Richard Parks on Everest

My name is Richard Parks.

When my rugby career was ended through injury,

I became an extreme environment athlete.

In just 197 days,

I skied to the North and the South Poles and climbed to the top

of the highest peak on every continent,

setting a new world record -

and that included Mount Everest,

the most iconic mountain on the planet.

Now I'm attempting to climb to the top of the world once again but this

time, it's going to be even tougher.

At more than 29,000 feet,

there's just a third of the oxygen there is at sea level,

but I'll be climbing without the use of supplemental oxygen.

Without proper training and acclimatisation,

dropped onto the summit of Mount Everest,

you'd be unconscious in four minutes and dead within six.

Now the medical community in Wales is re-evaluating what they thought

they knew about the human body -

what we thought 40 years ago to be scientifically impossible.

Could the way my body reacts to the extreme environment of the Himalayas

provide vital clues to preventing

one of the fastest-growing diseases on the planet?

Could mount Everest hold the key to

unlocking our understanding of dementia?

It could well be, you know, one of the biggest escapes of my life.

Every single item of gear that is here and that will be

meticulously laid out and chosen - I love.

You know, for me, a lot of my performance is about the detail,

but the piece de resistance of my kit is my expedition suit, my summit suit.

That item of clothing that is the closest thing I get to a spacesuit -

and I love this.

It looks cool, I love it, but it is - make no bones about it -

it is a life...it is a survival item. It's a survival suit

and, um, that's as I see it.

Summiting Everest is hard enough as it is,

but summiting without supplemental oxygen is a very different undertaking.

The way our bodies adapt to the lack of oxygen in the air is to increase

our red blood cell count and that increases the viscosity of our blood.

The human endeavour of summiting Everest,

and summiting Everest without supplemental oxygen

is something that... it really captivates me.

My climb of Mount Everest is an experiment to gather new evidence

in the hope of demonstrating how, with training,

it's possible to keep the mind sharp

by increasing blood flow to the brain,

even when there's less oxygen for the brain to use.

I'm hoping to show how anyone who does a little exercise

can help prevent the onset of dementia.

I've undergone an intensive training programme at the Human Performance Lab in Reading

to prepare me for the extreme altitude in which I'll be climbing.

Try and go from the lunge.

Nicky Phillips is my performance director on the expedition,

having worked with me on the majority of my world-first projects.

Come on, last set. Make it a good one.

She is my go-to person when it comes to physical preparation.

Richard's physical preparation, the effort that he puts into that,

for what would be a two-hour session of interval training,

is beyond what most athletes would do and what's been quite interesting

is that he trained amongst other high-performance athletes

when he did that and I think he really earned their respect

when they saw what he was doing.

So if you can imagine the burn that you'd get just from walking up one hill very fast,

and he's doing that again and again and again and where he finds

that extra strength, I don't know.

This expedition is important not just to me, but to my mum and dad.

We've experienced what it's like to have a close family friend diagnosed

with dementia. My godfather battled with the disease.

Having experienced this cruel disease so close to home -

it's like somebody disintegrating from the inside out.

And...

..it just seems really cruel.

Gavin Watkins and his wife Kim from Ebbw Vale have been living

with Gavin's dementia since he was diagnosed with the disease five years ago.

As the moment, there is no cure.

They reckon there's one around the corner

but it's still a long way away

and we want to do as much as we can.

And I want to do it while I can,

before I've lost it completely and unable to.

How did...how did it start, if you don't mind me asking?

Well, he was just... It was silly, stupid little things.

We went to our daughter's in Plymouth one day and he forgot

to lock the door and he got back into the car and said,

"Have I locked her door?"

Then there was repeating things over and over and he'd tell us

the same story every weekend.

The things that upset me so much is knowing that I'm going to forget my

wife, my children, and my grandson.

I just know it's going to come and it's so upsetting when you realise.

You sit and think about that in your days.

You know, that's the hardest part of it,

is knowing that's going to happen and it means such a lot to me

to keep it as long as I can

and that's where I fight to try and keep that going.

Two years ago, I began working with the scientists

at the University of South Wales in Pontypridd.

Professor Damian Bailey will be monitoring my performance on Mount Everest

in a science lab at Base Camp.

His research explores the relationship between oxygen and dementia.

The personal thing that really drives me is that there is no

curative treatment at the moment,

so if you're diagnosed with it, we can't cure it.

People are working very hard, they're chasing after a cure

and it's proving very challenging,

so the lion's share of our attention,

really, is spent at trying to prevent it.

We've got some evidence and, as the literature is suggesting,

that exercise is probably the best medicine out there.

We can put that on inside. Come on in, Ben.

For the past ten weeks, the team have been carrying out tests on me

in a special chamber, where the oxygen levels in the air

have been reduced to simulate extreme altitude.

We've been able to track Richard's progress -

physiologically, if you like,

during the training phases.

The aim of this pilot study is to demonstrate that my acclimatisation

can compensate for the lack of oxygen on Mount Everest,

that exercise can improve cognition,

even if there's less oxygen going to the brain.

Richard has got a very comprehensive battery of tests that he will be

performing during the ascent to Base Camp,

during the stay at Base Camp and then, of course,

above the Khumbu Icefall.

Toughest of all will be a procedure where I have to anaesthetise my leg,

making an incision with a scalpel 5 cm into the muscle

and then, using a 15 cm needle, to remove a sample of tissue.

This muscle biopsy will be stored and later analysed to assess

how my body uses oxygen during my ascent.

All of this must be done, whatever the weather, at 29,000 feet

and on my own.

There's still a question mark over whether this is even possible,

with the limited time I'll have at the most extreme of altitudes.

The test will help in our understanding of the link between exercise and brain function.

You don't see the brain when it's exercising.

Of course, you can see the muscle, or the heart or the lungs,

you can see your chest moving up and down

and you're breathing air in and out

but everybody forgets that the brain is in there as well

but we do know that there are parts of the brain -

one specific part called the hippocampus -

that actually shrinks with age and the question is to what extent

can we improve aspects of cognition with exercise,

by increasing blood flow and oxygen delivery to parts of the brain

that need it more than most.

Wales' highest mountain may only be 3,560 feet,

but there's an intimate connection between Snowdon and Mount Everest.

Not only was Everest itself named after a Welshman -

the surveyor Sir George Everest -

but it was here on Snowdon that Sir Edmund Hillary

and the 1953 expedition team came to train.

But the time for my training is over.

I felt confident.

I just had no idea what was ahead or what was in store for me, but...

..you know, I'm confident of the tool box that I had and the people

I had around me to manage it, but...

..I had every confidence that I was going to stand on the summit.

Kathmandu very much is the gateway into the Himalaya.

It's a real melting pot for not just local people,

but climbers from all over the world and it's an opportunity to distance

myself, actually, from Wales and from the world here.

Just the smells, the noises, the excitement, nerves, everything, really.

From Kathmandu, I'll fly into Lukla,

the mountain town known as the gateway to the Himalayas.

From there, my team and I will trek on foot first to Namche Bazaar,

and then onto Dingboche as we acclimatise to the altitude.

As part of my acclimatisation strategy,

I'll then attempt to summit the 20,300 feet of Island Peak.

Returning to Dingboche, I move onto Everest Base Camp,

before my ultimate goal - to summit Mount Everest herself

without supplemental oxygen.

My expedition team are Dr Damian Bailey,

Dr Nicola Phillips,

and operating the camera is Gareth Morrow.

It's regarded as the scariest flight on the planet and, you know,

Lukla airport has been voted

one of the most dangerous airports on the planet.

It's a really short runway!

Really short!

It's not for the faint-hearted.

If you had any anxiety around flying,

it's definitely not the airport to visit!

Arriving in Lukla feels like the expedition is finally beginning.

This place is real, not a simulated environment in the lab.

We've got three days' trekking ahead of us before we reach Namche Bazaar.

With our Sherpa, we'll be climbing from 9,383 feet to 11,290 feet.

Some of the best bits about the trek to Base Camp are the steel bridges

that we have to cross. They're pretty spectacular.

I'll let you guys take a look for yourselves.

We start our ascent to the Himalayan foothills and straight away,

these steep slopes are enough to get the heart pumping.

It's actually a crucial part of the climb.

You know, from my experience,

the better you acclimatise or the easier you take the first few days

up to and around 3,000-4,000 metres,

the better foundation you'll have above it.

When we get around the corner, you've got Everest

and to the right, Lhotse, then the real, er, the real beauty...

the jewel is Ama Dablam.

-It's really special, isn't it?

-Stunning, isn't it?

-Stunning.

But those first few days were wonderful,

cos it was going to be an intense couple of months,

so an opportunity for us all to get to know each other and

you know, to bond further,

before the tough times came.

HE LAUGHS

It's day four of the expedition, and already my team is gelling.

There's no room for standing on ceremony.

It's share and share alike -

especially when it comes to luxury items!

I nearly got myself into trouble now.

I left three toilet rolls in the toilet.

-Oh, were those yours?

-I kept leaving them.

-Yeah?

-One in each.

THEY LAUGH

-I might have...

-Thanks, mate. I had a...

-You had a good...

-Pleasant arse-wipe this morning!

-Yeah!

-I appreciate that.

-You had a freebie there, did you?

-Yeah.

-That's OK.

-I did think, I thought, "Blinking heck, this place is nice!"

-Free toilet rolls!

-Yeah!

-There's Damian.

-We're quits now.

I'll let you use some of mine later for that.

-Oh, you used it as well, did you?

-Yeah!

Unbelievable! People were running in the loo to use my free toilet paper!

Unbelievable!

-CAMERAMAN:

-Yeah, I might have taken a few sheets as well!

-THEY LAUGH

-That was bang out of order!

That was outrageous!

Trousers down and we're ready to go!

-Let's do this.

-On your marks...!

-CAMERAMAN:

-I'm right behind you.

Throughout the expedition,

Damian will be monitoring my blood and brain function

as we progress ever higher.

People that are acutely exposed to this altitude would get very,

very sick, very, very quickly and, you know,

it again demonstrates that we're acclimatising very well

and that's the objective here,

is to acclimatise Richard ahead of the summit bid.

Now, for some people, if you climb too high and too quickly,

and you get too cold,

you can't actually acclimatise to that stress

and you actually break down

and these are symptoms really are known as acute mountain sickness,

so acute mountain sickness really

encapsulates a severe headache and with that comes feeling sick,

a lack of appetite and difficulty breathing and just not sleeping

very well, so it has a really negative impact,

just as a migraine would have a very negative impact on you at sea level,

very similar in altitude.

This slow acclimatisation is a key process for preparing my body for

Mount Everest. The more my body adapts,

the longer I'll be able to stand on the summit.

The locals are used to the effects altitude has on them

but for us lowlanders,

readying ourselves physically takes time.

Preparation of the mind is also key but I'm about to take part

in a tradition that few climbers are privileged to experience -

the preparation of my spirit.

It's a tradition and it's a really important tradition, actually,

for the Sherpas and the Nepalese people,

that the local lama blesses not just themselves but their equipment

before the summit of Everest to wish them good luck

and to keep them in good health.

The last few years, it's become even more poignant,

an even more important tradition - you know, whatever your beliefs are,

you can't help but feel something special about here.

It's a very spiritual place.

LAMA CHANTS IN OWN LANGUAGE

Richard. Richard.

-LAMA:

-Richard?

-Richard.

-Richard Parks. Richard Parks.

-Richard Parks!

-LAMA LAUGHS

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

You know, I know that I'm on the prayer sheets at Mum's church

back home but no, it's really special

and I just wish I knew what he was saying!

HE LAUGHS

I thought it was quite funny when he laughed at my name, but...

It's not the first time someone's laughed at me and it probably won't be the last!

LAMA CHANTS IN OWN LANGUAGE

Today is the first of our major ascents.

In two hours, we begin our climb to Island Peak.

White gold.

White gold!

Amazing how many friends you have when you've got toilet paper!

or, as Damien knows, when you are...

..sharing quilted toilet paper!

If unbeknown to him!

We leave today for Island Peak, which...

..is probably about a three-day climb.

It's our last opportunity, really, to get the data collection nailed,

so if it goes well, amazing.

If it doesn't, we need to go back to the drawing board, don't we?

And I know that's the nature of

things out there, but, yeah, a little bit apprehensive,

if I'm being honest.

I was just sort of laughing, cos without really knowing it,

-I've been really OCD!

-I can see that.

-Yeah, but I have!

I genuinely haven't even been aware of it.

You know, "That goes there, that goes there, no, that doesn't go there. That's got to go there!"

Yeah, um!

It's quite alarming, though,

when you see it, like, in the third person, but hey!

Have a good one.

Look after yourself.

I shall. See you on the way back down.

Go easy.

So over the last week and a half,

we've been gradually increasing in altitude, going up a little,

down a little, up a little again, and so on.

Today, now, will be the first time when Richard goes up into pretty

significant altitude.

Island Peak is around 6,100, I think, something like that.

And the purpose is to practise collecting scientific data with all

the difficulties that there are when you're not doing it in a lab, basically.

Ahead of me is High Camp.

As I get closer, the clean,

crisp mountain air carries with it a very welcome scent -

something you wouldn't expect to smell at 18,400 feet.

Pretty incredible what Ramesh and his team can make on the side of a mountain.

It's really humbling, actually - you know,

humbling in the true sense of the word.

We are on the side of a mountain,

at just over 5,000 metres and...

..you know, we're in the presence of a really, really talented chef.

I know I'm here for a very specific goal,

but every now and again, these surreal moments really just...

..just take my breath away, you know.

It's such a special place.

What's Ramesh cooked up today?

We have Rara noodle soup.

Pretty awesome, really.

-It's super noodles, but...

-More?

More soup! Thanks very much.

As night falls, even the high winds around my tent are no distraction from the challenge ahead.

It's moments like these when my mind starts to wander.

I think the thing that I'm most concerned about is the...

..the blood sample from my earlobe.

Ironically, on paper, it's the easiest thing.

The biopsy should be the hardest bit but actually,

I'm really confident of the biopsy.

Um...

I'm confident of my ability to perform that on my leg -

I can see it, whereas I can't see my ear.

I guess it's the unknown that makes...

..that makes this the adventure.

I guess that's what inspires me to...

..you know, to work at it.

There are only a few hours to get some sleep,

and it's not long before I'm out of my tent again and climbing.

There's two reasons for starting so early in the morning.

The first reason is, the early part

of the glacier, the approach in as well as some of the crevasse crossings are safer,

cos it's colder and the ice is more stable.

Um, and the second reason is not being able to see how far you've

got to go is always a bit of a bonus as well!

HE LAUGHS

But there is another plus point to heading up so early -

the view.

The views here at this time of the morning

are quite literally breathtaking.

But as intoxicating as the view is,

there is a sobering feeling that danger lies ahead

as we edge closer to Island Peak.

The headwall is where the real challenge begins.

Fixed lines hang down more than 650 feet of steep, poor-quality ice.

The headwall section of Island Peak -

it's a tough few hours and it's tough because physically it's hard -

you know, you're just under 6,000 metres,

the air is thin,

your body isn't getting as much oxygen as it would at sea level

and everything is considerably harder.

You've got a fixed line that's there,

that you put a certain amount of trust into it,

but there are points in the mountain where there are 10, 11, 12 ropes,

all leading into one fixed point, and...

..your option is to decide which rope looks the newest.

Entrusting my safety to someone else's rope is an uncomfortable feeling.

But then I'm met by one thing I dislike even more -

a crevasse and a rickety ladder crossing.

Give me a bit of slack on this one.

Yeah, I don't like crevasses.

The penultimate leg of my 737 challenge was on Denali -

also known as Mount McKinley.

I had what could have been a very dangerous, if not fatal, crevasse fall,

where I fell about 7m down, through...

..a melted snow bridge and my fall was only broken by landing on a ledge.

And yeah, it very quickly turned into...

..a very dangerous situation.

There are a handful of ladder crossings spanning open crevasses

in the early part of this section.

It's a useful reminder of what's to come on the icefall in the Western Cwm of Mount Everest.

My left foot is stuck.

You can imagine, you're balancing on a ladder -

on two ladders that are tied together using climbing rope.

With just a momentary lapse in concentration,

I've put my crampon down in a place where actually,

it's become wedged between two rungs and it is absolutely horrific.

You're balanced on this moving, um,

this moving ladder and so you have to sort of really gingerly try and

loosen the crampon to get off.

It's not nice. No.

No, I don't enjoy that at all. I can't imagine many people would!

With so many things that could have gone wrong,

I feel really strongly about taking a moment to breathe it in and to

really acknowledge the achievement.

As with all of my expeditions,

it's the challenge and the physical exertion that makes the taste

of success all the more sweet.

'Flying the Welsh flag -

'and that's really important, too, because it was in a really,

'really significant and important milestone in the project.'

It helps build confidence, momentum,

and it helps you visualise what you're actually trying to achieve

and it's a really proud moment.

It's easy to get caught up in the moment of summiting Island Peak,

but I'm here for a very specific reason.

This is my dry run and I've got to complete the blood, breath,

cognition and tissue sampling, fast.

If it goes wrong on Mount Everest in what's known as the death zone,

and I'm there for too long, it could very well be catastrophic.

First thing we do is going to be application there.

Then, that's to take two minutes.

'Most climbers that get to the top can only stay there for a few minutes

'before they are forced to retreat.

'The same applies to me.

'But I'll have no supplementary oxygen and I MUST complete my tests.'

Damien, how do I get this working, mate?

What you want to do is press.

Breathe in and out.

-How many times?

-Just a steady state, so a few times.

Nice and slowly.

That's good. And relax.

So, then, there's the oximeter.

'What's more, the weather here on Island Peak is perfect.

'The chances of equally favourable weather on Mount Everest are slim.'

Now, the analgesic in the thigh.

Unzip, rezip it again and then it's...

..three...six...

That now...

..is completely anaesthetised and it will take five minutes to

activate or to take effect.

-In those five minutes now, it's the...

-Earlobe.

-It's the earlobe.

-Are you going to attempt it now?

I can do it now if you want.

-Yes, give it a shot.

-Let's give it a shot.

Hold that.

'I'm starting to feel anxious.

'No matter how many times I've practised this in the lab,

'I knew it would take longer in reality.

'What bothers me is just how long it's taking.

'As part of my acclimatisation,

'my body has produced a far higher concentration of red cells in my blood...'

I knew this was going to happen. Let me just try it one more time.

'..making it thicker and almost impossible to sample.'

And then just turn your head.

That's it.

'It didn't go according to plan.'

And I mean, I had some serious concerns.

It highlighted that some of the things that I felt I could do,

on my own, I needed help.

'I needed another set of hands.'

We were up there for a long time. There was just no way that

I could spend that time on the summit of Everest.

'We've now spent more than 30 minutes on this peak

'and what's more, I haven't yet completed the cognitive tests.

'At sea level, this usually takes eight to ten minutes.

'Altitude inhibits the brain function so it's going to take me longer.'

It's one thing going through it night after night in a tent, or at home,

but actually, it's a completely different thing

doing it at 6,000 metres.

We couldn't do that on the summit.

I'd be putting my life at risk.

'Although this is only a dry run, these results,

'along with others collected on Mount Everest,

'will be analysed back in the lab in Wales.

'After the stresses of the test procedure,

'the whole team is reunited at Namche Bazaar,

'and we move on towards Base Camp.'

As we hike through the Khumbu Valley,

I feel a million miles away from the modern world.

Then, from out of nowhere, springs civilisation -

or the closest thing to it on this mountain - Base Camp.

How's it going?

-How are you?

-I'm good, mate. How you doing?

-Good.

-Nice to see you.

-Yeah, pretty good. Yeah.

-Welcome.

Cheers, mate! How you doing?

-Good to see you.

-Good to see you, too.

How are you doing?

'The paradox of Base Camp is that having trekked up the Khumbu Valley,'

getting more and more remote with each settlement,

you then arrive at Base Camp,

and it's got infrastructure there that is unlike any other part of the Khumbu Valley.

It's like a bustling metropolis of tents.

You know, there's even a very limited Wi-Fi signal there,

which you can't get at other places along the trek into Base Camp.

I can't believe you brought safety pins. That's next level, mate.

Fair play!

-Ooh, ooh, ooh! Sorry.

-Sorry, sorry.

Oh! What was that?

Oh!

HE LAUGHS

I felt a pain in my ass!

Ow!

HE LAUGHS

That's Richard Parks playing up again, isn't it?

That's put me in a sweat now!

THEY LAUGH

It's given me a headache.

We've all...

..blessed the flag in the tent.

Yeah?

And you're a very big part of this team, so...

-Whisky?

-Whisky.

-A little, little...

-Just a little bit. Just a little bit.

-NICOLA:

-Oh, I'm glad I didn't see.

Oh, thank you.

THEY LAUGH

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Spirits are high. After two years of preparation,

we are finally at the starting line for this expedition.

The weather conditions are looking good and we're all feeling confident.

However, my thoughts keep returning to my experience on Island Peak.

David Hamilton, our expedition leader,

arrives at our tent and our conversation compounds my concerns.

I don't want to be overdramatic,

but the last oxygenless ascent of Everest that I'm aware of

resulted in a person dying

and your gaping hole is your mountaineering consultant.

If you had, you know,

a guide who'd been on the top five or six times before,

ideally one with medical training, walking along beside you,

the whole project would just fit.

Information came to me that I shouldn't have been privy to in that moment.

Although you're trying to exert yourself to your maximum,

you've always got to have this little regulatory mechanism,

"Am I overstepping the mark?"

Because if you do, the consequences can be fatal.

It was right that the information came to me,

but it's really difficult to, you know,

to be told that I'm very close to my mortality but yet,

still be expected to make rational, coherent decisions.

And to me, that's the big weakness.

That's what really worries me is you, up there, you know, expending yourself,

possibly into areas where your judgment may be impaired and nobody else there to help.

I mean, if anything, David's helped you sort of,

maybe visualise that moment in time,

when you've really got to decide whether you can keep going forward or not.

Um, I don't think he has helped me, no.

Although it's very different to this,

there are not many people on the planet that have skied more solo

Antarctic miles than I have.

Um...

You know, this is the end of a really meticulous development cycle,

and although relatively, I have less experience than David

here on Everest, I am very confident

of my own abilities to make those difficult decisions.

I've proven it.

You know, one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make was

to abort my first solo Antarctic expedition

just 100 km from the South Pole

after battling the elements for 42 days.

I believe that I have the right balance of...

..humility and defiance and respect for the environment I'm in.

'Warning heeded, but undeterred, and after five days at Base Camp,

'I get my head down for one last good night's sleep,

'before we push on to Camp One.'

I feel really good at this point.

My acclimatisation strategy has...

..worked really well, and...

..you know, I'm probably one of the only people

here at Base Camp that isn't coughing uncontrollably.

And I'm in good health, but...

..it's about to get really real.

From this point on, it's just me, my Sherpa and Gareth on camera.

The Khumbu Icefall is one of the most dynamic, fast-moving glaciers

I've ever been on. You can almost hear it creaking

and grinding and cracking underneath you and from day to day,

it can change overnight,

with big chunks of glacier dropping off

or crevasses opening or filling in.

It's not a part of the climb that I'd want to hang around in.

In order to manage some of the risk of that section and to be as safe as

possible, it requires you to move as quickly as possible...

..which is why there are a lot of accidents on the mountain,

because a lot of people are working at their capacity.

More than 270 people have died on this mountain in the last 50 years -

nearly 100 of them in the last ten.

As well as the Icefall, avalanches and falling into crevasses,

the effects of altitude have claimed many climbers.

It's not about conquering the mountain.

It's more often than not about...

..you know, conquering yourself and managing that internal dialogue

and the emotional rollercoaster

that you go through and...

..it can be brutal.

I'm actually... I'm a bit nervous to show you this.

Right, you know, we've been really good mates so far and, you know,

our friendship is getting stronger and, you know,

we've got a big couple of weeks ahead of us and I really feel like

the kick in the morale nuts now, might just be irreversible.

Too much! It stinks.

Oh, I can smell that.

-I can smell that.

-Do you want to see it, though? Do you want to see it?

-It's like... Yeah!

Has it got rice in, too?

Oh, noodles!

RICHARD LAUGHS

Can I see your spoon, mate?

That's... I believe that's potato.

-Vaguely.

-Wow.

Definitely, there's something pink.

And something yellow and something white,

so I'm just going to base it on that.

That looks amazing. No, seriously, that actually looks really good.

I felt bad earlier, but I don't now.

That looks amazing. It looks amazing.

You nearly sound sincere there.

I'll try and describe what I'm eating.

-It's basically just...

-Rubber!

Yeah. A tree. Tree rubber.

No taste.

No season. It's the sort of thing that somebody would eat if...

If they just were the most fussiest person in the world.

But it's 500 calories, which is about what we need to get.

Yeah. Yeah, of course.

Yeah, you know, mate, just keep focusing on the positives.

Just keep...just hang it on something. Hang it on anything.

Your turn. Let's see...

Let's see how yours goes.

-OK.

-Look at those noodles.

-The big chicken breast and the sweetcorn. Yeah.

-Chicken breast!

Best meal ever!

It's the best meal I've had today.

Yeah!

It's not really selfie kind of...

Good forearm strength, by the way!

-Oh, yeah.

-Wow!

That's my right hand.

THEY LAUGH

Things can go sideways very quickly

and the climb, you know, the climb to Camp Two was a really good example of that.

This is a high-risk avalanche area.

You can make decisions that minimise the risk of avalanches but...

..they're still pretty unpredictable

and one moment, to be looking forward to a coffee at Camp Two,

you know, having got through arguably the most dangerous part

of the climb to Camp Two...

..to the second, to have that, you know, it was pretty scary.

THUNDERING CRASH

MORE BOOMING CRASHES

Um, I don't think I've ever moved so fast!

About 6,000 m!

With the avalanche still fresh in our minds, we arrive at Camp Two.

My acclimatisation strategy means we rest here for two days before we can carry on.

Unsurprisingly, there's very little to do when you're perched

on the side of the world's largest mountain.

So what are you going to do now?

Put all my clothes back on again!

GARETH LAUGHS

You get a bit stir crazy, really.

Oh, yeah.

You know, it comes to something when the highlight of your day is a wet wipe!

The wet wipe shower!

Oh, we've missed that! You didn't tell me you were doing that.

We didn't get it on camera!

So give us a tour of...

Well, of our tent, I suppose.

Um, actually, you've tidied up, considering that we're filming.

Well, I kind of knew that we'd maybe have guests in the form of a camera!

So I'm a lot tidier than my usual.

But, yeah, you can see I've got a selection of cleansing

handy wipes. My first-aid kit.

My sat phone. You've got the toilet roll and the Walkman,

-so I can listen to music while I'm having a

-BLEEP!

Right above me in the morning is the tablet so that I've got no excuses

to do the cognitive testing.

I've got a little bedside table here.

That's for personal stuff.

I can't show you that.

Really? I don't even know about that.

No.

You've got a bedside table!

Well, it's the lid of my rucksack, if you can see by there.

-See that?

-Oh, yeah.

And then you've got, like, little personal items in there, have you?

Yeah, I've got my little letters and stuff.

Oh, look!

I'm just really impressed that you've tidied,

knowing that we're going to be filming here.

Yeah, well, the thing about my side of the tent is,

I haven't got half the stuff you have.

I don't know how... Basically I get by on baby wipes and a sat phone.

-But that's home.

-That's it, yeah.

After two days' rest, we're ready to climb again.

Tomorrow, it's the climb to Camp Three.

And then the day after, the climb to the Yellow Band and then back down.

Pema and I are going to leave Camp Two at around five,

six o'clock tomorrow, so...

..signing off now. Get some shuteye.

The following day, we awake to a serious problem.

The pictures say it all, but explain what's going down.

Well, this morning we've had a cruel twist of mountain fate.

After all the preparations to move up to Camp Three this morning,

she's just completely shut down.

We've had quite a lot of snowfall overnight,

but we've got very low cloud and actually, white-out conditions, which...

It's more the visibility than the snow.

I'm confident. I think we're both confident to move in this type of snowfall, but...

I've got another day...

-..in your palace.

-Yeah. In my palace, yeah!

'Sometimes, when you're in the mountains,

'one cruel blow follows another and for me, things go from bad to worse.'

Nicky and Damien have known this for the last two days.

-Yeah.

-But we've had poor comms,

and I think both of them felt it was quite a difficult thing to try

and convey it on a crackly line.

Damien and our doc were looking through some of your blood test results

and alarm bells started ringing.

You arrived here fantastically acclimatised.

You have more red blood cells than anyone else on this mountain

which, from the point of view of climbing a mountain, is great.

However, in one of the e-mails I've read, your blood is like treacle.

Yeah.

And that puts you at a very high risk of some medical events. Sure.

'The severity of my situation becomes clear

'when I'm eventually told that my condition could very well be life-threatening.'

I think the recommendation is that you descend to Base Camp,

they repeat the tests, and then bringing in all the accumulated expertise,

try to help you to achieve your project without unnecessary risk to you.

-We need to address the safety implications before you climb any further.

-Sure.

'Safety is paramount to me and I needed more information

'to understand my situation fully.'

You've just dropped a bombshell on me.

Um, are you suggesting that I descend...

Well, I can descend now.

'This news is brutal.

'First, we are delayed by the weather and now,

'I'm forced to retreat to Base Camp.

'In terms of the expedition, it could be a killer blow.'

Glad to see you back safe.

Come inside and get warm.

Over the next few days,

I'm subject to a series of tests to check my body and, more importantly,

my blood is performing at extreme altitude.

Hold on.

What we've identified is that his ability to make red blood cells

is exceptionally good. In fact, it's so good,

that it's actually raised a bit of a red flag.

When the blood makes so many red blood cells,

it can become quite sludgy,

so blood moves through blood vessels very slowly because it's so thick,

they've made so many red blood cells and of course,

that makes them more prone to heart attacks and stroke.

So this is the litmus test now, really.

This will give us a very cold and sober look at Richard's bloods

and then from that, we can make a decision.

'The blood tests show a high concentration of red blood cells,

'meaning that I'm at a very high risk of having a stroke,

'or developing heart complications if I were to continue climbing the mountain.'

-Literally, I'm in

-BLEEP

-the best shape of my life.

Yeah, and that's the irony, isn't it?

-It's just

-BLEEP

-brutal,

because...cos I...

You know, I'm at...physically I'm in the best shape of my life.

Psychologically, I'm probably in the best shape of my life.

I'll be honest, it's...

As time is going on, and I don't mean long,

we're talking hours and days,

-but literally, it's really

-BLEEP-ing

-with my head.

'As cruel as it is,

'due to the risk of my blood clotting and the potential for complications,

'my decision to cut the expedition and the experiments short

'is the right one.

From a positive aspect,

Damian was able to collect the data that he needed to do for the project,

so as far as the project is concerned,

we have all the data that was the main part of the study.

Richard was going to collect some more data at the summit

but that was going to be a nice added extra.

We don't have that any more so from that perspective,

you can say the project is a success, but from...

Richard, from a personal perspective, it's just really sad,

because he set himself out as a challenge

and I know the science project was the main part,

but on a personal level,

it's never good when you don't achieve

what maybe you set out to achieve

and that's a bitter pill to swallow.

When Richard came down off the mountain,

you know, I could certainly sympathise with him and, you know,

he was distraught.

Incredibly disappointed.

You know, it's been two years in the build-up,

training for this expedition physically, psychologically.

You know, it's safety before summit.

And I really stand by that, and you know, I would feel, you know,

desperately responsible if anything untoward were to happen.

I think over the last couple of days,

when he's had an opportunity to reflect

on his safety,

I think it's become very clear to him that this was the absolute

right decision to take.

Moving forward would have been...

..irresponsible and selfish.

It doesn't make it any easier for me, because

you know, I'm an ambitious person and I came here with an objective and, er...

..I've not been allowed to even attempt it, let alone attempt it and fail.

Success is going home.

Success is going back to my family.

And, you know, success is all the people around me being safe as well.

We've still collected really exciting and ground-breaking data, measurements.

From a scientific point of view, it has been a success.

It might take a while for me to really believe that, though!

Standing on the summit of Everest is...

..is a memory, is a moment,

is a feeling that will live with me forever.

I can still feel...

..the view. It's a very primal sense of insignificance.

I mean...there are very few places

where you can see the curvature of the Earth on the planet,

so I had confidence that with the right preparation,

the right training,

I could stand on the summit without supplemental oxygen, and...

..what...what troubles me is that I still believe I could have...

I'll never know.

That's what gives me sleepless nights.

I don't think about it as much as I used to but it still...

..it still troubles me.

Dementia is the fastest-growing illness in the Western world

and we all at some level have been touched by it

and there are still no known cures.

Knowing that I'm going to forget my wife, my children, and my grandson.

It's so upsetting when you realise, you sit and think about that.

Here in Wales, we are leading in some areas of research into this disease

and some of the results already show that

as a result of the acclimatisation process,

we've not just offset some of the cognitive decline

but we've actually improved my cognition on the mountain, which...

..which is...it's awesome.

I feel very proud that Project Everest will be able to add to the ongoing research.