0:00:02 > 0:00:05'The situation up here as far as we know it,
0:00:05 > 0:00:09'two have fallen, one of them fell about 1,000 metres
0:00:09 > 0:00:13'and did not get up and is believed to be dead. Over.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17'We originally had reports that two people fell 1,000 metres...
0:00:17 > 0:00:20- 'can you confirm, over? - 'Not sure, there could be.'
0:00:20 > 0:00:24'But we simply don't know at the moment, over.'
0:00:24 > 0:00:27In the most hostile environment on earth,
0:00:27 > 0:00:318,500 metres above sea level, a team of climbers are
0:00:31 > 0:00:35about to embark on the final push to the top of the world.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41Going to extreme altitude is like being a hundred years old.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44You are breathless all the time - even at rest.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47But this is no ordinary climbing team.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55Oxygen saturation is 62 percent figure six-two, over.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00They are doctors and they are here to rewrite our understanding of the human body.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06Experimenting on themselves as they attempt to climb to the summit.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11This is really pushing the boundaries of what is possible.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15This team will turn Everest into the highest laboratory on Earth.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Why do it?
0:01:19 > 0:01:27My answer to that would be to be part of one of the most exciting scientific experiments
0:01:27 > 0:01:31that's existed in the last 20 or 30 years.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38But nothing can prepare them for the life and death decisions they'll face.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42In the last half-hour I've seen a complete disregard for human life.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47With respect to your doctor... he will die.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52The guys on the mountain who are continuing to go up in bad shape,
0:01:52 > 0:01:56I wouldn't give them a cat's chance of living.
0:01:56 > 0:02:01This is the story of an expedition unlike any Everest has seen before,
0:02:01 > 0:02:08the story of a team of men and women willing to risk everything in the pursuit of knowledge.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15I'm here to do a job and I want to get it done and go home.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20I'm looking forward to getting home.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23This is the story of Doctors in the Death Zone.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25'Mike, this is Denny, over.'
0:02:27 > 0:02:30'Mike, this is Denny, do you copy, over?'
0:02:47 > 0:02:50It's the 24th of March, 2007.
0:02:50 > 0:02:55A group of 60 doctors and scientists are flying to the Himalayas.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01They're here to climb the world's highest mountain,
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Mount Everest.
0:03:06 > 0:03:13Lukla airport in northern Nepal is perched on a cliff 2,800m above sea level,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17it is as far as mechanical transport can take them.
0:03:22 > 0:03:27250 people will pass through this airport over the next three months.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31They will form the Caudwell Xtreme Everest Expedition -
0:03:31 > 0:03:35the largest research team ever to come to the Himalayas.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39I don't like that at all.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41- Not at all.- I absolutely love it.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47But from here it is a two-week trek to base camp.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Doctors Roger McMorrow and Nigel Hart have been climbing together
0:03:57 > 0:04:04for 12 years but coming to Everest will fulfil a lifelong dream.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07Everest is the undisputed highest mountain in the world.
0:04:07 > 0:04:13It is probably the first mountain that I ever knew the name of. As a boy you hear stories about Everest
0:04:13 > 0:04:17and climbing Everest and the adventures people have here.
0:04:17 > 0:04:22It goes back to the first time you get into mountaineering.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26The beauty of it, the isolation of it and also the physical challenge.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30I can't say that I ever ever ever thought that
0:04:30 > 0:04:32I could be contemplating trying to get to its summit.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42But Everest is a killer.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45For every 15 people that summit, one dies trying.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55They are remembered in a memorial three days from base camp.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00I've been to Everest twice before and on my first trip I ended up burying somebody up there.
0:05:02 > 0:05:08Sundeep Dhillon is a military doctor and the only member of the team to have climbed on Everest before.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12I think of all the people in the summit party I am probably
0:05:12 > 0:05:16the most scared and wary of the challenges we're about to face.
0:05:18 > 0:05:2314 of the world's highest mountains are in the Himalayas.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28But the biggest challenge climbing them is nothing to do with technical ability.
0:05:28 > 0:05:35Climbing high up on the mountain when there is so little oxygen is almost a dream-like state.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39You feel like you're drunk, you feel sort of soporific.
0:05:39 > 0:05:47Every footstep is an effort of will and physically pushing the body.
0:05:47 > 0:05:55It's not uncommon to have to take 15...huge breaths like that
0:05:55 > 0:06:01between each pace and despite that you just want to collapse down into the snow.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08These doctors haven't come just to climb Everest...
0:06:09 > 0:06:12..they're here to make a discovery.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14They are hoping
0:06:14 > 0:06:18to find something that will transform lives back home.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31Many of the team are intensive care specialists
0:06:31 > 0:06:36and they are risking their lives to save patients like this.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42One in seven of us will be treated in intensive care...
0:06:43 > 0:06:46..after a major accident,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48traumatic surgery
0:06:48 > 0:06:52or during an extreme illness.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55But for intensive care consultant, Mike Grocott,
0:06:55 > 0:06:59the fight to save a life almost always boils down to one thing.
0:07:02 > 0:07:09What kills his patients is a lack of oxygen in their blood, or what doctors call hypoxia.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15All the people that we see that are sick have hypoxia, in some form or another.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18So they have low oxygen levels either because their heart
0:07:18 > 0:07:22heart isn't working so well, isn't pumping the blood around the body,
0:07:22 > 0:07:26their lungs aren't working so well that the oxygen isn't getting into the body.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28And we see this all the time.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31It's hard to think of a sick patient
0:07:31 > 0:07:34who doesn't have problems with hypoxia.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37And yet it's extraordinarily difficult to study them.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42In intensive care survival often appears random,
0:07:44 > 0:07:50some patients can endure extreme levels of hypoxia whilst others simply die.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53It is a mystery that Mike Grocott and his team believe can only be
0:07:53 > 0:08:00answered by putting their own bodies into an identical situation.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09On Everest these doctors will become the guinea pigs.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14They want to see how their bodies adapt to the lack of oxygen at extreme altitude.
0:08:19 > 0:08:25We're taking a number of healthy, almost identical individuals
0:08:25 > 0:08:29and then we are making them critically hypoxic for about three months.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33How can they do it,
0:08:33 > 0:08:38when our patients are dying with the same levels of oxygen in intensive care?
0:08:38 > 0:08:41The further up the mountain they go,
0:08:41 > 0:08:45the less oxygen they will have to breathe
0:08:45 > 0:08:49and the closer they will push their bodies into intensive care.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54It may be the things that predict how people do at high altitude will
0:08:54 > 0:08:58be the same things that predict whether they'd survive a critical illness.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Just doing the research, without trying to climb
0:09:02 > 0:09:06the highest mountain in the world, is a challenge in itself.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09I'll be happy when we come back all in one piece.
0:09:11 > 0:09:18If they can reach the summit they will have less oxygen in their blood than people who are critically ill.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21A level of oxygen so low
0:09:21 > 0:09:23they should be dead.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29You see people breathe more, cardiac output, so the amount the heart pumps increases
0:09:29 > 0:09:32so there's more oxygen pumped round the body
0:09:32 > 0:09:36so the number of very small blood vessels increase as well.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38So many people have died trying to get up to the summit.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42The nervousness of impending disaster, it might not turn out OK.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44You're gasping, as if someone's strangling you.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53You go first, Mike.
0:09:53 > 0:09:54Just go forwards.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56Place it on there, then I'll go.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01Right, two, three, lift.
0:10:01 > 0:10:07This expedition started life five years ago and 4,500 miles away from Everest.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13we had this idea of doing a research expedition to Everest.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16About four years ago, we realised that really we either should
0:10:16 > 0:10:20shut up and stop talking about it or get on and do it.
0:10:20 > 0:10:26It was something that for at least a year and a half that we discussed in the pub over a pint
0:10:26 > 0:10:29and weren't sure that it was translatable into reality.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31I think that's, that's it.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35We spent a lot of time sitting outside Parisian street cafes
0:10:35 > 0:10:40discussing what we might do, and we started putting together
0:10:40 > 0:10:42a group of people who were likely to be involved.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44Me as the expedition leader...
0:10:44 > 0:10:49and we kind of gathered the team as we went along.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52They're all very experienced high altitude mountaineers.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57This is a historical record of my least fit moment.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02Mike's wife Dr Denny Levitt is one of the project's research leaders.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06She's designed many of the experiments they'll carry out on Everest.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08It'd would have been very difficult for him to have been
0:11:08 > 0:11:15involved and me not involved because it's been very much a life-consuming project for the last year or so.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19It's a challenge your husband being the boss because he's always right at work,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23so we have a system where I'm always right at home, that makes up for it!
0:11:25 > 0:11:28We're not fantastic climbers, we're not going to break any records
0:11:28 > 0:11:32for climbing, but it's by a long way the largest high altitude research project
0:11:32 > 0:11:38that's ever occurred, and I'm not sure that anything like this will be repeated for a very long time.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42OK, go!
0:11:42 > 0:11:44Right, to the end of the garden and back!
0:11:51 > 0:11:55After two weeks of walking the trek is over.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00Everest Base Camp is set on a glacier at the foot of the mountain.
0:12:00 > 0:12:06At an altitude of over 5,000m this tent city is higher than any peak in the Alps.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10- Brilliant job.- Have a look around, see what you think.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13What are you looking forward to?
0:12:13 > 0:12:15- My bed.- A cup of tea would be good.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18And then my bed.
0:12:18 > 0:12:25Now we're up near 5,000 metres, and we're starting to get that shortness of breath, the dry cough.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29And so, the sense of what's ahead really is starting to build.
0:12:29 > 0:12:35It's amazing to think really that at 5,000 metres we're just halfway up, and we're already finding it hard,
0:12:35 > 0:12:41walking, and starting to think "Oh, my goodness, this is a very big mountain."
0:12:41 > 0:12:43We've a long way to go.
0:12:45 > 0:12:52Base Camp is so high there is 50 percent less oxygen than at sea level.
0:12:52 > 0:12:58And this makes it a perfect natural laboratory to study the effects of hypoxia
0:12:58 > 0:13:00or low oxygen.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05We're here with a goal that we believe in
0:13:05 > 0:13:10and that we think is valuable and at the same time have the opportunity to
0:13:10 > 0:13:15live in this environment and potentially to climb to the summit and that is a unique opportunity.
0:13:15 > 0:13:20I'm most looking forward to getting back to base camp, with everybody else absolutely fine,
0:13:20 > 0:13:22and knowing that we've done what we came to achieve
0:13:22 > 0:13:24without causing any harm to anyone.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30Our priorities are very clear in terms of safety first, and then the science and then the summit.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37It's amazing. It'll be a great place to live.
0:13:38 > 0:13:43Over the next few months 213 people will be studied here
0:13:43 > 0:13:47on this constantly moving world of ice and rock.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56These tents house hundreds of thousands of pounds of advanced research equipment.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00The doctors will conduct over 40 different experiments,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04looking at every aspect of how the body copes with low oxygen.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07They will measure every breath
0:14:07 > 0:14:09and every heart beat.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13The tests range from simply stepping on a box,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16to biopsies that look at individual cells.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19To look at cellular mechanism you need a bit of tissue
0:14:19 > 0:14:23and the muscle is actually relatively easy to get to.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25Easier than your brain, or heart or lungs.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29Many of the results won't be known until they can analyse them back in the UK.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34We have about 17,000 samples from the expedition as a whole.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39The combination of these tests will create the most detailed picture
0:14:39 > 0:14:42ever assembled of the human body at altitude.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45We've got a lovely picture of all the tiny red blood cells
0:14:45 > 0:14:48zooming through the small blood vessels, under his tongue.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53Some of the experiments are so invasive
0:14:53 > 0:14:56that they are only conducted on a small group of volunteers.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02The one everyone is dreading is tonometry.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06Behind me is the lab tent, and they're torturing people in there.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09So this is lignocaine jelly.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13It's a local anaesthetic jelly and it's a water-based jelly
0:15:13 > 0:15:19so it will make the tube slide easily down through the back of Nigel's nose, into his throat.
0:15:19 > 0:15:25Then he's got to swallow it down and it's got to go all the way down to sit in his stomach over there.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29It wouldn't be in my top five things I want to do on this trip or any other trip.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31But anyway, it's all for the good of science.
0:15:33 > 0:15:39Belfast GP Nigel Hart has practised this test in London, he knows how unpleasant it can be.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46I'm really not looking forward to this.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49- Are you ready for this Nigel? - Yes.
0:15:49 > 0:15:55The experiment is designed to study one of the most common complications in intensive care.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57NIGEL CHOKES
0:15:57 > 0:16:00OK, swallow, chin forward, chin on your chest...
0:16:00 > 0:16:03As the body becomes more and more hypoxic,
0:16:03 > 0:16:09it attempts to protect the vital organs from the lack of oxygen by cutting the blood supply to the gut.
0:16:09 > 0:16:17The gut is a relatively non-vital organ in the short term, so the body will draw oxygen away from that
0:16:17 > 0:16:20to perfuse vital organs like the brain, the lungs.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24This test will measure how Nigel's gut is reacting to the low levels
0:16:24 > 0:16:26of oxygen on Everest.
0:16:26 > 0:16:31This goes into one of the arteries in Nigel's wrist.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35This sort of stuff people have to tolerate all day, every day
0:16:35 > 0:16:38in hospital. It's quite a good, er,
0:16:38 > 0:16:42learning opportunity for those of us who are on the other side.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45Not that I'd want to do it too often.
0:16:47 > 0:16:53Andre Vercueil is a liver specialist and well practised at performing this technique in intensive care.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00There you go.
0:17:00 > 0:17:06You can see that pulsing with each beat of Nigel's heart.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Ordinarily if we were doing this at sea level, the blood coming out
0:17:09 > 0:17:16of here would be a bright orange red colour, but because there's less oxygen carried by the blood
0:17:16 > 0:17:18it's this fetching blue colour.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23But Dr Dan Martin knows that the low oxygen on Everest
0:17:23 > 0:17:26is not enough to exactly mimic intensive care.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29They need to push Nigel even further.
0:17:29 > 0:17:35The other component we can simulate if you like is the increased oxygen consumption that sick patients have.
0:17:35 > 0:17:41They require a lot more oxygen to get over the disease that they're suffering from.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45And we can increase Nigel's oxygen consumption by getting him to exercise.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47So although it wouldn't be quite right
0:17:47 > 0:17:54to make him ill and study him, we can exercise him which increases the amount of oxygen demand on his body.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57So we want to find the point at which
0:17:57 > 0:18:03Nigel's gut becomes ischemic or lacks oxygen.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08In critically ill patients it may do that to such an extent that the gut may die.
0:18:12 > 0:18:17I think what you, what you sometimes forget is you're sitting here and it almost looks like
0:18:17 > 0:18:20a laboratory, then you look outside the door and there's the ice fall.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23It makes it all a bit difficult.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30The studies at base camp are just the beginning of the team's work.
0:18:30 > 0:18:3515 of the doctors are planning to take their experiments to the highest place on Earth.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40It just looks like a maze...
0:18:41 > 0:18:43..like a broken maze.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45It looks really hard.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52The first obstacle they face is the Khumbu Ice Fall.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00Everest has so much history associated with it, so many books written about it,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04and the Khumbu Ice Fall is one of the notorious obstacles,
0:19:04 > 0:19:08that anyone who wants to climb Everest from this side has to get over.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14It's basically a continuously moving river of ice
0:19:14 > 0:19:17with the ever-present risk that part of it will fall down.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20You can see those big blocks, some of them the size of houses
0:19:20 > 0:19:22and they are coming down from time to time.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28It has been impossible to ignore how unstable the mountain can be.
0:19:28 > 0:19:33If a large serac or chunk of ice decides it's time to fall down
0:19:33 > 0:19:36when one of our team is walking underneath,
0:19:36 > 0:19:42there's very little you can do about that. The only thing you can do is minimise exposure by getting
0:19:42 > 0:19:46people through as fast as possible and as few times as possible.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Behind the ice fall, and hidden behind the ridge of Nuptse,
0:19:54 > 0:20:00is the Western Cwm, this broad, relatively flat valley that goes up towards the Lhotse Face.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05As they climb to the summit the doctors will stay at Camp 2 for seven days.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10The route meanders up to Camp 3 which is about halfway up and then across to the South Col.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15Then up at the South Col we're into the area colloquially known as the Death Zone.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20Above the South Col you can see the South East Ridge
0:20:20 > 0:20:23heading up into the cloud and Everest summit.
0:20:23 > 0:20:28And that's the other main area of risk for us because of the critical lack of oxygen.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32Only at this extreme altitude, where there is one third of the oxygen
0:20:32 > 0:20:38there is at sea level, can they find the answer to the mystery that brought them to Everest.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42How does the human body survive with such low levels of oxygen?
0:20:49 > 0:20:55As they begin their ascent the ice fall poses a challenge most of the climbers have never seen before.
0:20:58 > 0:21:04The glacier is 450m deep and sliding down the mountain at over metre a day.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10It is riddled with crevasses that can open and close without warning.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26Sundeep is the climbing leader and the only person to have tackled the ladders before.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33Everest is a very dangerous place.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37If you asked me at this stage how many people would get to the top
0:21:37 > 0:21:40I'd probably say somewhere between six to eight.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44That's not really making an assessment on individuals...
0:21:44 > 0:21:46- Nice work!- Good job.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50..that's just the toll the mountain takes on people and it would be
0:21:50 > 0:21:53difficult to say who would or wouldn't be in the summit team.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58It's quite a long way, isn't it?
0:22:00 > 0:22:04If you fell here, you'd load these points here
0:22:04 > 0:22:07far more than, than is probably safe for then.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09You really, really don't want to fall here.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16LABOURED BREATHING
0:22:22 > 0:22:29- Hi, pixie.- Hi.- Three ladders is just here, it looks all right...
0:22:37 > 0:22:40It is truly stunning though, isn't it?
0:22:50 > 0:22:56Despite the danger, the ice fall is one of most extraordinary places on earth.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04A vertical kilometre of shifting ice, breaking and cracking as it flows.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11Every day in this jumbled world is unique.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26Wow, it's hot.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30It's kind of messy over to our left.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34You can see where all these blocks come tumbling down.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43This looks horrible.
0:23:49 > 0:23:50It's tough-going, isn't it?
0:24:01 > 0:24:03Woah, crazy.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09Breathe, breathe.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14To climb through the ice fall will be a gruelling experience for Mike and the team.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Let's go.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18Not a place to pause.
0:24:24 > 0:24:29What slows them down is not their fitness or strength but the lack of oxygen.
0:24:31 > 0:24:37At this altitude, the thin air is so suffocating, they can never climb fast enough to exhaust their legs.
0:24:37 > 0:24:44The body reacts by attempting to get more blood to the oxygen-starved muscles.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50The lungs breathe harder, sucking in more air.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54The blood is thicker with extra cells to carry oxygen.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57And the heart beats faster.
0:25:03 > 0:25:10But this traditional understanding of how the body copes isn't enough to explain one thing.
0:25:11 > 0:25:12Why do some people,
0:25:12 > 0:25:17no matter how fit, struggle to perform at high altitude?
0:25:18 > 0:25:21Mike was an absolute star. As you can see, he's carrying
0:25:21 > 0:25:24a lot of my gear, cos I was struggling a bit earlier on.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Particularly when we started cos it was really cold.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Ah, I don't think I'd had got up here if he hadn't helped.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34But we're here in one piece at last which is excellent news.
0:25:34 > 0:25:35I'll go and have a cup of tea.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44Mike and the team believe what causes this difference is not how much oxygen is
0:25:44 > 0:25:49pumped around the body, but how well the body uses that oxygen.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54Understanding this is the major goal of the expedition.
0:25:58 > 0:26:05Here at Camp 2 they will set up a new lab, repeating the tests they've done all the way from sea level.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10But now the conditions are much tougher.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15Here temperatures will drop to below minus-20
0:26:15 > 0:26:20and then soar in the heat of the sun to over 40 degrees.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Living here will be more like camping in a desert than on a glacier.
0:26:28 > 0:26:34And yet they are about to perform experiments that require all their skills as scientists.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Dan, you're going to feel a scratch.
0:26:41 > 0:26:47At every stage of the climb the team will be taking a blood sample straight from an artery.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55Measuring the level of oxygen in blood is a test Mike would do every day in intensive care.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58- You all right there?- Just about.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Arterial blood is the blood that is pumped out of the heart
0:27:01 > 0:27:04having been through the lungs, so is the most oxygenated.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08So it gives us a measure of how much oxygen the tissues are seeing.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14At sea level a healthy person will have 10 to 14
0:27:14 > 0:27:19units of oxygen in their blood, someone who is critically ill, around eight.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26We've just analysed Dan's arterial gas sample and it, it's just astonishingly low.
0:27:26 > 0:27:34I've never ever seen a sample, a content of oxygen in the blood as low in somebody who's still alive.
0:27:34 > 0:27:39It's, er, 4.47 partial pressure of oxygen
0:27:39 > 0:27:43in kilopascals which is a third of what it is at sea level.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46I, I've just never seen, even on somebody on an intensive care unit,
0:27:46 > 0:27:52critically ill with terrible lung damage, I've never seen a level this low, ever.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55You should be worried.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58Still alive.
0:28:14 > 0:28:21It's a beautiful morning and this is my incredibly beautiful and historic temporary home.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25Behind me here is Everest itself,
0:28:25 > 0:28:29the highest mountain in the world and as you can see, it's cloudy
0:28:29 > 0:28:32a little bit, it's windy and cold up there this morning.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35So we're certainly not going anywhere today.
0:28:35 > 0:28:36Over there is Lhotse...
0:28:36 > 0:28:40another 8,000m peak which is the fourth highest mountain in the world.
0:28:45 > 0:28:51And this tent here is, as far as we know, currently the highest laboratory in the world.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53Until we put one up there next week.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58Having established that all the team have levels of oxygen in their blood
0:28:58 > 0:29:01that mean they should be dead, their next test
0:29:01 > 0:29:05is designed to reveal why they are still alive.
0:29:09 > 0:29:16To do this they have brought an exercise bike nearly 6,500m up the mountain.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18That's perfect.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22This is the most important experiment for the Xtreme Everest team.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25It is the foundation of the whole expedition.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32You've just got to go as hard and as long as you can.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34The machine knows when you are fibbing.
0:29:34 > 0:29:39By exercising on this bike Sundeep will push his body to the very limit.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45It's a test he first performed in London three months ago.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49It's one of our key hypotheses on the whole trip is whether actually
0:29:49 > 0:29:53the way your cells use the oxygen changes when you're at altitude
0:29:53 > 0:29:56when there is not much oxygen around.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00They believe that Sundeep's muscles are using less oxygen up here
0:30:00 > 0:30:04to do the same amount of exercise he did at sea level.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06Really good, Sundeep.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09Excellent. Doing really well, drive those legs.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14What we think happens is that your cells basically tune up, a bit like a car engine.
0:30:14 > 0:30:21So you can get more miles to the buck really, you can do more work for the same amount of oxygen.
0:30:25 > 0:30:31And that would help explain why people with very low levels of oxygen in the blood
0:30:31 > 0:30:36are still able to perform amazing feats like climbing Everest.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38Denny thinks that Sundeep's cells have
0:30:38 > 0:30:43adapted over the last few months and some how become more efficient.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51They think that this happens in intensive care as well.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Some patients respond to treatment better than others
0:30:57 > 0:31:01because their cells might be more efficient at using oxygen.
0:31:01 > 0:31:06We can clearly see that some people have exactly the same number of red blood cells
0:31:06 > 0:31:09and their heartbeat is the same and their breathing is the same.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12But one performs far better than the other.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15It's a revolutionary new theory.
0:31:15 > 0:31:21If we could tune their cells into a more efficient state we may
0:31:21 > 0:31:25be able to, in the future, improve their outcome in intensive care.
0:31:25 > 0:31:29And that's why I'm here on Everest putting myself through this
0:31:29 > 0:31:33so that I can hopefully improve their outcome in the future.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38I think in our wildest dreams what we would love to see is that some people have certain genes
0:31:38 > 0:31:43that allow them to use oxygen more efficiently than others.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47So what we are really really hoping from this trip is
0:31:47 > 0:31:52that we could target treatment to poor oxygen users.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55It's quite a wild and big thing,
0:31:55 > 0:31:59but we may go some stages towards identifying those mechanisms.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04Really good, Denny. Keep pushing those legs round.
0:32:04 > 0:32:09But to get the clearest picture of what is going on in their bodies they need to take
0:32:09 > 0:32:13the exercise bike to the most extreme environment possible.
0:32:19 > 0:32:24They will set up their final lab on the South Col.
0:32:25 > 0:32:31The climbers will spend two days at 8,000m testing themselves to exhaustion.
0:32:33 > 0:32:37If these experiments prove that their cells are more efficient
0:32:37 > 0:32:41they may be able to develop a treatment that would save thousands of lives.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46To get there they must first tackle the Lhotse Face.
0:32:51 > 0:32:58This 1,000m sheer wall of ice towers above the Western Cwm.
0:32:58 > 0:33:04It takes two days to climb the nearly vertical slopes with a constant threat of avalanche.
0:33:10 > 0:33:15Yesterday we had an extraordinarily sad event.
0:33:16 > 0:33:25We were in camp doing studies but the radio traffic gradually revealed that unfortunately one of the Sherpas
0:33:25 > 0:33:28working with a different team had been hit by an ice avalanche
0:33:28 > 0:33:31and as best we understand it had been killed instantly.
0:33:31 > 0:33:37And that, that obviously upsets our Sherpas greatly and all the members of our group.
0:33:37 > 0:33:43It's just a bit shocking at how easily a life can be snuffed out
0:33:43 > 0:33:50in an environment where we're planning to walk exactly the same path in a few days' time.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55And that's what I think is playing on all our minds.
0:33:57 > 0:34:03I mean we're going on with our experiments this morning and you almost feel like saying "Oh,
0:34:03 > 0:34:06"just close the door and you know I'll not bother this morning."
0:34:09 > 0:34:13It's very difficult to justify any reason for putting yourself
0:34:13 > 0:34:19at any extra risk, when you have a wife and two small children.
0:34:19 > 0:34:24This morning's really focused our mind an awful lot on what we're doing here.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29We came here to do a job, a lot of effort's been put into it
0:34:29 > 0:34:33and, I want to do that job.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36But at the same time, keen to get home.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49The weather is changing high on Everest,
0:34:49 > 0:34:53the threat of snow will make the mountain much more unstable.
0:34:58 > 0:35:04With the science completed at Camp 2 Mike chooses to return to base camp
0:35:04 > 0:35:09rather than continuing to climb with the increased risk of avalanche.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14We came down on the advice of our Sherpas because there was
0:35:14 > 0:35:17a warning of snow, which increases the avalanche risk.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19It didn't snow, but while we were
0:35:19 > 0:35:24walking through the Western Cwm there was a big serac collapse
0:35:24 > 0:35:26which caused...
0:35:26 > 0:35:32hundreds of tonnes of ice come rushing down the slope towards us.
0:35:32 > 0:35:37Fortunately it stopped before it got to us but good thing to be down.
0:35:37 > 0:35:42Living at high altitude has proved much harder than they had expected.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47It's been a great week
0:35:47 > 0:35:51but hard work. We've got everything we wanted to do scientifically done which is brilliant.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55It's nice to be warm again and to be able to breathe again.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58Virtually everything we did has not been done before.
0:35:58 > 0:36:04A few things that have have not been done with the same degree of fidelity so we're delighted.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06The appetite affects you quite a lot.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09So you might notice we've all lost quite a lot more weight,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12I think the record is 11kgs so far.
0:36:14 > 0:36:21To climb Everest the team need to be as strong and healthy as possible, even a simple cold could stop them.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25They will wait here at base camp trying to regain their strength
0:36:25 > 0:36:29until the weather on the summit clears.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33Entertainment is thin on the ground at base camp,
0:36:35 > 0:36:40the climbers have had to find their own ways of keeping busy.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52You can control it very well at home, at sea level but here it's not so easy! Steady...
0:36:55 > 0:37:01This is the highest-flying model helicopter in the universe.
0:37:15 > 0:37:20Do you know why he's in here? To get his hard drive to work.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22We put it out here.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24The disk drive is working!
0:37:24 > 0:37:27- Is it working?- Absolutely perfect.
0:37:27 > 0:37:32Who did that? I bet that was Grocott.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35WHISTLING SOUND
0:37:43 > 0:37:46Are you ready? Let's go get them!
0:37:52 > 0:37:54The climbers have been waiting for
0:37:54 > 0:37:59the weather to clear on the summit for nearly three weeks.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03It's pretty good in that humidity is pretty well zero,
0:38:03 > 0:38:07precipitation is zero, right up to the 1st or 2nd June.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11So, that's very good. The only thing we've got is the jet stream
0:38:11 > 0:38:16and that is tracking from a north-westerly down to a south-easterly direction
0:38:16 > 0:38:19so it's getting closer and closer towards Nepal.
0:38:19 > 0:38:26Wind speed will be the thing that stops them. I don't think there'll be any snow for the next ten days
0:38:26 > 0:38:28so it's just the wind.
0:38:37 > 0:38:44It's 6am. 15 of the climbers are getting ready to leave Base Camp for the last time.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Five years of planning has brought them to this point.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55They will have one chance to climb to the summit,
0:38:55 > 0:39:00the smallest problem could mean abandoning their science for good.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07I can't find my gloves!
0:39:08 > 0:39:12Building ourselves up, it's all in the mind.
0:39:12 > 0:39:19As intensive care specialists all the doctors are aware of the dangers they face climbing at altitude.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26I think everybody's feeling pretty strong.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30It looks like we've got between seven and ten days of good weather
0:39:30 > 0:39:32without high winds.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36Looking at the top of the mountain today, it looks really calm.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41Fingers crossed that the weather holds and we can get up and get down safely.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47I'm looking forward to bringing everyone back down in a week's time.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54I'm quite excited, ready to go,
0:39:54 > 0:39:58it's a big day today and a big week ahead of us.
0:39:58 > 0:40:04I think for everyone it's a mixture of excitement and nervousness really to be honest.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06- Terrified.- Terrified.
0:40:08 > 0:40:13- Did you bring the guide book? - No, I left it in the tent.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17'Graham, this is Mac, go ahead.'
0:40:21 > 0:40:26What terrifies the climbers the most is not avalanches or frostbite...
0:40:26 > 0:40:29Six to eight hours of misery coming up!
0:40:31 > 0:40:36..it's the effects the low oxygen will have on their brains.
0:40:43 > 0:40:48Protecting the brain is Mike's top priority in intensive care.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51Without oxygen, cells die in minutes,
0:40:51 > 0:40:59leaving a patient permanently brain-damaged or even dead. When the brain suffers a major trauma,
0:40:59 > 0:41:04like in car accident, it swells and pushes against the inside of the skull.
0:41:04 > 0:41:10As the pressure builds less oxygen gets to the brain causing a spiralling effect.
0:41:10 > 0:41:15The same thing can happen on the mountain.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19The low levels of oxygen are enough to trigger the same kind
0:41:19 > 0:41:22of brain swelling. It's called High Altitude Cerebral Edema
0:41:22 > 0:41:24or HACE.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29It is the most serious effect of climbing at altitude
0:41:29 > 0:41:34and nowhere on Earth is the threat greater than on the summit of Everest.
0:41:38 > 0:41:43At nearly 30,000 feet, it's the cruising altitude of a jumbo jet.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51If a climber were to be dropped straight onto the summit
0:41:51 > 0:41:56their brain would shut down, stopping them breathing and they'd suffocate in minutes.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06To counter these effects the Xtreme Everest climbers
0:42:06 > 0:42:10have been training their bodies to cope with the low oxygen.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14Over the last six weeks they've been climbing the mountain in stages,
0:42:14 > 0:42:16with each trip they go a little higher.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23But despite this cautious assent some of the team have found climbing beyond Camp 2 difficult.
0:42:36 > 0:42:41First off my heart started going a terrible pace
0:42:41 > 0:42:44and then I just started to feel very woozy.
0:42:44 > 0:42:49Not so much woozy, but as though I was going to black out.
0:42:50 > 0:42:57And, er, I thought "Wow, the altitude kicks in quickly."
0:42:57 > 0:42:58I thought I was stuffed.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01And I was breathing really fast.
0:43:01 > 0:43:07Honestly everything was just going "Woo, black, black can't see, woo, I've gonna pass out here."
0:43:07 > 0:43:09I was thinking "Shoot!"
0:43:09 > 0:43:11YOU were thinking shoot!
0:43:11 > 0:43:14Yeah, you were thinking "Darn, I've got to go down as well."
0:43:16 > 0:43:18Nigel Hart is lucky.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21The effects of the low oxygen have turned out to be mild.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27But climbing at this extreme altitude is a game of Russian roulette.
0:43:27 > 0:43:32The most important thing for us to understand is whether he'll be walking wounded or stretcher case.
0:43:32 > 0:43:38I'd feel happier with Andre short-roping him all the way down.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41For one of the team the worst has happened.
0:43:41 > 0:43:46There should be about 30 cylinders up there, just keep on using it.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49Did you give him 8mg?
0:43:50 > 0:43:54Whilst climbing on the Lhotse Face anaesthetist Patrick Doyle has
0:43:54 > 0:43:59become confused and disorientated, these are classic symptoms of HACE.
0:44:03 > 0:44:09The bizarre thing is you know I feel 1,000 percent better and I think "Well, what's all the fuss about?"
0:44:09 > 0:44:14You think, "I'm sure I could go back up there" but it's just...
0:44:14 > 0:44:17How do you feel about not going back up?
0:44:17 > 0:44:18Er...
0:44:20 > 0:44:24a bit emotional not, not being able to do it but,
0:44:24 > 0:44:29er, I always said I'm gonna be totally sensible and, er.
0:44:29 > 0:44:34It's good to have you back down safe, Pat.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37But we're all gutted for you as well.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43I didn't think it would be me!
0:44:44 > 0:44:50Staying at Camp 2 should allow Pat to recover but he can't climb any higher.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52You look better than we could have hoped.
0:44:52 > 0:44:58After two months of preparation, his summit dreams are over.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03Pat was one of the strongest climbers and the effect
0:45:03 > 0:45:06of the altitude on him has shocked the whole team.
0:45:22 > 0:45:27He's sensible, he wouldn't have gone up if he was feeling super crook.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30- It sounds very much like HACE.- Yeah.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33It's difficult to deal with in hospital even.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36Caudwell Base Camp, this is Mike, over.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39He's in the right place with the right people.
0:45:39 > 0:45:44They all know that above 8,000m, the critically low levels of oxygen
0:45:44 > 0:45:49mean they will run the risk of suffering permanent brain damage.
0:45:49 > 0:45:54We've got at the moment an uncertain medical situation up here.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57It's Pat and he's probably got a touch of cerebral edema.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01He's hopefully going to get better pretty soon.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13I'd have thought if he's well here, he'll want to stay here.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17He's pretty sensible and wouldn't want to go back up.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21With Pat ill Mike has to reorganise the team.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25If they are to reach the summit they can't afford any more delays.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29- Then at least you two are together. - We can send the first group up
0:46:29 > 0:46:32which would only delay us by a day.
0:46:32 > 0:46:35We'll go and have a look at that weather again.
0:46:46 > 0:46:51The team has split in two. Sundeep is leading an advanced party
0:46:51 > 0:46:57to Camp 3. Mike and the main climbers will follow a day behind.
0:46:59 > 0:47:05But getting to Camp 3 means climbing the Lhotse Face.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11Doing this is a monotonous exercise.
0:47:11 > 0:47:16Hour after hour of hauling yourself up a sheer wall of ice.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19Clipping off and on ropes every few metres.
0:47:21 > 0:47:27As the oxygen drops the effects on the brain become more profound.
0:47:27 > 0:47:33Even the simplest of tasks becomes challenging.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40The history of deaths on Everest
0:47:40 > 0:47:44is littered with stories of terrible simple mistakes.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48There are people who won't do up their harnesses properly,
0:47:48 > 0:47:52there are people who when it comes to clipping in and out of a rope,
0:47:52 > 0:47:56they simply can't be bothered, the effort of leaning down, unclipping
0:47:56 > 0:47:59and clipping on to the top rope is too much for a lot of people.
0:47:59 > 0:48:04And they start to think that they'll move quicker if they don't do those things.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13The climb to Camp 3 is only 700m
0:48:13 > 0:48:16but it has taken over five hours.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24Dan, Maryam and Vijay are first to arrive.
0:48:27 > 0:48:33Chris follows behind and Sundeep comes last to make sure nobody gets left on the Lhotse Face.
0:48:33 > 0:48:40It has been a hard day and the team need rest before continuing tomorrow.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46This small cluster of tents
0:48:46 > 0:48:49is a stop-off for all the teams on Everest.
0:48:54 > 0:49:00From here the final camp before the summit is just a few hours' climb away.
0:49:09 > 0:49:14- Have you got a headache?- I had a bit of one, my first one.
0:49:14 > 0:49:20I think I'm dehydrated. We should get the stove on and get going.
0:49:27 > 0:49:33A climber from another team is struggling to make the last few metres before camp.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40He could barely move.
0:49:40 > 0:49:45All the time, he's breathing as hard and as fast as he can
0:49:45 > 0:49:49but having complete air hunger and feeling that nothing's going on.
0:49:49 > 0:49:56If you combine that with somebody who's got this single thought in his mind that if he continues
0:49:56 > 0:50:01to follow this rope he's one step nearer reaching the summit of Everest.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05Actually all he was doing was climbing closer and closer to death.
0:50:06 > 0:50:11And at that point I just thought, if we're going to be stood here, we might as well go down and help.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15Vijay, don't go down there without being clipped on.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18Just clip on and stay safe.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21'It's very treacherous ground round there and if you take a fall,
0:50:21 > 0:50:26'you're not clipped into anything and you're just going to keep on going to the bottom of the Lhotse Face.'
0:50:30 > 0:50:33He was really in bad shape when I arrived at him.
0:50:33 > 0:50:38He was completely incoherent, just making gargling noises.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40Can you take his pack, Vijay?
0:50:40 > 0:50:44'Er, I tried to give him some water but he couldn't swallow -'
0:50:44 > 0:50:47the classical signs of HACE really.
0:50:48 > 0:50:53- We'll get the oxygen down here as well.- He needs to be up here, Vijay.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59The doctors realise that this is a potentially fatal situation.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03But the sick climber's team seem reluctant to help.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06They call their own doctor at base camp for advice.
0:51:08 > 0:51:14In the last half-hour, we've seen a complete disregard for human life.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17We've seen a bunch of guys sitting in their tents
0:51:17 > 0:51:22while they watch their team member struggle like hell up those ropes.
0:51:22 > 0:51:26They just looked on, took photos, took out the video camera.
0:51:26 > 0:51:30They came to us guys to step in and drag him up. They thanked us
0:51:30 > 0:51:32for it but what were they doing?
0:51:34 > 0:51:39That's everything that is wrong with people.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05With light failing there is very little time to act.
0:52:05 > 0:52:12If the climber is to be carried down the Lhotse Face they must leave immediately.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15My name is Daniel, I'm a British doctor.
0:52:15 > 0:52:17The man here is very unwell...
0:52:17 > 0:52:22With the other team reluctant to take advice Dan calls the doctor directly
0:52:22 > 0:52:26to try and persuade him the situation is extremely serious.
0:52:26 > 0:52:28I think his life is in danger.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32If he comes to Camp 2, our doctors there may be able to look after him.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35We have a lot of doctors at Camp 2.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37VOICE CRACKLES OVER RADIO
0:52:42 > 0:52:45Yeah, we need a stretcher right away.
0:52:45 > 0:52:50We've just seen another guy who's unconscious on the ropes...
0:52:50 > 0:52:54On the ropes passing the camp another crisis is unfolding.
0:52:57 > 0:53:01A climber returning from the summit is in trouble.
0:53:07 > 0:53:13Your emotions are torn between concern for those you're trying to help,
0:53:13 > 0:53:16you're concerned about the, er the health and morale
0:53:16 > 0:53:20of your team that are now running around expending energy
0:53:20 > 0:53:24and potentially making themselves sick when they should be resting.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27But actually you realise you're fairly helpless.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33Vijay, what's the score?
0:53:37 > 0:53:39It's not our decision, we can only help.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44Vijay, they can still get this guy down.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47And that is the right treatment.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50- Vijay!- Vijay!
0:53:50 > 0:53:52They'll get him down!
0:53:52 > 0:53:55- Vijay!- Vijay!
0:53:57 > 0:54:01Dealing with two casualties will leave the team dangerously stretched.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05Vijay should come back really. Vijay!
0:54:05 > 0:54:07- Vijay!- Come back!
0:54:07 > 0:54:08Leave it!
0:54:08 > 0:54:14It's awful to say this - we have to look after ourselves rather than endanger ourselves.
0:54:14 > 0:54:15Vijay!
0:54:15 > 0:54:17I've never ever been in this position.
0:54:17 > 0:54:19We have to look after ourselves.
0:54:19 > 0:54:24We really have got ourselves into a right pickle.
0:54:25 > 0:54:33Drugs and oxygen can help, but the only guaranteed treatment is to descend to a lower altitude.
0:54:33 > 0:54:38Taking the climber down will save his life.
0:54:38 > 0:54:40Vijay, you're a good man.
0:54:40 > 0:54:45But time is running out for the other climber. His team are still making no attempt to leave.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53Sundeep radios for support.
0:54:55 > 0:55:01OK, I'll see what I can do. I doubt it'll help but we'll see.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03He wants to get everyone mobilised
0:55:03 > 0:55:07to put maximum pressure on this team to bring their climber down.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11'He's going to die and they're aware of that.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14'They've decided to keep in the area.'
0:55:14 > 0:55:19OK, I'll go into the camp and discuss it with the doctor,
0:55:22 > 0:55:27It's unclear whether they're unconcerned or don't understand
0:55:27 > 0:55:31or don't want to pay their Sherpas for an extra carrier.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34The motivation is confusing.
0:55:34 > 0:55:40I can't imagine anybody I climb with saying, "Oh, it'll be OK."
0:55:40 > 0:55:45I've spoken to the doctor in the team and the leader
0:55:45 > 0:55:50and they don't feel any great degree of urgency unfortunately.
0:55:50 > 0:55:55- It's very frustrating being down here.- It is, yes.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58You now wait and see if he lives or dies.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02If they're not going to accept any help, then...
0:56:02 > 0:56:05OK, thanks very much.
0:56:05 > 0:56:10I'll read this guy the riot act one more time.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13We are all doctors with a lot of experience
0:56:13 > 0:56:16in England in high altitude medicine.
0:56:16 > 0:56:21We believe that if he stays the night here, he has a very high chance of dying.
0:56:21 > 0:56:28Our advice to you is that you get him down immediately.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31The summit is not important, he is important.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34He should have been turned around a long time ago.
0:56:36 > 0:56:41I don't...this is my doctor down here...
0:56:43 > 0:56:47With respect to your doctor, he will die.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51Is your doctor here or down there?
0:56:51 > 0:56:55OK, well, we are doctors here who've seen your friend
0:56:55 > 0:56:59and we don't think that he will survive.
0:56:59 > 0:57:03VOICE CRACKLES OVER RADIO
0:57:09 > 0:57:16They have finally agreed to take their climber down, but it is too late.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20Night is falling and it is
0:57:20 > 0:57:23too dangerous to descend the Lhotse face.
0:57:26 > 0:57:31Dan in particular spent a lot of that evening treating this guy.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35The impression that we had was that they were prepared to allow one of their team members
0:57:35 > 0:57:43to potentially die, so that they wouldn't have to sacrifice their high position on the mountain,
0:57:43 > 0:57:45and therefore their summit attempt.
0:57:45 > 0:57:51It has been an exhausting experience and they've only just prevented a death.
0:57:51 > 0:57:53Despite being physically drained,
0:57:53 > 0:57:56early tomorrow the doctors will push on to Camp 4.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58When they get there
0:57:58 > 0:58:01they will set up the highest laboratory the world has ever seen.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04There's a lot of drama going on on the mountain.
0:58:04 > 0:58:10Over the next two days they will be tested as scientists, stretched as doctors
0:58:10 > 0:58:13and pushed beyond their limits as climbers.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16No hand orders. Not hand orders.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19We're just going to turn around and go back down
0:58:19 > 0:58:21because it's the right thing to do, you know?
0:58:21 > 0:58:25If one person is up there, close to death and nobody's rescuing them,
0:58:25 > 0:58:27there's nothing we can do.
0:58:27 > 0:58:30But nothing can prepare them for life in the Death Zone.
0:58:30 > 0:58:33- I don't like working off luck. - 'Mike, this is Denny, over?
0:58:33 > 0:58:37'Mike, this is Denny. Do you copy?'
0:59:05 > 0:59:09Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd