Episode 1 Richard Parks: Conquering the World

What does it take for a man to push his physical and mental powers to the limit?

Crossing icy chasms and scaling cliff-tops is only part of it.

Is getting frostbite on Everest

and the threat of losing limbs enough of a test?

Being told that I might actually lose my toe is... I just don't know.

I just don't know what to say.

Or does falling into a bottomless crevasse cross the boundary?

This could've been catastrophic.

This is the story of Richard Parks and his 737 Challenge

to conquer the peaks and poles of the world

faster than any other human being.

The challenge ahead was to stand on the highest mountain

on all seven continents and the three poles, the Geographic North,

the South Pole and Everest, the highest pole on Earth.

And all of this within a seven-month period.

No-one had ever accomplished this extraordinary feat.

I've spent almost 18 months training for this.

Er...

I've spent, of those 18 months,

almost eight months in a tent on expedition.

You know, I'm...

I... The success of this is important to me,

and we want to raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care

and that, realistically, that only happens if I succeed.

Richard was born in Pontypridd to his Jamaican mother Lee and his Welsh dad, Derek.

He was educated in Monmouth and South Africa,

and began a dentistry course in Cardiff.

But his athleticism was always a dominant factor.

And rugby became the focus of his ambitions.

He played for a number of clubs, including Pontypridd

and Newport Gwent Dragons, and was capped four times for Wales.

But a serious injury to his shoulder brought his playing career to a premature end.

From the disappointment and despair at being unable to pursue his passion for the game,

he turned to a different outlook for his energies.

'I think he was trying'

to evaluate his whole future,

where he was going to go from, where he was at that moment in time.

And he then allowed

the 737 Challenge to take over his life.

Oi, heel. Heel.

First time he mentioned it was that he wanted to have a chat with Lee and myself.

So he basically at that time ran through the challenge with us,

told us all his perceptions of the danger,

and the risks that he was going to undertake,

and he then allowed us to question him in-depth about the extent of the dangers

and the possibility of him not coming back,

and he was very clear about that, there is a possibility that he wouldn't come back.

I think I was shocked

and I realised the enormity of it and I just thought, well,

if he sets his mind to it, he will do it.

Is it achievable considering he's never climbed a mountain before, to my knowledge!

He's been on schoolboy trips,

but I don't think he's attempted any mountains,

so, yeah, if anyone can, he will.

I mean, God willing, it won't be for the lack of the ability to do it, the wanting to do it.

I think he will do it.

Ben. Ben.

SOMEONE SHOUTS INSTRUCTIONS

It will take 18 months of physical and mental preparation before the challenge can begin.

20 years of rugby training was a base for what lay ahead.

Crossing pain barriers of this nature in late 2009 was a whole new experience.

That was a good test.

Trekking up and down the Brecon Beacons on a 24-hour endurance test

helped build an ability to deal with sleep deprivation.

Three, two, one.

Being immersed in near-freezing water in June 2010

tested his body's capability to function should he slip into the icy waters of the Arctic.

INAUDIBLE

Trial climbs in Scotland, the Alps, Peru, Tibet and Alaska

throughout the year were all necessary and useful tests of his resolve.

His team of mountaineering experts, Jagged Globe,

were involved in all of the logistics.

But whilst climbing in Tibet, a series of avalanches

almost brought the challenge to an end before it had begun.

Every day, Derek would go to the computer and log on,

and this day, he was in the study and I was halfway up and he saw...

I won't repeat what he said, and I thought, oh, my god, what's happened?

So I rushed up and he said,

there's been an avalanche, and, well, my heart just...sunk.

And he read on a little bit further, and he said, it's all right, Richard's OK, Richard's all right.

But that was the worst experience. That was awful.

I couldn't stop crying. It was really very difficult, and I'm...

Oh, God.

Raising £1 million for cancer care was Richard's driving force behind the challenge.

Derek's brother was lost to cancer, and Derek's had cancer,

and we are very, very fortunate because Derek has still not had any treatment

because it was discovered very early.

He had the surgery and we haven't looked back.

It's nice to be able to... I don't think nice...

It's a duty to be able to help those less fortunate,

and I think this is Richard's attitude.

His visits to the hospice in Penarth strengthened his will to succeed.

'Cancer affected my family deeply and coming here'

and visiting some of the staff and the amazing nurses and hopefully, if appropriate today,

maybe having a chat with a few of the patients,

really puts it in perspective for me and, you know,

I'm sure when it gets tough out there I'll be able to draw on some inspiration.

The ceremonial launch of the challenge was held

at the Senedd in Cardiff, and as the preparations gained momentum,

individuals, companies and organisations pledged their support.

But even the organising partners,

those in charge of his whole plan, were in awe of its magnitude.

A lot of people come to me and say,

I want to do the seven summits, I want to do Everest.

And I tell them what I think about how their chances are,

and to be honest, we don't hear from a lot of them ever again.

When he first came to see me, I probably thought,

he's a chancer like some of the others I spoke to who...

great ideas, but really can't carry it through.

Richard has proven himself to be, I would say, almost unique.

He's got that supreme athletic ability,

and he seems to have an ability to acclimatise and be tough when it counts.

By early December 2010, the preparations had come to an end.

Antarctica would be the first destination.

The departure point, an historical spot at Cardiff Bay,

from where Captain Scott had set sail on his ill-fated expedition.

It just so happens that my challenge falls 100 years after

Scott's Terra Nova Expedition left Cardiff,

and the SS Terra Nova set sail from Cardiff Bay here,

and it's a very special place within Cardiff,

and it's special to have my friends and family, and to leave from here.

It's game-time now, isn't it, and time to stand up and deliver.

I am pretty nervous, though.

How you doing?

APPLAUSE

Derek and Lee would accompany him to the airport,

and his long journey would finally take off.

The actual journey to the South Pole would take two weeks.

Flights from the UK to Punta Arenas in Chile,

and on to Union Glacier Base Camp on Antarctica.

Air temperatures around Base Camp vary between minus five

and minus 15 Celsius, dropping to minus 26 around the Pole.

An early casualty in Richard's group of five meant one explorer suffered frostbite and left immediately.

We were dropped off in a twin otter plane,

which is a sort of five-seater plane,

and we had to refuel on the way there

because it doesn't carry enough fuel to even make the journey from Union Glacier Base Camp

to 89 degrees, which is 111 kilometres from the Pole.

It was around minus 30 degrees we got dropped off in,

and that was another real shock to the system.

'We really are on our own now. Just watched the twin otter leave.'

She's our last connection with civilisation, I guess,

for the next week or so, weather-dependent.

It really is awesome.

We really are in the middle of absolute nowhere.

Crossing the last degree to the Pole itself entails skiing for 111 kilometres,

and that means pulling heavy loads against a head wind

and a wind chill of minus 40 degrees.

The group would basically be expending the equivalent in energy of a marathon, each and every day.

Nothing can prepare you for that. I climbed Pen y Fan for 24 hours

and that was a walk in the park compared to that.

That's just brutal with, you know, nothing to judge your progress or, you know, no stimuli visual.

That's brutal!

I can't wait to get in the tent and have the fire on.

Despite the occasional white-out, the weather proved to be relatively kind,

and Christmas Day was spent within 15 miles of the Pole.

By Boxing Day, only five miles to go,

but members of the group were exhausted.

Another night in their tents.

After...skiing for...

I don't even know if it's six or seven days.

Been a really tough day today. It's been a long push.

I think we're on the 16th hour, maybe.

But...

the other guys were shattered,

and decided to head straight for camp and set tent up...

Set the tents up, sorry.

I think that's bullshit.

The journey finishes at the South Pole, with my gear...

December 27th, and Richard reached the South Pole.

The first leg, completed.

Well, I'm lost for words, really.

It's been a tough seven days, but incredibly rewarding.

But I'm also feeling...

You can't help but be sucked into the history

and the mystique of the South Pole and Antarctica.

The Amundsen-Scott building behind you.

He could now rest until the last day of 2010.

On January 1st, the race against time would begin.

The actual Pole itself is a scientific zone,

with the Amundsen-Scott Station at its centre.

The nature of the work, highly sensitive and secretive.

It's unexpectedly busy, with all kinds of experiments

being conducted by international scientists from across the globe.

And as the polar ice sheets shifts about 10 metres every year,

the marker signifying the Pole has to be ceremonially repositioned at the beginning of each year.

I really feel like I'm a little part of history.

1st January, 2011, and I'm stood at the geographical South Pole.

The race would now begin to stand on the highest peak on each of the seven continents

and the three Poles in the next seven months.

Next step, Mount Vinson, the highest peak on Antarctica about 600 miles away from the Pole.

There had been a lot of waiting around and I was very conscious

that once January 1st came, at that point, really it became a race.

Vinson can be pretty hostile so again, I was apprehensive

but confident and actually looking forward to getting on a mountain.

The weather could have been a huge hurdle to the success of this leg.

But the conditions for the next three days were good.

Well, a mixture of luck and pretty good planning means

we've missed the worst of the fog and the low vision.

It's absolutely spectacular.

Just approaching the summit ridge now.

PANTING

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't absolutely shattered.

Climbing in 24 hour sunlight is not only disorientating,

it's also exhausting as the concept of resting in darkness is lost

and the body is teased into a false pattern.

Richard's physical fitness, though, was already paying dividends.

Normal summit attempts had taken up to nine hours to complete.

Richard's push would be less than five.

-Summit of Mount Vinson.

-High-five.

-8th January 2011, what an awesome feeling.

Only 700 people have ever summited Mount Vinson

and Richard Parks on January 8th became one of them.

The triumph, though, would soon turn to frustration.

A fuel strike and blockades in Chile prevented any flights

from Antarctica to Punta Arenas.

Then the plane had technical problems,

then the weather closed in.

I'm sort of running out of things to do to keep me occupied.

I've packed, repacked, unpacked.

The weather on Aconcagua is pretty crap at the moment.

Maybe it's good I'm here and not up there anyway.

I mean, there's always a positive. I try to find one anyway.

When the plane did arrive, there had been 12 days of delays

and the all-important clock had been ticking.

Less than two weeks into the challenge,

and he was behind schedule.

January 22nd and the journey from Chile

to the Andes of Argentina and Aconcagua.

It's the highest mountain outside the Himalayas,

the second highest mountain of the Seven Summits.

It's got a really poor summit success rate.

I was a little bit nervous again, but, you know, confident

but apprehensive, yeah.

SINGING IN SPANISH

The group he'd planned to climb with had already left

and so he was forced to join up with other climbers.

A collection of mountaineers with varying levels of abilities,

their mules transporting materials and goods to and from the lower camps.

Very few of them would summit.

People are going to think that this is all my gear!

Oh, shit.

Confluencia, at just under 4,000 metres, is first camp.

The aptly-named Plaza de Mulas, 300 metres higher, is base camp.

SINGING

The summit strategies would need careful consideration.

Conditions higher up were bad

and avalanches had come close to their camp overnight.

Casa Parks here in Diego. Home, sweet home.

The Condor's Nest, Nido de Condores, is at 5,500 metres

and the altitude is now a serious issue to contend with.

The prognosis was for high winds

and the likelihood of storms was increasing.

The decision now was whether to push for the summit and bypass Camp Three

or stick to the original plan.

WIND BLOWS

The downside of pushing on meant less acclimatisation

to deal with the altitude, compounded by an exhausting 18-hour climbing day.

The downside of delaying - possibly a week or more shielding from the storm.

For Richard and cameraman Diego Sosa, the decision was straightforward.

Push on and avoid the risk of further delays.

If we'd have missed that window,

I think we'd have seriously jeopardised the challenge.

MUSIC: "Teardrop" by Massive Attack

"Aconcagua" means "the sentinel of stone".

Nearly 7,000 metres high,

22,840 ft above sea level.

On clear days, the summit ascent offers views

of the Pacific Ocean nearly 100 miles away.

But in 55 kilometre winds and sub-zero temperatures,

the views were the least of their worries.

A German climber a few days earlier had slipped off the gully leading to the summit ridge.

And fell to his death.

During the last 80 years, 126 people have died attempting the summit.

The effects of high altitude the main cause of death.

That was brutal.

Cloud came down real quick.

The last 500 metres to the summit was an almost vertical scramble across rocks,

with Richard and Diego breaking away from the group to make sure

they got there before the weather closed in.

All right, just done 7,000 metres. The summit of Aconcagua.

The highest mountain outside of the Himalayas.

And...

people talk of it as an untechnical mountain but, oh my God,

the altitude and the long days.

That's brutal. We've been climbing for just under 12 hours.

In six minutes' time, it'll be 12 hours of climbing.

We've got about five to seven hours descent. What an awesome feeling.

What a privilege. I'm the third leg of my challenge down.

How cool is that, that all the team have joined up?

A successful summit and Richard's priority, as always,

a phone call home to Mum and Dad.

Hey, Mum, can you hear me? It's Richard.

This is, officially, I think, our highest phone call.

I'm on the summit of Aconcagua.

36 days after standing on the South Pole,

Richard had now achieved his third target

and was now back on schedule to break the record.

The South American leg safely accomplished

and on to the African continent's highest mountain, Kilimanjaro.

And a trek with friends.

To get to Kili was a milestone in the challenge for me personally

and if the conditions were good

and if I stayed healthy it could be an opportunity for me to recharge mentally and physically.

I'd been quite isolated until that point.

It was fantastic to be with a group of people for the first time.

Day two and all members intact and healthy.

A few monkeys last night did try to jeopardise the trip again as well

by fighting in the trees and kept a lot of the guys awake

but luckily I'll sleep through anything.

So, I'm fit and raring to go.

This would be a relatively gentle leg for Richard

and he would be climbing with friends and supporters.

It's the third day of Kilimanjaro

and already this trip has been

completely different to the other three so far.

It's been a real breath of fresh air. A real blessing.

It's really helped recharge my batteries, so to speak.

Emotionally more than anything.

It's a mountain sometimes derided for the number of tourists

and celebrities who have scaled its slopes.

But nonetheless, a serious mountain at nearly 5,900 metres.

Disrespecting the altitude has often had fatal consequences.

An average of 10 people die on Kili each year.

15,000 people attempt to climb annually.

Forty percent of them, around 6,000,

actually reach the highest point.

It's 2.55 now and we haven't got long before we set off.

We set off at midnight for an estimated 18 hour day which actually,

Kilimanjaro being the least technical and possibly on paper

the easiest of the seven summits, actually, that's probably the longest summit day.

Longer than an Everest summit day.

It's going to be a challenge tomorrow

but I know it's going to be really rewarding when we all stand on the summit together.

That's fun!

Bloody cold, tired. A long way still to go. It's dark. But we're getting there.

It's just absolutely beautiful.

27th February, 2011 and the challenge more or less on track.

But moving on to Asia and the technically tough

Carstensz Pyramid was already in Richard's thoughts.

It'll be pretty daunting knowing I've got the North Pole, Everest, Denali, to come.

It would be pretty daunting if I was empty at this point.

But, you know, I'll just take one step at a time really.

One leg at a time and just try and eat as much as I can in between.

In episode two, the physical toll of the climbs would start to tell.

The doctors had warned Richard that his knees might pose a problem.

Weeks of trekking in the Malaysian jungle proved them right.

And the extremes of the North Pole and Everest,

the toughest challenges with even more injuries to deal with, were yet to come.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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