0:00:44 > 0:00:46Mount Everest.
0:00:48 > 0:00:4929,000 feet.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54The highest point on Earth.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59Captivating and deadly.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03In the 1920s, to conquer this mountain
0:01:03 > 0:01:07was the greatest challenge remaining in a golden age of adventure.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Everest was the edge of heaven,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17where many believed no human could survive.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21But not George Mallory.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48Everest is the last great conquest for man.
0:01:51 > 0:01:52The Wildest Dream.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11George Mallory dreamed of being the first man to climb Everest.
0:02:11 > 0:02:17On June 8th, 1924, dressed in Gabardine and hobnailed boots,
0:02:17 > 0:02:22he and his fellow climber, Sandy Irvine, were last seen 800 feet below the summit.
0:02:27 > 0:02:28Then the clouds rolled in.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33They were never seen alive again.
0:02:36 > 0:02:42Many believed that almost 30 years before Everest was officially conquered,
0:02:42 > 0:02:46George Mallory was the first man to set foot on the top of the world.
0:03:10 > 0:03:1675 years after Mallory and Irvine vanished, mountaineer Conrad Anker
0:03:16 > 0:03:20took part in an expedition, looking for their bodies, high on Everest.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25- RADIO:- 'Conrad, come in please.'
0:03:28 > 0:03:30'I'm down at 26.7, over.'
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Anker struck off, on his own.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38'Conrad, you're way below the search zone, you need to be higher, over.'
0:03:38 > 0:03:40I was curious.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42I stopped, turned around...
0:03:43 > 0:03:46..and there was a patch of white.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49It wasn't snow, it was matt.
0:03:49 > 0:03:55A light-absorbing colour like marble.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09As I got closer, I realised
0:04:09 > 0:04:14this was the body of one of the pioneering English climbers,
0:04:14 > 0:04:16frozen onto the mountain side.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24For a moment, I thought,
0:04:24 > 0:04:26maybe I can just keep walking
0:04:26 > 0:04:28and keep it to myself.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35But then...
0:04:35 > 0:04:38that's what we were there for.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44'Group meeting.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47'Mandatory group meeting, over!'
0:05:10 > 0:05:12Here, wait.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15- This is George Mallory.- Oh, my God!
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Oh, my God!
0:05:17 > 0:05:20You see that, George Mallory.
0:05:20 > 0:05:21Oh, my God!
0:05:38 > 0:05:40George Mallory and I,
0:05:40 > 0:05:46our two paths have intersected 75 years apart.
0:05:51 > 0:05:57My aunt called me and said in a rather small voice on the phone,
0:05:57 > 0:06:03"Suzie, they've found my father's body on Mount Everest."
0:06:03 > 0:06:07And I was amazed, I was absolutely shocked.
0:06:07 > 0:06:15It was very powerful to know where my grandfather was and how he died.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23He had a compound fracture of his right leg, above the ankle.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26Fatal on Everest.
0:06:26 > 0:06:32His arms were outstretched as if he had tried to dig his fingers into the side of the mountain.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40He was last seen up on the ridge, heading west for the summit.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43But I found him far to the east.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45So Mallory was on his way back.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48Maybe returning from the summit itself.
0:06:58 > 0:07:04His sun goggles, vital against the glare from the snow, were in his pocket.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06So it must have been getting dark.
0:07:11 > 0:07:16He and Irvine were tied together by a thin cotton rope.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28They were tired, absolutely beat,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31no energy left, minds not functioning clearly.
0:08:10 > 0:08:16Mallory crossed his left leg over the broken one to ease the pain.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20It was a matter of minutes,
0:08:20 > 0:08:24a half hour at the very most
0:08:24 > 0:08:25before he died.
0:08:37 > 0:08:44Did Mallory reach the summit, almost three decades before the first official climb?
0:08:48 > 0:08:51We discovered many things on his body.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58Documents and letters perfectly preserved 75 years later.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03His wristwatch, rusted in at ten after five.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07The goggles that were inside of his vest.
0:09:07 > 0:09:14An altimeter, the face broken and hands missing.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19But one very significant item was missing, the photo of his wife, Ruth,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22which he'd promised to leave on the summit.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28Was the photo missing because Mallory had reached the summit
0:09:28 > 0:09:32and placed it there - the ultimate tribute to his love of Ruth?
0:09:38 > 0:09:44He was last seen about 800 feet below the summit, near the notoriously difficult Second Step.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54If Mallory was able to make it to the summit in 1924, he and Irvine would have had to have
0:09:54 > 0:09:59climbed this overhanging cliff at about 28,000 feet.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05There's never been a confirmed free climb of the Second Step.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Everyone who climbs it today uses a metal ladder
0:10:08 > 0:10:11bolted to the rock by Chinese climbers in 1975.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19I want to go back to Everest to try and climb the Second Step
0:10:19 > 0:10:23under the very same conditions Mallory faced.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29It was a pure cliff when Mallory and Irvine approached it.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32No-one had ever been there.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34It would have been
0:10:34 > 0:10:37an incredible feat of climbing if they'd pulled that off.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Adventure, risk,
0:10:47 > 0:10:51there are some people that thrive on it, that seek it out.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54They want to push their own limits.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Mallory is one of those people.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11Mallory grew up in Cheshire, northern England.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16He made his first fateful climb in Mobberley, his home village.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22Mallory's father was a vicar here at this church.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30It was here that the young boy escaped
0:11:30 > 0:11:33and climbed up to the top of the church at age seven.
0:11:35 > 0:11:36You can imagine that.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43Finding climbing is his true passion in life.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08I actually think that some people who climb
0:12:08 > 0:12:11are wired a little differently from the rest of us.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16My grandfather really didn't feel fear of heights or precipices
0:12:16 > 0:12:18or anything like that.
0:12:20 > 0:12:26He had a way of climbing that was not quite like everyone else's.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29His arms and legs would just sort of eat up a mountain
0:12:29 > 0:12:32and he would start flowing over it like a wave.
0:12:37 > 0:12:44Aged 19, Mallory entered the University of Cambridge at a time of great cultural upheaval.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50When Mallory arrived in Cambridge in 1905 he pitched into this ferment
0:12:50 > 0:12:57and bubble of ideas, excitement, intellectual, sexual, social, secret societies.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02He obviously possessed some remarkable charisma, sort of charmed
0:13:02 > 0:13:06presence that drew the eye, compelled the gaze.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14'My mind is in a state of constant rebellion.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18'I believe that will always be so.'
0:13:18 > 0:13:19He was a dreamer.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26And he was in Cambridge at a time of great and powerful dreaming.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31And eventually that dream took its form in the shape of Everest.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38This was the golden age of exploration.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42Mallory watched with the rest of the world as explorers from America,
0:13:42 > 0:13:47Norway and Britain raced first to the North and then the South Pole.
0:13:49 > 0:13:55In 1912, Captain Scott, the legendary British adventurer,
0:13:55 > 0:13:59died in the attempt to be first to the South Pole.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03Mallory was among those inspired by the tragedy.
0:14:03 > 0:14:09Britain was at the waning of the empire at this time it's looking for ways to reinvigorate itself
0:14:09 > 0:14:15and so attention inevitably turns to Everest as the final possibility, the Third Pole.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Surveyors had calculated
0:14:20 > 0:14:23that Everest was the highest mountain in the world,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26but no Westerner had ever been within 40 miles.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Mallory became obsessed by a mountain he'd never even seen.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38"Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41"No man has reached its summit.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46"Its existence is a challenge to man's desire to conquer the universe."
0:14:53 > 0:14:57Mallory wasn't just enthralled with Everest.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04He had also fallen in love with 21-year-old Ruth Turner.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10Right from the start, they wrote each other adoring letters.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16"My darling, I'm longing for you.
0:15:16 > 0:15:22"I would kiss your lips and look into your eyes and you, you, you
0:15:22 > 0:15:27"all near me and with me, strong and glorious and loving and laughing."
0:15:30 > 0:15:34"I cannot find words that would be sure to convey what I feel about you.
0:15:34 > 0:15:40"What I really want is to know you and to love you more and more.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43"Dearest and most beloved, your loving Ruth."
0:15:45 > 0:15:51George and my grandmother, Ruth, fell madly in love in 1914.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56They were both idealists, really seeing kindred spirits in each other.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01They were married three days before the start of World War I.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09Mallory enlisted and came face to face with death once more,
0:16:09 > 0:16:14fighting in the Somme, the bloodiest battle known to man.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20"There is no reckoning with death here.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23"Life presents itself very much to me as a gift."
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Mallory had witnessed the mass slaughter of the First World War.
0:16:28 > 0:16:34His fellow soldiers, some of them six feet away, killed by German shelling.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37He knew how fragile life was.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40And knowing this, he wanted to live it to the fullest.
0:16:40 > 0:16:47He wanted the ultimate challenge and that, in the '20s, was Mount Everest.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54Once the war was over, the Royal Geographical Society in London
0:16:54 > 0:16:57planned the first ever expedition to Everest.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04They needed Mallory for his supreme climbing skills.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07He needed their backing to realise his obsession.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18When Mallory undertook that first expedition in 1921,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22he had to approach Everest through Tibet, from the north.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26The Nepalese refused to allow access to the easier South side,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30used when Everest was first officially climbed in 1953.
0:17:32 > 0:17:39After an eight-week journey, Mallory finally set eyes on the mountain that had haunted him for so long.
0:17:41 > 0:17:47"Like the wildest creation of a dream - Everest!
0:17:47 > 0:17:52"A rugged giant. A prodigious white fang.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55"A colossal rock plastered with snow.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58"From the mountaineer's point of view,
0:17:58 > 0:18:02"no more appalling sight could be imagined."
0:18:02 > 0:18:07When he first saw Everest, he describes it really almost as an adversary.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12It's very beautiful, but also ugly or frightful, like an ogre.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21There were no maps. No-one knew the terrain there.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26And this first trip, the trip of 1921, it was imperative
0:18:26 > 0:18:31that the team find the route that would lead them to the summit.
0:18:40 > 0:18:45For months, Mallory led the search, but the route to the summit eluded him.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55Finally, late in August, he found what he was looking for.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10An enormous glacial valley that snaked for miles around
0:19:10 > 0:19:14the other giant peaks, towards the very foot of Everest.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30"My dearest Ruth, we have found our way to the great mountain."
0:19:36 > 0:19:42At the end of the valley was a wall of snow and ice, 1,000 feet high.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46It led up to a crest that Mallory named the North Col.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54And then on to the top of the world.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02"We have established our way to the summit
0:20:02 > 0:20:06"for anyone who cares to try the highest adventure."
0:20:15 > 0:20:21But the heavy snow that comes with the monsoon each summer quickly made climbing impossible.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23They had to head home.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32But within six months, Mallory was back again.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37This time with film cameras, to show Everest to the world.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47He climbed higher than anyone else before him.
0:20:52 > 0:20:59But late in the season, as Mallory led porters up the mountain, disaster struck.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02A great snowfall had come.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07They got to a delicate place on this massive ice slope
0:21:07 > 0:21:09and triggered an avalanche.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28"My dearest Ruth,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31"seven brave men killed.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33"And I am to blame.
0:21:33 > 0:21:39"It has happened forever and I can do nothing to make it good."
0:21:42 > 0:21:46After the avalanche and when George returned to Europe,
0:21:46 > 0:21:48he really had no wish to go back to Everest.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52He just wanted to get away from the deprivation and the danger
0:21:52 > 0:21:54and also the memories of that avalanche.
0:22:00 > 0:22:06He had been away for a very long period, over two successive years.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09He wanted to get back to his wife and his family.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15They had three children.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19My mother was the second daughter of George Mallory.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24And, at this point, I think he was really starting to think about
0:22:24 > 0:22:27wanting to be home more,
0:22:27 > 0:22:33to be with Ruth more and to address himself to raising the kids.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41But a new expedition was being planned.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48And Mallory desperately wanted to be part of it.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Against Ruth's wishes.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56"I love you and you love me and that ought to be happiness enough for a lifetime.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58"But I do want you.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01"We want to live together all the time
0:23:01 > 0:23:05"and share thoughts and joys and sorrows,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08"and we can't apart as we can together."
0:23:10 > 0:23:14"I am having a horrible time, on a tightrope.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19"It would be an awful tug going away instead of settling down here with Ruth.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23"But it would look rather grim to see others, without me,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25"conquering the summit."
0:23:30 > 0:23:33Mallory clearly loved Ruth very dearly.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38She was his sweet, domestic, beloved partner who represented all that was
0:23:38 > 0:23:43appealing about home, family, the flatlands of Cambridge, sea level.
0:23:45 > 0:23:52But Everest represented all that was exciting, adventurous, visionary, mystical.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55His personality was pulled between those two poles.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07Early in 1923, the crisis came to a head
0:24:07 > 0:24:11when Mallory sailed to America to speak about his Everest adventures.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19He was the star turn at the Explorers Club in New York.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22I can just imagine
0:24:22 > 0:24:25the audience on the edge of their seats
0:24:25 > 0:24:29as Mallory told them about the biting wind,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32the lack of appetite,
0:24:32 > 0:24:34the fierce cold.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42A New York Times journalist asked the question, "Why climb Everest?"
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Mallory gave his legendary reply.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51"Because...
0:24:51 > 0:24:53"it's there."
0:24:59 > 0:25:02Three words that have probably become more famous than
0:25:02 > 0:25:07Mallory himself, suggest a sort of fatalism bubbling away in Mallory.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11The mountain remains, it's unclimbed
0:25:11 > 0:25:13and so the quest remains.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20And he is the man who is locked in to this almost fairytale relationship with the mountain.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24He's been twice and he must go back for the third time.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33I think the idea that someone else would build on his progress and get
0:25:33 > 0:25:37to the summit on his shoulders was quite difficult for him to accept.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40It was after all his route and his mountain.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44It is actually a surprisingly selfish thing for someone like Mallory to experience but then
0:25:44 > 0:25:48mountaineers all do have this kind of element of selfishness deep down.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59Aged 38, this was Mallory's last chance to conquer the mountain.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Conrad Anker will follow Mallory's footsteps,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24leading his own expedition to Everest and the Second Step.
0:26:28 > 0:26:35During his climb, Conrad plans to test clothes and boots modelled on those he found on Mallory's body.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41Using this replica clothing,
0:26:41 > 0:26:45I'm going to have this chance to go back and see what it was like
0:26:45 > 0:26:48for Mallory to try climbing Everest in 1924.
0:26:54 > 0:27:00But like Mallory, Conrad is torn between his passion for Everest and his love for his family.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03My family's anxious about this trip.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06I'm going to Everest.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08It's a deadly mountain.
0:27:08 > 0:27:09What's it worth?
0:27:09 > 0:27:12Is it worth leaving your kids behind?
0:27:12 > 0:27:14Why are you going to this mountain?
0:27:14 > 0:27:16Are you going to be safe?
0:27:16 > 0:27:18You know I love you.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21And I can see there, as I was trying to rationalise it
0:27:21 > 0:27:24to my wife and children that it's a safe thing
0:27:24 > 0:27:27and it's a fine thing to go on Everest and it's a noble thing -
0:27:27 > 0:27:32that these were the same answers that Mallory had for Ruth.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37I know what it's like to be the wife of a climber and
0:27:37 > 0:27:41I know what it's like to be the wife of a climber who doesn't come home.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45Jennifer was previously married
0:27:45 > 0:27:49to one of America's finest mountaineers, Alex Lowe,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52Conrad's climbing-partner and closest friend.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Just a few months after finding Mallory's body,
0:27:57 > 0:28:02Conrad was climbing with Alex when the mountains claimed another life.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07An avalanche struck Alex and I as we were climbing in the Himalayas.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09He died
0:28:09 > 0:28:11and I was three feet away from him.
0:28:15 > 0:28:22You could just look at him and tell that he was burdened with this world of guilt and grief.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25That somehow he could have prevented Alex's death.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33In the aftermath of this tragedy, we communicated with each other
0:28:33 > 0:28:37and eventually we grew to fall in love
0:28:37 > 0:28:43and it wasn't just Jennifer that my love grew for, it was also the boys.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46Jennifer must really like climbers to willingly bring me into her life
0:28:46 > 0:28:52and then marry and have me adopt the boys because she knows it's downright dangerous work.
0:28:55 > 0:28:56Boys, dear.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58Look what I found downstairs!
0:28:58 > 0:29:01- Whoa!- Good God!
0:29:02 > 0:29:07Is this my Halloween costume, or is this what I'm going up Everest in? You guys are laughing.
0:29:07 > 0:29:12- You look like Inspector Gadget. - You're supposed to take me serious. Mom can appreciate it.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17No, it's amazing to think of those guys going for the summit in clothing like that.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21- Would you climb Everest in that suit?- No.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23What would you wear?
0:29:23 > 0:29:25I wouldn't climb Everest.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47Before climbing Everest, Mallory had to choose his climbing partner.
0:29:48 > 0:29:52Among the candidates was a 21-year-old chemistry student,
0:29:52 > 0:29:56Andrew "Sandy" Irvine - a mountaineering novice.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03My great uncle "Sandy" Irvine took life by the horns
0:30:03 > 0:30:06and if an opportunity presented itself to him, he would take it.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10He loved the theatre, he loved cars and, above all, he loved women.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12And he had this very indiscreet love affair
0:30:12 > 0:30:15with his best friend's stepmother.
0:30:16 > 0:30:17It was a terrible scandal.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25But Sandy Irvine was first and foremost an oarsman.
0:30:25 > 0:30:31When he got to Oxford, he was selected to take part in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
0:30:32 > 0:30:37The annual Boat Race was the most prestigious sporting event of the day.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48They were victorious, and what Mallory saw in Sandy
0:30:48 > 0:30:52was this extraordinary ability that great oarsmen have,
0:30:52 > 0:31:00to row through pain, to push himself almost beyond normal human limit.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03But there was another reason for choosing Irvine.
0:31:03 > 0:31:09Mallory needed someone technical to master the oxygen equipment vital at high altitude.
0:31:09 > 0:31:14And unlike Mallory, Irvine was very practical.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19Sandy asked the Mount Everest Committee to send him a 1922 set,
0:31:19 > 0:31:24plus the drawings, and he spent hours and hours in his rooms in Oxford
0:31:24 > 0:31:28trying to make it serviceable, trying to make it lighter, stronger
0:31:28 > 0:31:33and less fragile so that the climbers could use it with greater confidence.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37And so, the fact that Sandy was so practical with the apparatus
0:31:37 > 0:31:40I think made it quite clear in Mallory's mind
0:31:40 > 0:31:44that he was a useful man to have climbing with him.
0:31:51 > 0:31:57Conrad Anker has also chosen a young Englishman as his climbing partner - Leo Houlding.
0:31:57 > 0:32:04Like Irvine, Leo is young, strong, a natural athlete, and has never climbed at high altitude.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07The 90-feet high Second Step
0:32:07 > 0:32:11will be a dangerous venture into the unknown.
0:32:14 > 0:32:19I'm definitely concerned about the altitude and the acclimatisation process
0:32:19 > 0:32:22just because I've never been high enough before
0:32:22 > 0:32:26to know whether I might be one of those people it doesn't gel with.
0:32:28 > 0:32:33I don't want to let Conrad down, and I'm sure Irvine felt some of that pressure.
0:33:12 > 0:33:17Leo's never been to altitude, this unknown,
0:33:17 > 0:33:21and you can't walk into a hospital and take a test
0:33:21 > 0:33:24that will say, "Oh, you'll do well at altitude."
0:33:24 > 0:33:26Some people do really well,
0:33:26 > 0:33:30but I've seen fit people doubled over with splitting headaches.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41Being invited to climb the highest mountain in the world with Conrad,
0:33:41 > 0:33:44one of the best climbers in his generation, is such a privilege.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48For Irvine, being invited to climb with George Mallory,
0:33:48 > 0:33:51the best climber of his generation on the unclimbed Mount Everest,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54I just can't imagine how he must have felt.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57I am walking on metaphorical air.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02We shall go all out for the summit.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07If I have to die, then there would be no finer death
0:34:07 > 0:34:11than in an attempt to conquer Everest.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17On February 29th, 1924,
0:34:17 > 0:34:23Mallory set sail from Liverpool, after making Ruth a solemn promise.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27As my grandfather was leaving England and leaving my grandmother,
0:34:27 > 0:34:30he told her that he would leave a photograph of her
0:34:30 > 0:34:34at the top of Mount Everest,
0:34:34 > 0:34:36and I think he was pretty confident
0:34:36 > 0:34:41that he would get there and that he would leave that photograph.
0:34:44 > 0:34:46With the eyes of the world upon them,
0:34:46 > 0:34:51Mallory and Irvine set out on the three-week voyage for India.
0:35:03 > 0:35:09Late that March, their convoy began its 350-mile trek.
0:35:23 > 0:35:315,000 miles apart, Mallory and Ruth wrote to each other frequently.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34Couriers carried their letters across the world and,
0:35:34 > 0:35:39after the months of tension they'd gone through, he and Ruth made up.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43"I do miss you a lot.
0:35:43 > 0:35:49"I know I have rather often been cross and not nice, and I'm very sorry.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52"I was unhappy at getting so little of you.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56"Very, very much love to you, my dear one.
0:35:56 > 0:35:57"Your loving Ruth."
0:36:01 > 0:36:07"Dearest one, we went through a difficult time together in the autumn.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10"Your letters bring you much nearer.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12"I wish I had you with me."
0:36:13 > 0:36:20We can think of the relationship between Mallory, Everest and Ruth as a kind of love triangle.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23When he was at home with Ruth, he was dreaming of Everest.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26When he was away with Everest, he was dreaming of Ruth.
0:36:26 > 0:36:31Until a certain point, until he got sufficiently close to the mountain that it cast its spell over him.
0:36:47 > 0:36:53The convoy of 300 pack animals and 70 porters journeyed through Tibet.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59Provisions included four cases of Montebello champagne
0:36:59 > 0:37:02and 60 tins of quail and foie gras.
0:37:05 > 0:37:12On April 25th, 17,000 feet up, they reached the last pass before Everest,
0:37:12 > 0:37:14Pang La.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28The Pang La is the pass where you get the first stunning view of Everest, right?
0:37:28 > 0:37:30Yeah, and it's this vista.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33You've got five of the world's highest peaks in one view.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49That's Everest.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55Wow!
0:38:01 > 0:38:04- It's so much bigger than all the other ones, isn't it? Just...- Yeah.
0:38:06 > 0:38:12It's really special that we haven't had any sign of the mountain and then you drive up to this high pass
0:38:12 > 0:38:17then she just reveals herself in all her glory, you know, Chomolungma,
0:38:17 > 0:38:21Mother Goddess of the Earth, the mountain we call Everest. Just bang!
0:38:27 > 0:38:33This wonderful old photograph they had taken on 26th April 1924 is pretty amazing.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37See Everest there, there's Mallory, Irvine,
0:38:37 > 0:38:42a couple of their Sherpas they had with them and their pony.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45This is almost exactly the same spot, right?
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Pretty close, and they spent three weeks trekking on the plateau
0:38:49 > 0:38:52to get to this point, to be able to see it.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55And they were on their feet, they'd walked every day. I mean,
0:38:55 > 0:38:58you think for us to get here, we've been in a jeep.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06On April 29th, Mallory and Irvine set up
0:39:06 > 0:39:12their centre of operations, Base Camp, 12 miles from the summit.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30Like Mallory, Conrad will rely heavily on Sherpa porters,
0:39:30 > 0:39:33accustomed to high altitude.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36But this is still a dangerous mountain.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41Over 200 people have died here, among them many Sherpas.
0:39:41 > 0:39:47Well, most important is safety. Ten fingers, ten toes, one nose,
0:39:47 > 0:39:48- all come back.- Eyes!
0:39:48 > 0:39:53- Two eyes!- Yes, two eyes! Oh, good! And if you see something
0:39:53 > 0:39:58with us, if we look sick, then you tell us and say,
0:39:58 > 0:40:00"Go down! Burra sahib...
0:40:02 > 0:40:04"China burra sahib, finish!"
0:40:13 > 0:40:17BELL RINGS
0:40:17 > 0:40:20HE CHANTS
0:40:28 > 0:40:34'Before one embarks on an expedition, it's customary to have a puja, which is a blessing ceremony.
0:40:34 > 0:40:40'As Chomolungma is Mother Goddess of the Earth, the mountain is a deity.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43'For the Tibetans and the Sherpas,
0:40:43 > 0:40:47'safe passage depends on having a good puja.'
0:40:57 > 0:40:59CHANTING
0:40:59 > 0:41:02BELL RINGS
0:41:02 > 0:41:05THEY CHANT
0:41:17 > 0:41:20Good luck, everybody.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23Lots of luck.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35The monks from the ancient monastery nearby gave Mallory
0:41:35 > 0:41:40a very mixed welcome when he approached their sacred mountain, Chomolungma.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57It was 83 years ago on this day, May 15th,
0:41:57 > 0:42:02that Mallory and his team came here for a blessing from the Lama.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13The head Lama welcomed the strange white climbers,
0:42:13 > 0:42:15but it was an ominous encounter.
0:42:20 > 0:42:27Along with the blessing, the Lama had a very stern warning for the expedition.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31He spoke of disaster to come, prophesying that the mountain's demons
0:42:31 > 0:42:35would delight in forcing the climbers off Everest.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41The monks had even created an illustration, a very gruesome one,
0:42:41 > 0:42:48of the gods disemboweling a Western man and pitching him into hell.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52It must have been a terrifying moment for Mallory.
0:42:52 > 0:42:58He was not a superstitious man, but I think it would have been hard to be in that landscape
0:42:58 > 0:43:01at that time on the third expedition and not feel the atmosphere to be saturated
0:43:01 > 0:43:05with signs and portents and hints and forebodings.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15Despite the bad omens, Mallory hoped that this time,
0:43:15 > 0:43:19he'd summit the mountain.
0:43:19 > 0:43:20The weather was good.
0:43:20 > 0:43:26He planned to reach the top of Everest by mid-May to beat the snows that came with the monsoon.
0:43:38 > 0:43:44On May 2nd 1924, the giant convoy of climbers and porters
0:43:44 > 0:43:47made its way out of Base Camp.
0:43:57 > 0:43:58"My dearest Ruth,
0:43:58 > 0:44:02"the thought of you will be present in the most important decisions.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07"I am eager for the great events to begin."
0:44:11 > 0:44:15Mallory realised that the way to attack Everest
0:44:15 > 0:44:20was a series of camps, almost militaristic in style.
0:44:20 > 0:44:25You go some way up, then come back down, recuperate
0:44:25 > 0:44:27and then move back up.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30It's how you acclimatise.
0:44:30 > 0:44:35He pioneered this technique and it's the one we still use on Everest today.
0:44:55 > 0:44:57Conrad and Leo follow Mallory's route
0:44:57 > 0:45:02through a forest of ice pinnacles, up to Camp Three.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21You definitely can't cheat or hide from altitude and acclimatisation -
0:45:21 > 0:45:24it just makes everything really hard work.
0:45:27 > 0:45:31- This is it, Leo.- Finally! - Camp Three for 1924.
0:45:34 > 0:45:40At Camp Three, altitude really begins to show its nasty side effects.
0:45:40 > 0:45:45With each breath, you're getting fewer molecules of oxygen in.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49It's insidious. You lose your appetite, you have splitting headaches,
0:45:49 > 0:45:53you have a difficult time just doing the simplest of tasks,
0:45:53 > 0:46:00yet 9,000 feet above you, the summit of Everest and it's calling you.
0:46:13 > 0:46:18Somewhere above their Camp Two, Mallory and Irvine
0:46:18 > 0:46:22experienced their first bout of bad weather. A storm came in,
0:46:22 > 0:46:25the temperatures plummeted, and Mallory realised
0:46:25 > 0:46:29it wasn't going to be Easy Street up to the summit of Everest.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33"My dearest girl,
0:46:33 > 0:46:37"I was acting as a lone horse and arrived first at Camp Three.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43"The glacier is everywhere beneath the stones.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49"My boots were frozen hard on my feet.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52"I was a good deal depressed by the situation.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57"I love you always, dear one."
0:47:01 > 0:47:04- Shall we try it on? - Yeah, I'm pretty keen to...
0:47:04 > 0:47:06see how this stuff works.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08Check this out.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15Can you imagine climbing up with these things? They're something else.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19So, I've got every layer on here.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23Mallory and Irvine had seven layers on when they went for the summit in '24.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27But the big difference is here, in the footwear.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31I tell you, the rest of this outfit seems pretty good, eh?
0:47:31 > 0:47:37But compared to the boots that we wear these days, these things look decidedly, you know, inappropriate.
0:47:43 > 0:47:49Wearing hobnailed boots and Gabardine jackets, Conrad and Leo venture on to the mountain.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55We were right near the spot where
0:47:55 > 0:47:58seven of Mallory's porters lost their lives in the avalanche.
0:47:58 > 0:48:06But, as in 1924, we were just bound together by a thin cotton rope.
0:48:13 > 0:48:18Using Mallory's technique, Conrad cuts steps into the steep ice slope.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26This is real mountain terrain. I mean, if you lose your footing,
0:48:26 > 0:48:28you'll fall down 1,000 feet to the base of it,
0:48:28 > 0:48:30and we need to start being careful now. There's crevasses.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33There's a danger of avalanche.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37When you stand on the edge of a crevasse,
0:48:37 > 0:48:40you just see this slot disappearing down into the glacier.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44Hundreds of feet deep. But the dangerous ones are the ones that you can't see.
0:48:44 > 0:48:50You can be walking across a snow bridge just a few feet thick and fall through it to certain death.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52Yikes, she's deep, isn't she?
0:48:52 > 0:48:54Yeah.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00I'm right at the bridge!
0:49:00 > 0:49:02Ten feet of rope.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04Be careful, my friend.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23It's phenomenal that they were able to get to 28,000 feet
0:49:23 > 0:49:28in what I would basically call
0:49:28 > 0:49:30clothing you'd walk through the forest.
0:49:34 > 0:49:36Good job, Leo.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38No, good job, Conrad.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42Oy!
0:49:42 > 0:49:43Oh, I'm knackered.
0:49:49 > 0:49:54In 1924, Mallory's team were pinned down by weather so severe,
0:49:54 > 0:49:58Sandy Irvine feared for his life.
0:49:58 > 0:50:00May 10th.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03Had a terrible night with wind and snow.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06I don't know how the tent stood it.
0:50:06 > 0:50:13Very little sleep and about two inches of snow over everything in the tent.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15Awful headache this morning.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20Irvine was suffering from altitude sickness.
0:50:20 > 0:50:24His role as Mallory's climbing partner was now in doubt.
0:50:25 > 0:50:30The harsh conditions forced the entire team back down to Base Camp.
0:50:32 > 0:50:37When they arrived there, they found that two of the staff were dead.
0:50:37 > 0:50:42Instead of preparing for a summit bid, they were burying people in Base Camp.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46It must have been quite strange for Irvine to come to terms with that.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51One of our NCOs suddenly got paralysis,
0:50:51 > 0:50:55probably due to a clot on the brain from frostbitten fingers.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00The poor fellow died within half a mile of Base Camp.
0:51:02 > 0:51:07Meanwhile, Mallory plans another dangerous summit bid.
0:51:09 > 0:51:14But he allowed no sign of the team's suffering to show in a letter to his eldest daughter, Clare.
0:51:17 > 0:51:22"My darling, there is not so much wind today, so it is nice and warm.
0:51:23 > 0:51:28"Now, tea has come and for the first time since I don't know when - cake.
0:51:30 > 0:51:31"Shall we have a little tea party together,
0:51:31 > 0:51:36"one day in August, with a flat, warm, squidgy cake and nothing else?
0:51:38 > 0:51:40"Haven't you got a greedy daddy?!"
0:51:46 > 0:51:49It was already mid-May,
0:51:49 > 0:51:51and soon, the snows would come.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55The monsoon arrives early June every year.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58It releases a tremendous amount of snow.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01Climbing is impossible.
0:52:17 > 0:52:22We had the same challenge as Mallory in 1924. We were there
0:52:22 > 0:52:25late in the season. If we didn't get up the mountain
0:52:25 > 0:52:29before the monsoon hit, we'd be in very serious trouble.
0:52:36 > 0:52:43Over 22,000 feet up, Conrad and Leo start the ascent of Everest itself.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51They are on one of the most treacherous parts of the mountain -
0:52:51 > 0:52:55the giant wall of ice and snow that leads up to the North Col -
0:52:55 > 0:52:58the launch-pad to the summit.
0:53:25 > 0:53:31Despite all the modern equipment, the altitude hits Leo hard.
0:53:31 > 0:53:37You know, this is the first time I've ever been to this altitude and you just move so desperately slowly,
0:53:37 > 0:53:41it's unreal. You just can't believe... You take two steps and you're completely out of breath
0:53:41 > 0:53:44and I'm sure it's only going to get worse as we get up.
0:54:00 > 0:54:06With hobnail boots and no guide-ropes, Mallory led the assault on the North Col,
0:54:06 > 0:54:11cutting steps into what he called "its great battlements of ice."
0:54:13 > 0:54:15The North Col was a triumph.
0:54:15 > 0:54:19I enjoyed the conquest of the ice wall and making the steps.
0:54:19 > 0:54:24Afterwards, I was practically bust to the world.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27Looking back down the valley,
0:54:27 > 0:54:33he was already higher than the greatest peaks in Europe or America.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36But the summit was still 6,000 feet above.
0:54:46 > 0:54:53Here on the Col, Mallory set up his bridgehead to Everest, Camp Four.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57He planned higher camps further up the mountain.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01These would take him within striking distance of the summit.
0:55:01 > 0:55:06Mallory had a cough that wouldn't go away.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09Irvine was suffering from diarrhoea,
0:55:09 > 0:55:12the cold never left them.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15COUGHING
0:55:16 > 0:55:20My dearest Ruth, I couldn't sleep -
0:55:20 > 0:55:24distressed with bursts of coughing fit to tear one's guts.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28Fierce squalls visited our tents and shook them with
0:55:28 > 0:55:32the disagreeable threat of tearing them away from their moorings.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35There was never a more determined and bitter enemy.
0:55:40 > 0:55:4723,000 feet up, Conrad and Leo test out Mallory's gear one last time.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51Suddenly, temperatures plummet to 20 below freezing.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54They're in severe danger of frostbite.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07- Thank you.- No problem.- Oh!
0:56:14 > 0:56:18Oh, man, I can't imagine going to 8,500 metres in these boots.
0:56:21 > 0:56:24Which is my theory - that if those guys were moving,
0:56:24 > 0:56:29they were OK. But once they stopped moving,
0:56:29 > 0:56:32the clock was ticking and it was a different game altogether.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34Oh!
0:56:37 > 0:56:43My toes are freezing. Agh!
0:56:44 > 0:56:46In '22,
0:56:46 > 0:56:49Mallory frostbit one of his fingers
0:56:49 > 0:56:53and he commented that it was bad, but not that bad,
0:56:53 > 0:56:56and then sort of in a little note aside, he said,
0:56:56 > 0:57:02"I wouldn't mind if I lost a finger for this summit."
0:57:02 > 0:57:07And, If I was in his shoes, I probably would have thought the same thing,
0:57:07 > 0:57:11because it was the Golden Age of Exploration.
0:57:16 > 0:57:18Ah, come on my little beauties.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22Agh!
0:57:29 > 0:57:34Bad weather blocks Conrad's path and the monsoon snows are imminent.
0:57:34 > 0:57:40He and Leo risk being trapped high on Everest, beyond rescue.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44It was a stressful moment.
0:57:44 > 0:57:50What are we doing? We're climbing into the second week of June, the monsoon's on our ass.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53I get on the phone to Jennifer and I say to her,
0:57:53 > 0:57:58"It's not worth what I'm putting you and the family through, and I'm ready to come home."
0:58:00 > 0:58:03The window was closing. I knew the monsoon was coming.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06I was looking at the satellite imagery of the weather.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09I said, "Conrad, you know what, I'm looking at the computer screen
0:58:09 > 0:58:15"and I'm seeing a giant wall of weather and it's the monsoon."
0:58:15 > 0:58:20And I said, "Conrad, you need to be confident that you can make it.
0:58:20 > 0:58:26"But if you have a chance to climb the Second Step, I want you to go for it."
0:58:30 > 0:58:35"My dear one, what is happening to you?
0:58:35 > 0:58:37"I wonder so much.
0:58:37 > 0:58:39"Are you happy and are you well?
0:58:41 > 0:58:45"All the immortal love my soul has is with you."
0:58:48 > 0:58:54Early in June 1924, two of Mallory's team, Norton and Somervell,
0:58:54 > 0:58:56pushed on up the mountain
0:58:57 > 0:59:00but Everest forced them back.
0:59:00 > 0:59:03Snow blind, Norton had to be carried down.
0:59:03 > 0:59:09Somervell almost choked to death before coughing up part of his frostbitten larynx.
0:59:12 > 0:59:14Clearly, it was time to go home.
0:59:14 > 0:59:18They were weak with exhaustion.
0:59:18 > 0:59:21The monsoon was due.
0:59:21 > 0:59:24But Mallory refused to give in.
0:59:25 > 0:59:27My dear girl,
0:59:27 > 0:59:29this has been a bad time altogether.
0:59:31 > 0:59:35Perhaps it's mere folly to go up again.
0:59:35 > 0:59:37But how can I be out of the hunt?
0:59:39 > 0:59:41Six days to the top from this camp!
0:59:43 > 0:59:47It's 50:1 against, but we'll have a whack yet
0:59:47 > 0:59:49and do ourselves proud.
0:59:49 > 0:59:52Great love to you, ever your loving George.
1:00:09 > 1:00:13The big question is why George Mallory thought it was worth one more shot.
1:00:13 > 1:00:17I think the way to reconcile the overriding conflict in his life,
1:00:17 > 1:00:21was actually to climb the mountain and be done with it and go home to Ruth and say,
1:00:21 > 1:00:25"I've done it, it's over, now we can get on with the rest of our lives."
1:00:25 > 1:00:29He knew that this was it.
1:00:29 > 1:00:35He couldn't come back again later if he didn't get to the top.
1:00:35 > 1:00:39It would be impossible to put Ruth through that again.
1:00:41 > 1:00:45I must tell you, dearest one, I feel full of energy and strength.
1:00:48 > 1:00:53My plan will be to carry as little as possible, go fast and rush the summit.
1:01:03 > 1:01:07Mallory now needed oxygen and Irvine more than ever.
1:01:09 > 1:01:13He wanted his partner, now over the worst of his altitude sickness,
1:01:13 > 1:01:17to apply his technical skills to the final assault.
1:01:19 > 1:01:22Irvine has been brilliantly skilful about the oxygen.
1:01:22 > 1:01:25He has practically invented a new instrument.
1:01:28 > 1:01:305th June.
1:01:30 > 1:01:37It will be a great triumph if my impromptu apparatus gets us to the top.
1:01:37 > 1:01:39It has been very trying for everyone
1:01:39 > 1:01:43with terribly strong reflection off the snow.
1:01:43 > 1:01:48Have prepared two oxygen apparatus for our start tomorrow morning.
1:01:51 > 1:01:55These are the last words written by Sandy Irvine.
1:01:57 > 1:02:01He would have gone wherever Mallory would have wanted him to go
1:02:01 > 1:02:04and I'm quite sure that he had every intention of coming back
1:02:04 > 1:02:08from the mountain with both feet, both legs, both arms intact.
1:02:08 > 1:02:10I don't think he even entertained,
1:02:10 > 1:02:13truly entertained, the idea that he would die.
1:02:13 > 1:02:15I think he believed that he was indestructible.
1:02:18 > 1:02:23Early on June 6th, support-climber Noel Odell
1:02:23 > 1:02:27photographed Mallory and Irvine as they set out from the North Col.
1:02:32 > 1:02:34Who could hold back, when such a victory,
1:02:34 > 1:02:38such a triumph of human endeavour was within their grasp?
1:02:43 > 1:02:48One must conquer, achieve, get to the top
1:02:48 > 1:02:52to know there's no dream that mustn't be dared.
1:03:01 > 1:03:06There's nothing on top of Mount Everest. There's not a pot of gold.
1:03:06 > 1:03:08Why are we doing this?
1:03:10 > 1:03:12You want the glory.
1:03:12 > 1:03:16You want that feeling of standing on top of the world.
1:03:19 > 1:03:23Gambling on beating the monsoon, Conrad makes his choice -
1:03:23 > 1:03:26to follow Mallory up to the Second Step.
1:03:28 > 1:03:33We're starting our summit bid and it's 10th June.
1:03:33 > 1:03:38I think 5th June is the latest anyone's ever climbed pre-monsoon.
1:03:38 > 1:03:42The clouds in the background are an indication the monsoon rolling in
1:03:42 > 1:03:46so we're going to play it by ear, one day at a time, but...
1:03:47 > 1:03:49..this is our window.
1:03:59 > 1:04:02WIND HOWLS
1:04:14 > 1:04:17It's just ridiculously tiring, like it
1:04:17 > 1:04:21feels like someone's taking the Michael, you like one step, and
1:04:21 > 1:04:23your head's on your hands.
1:04:49 > 1:04:52That is unreal, isn't it?
1:04:52 > 1:04:55It's like an out of body experience.
1:05:06 > 1:05:08On June 7th, cameraman John Noel
1:05:08 > 1:05:12filmed the last images of Mallory and Irvine.
1:05:16 > 1:05:21They were two miles above him with their porters,
1:05:21 > 1:05:23climbing into the death zone,
1:05:23 > 1:05:27where the lack of oxygen makes it impossible to function for long.
1:05:29 > 1:05:33In the death zone, above 26,000 feet,
1:05:33 > 1:05:37the body enters into what is known as necrosis.
1:05:39 > 1:05:40One is dying.
1:05:44 > 1:05:47Humans weren't meant to survive at this altitude
1:05:47 > 1:05:49and you're on borrowed time.
1:05:54 > 1:05:58As they enter the death zone, Conrad and Leo use oxygen,
1:05:58 > 1:06:00like Mallory and Irvine before them.
1:06:11 > 1:06:15I was just thinking, "Oh, the death zone, this place isn't that bad."
1:06:15 > 1:06:18All of a sudden, the first of the dead bodies
1:06:18 > 1:06:22that we encountered appeared right by the path.
1:06:24 > 1:06:27And it was a real, I mean, when else do you walk past a dead body,
1:06:27 > 1:06:29you know, unless you're in a war zone?
1:06:29 > 1:06:32You're never going to witness anything quite like that.
1:06:32 > 1:06:35It's such an extreme environment up there that no-one can
1:06:35 > 1:06:37do anything about it, they can't bring them down.
1:06:44 > 1:06:48High in the death zone, some 2,000 feet below the summit,
1:06:48 > 1:06:51Mallory and Irvine pitched their last camp.
1:06:54 > 1:06:57Here Mallory wrote to cameraman John Noel,
1:06:57 > 1:07:00who was waiting further down to film the moment of triumph.
1:07:02 > 1:07:07Dear Noel, we'll probably start early tomorrow to have clear weather.
1:07:07 > 1:07:10Start looking out for us either crossing the rock band
1:07:10 > 1:07:15under the pyramid or going up the skyline at 8pm.
1:07:17 > 1:07:19Clearly he meant to say 8am.
1:07:23 > 1:07:25He was tired.
1:07:25 > 1:07:28He had been on expedition for three months and now
1:07:28 > 1:07:30over three days in the death zone.
1:07:38 > 1:07:40Just advance your headlight.
1:07:50 > 1:07:52We knew the monsoon was imminent.
1:07:52 > 1:07:54We only had a 12-hour window.
1:07:56 > 1:07:59We had to strike while the iron was hot.
1:08:00 > 1:08:03You're so nervous that I woke up before the alarm
1:08:03 > 1:08:08and turned our headlamps on. Got all the layering systems set up.
1:08:08 > 1:08:11When you step out of the tent it was a bit like a starting gate,
1:08:11 > 1:08:13I was ready to go.
1:08:13 > 1:08:15Leo was so excited.
1:08:15 > 1:08:17He had that boost of summit energy.
1:08:17 > 1:08:20It's probably similar to what Mallory and Irvine had
1:08:20 > 1:08:26on their summit day when they were there, within striking distance of the first ascent of Everest.
1:08:42 > 1:08:46Imagine the morning of June 8th 1924.
1:08:48 > 1:08:51They're cold, they've had a restless night of sleep.
1:08:54 > 1:08:58Compound this with lack of appetite,
1:08:58 > 1:09:01severe dehydration.
1:09:01 > 1:09:03Their bodies are wasted.
1:09:03 > 1:09:06Their mental faculties are compromised.
1:09:06 > 1:09:10Simple things become monumental chores.
1:09:25 > 1:09:2928,000 feet is at the limit of what is humanly possible.
1:09:29 > 1:09:34Even with supplemental oxygen it's very, very desperate.
1:09:35 > 1:09:38And above them is a route that no-one has ever been on.
1:09:38 > 1:09:44And when you're the first, overcoming this sense of the unknown is one of the greatest challenges.
1:09:54 > 1:09:55Think about it.
1:09:55 > 1:10:02The anxiety, fear, trepidation, combined with the exhilaration.
1:10:02 > 1:10:04All those things
1:10:04 > 1:10:07stirring around
1:10:07 > 1:10:09and held fast
1:10:09 > 1:10:11by pain and suffering.
1:10:20 > 1:10:24Mallory and Irvine climbed the North Face,
1:10:24 > 1:10:28up towards the summit ridge where the Second Step blocked their path.
1:10:32 > 1:10:36We got to the ridge just on schedule, right after dawn.
1:10:41 > 1:10:43Absolutely wonderful.
1:11:14 > 1:11:20At 12:50 on June 8th 1924, support climber Noel Odell
1:11:20 > 1:11:24sighted Mallory and Irvine through a gap in the clouds.
1:11:26 > 1:11:31My eyes became fixed on a tiny black dot
1:11:31 > 1:11:35a short distance from the base of the final pyramid.
1:11:35 > 1:11:37Another moved up to join it.
1:11:37 > 1:11:41They were moving expeditiously as if to make up for lost time.
1:11:43 > 1:11:46Then the whole fascinating vision vanished,
1:11:48 > 1:11:50enveloped in cloud.
1:11:55 > 1:11:58Mallory and Irvine were missing.
1:12:00 > 1:12:03No trace can be found.
1:12:03 > 1:12:04Awaiting orders.
1:12:06 > 1:12:10Instead of capturing their victorious ascent,
1:12:10 > 1:12:14cameraman John Noel had to film the search for them.
1:12:17 > 1:12:19Days later,
1:12:19 > 1:12:23blankets laid out as a cross in the snow
1:12:23 > 1:12:26signalled the devastating news.
1:12:26 > 1:12:31Mallory and Irvine were lost, presumed dead.
1:12:45 > 1:12:47Mrs Mallory.
1:12:47 > 1:12:49Herschel House, Cambridge.
1:12:50 > 1:12:55Committee deeply regret receive bad news.
1:12:55 > 1:12:57Everest expedition today.
1:12:59 > 1:13:00Your husband killed.
1:13:00 > 1:13:02Last climb.
1:13:02 > 1:13:06Committee offer you and family heartfelt sympathy.
1:13:10 > 1:13:13Ruth received the news one evening.
1:13:13 > 1:13:17She decided not to tell her children that night
1:13:17 > 1:13:21cos they'd already gone to bed. She actually went to bed herself,
1:13:21 > 1:13:25slept with the terrible knowledge and then, in morning, woke them up,
1:13:25 > 1:13:28took them into her bed, and told them this terrible news.
1:13:28 > 1:13:33George's spirit was ready for another life,
1:13:33 > 1:13:36and his way of going to it was very beautiful.
1:13:38 > 1:13:44I know so absolutely he could not have failed in courage or self-sacrifice.
1:13:45 > 1:13:48If only it hadn't happened.
1:13:48 > 1:13:50It so easily might not have.
1:13:54 > 1:13:59The golden age of exploration had ended in tragedy.
1:14:01 > 1:14:06The fallen hero was mourned by king and country.
1:14:08 > 1:14:11It must have been an extraordinary day,
1:14:11 > 1:14:15the bells ringing out around Britain in mourning
1:14:15 > 1:14:19and then a memorial service in St Paul's,
1:14:19 > 1:14:24the mourners packing the pews and speeches given in Mallory's honour.
1:14:29 > 1:14:33Mallory, the man, soon became Mallory the legend.
1:14:35 > 1:14:39Many people were convinced he had reached the top of Everest.
1:14:41 > 1:14:46But to summit, he would first have had to free climb the Second Step.
1:14:48 > 1:14:53On June 14th, our expedition reached the Second Step.
1:14:53 > 1:14:59This formidable rock face that stood between Mallory and the summit.
1:15:02 > 1:15:06The Sherpas cleared the fixed-ropes and hauled the ladder away -
1:15:06 > 1:15:09restoring the Second Step to what it was like in 1924.
1:15:14 > 1:15:17Goal is today, pull the ladders up
1:15:17 > 1:15:19and...
1:15:19 > 1:15:21climb it
1:15:21 > 1:15:25"free" - that is without the assistance of the Chinese ladder.
1:15:51 > 1:15:55This whole time on the expedition I knew it was going to come down to
1:15:55 > 1:16:00this half hour on a cliff band at 28,300 ft.
1:16:00 > 1:16:03Could I do it in the form
1:16:03 > 1:16:05that Mallory and Irvine would have encountered it,
1:16:05 > 1:16:10free of any ladder, free of any rope, free of any indication of man?
1:16:12 > 1:16:14You have the whole North Face of Mount Everest,
1:16:14 > 1:16:17all the way down to the central Rongbuk glacier below you.
1:16:19 > 1:16:227,000, 8,000 feet of exposure.
1:16:22 > 1:16:24God, what am I doing?!
1:16:37 > 1:16:41Just like Mallory and Irvine, Leo and I were tied together.
1:16:44 > 1:16:45It's the brotherhood of the rope.
1:17:00 > 1:17:02Imagine this,
1:17:02 > 1:17:08June 8th 1924.
1:17:39 > 1:17:40Come on, you've got it!
1:17:43 > 1:17:45Whoa!
1:17:55 > 1:17:56You OK?
1:17:56 > 1:17:59Yeah. Man!
1:17:59 > 1:18:01What happened?
1:18:02 > 1:18:03Bad step.
1:18:06 > 1:18:08Had I not caught myself,
1:18:08 > 1:18:12there's a good chance I could have fallen over the edge, pulled Leo
1:18:12 > 1:18:17from the mountain, and fallen 7,000 feet to the central Rongbuk glacier.
1:18:19 > 1:18:23I think it shook him up somewhat and he ended up spending quite a long time
1:18:23 > 1:18:26'Figuring out what to do next, recomposing himself,
1:18:26 > 1:18:29'I mean, I'd say, at least 20 minutes.'
1:18:29 > 1:18:31Want to stand on my shoulders?
1:18:32 > 1:18:34I'm going to give it another go.
1:18:38 > 1:18:40My job was to
1:18:40 > 1:18:43climb the Second Step.
1:18:43 > 1:18:46I knew that I had to try it from a different angle.
1:20:00 > 1:20:03OK. Nice step.
1:20:31 > 1:20:34I think I got it, Leo. I think I got it.
1:20:40 > 1:20:42Oooaawwwww!
1:21:13 > 1:21:17After eight years of keeping me awake at night
1:21:17 > 1:21:22and being the 90 feet of climbing that I had to get done,
1:21:23 > 1:21:25I got the Second Step.
1:21:36 > 1:21:37I can't breathe.
1:21:41 > 1:21:44I realised that my toes had gone completely numb.
1:21:44 > 1:21:47My biggest fear through this whole experience
1:21:47 > 1:21:51has been getting frostbite in my toes.
1:21:51 > 1:21:54I was just concerned about getting to the top of the Second Step
1:21:54 > 1:21:56as quickly as I possibly could.
1:22:03 > 1:22:07I thought about Mallory.
1:22:07 > 1:22:09Our ascent of the Second Step
1:22:09 > 1:22:13opens up the possibility that they could have pulled it off.
1:22:17 > 1:22:20Earlier, I was under the impression that the Second Step
1:22:20 > 1:22:23was an impossibility for climbers of that time.
1:22:23 > 1:22:26Now I'm changed on that.
1:22:26 > 1:22:29They definitely were capable of doing it.
1:22:31 > 1:22:37The Second Step is not too much of an obstacle for them to overcome.
1:23:00 > 1:23:02They were determined
1:23:02 > 1:23:06and, if they were strong and they were moving quickly,
1:23:06 > 1:23:10there's a chance they made it to the top.
1:23:12 > 1:23:17Dear one, I will be thinking of you as you set off for the summit.
1:23:18 > 1:23:21I know you can achieve your wildest dream.
1:23:40 > 1:23:46If we get within 200 yards or so of the top of Everest, we shall go.
1:23:49 > 1:23:53And if it's a one way ticket, so be it.
1:24:43 > 1:24:47Eight years after I found the body of George Mallory
1:24:47 > 1:24:49the circle is complete.
1:24:55 > 1:24:58A few hours before the monsoon closed in,
1:24:58 > 1:25:01Leo and I summited Mount Everest.
1:25:05 > 1:25:08And we have shown that these could have been
1:25:08 > 1:25:13Mallory and Irvine's final footsteps.
1:25:23 > 1:25:26Is this the summit crowning the day?
1:25:28 > 1:25:31How cool and how quiet.
1:25:33 > 1:25:36Have we vanquished an enemy?
1:25:39 > 1:25:41None but ourselves?
1:26:08 > 1:26:12# Every day I look beyond the endless sky
1:26:12 > 1:26:15# And see you smile
1:26:15 > 1:26:20# Every night I dream that you are by my side
1:26:22 > 1:26:29# In a thousand frozen moments I have stared into your eyes
1:26:29 > 1:26:35# Brought you with me, all these miles I have climbed
1:26:35 > 1:26:38# I brought you with me
1:26:44 > 1:26:47# On the edge of heaven
1:26:47 > 1:26:52# I will wait for you
1:26:52 > 1:26:55# On the edge of heaven
1:26:55 > 1:26:59# Find me there
1:26:59 > 1:27:07# On the edge of heaven Stand with me, my dear
1:27:08 > 1:27:13# And you will feel the end of time
1:27:15 > 1:27:18# And you will feel the end
1:27:18 > 1:27:22# Oh, feel. #
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