massive philosophical question,
why on earth do people risk
life and limb to get here?
Some climbers come for
ego, some come for beauty,
and some come so they can squeeze
every last drop out of life.
This mountain knows the
world's greatest joy,
and the saddest heartbreak.
They say that ultimately Mount Everest
is climbed for one reason,
because it's there.
Climbers may come and climbers may go,
but Mount Everest will always be there.
When this mountain ends, life goes on,
so what do people do when
they're done climbing Everest?
When this group of climbers arrived
at Mount Everest base camp 50 days ago,
Ben said the expedition would be a success
if everyone walked out alive.
It's been a much bigger success than that.
Andrew and Hector both
made it to the summit,
Ben produced television footage
on parts of the mountain
that have never been filmed before,
and for one divine moment,
Shauna was the highest woman
on the tallest mountain in the world.
These four people may
never be together again,
but they will always be team Discovery,
conquerors of Mount Everest.