The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest


The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest

Similar Content

Browse content similar to The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

Mount Everest.

0:00:440:00:46

29,000 feet.

0:00:480:00:49

The highest point on Earth.

0:00:520:00:54

Captivating and deadly.

0:00:570:00:59

In the 1920s, to conquer this mountain

0:01:000:01:03

was the greatest challenge remaining in a golden age of adventure.

0:01:030:01:07

Everest was the edge of heaven,

0:01:110:01:14

where many believed no human could survive.

0:01:140:01:17

But not George Mallory.

0:01:190:01:21

Everest is the last great conquest for man.

0:01:440:01:48

The Wildest Dream.

0:01:510:01:52

George Mallory dreamed of being the first man to climb Everest.

0:02:060:02:11

On June 8th, 1924, dressed in Gabardine and hobnailed boots,

0:02:110:02:17

he and his fellow climber, Sandy Irvine, were last seen 800 feet below the summit.

0:02:170:02:22

Then the clouds rolled in.

0:02:270:02:28

They were never seen alive again.

0:02:300:02:33

Many believed that almost 30 years before Everest was officially conquered,

0:02:360:02:42

George Mallory was the first man to set foot on the top of the world.

0:02:420:02:46

75 years after Mallory and Irvine vanished, mountaineer Conrad Anker

0:03:100:03:16

took part in an expedition, looking for their bodies, high on Everest.

0:03:160:03:20

-RADIO:

-'Conrad, come in please.'

0:03:230:03:25

'I'm down at 26.7, over.'

0:03:280:03:30

Anker struck off, on his own.

0:03:300:03:33

'Conrad, you're way below the search zone, you need to be higher, over.'

0:03:330:03:38

I was curious.

0:03:380:03:40

I stopped, turned around...

0:03:400:03:42

..and there was a patch of white.

0:03:430:03:46

It wasn't snow, it was matt.

0:03:460:03:49

A light-absorbing colour like marble.

0:03:490:03:55

As I got closer, I realised

0:04:060:04:09

this was the body of one of the pioneering English climbers,

0:04:090:04:14

frozen onto the mountain side.

0:04:140:04:16

For a moment, I thought,

0:04:210:04:24

maybe I can just keep walking

0:04:240:04:26

and keep it to myself.

0:04:260:04:28

But then...

0:04:330:04:35

that's what we were there for.

0:04:350:04:38

'Group meeting.

0:04:420:04:44

'Mandatory group meeting, over!'

0:04:440:04:47

Here, wait.

0:05:100:05:12

-This is George Mallory.

-Oh, my God!

0:05:120:05:15

Oh, my God!

0:05:150:05:17

You see that, George Mallory.

0:05:170:05:20

Oh, my God!

0:05:200:05:21

George Mallory and I,

0:05:380:05:40

our two paths have intersected 75 years apart.

0:05:400:05:46

My aunt called me and said in a rather small voice on the phone,

0:05:510:05:57

"Suzie, they've found my father's body on Mount Everest."

0:05:570:06:03

And I was amazed, I was absolutely shocked.

0:06:030:06:07

It was very powerful to know where my grandfather was and how he died.

0:06:070:06:15

He had a compound fracture of his right leg, above the ankle.

0:06:180:06:23

Fatal on Everest.

0:06:230:06:26

His arms were outstretched as if he had tried to dig his fingers into the side of the mountain.

0:06:260:06:32

He was last seen up on the ridge, heading west for the summit.

0:06:350:06:40

But I found him far to the east.

0:06:400:06:43

So Mallory was on his way back.

0:06:430:06:45

Maybe returning from the summit itself.

0:06:450:06:48

His sun goggles, vital against the glare from the snow, were in his pocket.

0:06:580:07:04

So it must have been getting dark.

0:07:040:07:06

He and Irvine were tied together by a thin cotton rope.

0:07:110:07:16

They were tired, absolutely beat,

0:07:240:07:28

no energy left, minds not functioning clearly.

0:07:280:07:31

Mallory crossed his left leg over the broken one to ease the pain.

0:08:100:08:16

It was a matter of minutes,

0:08:180:08:20

a half hour at the very most

0:08:200:08:24

before he died.

0:08:240:08:25

Did Mallory reach the summit, almost three decades before the first official climb?

0:08:370:08:44

We discovered many things on his body.

0:08:480:08:51

Documents and letters perfectly preserved 75 years later.

0:08:530:08:58

His wristwatch, rusted in at ten after five.

0:08:580:09:03

The goggles that were inside of his vest.

0:09:030:09:07

An altimeter, the face broken and hands missing.

0:09:070:09:14

But one very significant item was missing, the photo of his wife, Ruth,

0:09:140:09:19

which he'd promised to leave on the summit.

0:09:190:09:22

Was the photo missing because Mallory had reached the summit

0:09:240:09:28

and placed it there - the ultimate tribute to his love of Ruth?

0:09:280:09:32

He was last seen about 800 feet below the summit, near the notoriously difficult Second Step.

0:09:380:09:44

If Mallory was able to make it to the summit in 1924, he and Irvine would have had to have

0:09:490:09:54

climbed this overhanging cliff at about 28,000 feet.

0:09:540:09:59

There's never been a confirmed free climb of the Second Step.

0:10:000:10:05

Everyone who climbs it today uses a metal ladder

0:10:050:10:08

bolted to the rock by Chinese climbers in 1975.

0:10:080:10:11

I want to go back to Everest to try and climb the Second Step

0:10:140:10:19

under the very same conditions Mallory faced.

0:10:190:10:23

It was a pure cliff when Mallory and Irvine approached it.

0:10:250:10:29

No-one had ever been there.

0:10:290:10:32

It would have been

0:10:320:10:34

an incredible feat of climbing if they'd pulled that off.

0:10:340:10:37

Adventure, risk,

0:10:440:10:47

there are some people that thrive on it, that seek it out.

0:10:470:10:51

They want to push their own limits.

0:10:510:10:54

Mallory is one of those people.

0:10:570:11:00

Mallory grew up in Cheshire, northern England.

0:11:060:11:11

He made his first fateful climb in Mobberley, his home village.

0:11:110:11:16

Mallory's father was a vicar here at this church.

0:11:190:11:22

It was here that the young boy escaped

0:11:260:11:30

and climbed up to the top of the church at age seven.

0:11:300:11:33

You can imagine that.

0:11:350:11:36

Finding climbing is his true passion in life.

0:11:390:11:43

I actually think that some people who climb

0:12:050:12:08

are wired a little differently from the rest of us.

0:12:080:12:11

My grandfather really didn't feel fear of heights or precipices

0:12:110:12:16

or anything like that.

0:12:160:12:18

He had a way of climbing that was not quite like everyone else's.

0:12:200:12:26

His arms and legs would just sort of eat up a mountain

0:12:260:12:29

and he would start flowing over it like a wave.

0:12:290:12:32

Aged 19, Mallory entered the University of Cambridge at a time of great cultural upheaval.

0:12:370:12:44

When Mallory arrived in Cambridge in 1905 he pitched into this ferment

0:12:460:12:50

and bubble of ideas, excitement, intellectual, sexual, social, secret societies.

0:12:500:12:57

He obviously possessed some remarkable charisma, sort of charmed

0:12:590:13:02

presence that drew the eye, compelled the gaze.

0:13:020:13:06

'My mind is in a state of constant rebellion.

0:13:100:13:14

'I believe that will always be so.'

0:13:140:13:18

He was a dreamer.

0:13:180:13:19

And he was in Cambridge at a time of great and powerful dreaming.

0:13:210:13:26

And eventually that dream took its form in the shape of Everest.

0:13:260:13:31

This was the golden age of exploration.

0:13:340:13:38

Mallory watched with the rest of the world as explorers from America,

0:13:380:13:42

Norway and Britain raced first to the North and then the South Pole.

0:13:420:13:47

In 1912, Captain Scott, the legendary British adventurer,

0:13:490:13:55

died in the attempt to be first to the South Pole.

0:13:550:13:59

Mallory was among those inspired by the tragedy.

0:13:590:14:03

Britain was at the waning of the empire at this time it's looking for ways to reinvigorate itself

0:14:030:14:09

and so attention inevitably turns to Everest as the final possibility, the Third Pole.

0:14:090:14:15

Surveyors had calculated

0:14:180:14:20

that Everest was the highest mountain in the world,

0:14:200:14:23

but no Westerner had ever been within 40 miles.

0:14:230:14:26

Mallory became obsessed by a mountain he'd never even seen.

0:14:280:14:32

"Everest is the highest mountain in the world.

0:14:340:14:38

"No man has reached its summit.

0:14:380:14:41

"Its existence is a challenge to man's desire to conquer the universe."

0:14:410:14:46

Mallory wasn't just enthralled with Everest.

0:14:530:14:57

He had also fallen in love with 21-year-old Ruth Turner.

0:15:000:15:04

Right from the start, they wrote each other adoring letters.

0:15:060:15:10

"My darling, I'm longing for you.

0:15:120:15:16

"I would kiss your lips and look into your eyes and you, you, you

0:15:160:15:22

"all near me and with me, strong and glorious and loving and laughing."

0:15:220:15:27

"I cannot find words that would be sure to convey what I feel about you.

0:15:300:15:34

"What I really want is to know you and to love you more and more.

0:15:340:15:40

"Dearest and most beloved, your loving Ruth."

0:15:400:15:43

George and my grandmother, Ruth, fell madly in love in 1914.

0:15:450:15:51

They were both idealists, really seeing kindred spirits in each other.

0:15:510:15:56

They were married three days before the start of World War I.

0:15:560:16:01

Mallory enlisted and came face to face with death once more,

0:16:040:16:09

fighting in the Somme, the bloodiest battle known to man.

0:16:090:16:14

"There is no reckoning with death here.

0:16:160:16:20

"Life presents itself very much to me as a gift."

0:16:200:16:23

Mallory had witnessed the mass slaughter of the First World War.

0:16:250:16:28

His fellow soldiers, some of them six feet away, killed by German shelling.

0:16:280:16:34

He knew how fragile life was.

0:16:340:16:37

And knowing this, he wanted to live it to the fullest.

0:16:370:16:40

He wanted the ultimate challenge and that, in the '20s, was Mount Everest.

0:16:400:16:47

Once the war was over, the Royal Geographical Society in London

0:16:490:16:54

planned the first ever expedition to Everest.

0:16:540:16:57

They needed Mallory for his supreme climbing skills.

0:17:000:17:04

He needed their backing to realise his obsession.

0:17:040:17:07

When Mallory undertook that first expedition in 1921,

0:17:130:17:18

he had to approach Everest through Tibet, from the north.

0:17:180:17:22

The Nepalese refused to allow access to the easier South side,

0:17:220:17:26

used when Everest was first officially climbed in 1953.

0:17:260:17:30

After an eight-week journey, Mallory finally set eyes on the mountain that had haunted him for so long.

0:17:320:17:39

"Like the wildest creation of a dream - Everest!

0:17:410:17:47

"A rugged giant. A prodigious white fang.

0:17:470:17:52

"A colossal rock plastered with snow.

0:17:520:17:55

"From the mountaineer's point of view,

0:17:550:17:58

"no more appalling sight could be imagined."

0:17:580:18:02

When he first saw Everest, he describes it really almost as an adversary.

0:18:020:18:07

It's very beautiful, but also ugly or frightful, like an ogre.

0:18:070:18:12

There were no maps. No-one knew the terrain there.

0:18:180:18:21

And this first trip, the trip of 1921, it was imperative

0:18:210:18:26

that the team find the route that would lead them to the summit.

0:18:260:18:31

For months, Mallory led the search, but the route to the summit eluded him.

0:18:400:18:45

Finally, late in August, he found what he was looking for.

0:18:500:18:55

An enormous glacial valley that snaked for miles around

0:19:060:19:10

the other giant peaks, towards the very foot of Everest.

0:19:100:19:14

"My dearest Ruth, we have found our way to the great mountain."

0:19:260:19:30

At the end of the valley was a wall of snow and ice, 1,000 feet high.

0:19:360:19:42

It led up to a crest that Mallory named the North Col.

0:19:420:19:46

And then on to the top of the world.

0:19:520:19:54

"We have established our way to the summit

0:19:590:20:02

"for anyone who cares to try the highest adventure."

0:20:020:20:06

But the heavy snow that comes with the monsoon each summer quickly made climbing impossible.

0:20:150:20:21

They had to head home.

0:20:210:20:23

But within six months, Mallory was back again.

0:20:280:20:32

This time with film cameras, to show Everest to the world.

0:20:330:20:37

He climbed higher than anyone else before him.

0:20:430:20:47

But late in the season, as Mallory led porters up the mountain, disaster struck.

0:20:520:20:59

A great snowfall had come.

0:20:590:21:02

They got to a delicate place on this massive ice slope

0:21:020:21:07

and triggered an avalanche.

0:21:070:21:09

"My dearest Ruth,

0:21:260:21:28

"seven brave men killed.

0:21:280:21:31

"And I am to blame.

0:21:310:21:33

"It has happened forever and I can do nothing to make it good."

0:21:330:21:39

After the avalanche and when George returned to Europe,

0:21:420:21:46

he really had no wish to go back to Everest.

0:21:460:21:48

He just wanted to get away from the deprivation and the danger

0:21:480:21:52

and also the memories of that avalanche.

0:21:520:21:54

He had been away for a very long period, over two successive years.

0:22:000:22:06

He wanted to get back to his wife and his family.

0:22:060:22:09

They had three children.

0:22:130:22:15

My mother was the second daughter of George Mallory.

0:22:150:22:19

And, at this point, I think he was really starting to think about

0:22:190:22:24

wanting to be home more,

0:22:240:22:27

to be with Ruth more and to address himself to raising the kids.

0:22:270:22:33

But a new expedition was being planned.

0:22:390:22:41

And Mallory desperately wanted to be part of it.

0:22:440:22:48

Against Ruth's wishes.

0:22:480:22:51

"I love you and you love me and that ought to be happiness enough for a lifetime.

0:22:510:22:56

"But I do want you.

0:22:560:22:58

"We want to live together all the time

0:22:580:23:01

"and share thoughts and joys and sorrows,

0:23:010:23:05

"and we can't apart as we can together."

0:23:050:23:08

"I am having a horrible time, on a tightrope.

0:23:100:23:14

"It would be an awful tug going away instead of settling down here with Ruth.

0:23:140:23:19

"But it would look rather grim to see others, without me,

0:23:190:23:23

"conquering the summit."

0:23:230:23:25

Mallory clearly loved Ruth very dearly.

0:23:300:23:33

She was his sweet, domestic, beloved partner who represented all that was

0:23:330:23:38

appealing about home, family, the flatlands of Cambridge, sea level.

0:23:380:23:43

But Everest represented all that was exciting, adventurous, visionary, mystical.

0:23:450:23:52

His personality was pulled between those two poles.

0:23:520:23:55

Early in 1923, the crisis came to a head

0:24:030:24:07

when Mallory sailed to America to speak about his Everest adventures.

0:24:070:24:11

He was the star turn at the Explorers Club in New York.

0:24:150:24:19

I can just imagine

0:24:200:24:22

the audience on the edge of their seats

0:24:220:24:25

as Mallory told them about the biting wind,

0:24:250:24:29

the lack of appetite,

0:24:290:24:32

the fierce cold.

0:24:320:24:34

A New York Times journalist asked the question, "Why climb Everest?"

0:24:370:24:42

Mallory gave his legendary reply.

0:24:430:24:46

"Because...

0:24:490:24:51

"it's there."

0:24:510:24:53

Three words that have probably become more famous than

0:24:590:25:02

Mallory himself, suggest a sort of fatalism bubbling away in Mallory.

0:25:020:25:07

The mountain remains, it's unclimbed

0:25:070:25:11

and so the quest remains.

0:25:110:25:13

And he is the man who is locked in to this almost fairytale relationship with the mountain.

0:25:150:25:20

He's been twice and he must go back for the third time.

0:25:200:25:24

I think the idea that someone else would build on his progress and get

0:25:290:25:33

to the summit on his shoulders was quite difficult for him to accept.

0:25:330:25:37

It was after all his route and his mountain.

0:25:370:25:40

It is actually a surprisingly selfish thing for someone like Mallory to experience but then

0:25:400:25:44

mountaineers all do have this kind of element of selfishness deep down.

0:25:440:25:48

Aged 38, this was Mallory's last chance to conquer the mountain.

0:25:550:25:59

Conrad Anker will follow Mallory's footsteps,

0:26:170:26:20

leading his own expedition to Everest and the Second Step.

0:26:200:26:24

During his climb, Conrad plans to test clothes and boots modelled on those he found on Mallory's body.

0:26:280:26:35

Using this replica clothing,

0:26:390:26:41

I'm going to have this chance to go back and see what it was like

0:26:410:26:45

for Mallory to try climbing Everest in 1924.

0:26:450:26:48

But like Mallory, Conrad is torn between his passion for Everest and his love for his family.

0:26:540:27:00

My family's anxious about this trip.

0:27:000:27:03

I'm going to Everest.

0:27:030:27:06

It's a deadly mountain.

0:27:060:27:08

What's it worth?

0:27:080:27:09

Is it worth leaving your kids behind?

0:27:090:27:12

Why are you going to this mountain?

0:27:120:27:14

Are you going to be safe?

0:27:140:27:16

You know I love you.

0:27:160:27:18

And I can see there, as I was trying to rationalise it

0:27:180:27:21

to my wife and children that it's a safe thing

0:27:210:27:24

and it's a fine thing to go on Everest and it's a noble thing -

0:27:240:27:27

that these were the same answers that Mallory had for Ruth.

0:27:270:27:32

I know what it's like to be the wife of a climber and

0:27:320:27:37

I know what it's like to be the wife of a climber who doesn't come home.

0:27:370:27:41

Jennifer was previously married

0:27:430:27:45

to one of America's finest mountaineers, Alex Lowe,

0:27:450:27:49

Conrad's climbing-partner and closest friend.

0:27:490:27:52

Just a few months after finding Mallory's body,

0:27:540:27:57

Conrad was climbing with Alex when the mountains claimed another life.

0:27:570:28:02

An avalanche struck Alex and I as we were climbing in the Himalayas.

0:28:030:28:07

He died

0:28:070:28:09

and I was three feet away from him.

0:28:090:28:11

You could just look at him and tell that he was burdened with this world of guilt and grief.

0:28:150:28:22

That somehow he could have prevented Alex's death.

0:28:220:28:25

In the aftermath of this tragedy, we communicated with each other

0:28:290:28:33

and eventually we grew to fall in love

0:28:330:28:37

and it wasn't just Jennifer that my love grew for, it was also the boys.

0:28:370:28:43

Jennifer must really like climbers to willingly bring me into her life

0:28:430:28:46

and then marry and have me adopt the boys because she knows it's downright dangerous work.

0:28:460:28:52

Boys, dear.

0:28:550:28:56

Look what I found downstairs!

0:28:560:28:58

-Whoa!

-Good God!

0:28:580:29:01

Is this my Halloween costume, or is this what I'm going up Everest in? You guys are laughing.

0:29:020:29:07

-You look like Inspector Gadget.

-You're supposed to take me serious. Mom can appreciate it.

0:29:070:29:12

No, it's amazing to think of those guys going for the summit in clothing like that.

0:29:120:29:17

-Would you climb Everest in that suit?

-No.

0:29:170:29:21

What would you wear?

0:29:210:29:23

I wouldn't climb Everest.

0:29:230:29:25

Before climbing Everest, Mallory had to choose his climbing partner.

0:29:420:29:47

Among the candidates was a 21-year-old chemistry student,

0:29:480:29:52

Andrew "Sandy" Irvine - a mountaineering novice.

0:29:520:29:56

My great uncle "Sandy" Irvine took life by the horns

0:29:590:30:03

and if an opportunity presented itself to him, he would take it.

0:30:030:30:06

He loved the theatre, he loved cars and, above all, he loved women.

0:30:060:30:10

And he had this very indiscreet love affair

0:30:100:30:12

with his best friend's stepmother.

0:30:120:30:15

It was a terrible scandal.

0:30:160:30:17

But Sandy Irvine was first and foremost an oarsman.

0:30:210:30:25

When he got to Oxford, he was selected to take part in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.

0:30:250:30:31

The annual Boat Race was the most prestigious sporting event of the day.

0:30:320:30:37

They were victorious, and what Mallory saw in Sandy

0:30:440:30:48

was this extraordinary ability that great oarsmen have,

0:30:480:30:52

to row through pain, to push himself almost beyond normal human limit.

0:30:520:31:00

But there was another reason for choosing Irvine.

0:31:000:31:03

Mallory needed someone technical to master the oxygen equipment vital at high altitude.

0:31:030:31:09

And unlike Mallory, Irvine was very practical.

0:31:090:31:14

Sandy asked the Mount Everest Committee to send him a 1922 set,

0:31:140:31:19

plus the drawings, and he spent hours and hours in his rooms in Oxford

0:31:190:31:24

trying to make it serviceable, trying to make it lighter, stronger

0:31:240:31:28

and less fragile so that the climbers could use it with greater confidence.

0:31:280:31:33

And so, the fact that Sandy was so practical with the apparatus

0:31:330:31:37

I think made it quite clear in Mallory's mind

0:31:370:31:40

that he was a useful man to have climbing with him.

0:31:400:31:44

Conrad Anker has also chosen a young Englishman as his climbing partner - Leo Houlding.

0:31:510:31:57

Like Irvine, Leo is young, strong, a natural athlete, and has never climbed at high altitude.

0:31:570:32:04

The 90-feet high Second Step

0:32:040:32:07

will be a dangerous venture into the unknown.

0:32:070:32:11

I'm definitely concerned about the altitude and the acclimatisation process

0:32:140:32:19

just because I've never been high enough before

0:32:190:32:22

to know whether I might be one of those people it doesn't gel with.

0:32:220:32:26

I don't want to let Conrad down, and I'm sure Irvine felt some of that pressure.

0:32:280:32:33

Leo's never been to altitude, this unknown,

0:33:120:33:17

and you can't walk into a hospital and take a test

0:33:170:33:21

that will say, "Oh, you'll do well at altitude."

0:33:210:33:24

Some people do really well,

0:33:240:33:26

but I've seen fit people doubled over with splitting headaches.

0:33:260:33:30

Being invited to climb the highest mountain in the world with Conrad,

0:33:370:33:41

one of the best climbers in his generation, is such a privilege.

0:33:410:33:44

For Irvine, being invited to climb with George Mallory,

0:33:440:33:48

the best climber of his generation on the unclimbed Mount Everest,

0:33:480:33:51

I just can't imagine how he must have felt.

0:33:510:33:54

I am walking on metaphorical air.

0:33:540:33:57

We shall go all out for the summit.

0:33:590:34:02

If I have to die, then there would be no finer death

0:34:030:34:07

than in an attempt to conquer Everest.

0:34:070:34:11

On February 29th, 1924,

0:34:130:34:17

Mallory set sail from Liverpool, after making Ruth a solemn promise.

0:34:170:34:23

As my grandfather was leaving England and leaving my grandmother,

0:34:230:34:27

he told her that he would leave a photograph of her

0:34:270:34:30

at the top of Mount Everest,

0:34:300:34:34

and I think he was pretty confident

0:34:340:34:36

that he would get there and that he would leave that photograph.

0:34:360:34:41

With the eyes of the world upon them,

0:34:440:34:46

Mallory and Irvine set out on the three-week voyage for India.

0:34:460:34:51

Late that March, their convoy began its 350-mile trek.

0:35:030:35:09

5,000 miles apart, Mallory and Ruth wrote to each other frequently.

0:35:230:35:31

Couriers carried their letters across the world and,

0:35:310:35:34

after the months of tension they'd gone through, he and Ruth made up.

0:35:340:35:39

"I do miss you a lot.

0:35:390:35:43

"I know I have rather often been cross and not nice, and I'm very sorry.

0:35:430:35:49

"I was unhappy at getting so little of you.

0:35:490:35:52

"Very, very much love to you, my dear one.

0:35:520:35:56

"Your loving Ruth."

0:35:560:35:57

"Dearest one, we went through a difficult time together in the autumn.

0:36:010:36:07

"Your letters bring you much nearer.

0:36:070:36:10

"I wish I had you with me."

0:36:100:36:12

We can think of the relationship between Mallory, Everest and Ruth as a kind of love triangle.

0:36:130:36:20

When he was at home with Ruth, he was dreaming of Everest.

0:36:200:36:23

When he was away with Everest, he was dreaming of Ruth.

0:36:230:36:26

Until a certain point, until he got sufficiently close to the mountain that it cast its spell over him.

0:36:260:36:31

The convoy of 300 pack animals and 70 porters journeyed through Tibet.

0:36:470:36:53

Provisions included four cases of Montebello champagne

0:36:550:36:59

and 60 tins of quail and foie gras.

0:36:590:37:02

On April 25th, 17,000 feet up, they reached the last pass before Everest,

0:37:050:37:12

Pang La.

0:37:120:37:14

The Pang La is the pass where you get the first stunning view of Everest, right?

0:37:240:37:28

Yeah, and it's this vista.

0:37:280:37:30

You've got five of the world's highest peaks in one view.

0:37:300:37:33

That's Everest.

0:37:470:37:49

Wow!

0:37:530:37:55

-It's so much bigger than all the other ones, isn't it? Just...

-Yeah.

0:38:010:38:04

It's really special that we haven't had any sign of the mountain and then you drive up to this high pass

0:38:060:38:12

then she just reveals herself in all her glory, you know, Chomolungma,

0:38:120:38:17

Mother Goddess of the Earth, the mountain we call Everest. Just bang!

0:38:170:38:21

This wonderful old photograph they had taken on 26th April 1924 is pretty amazing.

0:38:270:38:33

See Everest there, there's Mallory, Irvine,

0:38:330:38:37

a couple of their Sherpas they had with them and their pony.

0:38:370:38:42

This is almost exactly the same spot, right?

0:38:420:38:45

Pretty close, and they spent three weeks trekking on the plateau

0:38:450:38:49

to get to this point, to be able to see it.

0:38:490:38:52

And they were on their feet, they'd walked every day. I mean,

0:38:520:38:55

you think for us to get here, we've been in a jeep.

0:38:550:38:58

On April 29th, Mallory and Irvine set up

0:39:030:39:06

their centre of operations, Base Camp, 12 miles from the summit.

0:39:060:39:12

Like Mallory, Conrad will rely heavily on Sherpa porters,

0:39:260:39:30

accustomed to high altitude.

0:39:300:39:33

But this is still a dangerous mountain.

0:39:330:39:36

Over 200 people have died here, among them many Sherpas.

0:39:360:39:41

Well, most important is safety. Ten fingers, ten toes, one nose,

0:39:410:39:47

-all come back.

-Eyes!

0:39:470:39:48

-Two eyes!

-Yes, two eyes! Oh, good! And if you see something

0:39:480:39:53

with us, if we look sick, then you tell us and say,

0:39:530:39:58

"Go down! Burra sahib...

0:39:580:40:00

"China burra sahib, finish!"

0:40:020:40:04

BELL RINGS

0:40:130:40:17

HE CHANTS

0:40:170:40:20

'Before one embarks on an expedition, it's customary to have a puja, which is a blessing ceremony.

0:40:280:40:34

'As Chomolungma is Mother Goddess of the Earth, the mountain is a deity.

0:40:340:40:40

'For the Tibetans and the Sherpas,

0:40:400:40:43

'safe passage depends on having a good puja.'

0:40:430:40:47

CHANTING

0:40:570:40:59

BELL RINGS

0:40:590:41:02

THEY CHANT

0:41:020:41:05

Good luck, everybody.

0:41:170:41:20

Lots of luck.

0:41:200:41:23

The monks from the ancient monastery nearby gave Mallory

0:41:310:41:35

a very mixed welcome when he approached their sacred mountain, Chomolungma.

0:41:350:41:40

It was 83 years ago on this day, May 15th,

0:41:540:41:57

that Mallory and his team came here for a blessing from the Lama.

0:41:570:42:02

The head Lama welcomed the strange white climbers,

0:42:090:42:13

but it was an ominous encounter.

0:42:130:42:15

Along with the blessing, the Lama had a very stern warning for the expedition.

0:42:200:42:27

He spoke of disaster to come, prophesying that the mountain's demons

0:42:270:42:31

would delight in forcing the climbers off Everest.

0:42:310:42:35

The monks had even created an illustration, a very gruesome one,

0:42:370:42:41

of the gods disemboweling a Western man and pitching him into hell.

0:42:410:42:48

It must have been a terrifying moment for Mallory.

0:42:490:42:52

He was not a superstitious man, but I think it would have been hard to be in that landscape

0:42:520:42:58

at that time on the third expedition and not feel the atmosphere to be saturated

0:42:580:43:01

with signs and portents and hints and forebodings.

0:43:010:43:05

Despite the bad omens, Mallory hoped that this time,

0:43:110:43:15

he'd summit the mountain.

0:43:150:43:19

The weather was good.

0:43:190:43:20

He planned to reach the top of Everest by mid-May to beat the snows that came with the monsoon.

0:43:200:43:26

On May 2nd 1924, the giant convoy of climbers and porters

0:43:380:43:44

made its way out of Base Camp.

0:43:440:43:47

"My dearest Ruth,

0:43:570:43:58

"the thought of you will be present in the most important decisions.

0:43:580:44:02

"I am eager for the great events to begin."

0:44:040:44:07

Mallory realised that the way to attack Everest

0:44:110:44:15

was a series of camps, almost militaristic in style.

0:44:150:44:20

You go some way up, then come back down, recuperate

0:44:200:44:25

and then move back up.

0:44:250:44:27

It's how you acclimatise.

0:44:270:44:30

He pioneered this technique and it's the one we still use on Everest today.

0:44:300:44:35

Conrad and Leo follow Mallory's route

0:44:550:44:57

through a forest of ice pinnacles, up to Camp Three.

0:44:570:45:02

You definitely can't cheat or hide from altitude and acclimatisation -

0:45:170:45:21

it just makes everything really hard work.

0:45:210:45:24

-This is it, Leo.

-Finally!

-Camp Three for 1924.

0:45:270:45:31

At Camp Three, altitude really begins to show its nasty side effects.

0:45:340:45:40

With each breath, you're getting fewer molecules of oxygen in.

0:45:400:45:45

It's insidious. You lose your appetite, you have splitting headaches,

0:45:450:45:49

you have a difficult time just doing the simplest of tasks,

0:45:490:45:53

yet 9,000 feet above you, the summit of Everest and it's calling you.

0:45:530:46:00

Somewhere above their Camp Two, Mallory and Irvine

0:46:130:46:18

experienced their first bout of bad weather. A storm came in,

0:46:180:46:22

the temperatures plummeted, and Mallory realised

0:46:220:46:25

it wasn't going to be Easy Street up to the summit of Everest.

0:46:250:46:29

"My dearest girl,

0:46:310:46:33

"I was acting as a lone horse and arrived first at Camp Three.

0:46:330:46:37

"The glacier is everywhere beneath the stones.

0:46:400:46:43

"My boots were frozen hard on my feet.

0:46:460:46:49

"I was a good deal depressed by the situation.

0:46:490:46:52

"I love you always, dear one."

0:46:540:46:57

-Shall we try it on?

-Yeah, I'm pretty keen to...

0:47:010:47:04

see how this stuff works.

0:47:040:47:06

Check this out.

0:47:060:47:08

Can you imagine climbing up with these things? They're something else.

0:47:110:47:15

So, I've got every layer on here.

0:47:170:47:19

Mallory and Irvine had seven layers on when they went for the summit in '24.

0:47:190:47:23

But the big difference is here, in the footwear.

0:47:230:47:27

I tell you, the rest of this outfit seems pretty good, eh?

0:47:270:47:31

But compared to the boots that we wear these days, these things look decidedly, you know, inappropriate.

0:47:310:47:37

Wearing hobnailed boots and Gabardine jackets, Conrad and Leo venture on to the mountain.

0:47:430:47:49

We were right near the spot where

0:47:510:47:55

seven of Mallory's porters lost their lives in the avalanche.

0:47:550:47:58

But, as in 1924, we were just bound together by a thin cotton rope.

0:47:580:48:06

Using Mallory's technique, Conrad cuts steps into the steep ice slope.

0:48:130:48:18

This is real mountain terrain. I mean, if you lose your footing,

0:48:220:48:26

you'll fall down 1,000 feet to the base of it,

0:48:260:48:28

and we need to start being careful now. There's crevasses.

0:48:280:48:30

There's a danger of avalanche.

0:48:300:48:33

When you stand on the edge of a crevasse,

0:48:340:48:37

you just see this slot disappearing down into the glacier.

0:48:370:48:40

Hundreds of feet deep. But the dangerous ones are the ones that you can't see.

0:48:400:48:44

You can be walking across a snow bridge just a few feet thick and fall through it to certain death.

0:48:440:48:50

Yikes, she's deep, isn't she?

0:48:500:48:52

Yeah.

0:48:520:48:54

I'm right at the bridge!

0:48:580:49:00

Ten feet of rope.

0:49:000:49:02

Be careful, my friend.

0:49:020:49:04

It's phenomenal that they were able to get to 28,000 feet

0:49:190:49:23

in what I would basically call

0:49:230:49:28

clothing you'd walk through the forest.

0:49:280:49:30

Good job, Leo.

0:49:340:49:36

No, good job, Conrad.

0:49:360:49:38

Oy!

0:49:400:49:42

Oh, I'm knackered.

0:49:420:49:43

In 1924, Mallory's team were pinned down by weather so severe,

0:49:490:49:54

Sandy Irvine feared for his life.

0:49:540:49:58

May 10th.

0:49:580:50:00

Had a terrible night with wind and snow.

0:50:000:50:03

I don't know how the tent stood it.

0:50:030:50:06

Very little sleep and about two inches of snow over everything in the tent.

0:50:060:50:13

Awful headache this morning.

0:50:130:50:15

Irvine was suffering from altitude sickness.

0:50:170:50:20

His role as Mallory's climbing partner was now in doubt.

0:50:200:50:24

The harsh conditions forced the entire team back down to Base Camp.

0:50:250:50:30

When they arrived there, they found that two of the staff were dead.

0:50:320:50:37

Instead of preparing for a summit bid, they were burying people in Base Camp.

0:50:370:50:42

It must have been quite strange for Irvine to come to terms with that.

0:50:420:50:46

One of our NCOs suddenly got paralysis,

0:50:470:50:51

probably due to a clot on the brain from frostbitten fingers.

0:50:510:50:55

The poor fellow died within half a mile of Base Camp.

0:50:570:51:00

Meanwhile, Mallory plans another dangerous summit bid.

0:51:020:51:07

But he allowed no sign of the team's suffering to show in a letter to his eldest daughter, Clare.

0:51:090:51:14

"My darling, there is not so much wind today, so it is nice and warm.

0:51:170:51:22

"Now, tea has come and for the first time since I don't know when - cake.

0:51:230:51:28

"Shall we have a little tea party together,

0:51:300:51:31

"one day in August, with a flat, warm, squidgy cake and nothing else?

0:51:310:51:36

"Haven't you got a greedy daddy?!"

0:51:380:51:40

It was already mid-May,

0:51:460:51:49

and soon, the snows would come.

0:51:490:51:51

The monsoon arrives early June every year.

0:51:520:51:55

It releases a tremendous amount of snow.

0:51:550:51:58

Climbing is impossible.

0:51:580:52:01

We had the same challenge as Mallory in 1924. We were there

0:52:170:52:22

late in the season. If we didn't get up the mountain

0:52:220:52:25

before the monsoon hit, we'd be in very serious trouble.

0:52:250:52:29

Over 22,000 feet up, Conrad and Leo start the ascent of Everest itself.

0:52:360:52:43

They are on one of the most treacherous parts of the mountain -

0:52:470:52:51

the giant wall of ice and snow that leads up to the North Col -

0:52:510:52:55

the launch-pad to the summit.

0:52:550:52:58

Despite all the modern equipment, the altitude hits Leo hard.

0:53:250:53:31

You know, this is the first time I've ever been to this altitude and you just move so desperately slowly,

0:53:310:53:37

it's unreal. You just can't believe... You take two steps and you're completely out of breath

0:53:370:53:41

and I'm sure it's only going to get worse as we get up.

0:53:410:53:44

With hobnail boots and no guide-ropes, Mallory led the assault on the North Col,

0:54:000:54:06

cutting steps into what he called "its great battlements of ice."

0:54:060:54:11

The North Col was a triumph.

0:54:130:54:15

I enjoyed the conquest of the ice wall and making the steps.

0:54:150:54:19

Afterwards, I was practically bust to the world.

0:54:190:54:24

Looking back down the valley,

0:54:250:54:27

he was already higher than the greatest peaks in Europe or America.

0:54:270:54:33

But the summit was still 6,000 feet above.

0:54:330:54:36

Here on the Col, Mallory set up his bridgehead to Everest, Camp Four.

0:54:460:54:53

He planned higher camps further up the mountain.

0:54:530:54:57

These would take him within striking distance of the summit.

0:54:570:55:01

Mallory had a cough that wouldn't go away.

0:55:010:55:06

Irvine was suffering from diarrhoea,

0:55:060:55:09

the cold never left them.

0:55:090:55:12

COUGHING

0:55:120:55:15

My dearest Ruth, I couldn't sleep -

0:55:160:55:20

distressed with bursts of coughing fit to tear one's guts.

0:55:200:55:24

Fierce squalls visited our tents and shook them with

0:55:240:55:28

the disagreeable threat of tearing them away from their moorings.

0:55:280:55:32

There was never a more determined and bitter enemy.

0:55:320:55:35

23,000 feet up, Conrad and Leo test out Mallory's gear one last time.

0:55:400:55:47

Suddenly, temperatures plummet to 20 below freezing.

0:55:470:55:51

They're in severe danger of frostbite.

0:55:510:55:54

-Thank you.

-No problem.

-Oh!

0:56:040:56:07

Oh, man, I can't imagine going to 8,500 metres in these boots.

0:56:140:56:18

Which is my theory - that if those guys were moving,

0:56:210:56:24

they were OK. But once they stopped moving,

0:56:240:56:29

the clock was ticking and it was a different game altogether.

0:56:290:56:32

Oh!

0:56:320:56:34

My toes are freezing. Agh!

0:56:370:56:43

In '22,

0:56:440:56:46

Mallory frostbit one of his fingers

0:56:460:56:49

and he commented that it was bad, but not that bad,

0:56:490:56:53

and then sort of in a little note aside, he said,

0:56:530:56:56

"I wouldn't mind if I lost a finger for this summit."

0:56:560:57:02

And, If I was in his shoes, I probably would have thought the same thing,

0:57:020:57:07

because it was the Golden Age of Exploration.

0:57:070:57:11

Ah, come on my little beauties.

0:57:160:57:18

Agh!

0:57:200:57:22

Bad weather blocks Conrad's path and the monsoon snows are imminent.

0:57:290:57:34

He and Leo risk being trapped high on Everest, beyond rescue.

0:57:340:57:40

It was a stressful moment.

0:57:400:57:44

What are we doing? We're climbing into the second week of June, the monsoon's on our ass.

0:57:440:57:50

I get on the phone to Jennifer and I say to her,

0:57:500:57:53

"It's not worth what I'm putting you and the family through, and I'm ready to come home."

0:57:530:57:58

The window was closing. I knew the monsoon was coming.

0:58:000:58:03

I was looking at the satellite imagery of the weather.

0:58:030:58:06

I said, "Conrad, you know what, I'm looking at the computer screen

0:58:060:58:09

"and I'm seeing a giant wall of weather and it's the monsoon."

0:58:090:58:15

And I said, "Conrad, you need to be confident that you can make it.

0:58:150:58:20

"But if you have a chance to climb the Second Step, I want you to go for it."

0:58:200:58:26

"My dear one, what is happening to you?

0:58:300:58:35

"I wonder so much.

0:58:350:58:37

"Are you happy and are you well?

0:58:370:58:39

"All the immortal love my soul has is with you."

0:58:410:58:45

Early in June 1924, two of Mallory's team, Norton and Somervell,

0:58:480:58:54

pushed on up the mountain

0:58:540:58:56

but Everest forced them back.

0:58:570:59:00

Snow blind, Norton had to be carried down.

0:59:000:59:03

Somervell almost choked to death before coughing up part of his frostbitten larynx.

0:59:030:59:09

Clearly, it was time to go home.

0:59:120:59:14

They were weak with exhaustion.

0:59:140:59:18

The monsoon was due.

0:59:180:59:21

But Mallory refused to give in.

0:59:210:59:24

My dear girl,

0:59:250:59:27

this has been a bad time altogether.

0:59:270:59:29

Perhaps it's mere folly to go up again.

0:59:310:59:35

But how can I be out of the hunt?

0:59:350:59:37

Six days to the top from this camp!

0:59:390:59:41

It's 50:1 against, but we'll have a whack yet

0:59:430:59:47

and do ourselves proud.

0:59:470:59:49

Great love to you, ever your loving George.

0:59:490:59:52

The big question is why George Mallory thought it was worth one more shot.

1:00:091:00:13

I think the way to reconcile the overriding conflict in his life,

1:00:131:00:17

was actually to climb the mountain and be done with it and go home to Ruth and say,

1:00:171:00:21

"I've done it, it's over, now we can get on with the rest of our lives."

1:00:211:00:25

He knew that this was it.

1:00:251:00:29

He couldn't come back again later if he didn't get to the top.

1:00:291:00:35

It would be impossible to put Ruth through that again.

1:00:351:00:39

I must tell you, dearest one, I feel full of energy and strength.

1:00:411:00:45

My plan will be to carry as little as possible, go fast and rush the summit.

1:00:481:00:53

Mallory now needed oxygen and Irvine more than ever.

1:01:031:01:07

He wanted his partner, now over the worst of his altitude sickness,

1:01:091:01:13

to apply his technical skills to the final assault.

1:01:131:01:17

Irvine has been brilliantly skilful about the oxygen.

1:01:191:01:22

He has practically invented a new instrument.

1:01:221:01:25

5th June.

1:01:281:01:30

It will be a great triumph if my impromptu apparatus gets us to the top.

1:01:301:01:37

It has been very trying for everyone

1:01:371:01:39

with terribly strong reflection off the snow.

1:01:391:01:43

Have prepared two oxygen apparatus for our start tomorrow morning.

1:01:431:01:48

These are the last words written by Sandy Irvine.

1:01:511:01:55

He would have gone wherever Mallory would have wanted him to go

1:01:571:02:01

and I'm quite sure that he had every intention of coming back

1:02:011:02:04

from the mountain with both feet, both legs, both arms intact.

1:02:041:02:08

I don't think he even entertained,

1:02:081:02:10

truly entertained, the idea that he would die.

1:02:101:02:13

I think he believed that he was indestructible.

1:02:131:02:15

Early on June 6th, support-climber Noel Odell

1:02:181:02:23

photographed Mallory and Irvine as they set out from the North Col.

1:02:231:02:27

Who could hold back, when such a victory,

1:02:321:02:34

such a triumph of human endeavour was within their grasp?

1:02:341:02:38

One must conquer, achieve, get to the top

1:02:431:02:48

to know there's no dream that mustn't be dared.

1:02:481:02:52

There's nothing on top of Mount Everest. There's not a pot of gold.

1:03:011:03:06

Why are we doing this?

1:03:061:03:08

You want the glory.

1:03:101:03:12

You want that feeling of standing on top of the world.

1:03:121:03:16

Gambling on beating the monsoon, Conrad makes his choice -

1:03:191:03:23

to follow Mallory up to the Second Step.

1:03:231:03:26

We're starting our summit bid and it's 10th June.

1:03:281:03:33

I think 5th June is the latest anyone's ever climbed pre-monsoon.

1:03:331:03:38

The clouds in the background are an indication the monsoon rolling in

1:03:381:03:42

so we're going to play it by ear, one day at a time, but...

1:03:421:03:46

..this is our window.

1:03:471:03:49

WIND HOWLS

1:03:591:04:02

It's just ridiculously tiring, like it

1:04:141:04:17

feels like someone's taking the Michael, you like one step, and

1:04:171:04:21

your head's on your hands.

1:04:211:04:23

That is unreal, isn't it?

1:04:491:04:52

It's like an out of body experience.

1:04:521:04:55

On June 7th, cameraman John Noel

1:05:061:05:08

filmed the last images of Mallory and Irvine.

1:05:081:05:12

They were two miles above him with their porters,

1:05:161:05:21

climbing into the death zone,

1:05:211:05:23

where the lack of oxygen makes it impossible to function for long.

1:05:231:05:27

In the death zone, above 26,000 feet,

1:05:291:05:33

the body enters into what is known as necrosis.

1:05:331:05:37

One is dying.

1:05:391:05:40

Humans weren't meant to survive at this altitude

1:05:441:05:47

and you're on borrowed time.

1:05:471:05:49

As they enter the death zone, Conrad and Leo use oxygen,

1:05:541:05:58

like Mallory and Irvine before them.

1:05:581:06:00

I was just thinking, "Oh, the death zone, this place isn't that bad."

1:06:111:06:15

All of a sudden, the first of the dead bodies

1:06:151:06:18

that we encountered appeared right by the path.

1:06:181:06:22

And it was a real, I mean, when else do you walk past a dead body,

1:06:241:06:27

you know, unless you're in a war zone?

1:06:271:06:29

You're never going to witness anything quite like that.

1:06:291:06:32

It's such an extreme environment up there that no-one can

1:06:321:06:35

do anything about it, they can't bring them down.

1:06:351:06:37

High in the death zone, some 2,000 feet below the summit,

1:06:441:06:48

Mallory and Irvine pitched their last camp.

1:06:481:06:51

Here Mallory wrote to cameraman John Noel,

1:06:541:06:57

who was waiting further down to film the moment of triumph.

1:06:571:07:00

Dear Noel, we'll probably start early tomorrow to have clear weather.

1:07:021:07:07

Start looking out for us either crossing the rock band

1:07:071:07:10

under the pyramid or going up the skyline at 8pm.

1:07:101:07:15

Clearly he meant to say 8am.

1:07:171:07:19

He was tired.

1:07:231:07:25

He had been on expedition for three months and now

1:07:251:07:28

over three days in the death zone.

1:07:281:07:30

Just advance your headlight.

1:07:381:07:40

We knew the monsoon was imminent.

1:07:501:07:52

We only had a 12-hour window.

1:07:521:07:54

We had to strike while the iron was hot.

1:07:561:07:59

You're so nervous that I woke up before the alarm

1:08:001:08:03

and turned our headlamps on. Got all the layering systems set up.

1:08:031:08:08

When you step out of the tent it was a bit like a starting gate,

1:08:081:08:11

I was ready to go.

1:08:111:08:13

Leo was so excited.

1:08:131:08:15

He had that boost of summit energy.

1:08:151:08:17

It's probably similar to what Mallory and Irvine had

1:08:171:08:20

on their summit day when they were there, within striking distance of the first ascent of Everest.

1:08:201:08:26

Imagine the morning of June 8th 1924.

1:08:421:08:46

They're cold, they've had a restless night of sleep.

1:08:481:08:51

Compound this with lack of appetite,

1:08:541:08:58

severe dehydration.

1:08:581:09:01

Their bodies are wasted.

1:09:011:09:03

Their mental faculties are compromised.

1:09:031:09:06

Simple things become monumental chores.

1:09:061:09:10

28,000 feet is at the limit of what is humanly possible.

1:09:251:09:29

Even with supplemental oxygen it's very, very desperate.

1:09:291:09:34

And above them is a route that no-one has ever been on.

1:09:351:09:38

And when you're the first, overcoming this sense of the unknown is one of the greatest challenges.

1:09:381:09:44

Think about it.

1:09:541:09:55

The anxiety, fear, trepidation, combined with the exhilaration.

1:09:551:10:02

All those things

1:10:021:10:04

stirring around

1:10:041:10:07

and held fast

1:10:071:10:09

by pain and suffering.

1:10:091:10:11

Mallory and Irvine climbed the North Face,

1:10:201:10:24

up towards the summit ridge where the Second Step blocked their path.

1:10:241:10:28

We got to the ridge just on schedule, right after dawn.

1:10:321:10:36

Absolutely wonderful.

1:10:411:10:43

At 12:50 on June 8th 1924, support climber Noel Odell

1:11:141:11:20

sighted Mallory and Irvine through a gap in the clouds.

1:11:201:11:24

My eyes became fixed on a tiny black dot

1:11:261:11:31

a short distance from the base of the final pyramid.

1:11:311:11:35

Another moved up to join it.

1:11:351:11:37

They were moving expeditiously as if to make up for lost time.

1:11:371:11:41

Then the whole fascinating vision vanished,

1:11:431:11:46

enveloped in cloud.

1:11:481:11:50

Mallory and Irvine were missing.

1:11:551:11:58

No trace can be found.

1:12:001:12:03

Awaiting orders.

1:12:031:12:04

Instead of capturing their victorious ascent,

1:12:061:12:10

cameraman John Noel had to film the search for them.

1:12:101:12:14

Days later,

1:12:171:12:19

blankets laid out as a cross in the snow

1:12:191:12:23

signalled the devastating news.

1:12:231:12:26

Mallory and Irvine were lost, presumed dead.

1:12:261:12:31

Mrs Mallory.

1:12:451:12:47

Herschel House, Cambridge.

1:12:471:12:49

Committee deeply regret receive bad news.

1:12:501:12:55

Everest expedition today.

1:12:551:12:57

Your husband killed.

1:12:591:13:00

Last climb.

1:13:001:13:02

Committee offer you and family heartfelt sympathy.

1:13:021:13:06

Ruth received the news one evening.

1:13:101:13:13

She decided not to tell her children that night

1:13:131:13:17

cos they'd already gone to bed. She actually went to bed herself,

1:13:171:13:21

slept with the terrible knowledge and then, in morning, woke them up,

1:13:211:13:25

took them into her bed, and told them this terrible news.

1:13:251:13:28

George's spirit was ready for another life,

1:13:281:13:33

and his way of going to it was very beautiful.

1:13:331:13:36

I know so absolutely he could not have failed in courage or self-sacrifice.

1:13:381:13:44

If only it hadn't happened.

1:13:451:13:48

It so easily might not have.

1:13:481:13:50

The golden age of exploration had ended in tragedy.

1:13:541:13:59

The fallen hero was mourned by king and country.

1:14:011:14:06

It must have been an extraordinary day,

1:14:081:14:11

the bells ringing out around Britain in mourning

1:14:111:14:15

and then a memorial service in St Paul's,

1:14:151:14:19

the mourners packing the pews and speeches given in Mallory's honour.

1:14:191:14:24

Mallory, the man, soon became Mallory the legend.

1:14:291:14:33

Many people were convinced he had reached the top of Everest.

1:14:351:14:39

But to summit, he would first have had to free climb the Second Step.

1:14:411:14:46

On June 14th, our expedition reached the Second Step.

1:14:481:14:53

This formidable rock face that stood between Mallory and the summit.

1:14:531:14:59

The Sherpas cleared the fixed-ropes and hauled the ladder away -

1:15:021:15:06

restoring the Second Step to what it was like in 1924.

1:15:061:15:09

Goal is today, pull the ladders up

1:15:141:15:17

and...

1:15:171:15:19

climb it

1:15:191:15:21

"free" - that is without the assistance of the Chinese ladder.

1:15:211:15:25

This whole time on the expedition I knew it was going to come down to

1:15:511:15:55

this half hour on a cliff band at 28,300 ft.

1:15:551:16:00

Could I do it in the form

1:16:001:16:03

that Mallory and Irvine would have encountered it,

1:16:031:16:05

free of any ladder, free of any rope, free of any indication of man?

1:16:051:16:10

You have the whole North Face of Mount Everest,

1:16:121:16:14

all the way down to the central Rongbuk glacier below you.

1:16:141:16:17

7,000, 8,000 feet of exposure.

1:16:191:16:22

God, what am I doing?!

1:16:221:16:24

Just like Mallory and Irvine, Leo and I were tied together.

1:16:371:16:41

It's the brotherhood of the rope.

1:16:441:16:45

Imagine this,

1:17:001:17:02

June 8th 1924.

1:17:021:17:08

Come on, you've got it!

1:17:391:17:40

Whoa!

1:17:431:17:45

You OK?

1:17:551:17:56

Yeah. Man!

1:17:561:17:59

What happened?

1:17:591:18:01

Bad step.

1:18:021:18:03

Had I not caught myself,

1:18:061:18:08

there's a good chance I could have fallen over the edge, pulled Leo

1:18:081:18:12

from the mountain, and fallen 7,000 feet to the central Rongbuk glacier.

1:18:121:18:17

I think it shook him up somewhat and he ended up spending quite a long time

1:18:191:18:23

'Figuring out what to do next, recomposing himself,

1:18:231:18:26

'I mean, I'd say, at least 20 minutes.'

1:18:261:18:29

Want to stand on my shoulders?

1:18:291:18:31

I'm going to give it another go.

1:18:321:18:34

My job was to

1:18:381:18:40

climb the Second Step.

1:18:401:18:43

I knew that I had to try it from a different angle.

1:18:431:18:46

OK. Nice step.

1:20:001:20:03

I think I got it, Leo. I think I got it.

1:20:311:20:34

Oooaawwwww!

1:20:401:20:42

After eight years of keeping me awake at night

1:21:131:21:17

and being the 90 feet of climbing that I had to get done,

1:21:171:21:22

I got the Second Step.

1:21:231:21:25

I can't breathe.

1:21:361:21:37

I realised that my toes had gone completely numb.

1:21:411:21:44

My biggest fear through this whole experience

1:21:441:21:47

has been getting frostbite in my toes.

1:21:471:21:51

I was just concerned about getting to the top of the Second Step

1:21:511:21:54

as quickly as I possibly could.

1:21:541:21:56

I thought about Mallory.

1:22:031:22:07

Our ascent of the Second Step

1:22:071:22:09

opens up the possibility that they could have pulled it off.

1:22:091:22:13

Earlier, I was under the impression that the Second Step

1:22:171:22:20

was an impossibility for climbers of that time.

1:22:201:22:23

Now I'm changed on that.

1:22:231:22:26

They definitely were capable of doing it.

1:22:261:22:29

The Second Step is not too much of an obstacle for them to overcome.

1:22:311:22:37

They were determined

1:23:001:23:02

and, if they were strong and they were moving quickly,

1:23:021:23:06

there's a chance they made it to the top.

1:23:061:23:10

Dear one, I will be thinking of you as you set off for the summit.

1:23:121:23:17

I know you can achieve your wildest dream.

1:23:181:23:21

If we get within 200 yards or so of the top of Everest, we shall go.

1:23:401:23:46

And if it's a one way ticket, so be it.

1:23:491:23:53

Eight years after I found the body of George Mallory

1:24:431:24:47

the circle is complete.

1:24:471:24:49

A few hours before the monsoon closed in,

1:24:551:24:58

Leo and I summited Mount Everest.

1:24:581:25:01

And we have shown that these could have been

1:25:051:25:08

Mallory and Irvine's final footsteps.

1:25:081:25:13

Is this the summit crowning the day?

1:25:231:25:26

How cool and how quiet.

1:25:281:25:31

Have we vanquished an enemy?

1:25:331:25:36

None but ourselves?

1:25:391:25:41

# Every day I look beyond the endless sky

1:26:081:26:12

# And see you smile

1:26:121:26:15

# Every night I dream that you are by my side

1:26:151:26:20

# In a thousand frozen moments I have stared into your eyes

1:26:221:26:29

# Brought you with me, all these miles I have climbed

1:26:291:26:35

# I brought you with me

1:26:351:26:38

# On the edge of heaven

1:26:441:26:47

# I will wait for you

1:26:471:26:52

# On the edge of heaven

1:26:521:26:55

# Find me there

1:26:551:26:59

# On the edge of heaven Stand with me, my dear

1:26:591:27:07

# And you will feel the end of time

1:27:081:27:13

# And you will feel the end

1:27:151:27:18

# Oh, feel. #

1:27:181:27:22

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

1:27:481:27:51

E-mail [email protected]

1:27:511:27:54

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS