- 19 minutes ago
Explores the mystery surrounding British mountaineer George Mallory’s 1924 attempt to summit Mount Everest. The film interweaves Mallory’s historical narrative, told through letters read by Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson, with the modern-day efforts of climber Conrad Anker and Leo Houlding to recreate his route using period appropriate equipment.
最狂野的梦1924年, 被誉为“二十世纪最成功的登山者之一 ”的乔治·马洛里 与登山新手 安德鲁·欧文组队, 尝试从珠穆朗玛峰的北坡登顶, 最终一去不复返, 而有关两人死前是否成功登顶的争议也成为人类登山史上著名的“马欧之谜...
最狂野的梦1924年, 被誉为“二十世纪最成功的登山者之一 ”的乔治·马洛里 与登山新手 安德鲁·欧文组队, 尝试从珠穆朗玛峰的北坡登顶, 最终一去不复返, 而有关两人死前是否成功登顶的争议也成为人类登山史上著名的“马欧之谜...
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TVTranscript
00:00:03So
00:00:45Mount Everest, 29,000 feet, the highest point on Earth, captivating and deadly.
00:01:00In the 1920s, to conquer this mountain was the greatest challenge remaining in the golden
00:01:06age of adventure.
00:01:11Everest was the edge of heaven, where many believed no human could survive.
00:01:20But not George Mallory.
00:01:44Everest is the last great conquest for man.
00:01:50The wildest dream.
00:02:06George Mallory dreamed of being the first man to climb Everest.
00:02:10On June 8, 1924, dressed in gabardine and hot-nail boots, he and his fellow climber Sandy Irvin
00:02:20were last seen 800 feet below the summit.
00:02:27Then the clouds rolled in.
00:02:30They were never seen alive again.
00:02:36Many believed that almost 30 years before Everest was officially conquered, George Mallory
00:02:43was the first man to set foot on the top of the world.
00:02:46The End
00:02:47The End
00:02:48The End
00:02:49The End
00:02:50The End
00:03:10Seventy-five years after Mallory and Irvin vanished, mountaineer Conrad Anker took part
00:03:17in an expedition looking for their bodies, high on Everest.
00:03:24The End
00:03:24Conrad, come in please.
00:03:25The End
00:03:27I'm down at 26-7, over.
00:03:30The End
00:03:31Anchor struck off on his own.
00:03:33The End
00:03:34Conrad, you're way below the search zone.
00:03:36You need to be higher, over.
00:03:38I was curious.
00:03:40I stopped, turned around, and there was a patch of white.
00:03:46It wasn't snow.
00:03:48It was matte.
00:03:49A light-absorbing color, like marble.
00:04:06As I got closer, I realized this was the body of one of the pioneering English climbers,
00:04:15frozen onto the mountainside.
00:04:22For a moment, I thought, maybe I can just keep walking, and keep it to myself.
00:04:33But then, that's what we were there for.
00:04:42Group meeting. Mandatory group meeting. Uber.
00:05:10Here, wait. This is George Mallory.
00:05:13Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
00:05:17You see that? George Mallory.
00:05:20Oh, my God.
00:05:38George Mallory and I, our two paths have intersected 75 years apart.
00:05:51My aunt called me and said in a rather small voice on the phone,
00:05:58Susie, they found my father's body on Mount Everest.
00:06:03I was amazed. I was absolutely shocked. It was very powerful to know where my grandfather was and how he
00:06:16died.
00:06:19He had a compound fracture of his right leg above the ankle, fatal on Everest.
00:06:26His arms were outstretched, as if he had tried to dig his fingers into the side of the mountain.
00:06:35He was last seen up on the ridge, heading west for the summit.
00:06:40But I found him far to the east.
00:06:43So Mallory was on his way back, maybe returning from the summit itself.
00:06:58His sun goggles, vital against the glare from the snow, were in his pocket, so it must have been getting
00:07:05dark.
00:07:12He and Irvin were tied together by a thin, cotton rope.
00:07:24They were tired, absolutely beat, no energy left, the mind's not functioning clearly.
00:07:49They were tired, without saying that man could stand down and say that no matter what he isWhat he had
00:08:05to do.
00:08:11Mallory crossed his left leg over the broken one to ease the pain.
00:08:18It was a matter of minutes, a half hour at the very most, before he died.
00:08:37Did Mallory reach the summit, almost three decades, before the first official climb?
00:08:48We discovered many things on his body, documents and letters perfectly preserved 75 years later.
00:08:58His wristwatch rusted in at ten after five.
00:09:04The goggles that were inside of his vest.
00:09:08An altimeter, the face broken and the hands missing.
00:09:14But one very significant item was missing.
00:09:17The photo of his wife Ruth, which he'd promised to leave on the summit.
00:09:24Was the photo missing because Mallory had reached the summit and placed it there?
00:09:29The ultimate tribute to his love of Ruth?
00:09:38He was last seen about 800 feet below the summit, near the notoriously difficult second step.
00:09:49If Mallory was able to make it to the summit in 1924, he and Irvine would have had to have
00:09:55climbed this overhanging cliff at about 28,000 feet.
00:10:01There's never been a confirmed free climb of the second step.
00:10:05Everyone who climbs it today uses a metal ladder bolted to the rock by Chinese climbers in 1975.
00:10:14I want to go back to Everest to try and climb the second step under the very same conditions Mallory
00:10:23faced.
00:10:25It was a pure cliff when Mallory and Irvine approached it.
00:10:30No one had ever been there.
00:10:32It would have been an incredible feat of climbing if they'd pulled that off.
00:10:45adventure, risk.
00:10:48There's some people that thrive on it, that seek it out.
00:10:51They want to push their own limits.
00:10:57Mallory is one of those people.
00:11:07Mallory grew up in Cheshire, Northern England.
00:11:11He made his first fateful climb, then Moberly, his home village.
00:11:19Mallory's father was a vicar here at this church.
00:11:26And it was here that the young boy escaped and climbed up to the top of the church, age seven.
00:11:35And imagine that.
00:11:39Finding climbing.
00:11:40Finding climbing.
00:11:41This is true.
00:11:42This is true.
00:11:43Passion and life.
00:12:05I actually think that some people who climb are wired a little differently from the
00:12:10rest of us.
00:12:11My grandfather really didn't feel fear of heights or precipices or anything like that.
00:12:20He had a way of climbing that was not quite like everyone else's.
00:12:25His arms and legs would just sort of eat up a mountain and he would start flowing over it like
00:12:31a wave.
00:12:37Age 19, Mallory entered the University of Cambridge at a time of great cultural upheaval.
00:12:46When Mallory arrived in Cambridge in 1905, he pitched into this ferment and bubble of ideas, excitement, intellectual, sexual, social,
00:12:56secret societies.
00:12:59He obviously possessed some remarkable charisma, sort of charmed presence that drew the eye, compelled the gaze.
00:13:11My mind is in a state of constant rebellion.
00:13:15I believe that will always be so.
00:13:18He was a dreamer.
00:13:22And he was in Cambridge at a time of great and powerful dreaming.
00:13:27And eventually that dream took its form in the shape of Everest.
00:13:35This was the golden age of exploration.
00:13:38Mallory watched with the rest of the world as explorers from America, Norway and Britain raced first to the North
00:13:45and then the South Pole.
00:13:50In 1912, Captain Scott, the legendary British adventurer, died in the attempt to be the first to the South Pole.
00:13:59Mallory was among those inspired by the tragedy.
00:14:03Britain is at the waning of the empire at this time.
00:14:06It's looking for ways to reinvigorate itself.
00:14:09And so attention inevitably turns to Everest as the final possibility, the third pole.
00:14:19Surveyors had calculated that Everest was the highest mountain in the world.
00:14:23But no Westerner had ever been within 40 miles.
00:14:28Mallory became obsessed by a mountain he'd never even seen.
00:14:35Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
00:14:38No man has reached its summit.
00:14:41Its existence is a challenge to man's desire to conquer the universe.
00:14:54Mallory wasn't just enthralled with Everest.
00:15:00He had also fallen in love with 21-year-old Ruth Turner.
00:15:06Right from the start, they wrote each other adoring letters.
00:15:12My darling, I'm longing for you.
00:15:16I would kiss your lips and look into your eyes and you, you, you all near me and with me,
00:15:24strong and glorious and loving and laughing.
00:15:30I cannot find words that would be sure to convey what I feel about you.
00:15:35What I really want is to know you and to love you more and more.
00:15:41Dearest and most beloved, your loving Ruth.
00:15:45George and my grandmother Ruth fell madly in love in 1914.
00:15:50They were both idealists, really seeing kindred spirits in each other.
00:15:56They were married three days before the start of World War I.
00:16:04Malory enlisted and came face to face with death once more,
00:16:09fighting in the song, the bloodiest battle known to man.
00:16:16There is no reckoning with death here.
00:16:20Life presents itself very much to me as a gift.
00:16:24Malory had witnessed the mass slaughter of the First World War.
00:16:28His fellow soldiers, some of them six feet away, killed by German shelling.
00:16:33He knew how fragile life was.
00:16:37And knowing this, he wanted to live it to the fullest.
00:16:41He wanted the ultimate challenge.
00:16:43And that, in the 20s, was Mount Everest.
00:16:50Once the war was over, the Royal Geographical Society in London planned the first ever expedition to Everest.
00:17:00They needed Malory for his supreme climbing skills.
00:17:04He needed their backing to realize his obsession.
00:17:13When Malory undertook that first expedition in 1921, he had to approach Everest through Tibet from the north.
00:17:22The Nepalese refused to allow access to the easier south side, used when Everest was first officially climbed in 1953.
00:17:32After an eight-week journey, Malory finally set eyes on the mountain that had haunted him for so long.
00:17:42Like the wildest creation of a dream.
00:17:46Everest.
00:17:47A rugged giant.
00:17:50A prodigious white fang.
00:17:52A colossal rock plastered with snow.
00:17:56From the mountaineer's point of view, no more appalling sight could be imagined.
00:18:03When he first saw Everest, he describes it really almost as an adversary.
00:18:08It's very beautiful, but also ugly or frightful, like an ogre.
00:18:18There were no maps.
00:18:19No one knew the terrain there.
00:18:21In this first trip, the trip of 1921, it was imperative that the team find the route that would lead
00:18:29them to the summit.
00:18:40For months, Malory led the search, but the route to the summit eluded him.
00:18:51Finally, late in August, he found what he was looking for.
00:19:06An enormous glacial valley that snaked for miles around the other giant peaks, towards the very foot of Everest.
00:19:14is one of the most and looks for the most.
00:19:26My dearest Ruth, we have found our way to the great mountain.
00:19:36At the end of the valley was a wall of snow and ice 1,000 feet high.
00:19:43It led up to a crest that Mallory named the North Call, and then onto the top of the world.
00:19:59We have established our way to the summit for anyone who cares to try the highest adventure.
00:20:15But the heavy snow that comes with the monsoon each summer quickly made climbing impossible.
00:20:21They had to head home.
00:20:29But within six months, Mallory was back again.
00:20:34This time with film cameras to show Everest to the world.
00:20:43He climbed higher than anyone else before him.
00:20:52But late in the season, as Mallory led porters up the mountain, disaster struck.
00:21:00A great snowfall had come.
00:21:02They got to a delicate place on this massive ice slope and triggered an avalanche.
00:21:08It had to be done.
00:21:15It had to be done.
00:21:22The end of the season.
00:21:27It had to be done.
00:21:27Ruth, seven brave men killed, and I am to blame.
00:21:34It has happened forever, and I can do nothing to make it good.
00:21:43After the avalanche, and when George returned to Europe, he really had no wish to go back to Everest.
00:21:49He just wanted to get away from the deprivation and the danger, and also the memories of that avalanche.
00:22:01He had been away for a very long period, over two successive years.
00:22:06He wanted to get back to his wife and his family.
00:22:13They had three children.
00:22:16My mother was the second daughter of George Mallory.
00:22:20And at this point, I think he was really starting to think about wanting to be home more, to be
00:22:28with Ruth more, and to address himself to raising the kids.
00:22:38But a new expedition was being planned.
00:22:44And Mallory desperately wanted to be part of it.
00:22:48Against Ruth's wishes.
00:22:51I love you, and you love me, and that ought to be happiness enough for a lifetime.
00:22:57But I do want you.
00:22:59We want to live together all the time, and share thoughts and joys and sorrows.
00:23:05And we can't apart as we can together.
00:23:10I am having a horrible time on a tightrope.
00:23:14It would be an awful tug going away, instead of settling down here with Ruth.
00:23:19But it would look rather grim to see others, without me, conquering the summit.
00:23:30Mallory clearly loved Ruth very dearly.
00:23:33She was his sweet, domestic, beloved partner, who represented all that was appealing about home, family, the flatlands of Cambridge,
00:23:42sea level.
00:23:45But Everest represented all that was exciting, adventurous, visionary, mystical.
00:23:52His personality was pulled between those two poles.
00:24:03Early in 1923, the crisis came to a head when Mallory sailed to America to speak about his Everest adventures.
00:24:16He was the star turn at the Explorers Club in New York.
00:24:21I can just imagine the audience on the edge of their seats, as Mallory told them,
00:24:27about the biting wind, the lack of appetite, the fierce cold.
00:24:37A New York Times journalist asked the question,
00:24:40why climb Everest?
00:24:44Mallory gave his legendary reply.
00:24:49Because
00:24:51it's there.
00:24:59Three words that have probably become more famous than Mallory himself
00:25:04suggest a sort of fatalism bubbling away in Mallory.
00:25:07The mountain remains.
00:25:09It's unclimbed.
00:25:11And so the quest remains.
00:25:15And he is the man who is locked into this almost fairy tale relationship with the mountain.
00:25:20He's been twice.
00:25:21And he must go back the third time.
00:25:29I think the idea that someone else would build on his progress
00:25:33and get to the summit on his shoulders
00:25:35was quite difficult for him to accept.
00:25:37It was, after all, his route and his mountain.
00:25:41It is actually a surprisingly selfish thing for someone like Mallory to experience,
00:25:45but then mountaineers all do have this kind of element of selfishness deep down.
00:25:55Aged 38, this was Mallory's last chance to conquer the mountain.
00:26:17Conrad Anker will follow Mallory's footsteps,
00:26:20leading his own expedition to Everest and the second step.
00:26:28During his climb, Conrad plans to test clothes and boots
00:26:32modelled on those he found on Mallory's body.
00:26:39Using this replica clothing,
00:26:42I'm going to have this chance to go back and see what it was like
00:26:45for Mallory to try climbing Everest in 1924.
00:26:54But like Mallory, Conrad is torn between his passion for Everest
00:26:58and his love for his family.
00:27:01My family's anxious about this trip.
00:27:04I'm going to Everest.
00:27:06It's a deadly mountain.
00:27:08What's it worth?
00:27:10Is it worth leaving your kids behind?
00:27:12Why are you going to this mountain?
00:27:14Are you going to be safe?
00:27:16You know I love you.
00:27:18And I can see there,
00:27:20as I was trying to rationalize it to my wife and children,
00:27:23that it's a safe thing and it's a fine thing to go on Everest
00:27:26and it's a noble thing,
00:27:27that these were the same answers that Mallory had for Ruth.
00:27:33I know what it's like to be the wife of a climber
00:27:36and I know what it's like to be the wife of a climber
00:27:40who doesn't come home.
00:27:43Jennifer was previously married to one of America's finest mountaineers,
00:27:48Alex Lowe,
00:27:50Conrad's climbing partner and closest friend.
00:27:55Just a few months after finding Mallory's body,
00:27:58Conrad was climbing with Alex when the mountains claimed another life.
00:28:03An avalanche struck Alex and I as we were climbing in the Himalayas.
00:28:08He died and I was three feet away from him.
00:28:15She could just look at him and tell that he was burdened with this world of guilt and grief
00:28:22that somehow he could have prevented Alex's death.
00:28:29In the aftermath of this tragedy,
00:28:32we communicated with each other and eventually we grew to fall in love
00:28:37and it wasn't just Jennifer that my love grew for,
00:28:40it was also the boys.
00:28:43Jennifer must really like climbers to willingly bring me into her life
00:28:47and then marry and have me adopt the boys
00:28:49because she knows it's downright dangerous work.
00:28:55Boys, look what I found downstairs.
00:28:58Whoa!
00:29:00Good God!
00:29:03Is this my Halloween costume or is this what I'm going up at,
00:29:06we're still...
00:29:06You guys are laughing.
00:29:07You look like Inspector Gadget.
00:29:09You're supposed to take me serious.
00:29:11Mom, can you appreciate it?
00:29:12Oh, it's amazing to think of those guys going for the summit
00:29:15and in clothing like that.
00:29:18Would you climb Everest in that suit?
00:29:20No.
00:29:21What would you wear?
00:29:23I wouldn't climb Everest.
00:29:42Before climbing Everest,
00:29:44Mallory had to choose his climbing partner.
00:29:48Among the candidates
00:29:50was a 21-year-old chemistry student,
00:29:53Andrew Sandy Irvin,
00:29:55a mountaineering novice.
00:30:00My great-uncle Sandy Irvin took life by the horns
00:30:02and if there was an opportunity that presented itself to him,
00:30:05he would take it.
00:30:06He loved the theatre, he loved cars,
00:30:09and above all, he loved women.
00:30:10And he had this very indiscreet love affair
00:30:13with his best friend's stepmother.
00:30:16It was a terrible scandal.
00:30:21But Sandy Irvin was, first and foremost, an oarsman.
00:30:25When he got to Oxford,
00:30:27he was selected to take part
00:30:28in the Oxford and Cambridge boat race.
00:30:32The annual boat race
00:30:34was the most prestigious sporting event of the day.
00:30:45They were victorious and what Mallory saw in Sandy
00:30:49was this extraordinary ability that great oarsmen have,
00:30:52which is to row through pain,
00:30:54to push himself
00:30:56almost beyond a normal human limit.
00:31:00But there was another reason for choosing Irvin.
00:31:04Mallory needed someone technical
00:31:06to master the oxygen equipment vital at high altitude.
00:31:10And unlike Mallory, Irvin was very practical.
00:31:14Sandy asked the Mount Everest committee
00:31:17to send him a 1922 set, plus the drawings.
00:31:20And he spent hours and hours in his rooms in Oxford,
00:31:24trying to make it serviceable,
00:31:26trying to make it lighter, stronger, and less fragile,
00:31:29so that the climbers could use it with greater confidence.
00:31:33And so the fact that Sandy was so practical
00:31:36with the apparatus,
00:31:38I think made it quite clear in Mallory's mind
00:31:40that he was a useful man to have climbing with him.
00:31:52Conrad Anker has also chosen a young Englishman
00:31:54as his climbing partner, Leo Holding.
00:31:57Like Irvin, Leo is young, strong, a natural athlete,
00:32:01and has never climbed at high altitude.
00:32:05The 90 feet high second step
00:32:07will be a dangerous venture into the unknown.
00:32:15I'm definitely concerned about the altitude
00:32:17and the acclimatization process,
00:32:18just because I've never been high enough before
00:32:21to know whether, you know,
00:32:22I might be one of those people that it doesn't gel with.
00:32:29I don't want to let Conrad down,
00:32:30and I'm sure Irvin felt some of that pressure.
00:32:39Yeah!
00:32:44in the distance, so that I've had less than 100 feet high.
00:32:46That's not 100 feet high.
00:32:50I don't want to let Conrad down,
00:32:53and that I'm not waiting for them to go.
00:32:55I don't want to let him know.
00:32:58Let's go.
00:32:58Let's go.
00:32:59Let's go.
00:33:00Let's go.
00:33:01Let's go.
00:33:02Let's go.
00:33:04Let's go.
00:33:07Let's go.
00:33:12Leo's never been to altitude, this unknown, and you can't walk into a hospital and take
00:33:21a test that will come back and say, oh, you'll do well at altitude.
00:33:24Some people do really well, but I've seen fit people doubled over and with splitting
00:33:30headaches.
00:33:37Being invited to climb the highest mountain in the world with Conrad, one of the best
00:33:42climbers in his generation, is such a privilege.
00:33:45For Irvin, being invited to climb with George Mallory, the best climber of his generation
00:33:49on the unclimbed Mount Everest, I just can't imagine how he must have felt.
00:33:55I am walking on metaphorical air.
00:33:59We shall go all out for the summit.
00:34:04If I have to die, then there would be no finer death than in an attempt to conquer Everest.
00:34:14On February the 29th, 1924, Mallory set sail from Liverpool after making Ruth a solemn promise.
00:34:23As my grandfather was leaving England and leaving my grandmother, he told her that he would
00:34:30leave a photograph of her at the top of Mount Everest.
00:34:44With the eyes of the world upon them, Mallory and Irvin set out on the three-week voyage for India.
00:35:03Late that March, their convoy began its 350-mile trek.
00:35:245,000 miles apart, Mallory and Ruth wrote to each other frequently.
00:35:31Couriers carried their letters across the world, and after the months of tension they'd gone
00:35:36through, he and Ruth made up.
00:35:39I do miss you a lot.
00:35:43I know I have rather often been cross and not nice, and I'm very sorry.
00:35:49I was unhappy at getting so little of you.
00:35:52Very, very much loved you, my dear one.
00:35:56Your loving Ruth.
00:36:02Dearest one, we went through a difficult time together in the autumn.
00:36:07Your letters bring you much nearer.
00:36:10I wish I had you with me.
00:36:14We can think of the relationship between Mallory, Everest and Ruth as a kind of love triangle.
00:36:20When he was at home with Ruth, he was dreaming of Everest.
00:36:23When he was away with Everest, he was dreaming of Ruth.
00:36:26Until a certain point, until he got sufficiently close to the mountain that it cast its spell over him.
00:36:48The convoy of 300 pack animals and 70 porters journeyed through Tibet.
00:36:56Provisions included four cases of Montebello champagne and 60 tins of quail and foie gras.
00:37:05On April the 25th, 17,000 feet up, they reached the last pass before Everest, Panglaa.
00:37:24The Panglaa is the pass where you get the first stunning view of Everest, right?
00:37:29Yeah, and it's this vista.
00:37:30You've got five of the world's highest peaks in one view.
00:37:48That's Everest.
00:37:54Wow.
00:38:01It's so much bigger than all the other ones, isn't it?
00:38:07It's really special how we haven't had any sign of the mountain and then you drive up to
00:38:11this high pass and then she just reveals herself in all her glory.
00:38:15You know, Chumulunga, Mother Goddess of the Earth, the mountain we call Everest, just bang!
00:38:27This wonderful photograph, taken on the 26th of April 1924, it's pretty amazing.
00:38:33You see Everest there, there's Mallory, Irvine, a couple of their sherpas they had with them
00:38:40and their pony.
00:38:42This is almost exactly the same spot, right?
00:38:45Pretty close.
00:38:46And they spent three weeks trekking on the plateau to get to this point, to be able to see it.
00:38:52And they were on their feet, they'd walk every day.
00:38:54I mean, you think, for us to get here, we've been in a jeep.
00:39:04On April the 29th, Mallory and Irvine set up their center of operations.
00:39:08The base camp, 12 miles from the summit.
00:39:26Like Mallory, Conrad will rely heavily on Sherpa porters, accustomed to high altitude.
00:39:33But this is still a dangerous mountain.
00:39:36Over 200 people have died here, among them, many Sherpas.
00:39:41Well, most important is safety.
00:39:43Ten fingers, ten toes, one nose.
00:39:47I'll come back.
00:39:48Two eyes.
00:39:49Yes, two eyes.
00:39:50All good.
00:39:52And if you see something with us, if we look sick, then you tell us and say,
00:39:59go down, bar us up your, China bar us up, finish.
00:40:04Ha, ha, ha, ha.
00:40:28Before one embarks on an expedition that's customary to have a puja, which is a blessing ceremony.
00:40:35As Chomolongma is Mother Goddess of the Earth, the mountain is a deity for the Tibetans and the Sherpas.
00:40:43Safe passage depends upon having a good puja.
00:41:14The
00:41:31The monks from the ancient monastery nearby gave Mallory a very mixed welcome when he
00:41:37approached their sacred mountain, Chumalungma.
00:41:54It was 83 years ago on this day, May 15th, that Mallory and his team came here for a blessing
00:42:01from the Lama.
00:42:09The head Lama welcomed the strange white climbers, but it was an ominous encounter.
00:42:21Along with the blessing, the Lama had a very stern warning for the expedition.
00:42:26He spoke of disaster to come, prophesying that the mountain's demons would delight in forcing
00:42:33the climbers off Everest.
00:42:38The monks had even created an illustration, a very gruesome one, of the gods disemboweling
00:42:45a western man and pitching him into hell.
00:42:50It must have been a terrifying moment for Mallory.
00:42:53He was not a superstitious man, but I think it would have been hard to be in that landscape
00:42:57at that time on the third expedition and not feel the atmosphere to be saturated with signs
00:43:02and portents and hints and forebodings.
00:43:11Despite the bad omens, Mallory hoped that this time he'd summit the mountain.
00:43:19The weather was good.
00:43:20He planned to reach the top of Everest by mid-May to beat the snows that came with the monsoon.
00:43:39On May the 2nd, 1924, the giant convoy of climbers and porters made its way out of base camp.
00:43:46The weather was good.
00:43:57My dearest Ruth, the thought of you will be present in the most important decisions.
00:44:04I am eager for the great events to begin.
00:44:12Mallory realized that the way to attack Everest was a series of camps, almost militaristic in style.
00:44:21You go some way up, then come back down, recuperate and then move back up.
00:44:27It's how you acclimatize.
00:44:30He pioneered this technique and it's the one we still use on Everest today.
00:44:55Conrad and Leo follow Mallory's route through a forest of ice pinnacles up to Camp 3.
00:45:17you definitely can't cheat or hide from altitude and acclimatization it just makes everything
00:45:23really hard work this is it leo finally camp three for 1924
00:45:34at camp three altitude really begins to show its nasty side effects with each breath you're
00:45:42getting fewer molecules of oxygen it's insidious you lose your appetite you have splitting headaches
00:45:49you have a difficult time just doing the simplest of tasks and yet nine thousand feet above you the
00:45:58summit of Everest and it's calling
00:46:14somewhere above their camp to Mallory and urban experienced their first bout of bad weather a
00:46:21storm came in the temperatures plummeted Mallory realized it wasn't going to be easy street up to
00:46:28the summit of Everest my dearest girl I was acting as a lone horse and arrived first in camp three
00:46:40the glacier is everywhere beneath the stones my boots were frozen hard on my feet I was a good deal
00:46:51depressed by the situation I love you always dear one
00:47:01should we try it on yeah I'm pretty keen to see how this stuff works all right check this out
00:47:12imagine climbing up with these things there's something else so I've got every layer on here
00:47:20Mallory and Irvine had seven layers on when they went for the summit in 24 but the big difference is
00:47:26here
00:47:26in the footwear I tell you the rest of this outfit seems pretty good but compared to the boots that
00:47:33we wear these days these things look decidedly you know inappropriate wearing hobnail boots and
00:47:44gabardine jackets Conrad and Leo venture onto the mountain we were right near the spot where seven of
00:47:55Mallory's porters lost their lives in the avalanche but as in 1924 we were just bound together by a thin
00:48:05cotton rope using Mallory's technique Conrad cuts steps into the steep ice slope
00:48:22this is real mountain terrain if you lose your foot and you'll fall down a thousand feet to the base
00:48:27of
00:48:27it and we need to start being careful now there's crevasses this danger of avalanche when you stand on
00:48:36the edge of a crevasse you just see this slot disappearing down into the glacier hundreds of
00:48:41feet deep but the dangerous ones are the ones that you can't see you can be walking across a snow
00:48:46bridge just a few feet thick and fall through it to certain death like she's deep isn't she yeah
00:48:58right at the bridge 10 feet of rope be careful my friend
00:49:20it's phenomenal that they were able to get to 28,000 feet in what I would basically call
00:49:28clothing you'd walk through the forest
00:49:33oh good job Leo no good job Conrad
00:49:50in 1924 Mallory's team were pinned down by weather so severe Sandy Irvin feared for his life
00:49:58may the 10th had a terrible night with wind and snow i don't know how the tent stood it
00:50:06very little sleep and about two inches of snow over everything in the tent awful headache this morning
00:50:17Irvin was suffering from altitude sickness
00:50:20his role as Mallory's climbing partner was now in doubt
00:50:26the harsh conditions forced the entire team back down to base camp
00:50:33when they arrived there they found that two of the staff were dead instead of preparing for a summit bit
00:50:40they were burying people in base camp it must have been quite strange for Irvin to come to terms with
00:50:46that
00:50:48one of our NCOs suddenly got paralysis probably due to a clot on the brain from frostbitten fingers
00:50:57poor fellow died within half a mile of base camp
00:51:03meanwhile Mallory plans another dangerous summit bid
00:51:09but he allowed no sign of the team's suffering to show in a letter to his eldest daughter claire
00:51:18my darling there is not so much wind today so it is nice and warm
00:51:46it was already mid-may and soon the snows would come
00:51:52the monsoon arrives early june every year it releases a tremendous amount of snow
00:51:59climbing is impossible
00:52:17we had the same challenge as Mallory in 1924 we were there late in the season if we didn't get
00:52:25up the
00:52:25mountain before the monsoon hit we'd be in very serious trouble
00:52:37over 22 000 feet up conrad and leo start the ascent of everest itself
00:52:47they are on one of the most treacherous parts of the mountain the giant wall of ice and snow that
00:52:54leads
00:52:54up to the north call the launch pad to the summit
00:53:00it
00:53:02so
00:53:25Despite all the modern equipment, the altitude hits Liu hard.
00:53:32You know, this is the first time I've ever been to this altitude and you just move so desperately, slowly,
00:53:37it's unreal, you know, you just can't believe, like you take two steps and you're completely out of breath and
00:53:42I'm sure it's only going to get worse as we get up.
00:54:01With hobnail boots and new guide ropes, Mallory led the assault on the north call, cutting steps into what he
00:54:08called its great battlements of ice.
00:54:13The north call was a triumph. I enjoyed the conquest of the ice wall and making the steps. Afterwards I
00:54:22was practically bust to the world.
00:54:26Looking back down the valley, he was already higher than the greatest peaks in Europe or America. But the summit
00:54:34was still 6,000 feet above.
00:54:47Here on the call, Mallory set up his bridgehead to Everest, Camp 4. He planned higher camps further up the
00:54:56mountain. These would take him within striking distance of the summit.
00:55:02Mallory had a cough that wouldn't go away. Irvin was suffering from diarrhea and the cold never left them.
00:55:17My dearest Ruth, I couldn't sleep. Distressed with bursts of coughing fit to tear one's guts.
00:55:25Fierce squalls visited our tents and shook them with the disagreeable threat of tearing them away from their moorings.
00:55:32There was never a more determined and bitter enemy.
00:55:4023,000 feet up, Conrad and Leo test out Mallory's gear one last time.
00:55:48Suddenly, temperatures plummet to 20 below freezing. They're in severe danger of frostbite.
00:55:54There was no other wind and illcone Sick.
00:56:04Ready?
00:56:05What!
00:56:05Thank you, really?
00:56:06No problem.
00:56:10Oh!
00:56:11Ah!
00:56:13Ah!
00:56:14Oh, man, I can't imagine going through 8,500 meters of these boots.
00:56:19Oh!
00:56:19Can you feel?
00:56:20Oh, God, you can't.
00:56:22It's just my theory here.
00:56:23if those guys were moving
00:56:25they were okay
00:56:27but once they stopped moving
00:56:28the clock was ticking
00:56:29and it was a different game altogether
00:56:32my toes are freezing
00:56:44in 22
00:56:46Mallory
00:56:47lost bit one of his fingers
00:56:49and he commented that it was bad
00:56:51but not that bad
00:56:52and then sort of in a little note aside
00:56:55he said
00:56:57I wouldn't mind
00:56:59if I lost a finger for this summit
00:57:03and if I was in his shoes
00:57:04I probably would have thought the same thing
00:57:06because it was
00:57:08the golden age of exploration
00:57:17oh my beauties
00:57:29bad weather blocks Conrad's path
00:57:31and the monsoon snows are imminent
00:57:33he and Leo risk being trapped high on Everest
00:57:38beyond rescue
00:57:41it was a stressful moment
00:57:44what are we doing
00:57:45we're climbing into the second week of June
00:57:47the monsoon's on our ass
00:57:50I get on the phone to Jennifer
00:57:52and I say to her
00:57:53it's not worth what
00:57:55I'm putting you and the family through
00:57:57and I'm ready to come home
00:58:01the window was closing
00:58:02I knew the monsoon was coming
00:58:03I was looking at the satellite imagery of the weather
00:58:07I said Conrad you know what
00:58:08I'm looking at the computer screen
00:58:10and I'm seeing this giant wall of weather
00:58:12and it's the monsoon
00:58:15and I just said Conrad
00:58:16you need to be confident
00:58:19that you can make it
00:58:20but if you have a chance
00:58:23to climb the second step
00:58:24I want you to go for it
00:58:31my dear one
00:58:32what is happening to you
00:58:34I wonder so much
00:58:37are you happy
00:58:38and are you well
00:58:41all the immortal love my soul has is with you
00:58:45Ruth
00:58:48early in June 1924
00:58:51two of Mallory's team
00:58:53Norton and Somerville
00:58:55pushed on up the mountain
00:58:57but Everest forced them back
00:58:59snow blind
00:59:01Norton had to be carried down
00:59:04Somerville almost choked to death
00:59:06before coughing up part of his frostbitten larynx
00:59:12clearly it was time to go home
00:59:14they were weak with exhaustion
00:59:19the monsoon was due
00:59:21but Mallory refused to give in
00:59:25my dear girl
00:59:27this has been a bad time altogether
00:59:32perhaps it's mere folly to go up again
00:59:35but how can I be out of the hunt
00:59:39six days to the top
00:59:41from this camp
00:59:43it's 50 to 1 against
00:59:45but we'll have a whack yet
00:59:47and do ourselves proud
00:59:50great love to you
00:59:51ever your loving
00:59:52George
01:00:09the big question is why
01:00:11George Mallory thought it was worth one more shot
01:00:14and I think the way to reconcile the overriding conflict in his life
01:00:17is actually to climb the mountain and be done with it
01:00:19and go home to Ruth and say
01:00:21I've done it
01:00:22it's over
01:00:22now we can get on with the rest of our lives
01:00:26he knew that this was it
01:00:29he couldn't come back again later
01:00:32if he didn't get to the top
01:00:35it would be impossible
01:00:36to put Ruth through that again
01:00:41I must tell you dearest one
01:00:43I feel full of energy and strength
01:00:48my plan will be to carry as little as possible
01:00:51go fast
01:00:52and rush the summit
01:01:04Mallory now needed oxygen
01:01:05and Irvin more than ever
01:01:09he wanted his partner
01:01:11now over the worst of his altitude sickness
01:01:13to apply his technical skills to the final assault
01:01:19Irvin has been brilliantly skillful about the oxygen
01:01:22he's practically invented a new instrument
01:01:295th of June
01:01:31it will be a great triumph
01:01:32if my impromptu apparatus gets us to the top
01:01:37it has been very trying for everyone
01:01:39with terribly strong reflection off the snow
01:01:43have prepared two oxygen apparatus
01:01:46for our start tomorrow morning
01:01:52these are the last words written by Sandy Irvin
01:01:57he would have gone wherever
01:01:58Mallory would have wanted him to go
01:02:00and I'm quite sure
01:02:02that he had every intention of coming back from the mountain
01:02:05with both feet, both legs, both arms intact
01:02:08I don't think he even entertained
01:02:10truly entertained the idea
01:02:12that he would die
01:02:13I think he believed that he was indestructible
01:02:19early on June the 6th
01:02:21support climber Noel O'Dell
01:02:23photographed Mallory and Irvin
01:02:25as they set out from the north coal
01:02:32who could hold back
01:02:33when such a victory
01:02:35such a triumph of human endeavor
01:02:38was within their grasp
01:02:44one must conquer
01:02:45achieve
01:02:46get to the top
01:02:48to know
01:02:49there's no dream
01:02:51that mustn't be dared
01:03:02there's nothing on top of Mount Everest
01:03:04there's not
01:03:05a pot of gold
01:03:06why are we doing this
01:03:10you want the glory
01:03:12you want that
01:03:14feeling of standing on top of the world
01:03:19gambling on beating the monsoon
01:03:21Conrad makes his choice
01:03:23to follow Mallory up to the second step
01:03:29we're starting our summit bid
01:03:30and
01:03:31it's the 10th of June
01:03:33I think the 5th of June
01:03:34is the latest anyone's ever climbed
01:03:36pre-monsoon
01:03:38the clouds in the background
01:03:39are an indication of the monsoon rolling in
01:03:42so
01:03:42we're going to play it by ear
01:03:44one day at a time
01:03:45but
01:03:47this is our window
01:04:13it's just ridiculously tiring
01:04:17it feels like someone's taking the Michael
01:04:19you're like one step
01:04:20and your head's on your hands
01:04:50that is unreal isn't it
01:04:52it's like an out-of-body experience
01:05:06on June the 7th
01:05:08cameraman John Noel
01:05:09filmed the last images of Mallory and Irvine
01:05:16they were two miles above him
01:05:19with their porters
01:05:20climbing into the death zone
01:05:23where the lack of oxygen
01:05:25makes it impossible to function for long
01:05:29in the death zone
01:05:31above 26,000 feet
01:05:32the body
01:05:34enters into
01:05:35what is known as necrosis
01:05:38one is dying
01:05:44humans weren't meant to survive at this altitude
01:05:47and you're on borrowed time
01:05:54as they enter the death zone
01:05:56Conrad and Leo use oxygen
01:05:59like Mallory and Irvine before them
01:06:11I was just thinking
01:06:12oh the death zone
01:06:13this place isn't that bad
01:06:15all of a sudden
01:06:17the first of the dead bodies
01:06:19that we encountered
01:06:20appeared
01:06:21right by the path
01:06:24and it was a real
01:06:25when else do you walk past
01:06:27a dead body
01:06:28unless you're in a war zone
01:06:29you're never going to witness anything quite like that
01:06:32it's such an extreme environment up there
01:06:33that no one can
01:06:34do anything about it
01:06:36they can't bring them down
01:06:44high in the death zone
01:06:45some 2,000 feet below the summit
01:06:48Mallory and Irvine
01:06:49pitched their last camp
01:06:54here Mallory wrote to cameraman John Noah
01:06:57who was waiting further down
01:06:59to film
01:06:59the moment of triumph
01:07:02dear Noah
01:07:03we'll probably start early tomorrow
01:07:05to have clear weather
01:07:08start looking out for us
01:07:09either crossing the rock band
01:07:11under the pyramid
01:07:12or going up the skyline
01:07:14at 8pm
01:07:16clearly he meant to say
01:07:188am
01:07:24he was tired
01:07:25he'd been on expedition for 3 months
01:07:27and now
01:07:28over 3 days
01:07:29in the death zone
01:07:38just about your headlight
01:07:50we knew the monsoon was imminent
01:07:52we only had a 12 hour window
01:07:56we had the strike
01:07:58while the iron was hot
01:08:01you're so nervous
01:08:02that I woke up before the alarm
01:08:04and turned our headlamps on
01:08:06got all the layering systems set up
01:08:08when you step out of the tent
01:08:10it was a bit like a starting gate
01:08:11I was ready to go
01:08:13Leo was so excited
01:08:15I mean he had that boost
01:08:16of summit energy
01:08:17it's probably similar to what
01:08:19Mallory and Irvine had
01:08:20on their summit day
01:08:22when they were there
01:08:23within striking distance
01:08:24of the first ascent of Everest
01:08:42imagine the morning
01:08:44of June 8th 1924
01:08:48they're cold
01:08:49they've had a restless night of sleep
01:08:55compound this
01:08:56with lack of appetite
01:08:57severe dehydration
01:09:00their bodies are wasted
01:09:03their mental faculties are compromised
01:09:05simple things
01:09:07become monumental chores
01:09:2528,000 feet is at the limit
01:09:27of what is humanly possible
01:09:29even with supplemental oxygen
01:09:32it's very very desperate
01:09:35and above them
01:09:36is a route that no one
01:09:37has ever been on
01:09:38and when you're the first
01:09:40overcoming this
01:09:41sense of the unknown
01:09:42is one of the greatest challenges
01:09:54think about it
01:09:56the anxiety
01:09:57the fear
01:09:58the trepidation
01:09:59combined with the exhilaration
01:10:02all those things
01:10:04stirring around
01:10:07and held fast
01:10:09by pain
01:10:10and suffering
01:10:20Mallory and Irvine
01:10:22climbed the north face
01:10:23up towards the summit ridge
01:10:26where the second step
01:10:27blocked their path
01:10:33we got to the ridge
01:10:34just on schedule
01:10:35right after dawn
01:10:41absolutely wonderful
01:10:42go for the next step
01:10:44go for it
01:11:01the next step
01:11:12to the ridge
01:11:14At 12.50 on June the 8th, 1924, support climber Noel O'Dell sighted Mallory and Irvine through a gap in
01:11:23the clouds.
01:11:27My eyes became fixed on a tiny black dot a short distance from the base of the final pyramid.
01:11:35Another moved up to join it.
01:11:38They were moving expeditiously as if to make up for lost time.
01:11:43Then the whole fascinating vision vanished, enveloped in cloud.
01:11:55Mallory and Irvine were missing.
01:12:00No trace can be found, awaiting orders.
01:12:07Instead of capturing their victorious ascent, cameraman John Noel had to film the search for them.
01:12:18Days later, blankets laid out as a cross in the snow signaled the devastating news.
01:12:26Mallory and Irvine were lost.
01:12:29Presumed dead.
01:12:46Mrs. Mallory, Herschel House, Cambridge.
01:12:50Committee deeply regret, receive bad news.
01:12:55Everest expedition today.
01:12:58Your husband killed.
01:13:01Last climb.
01:13:03Committee offer you and family heartfelt sympathy.
01:13:10Ruth received the news one evening.
01:13:14She decided not to tell her children that night because they had already gone to bed.
01:13:17She actually went to bed herself and slept with that terrible knowledge.
01:13:21Then in the morning, woke them up and took them into her bed, told them this terrible news.
01:13:29George's spirit was ready for another life.
01:13:33And his way of going to it was very beautiful.
01:13:38I know so absolutely he could not have failed in courage or self-sacrifice.
01:13:46If only it hadn't happened.
01:13:48So easily might not have.
01:13:55The golden age of exploration had ended in tragedy.
01:14:01The fallen hero was mourned by king and country.
01:14:08It must have been an extraordinary day.
01:14:10The bells ringing out around Britain in mourning.
01:14:16And then a memorial service in St. Paul's.
01:14:19The mourners packing the pews.
01:14:21And speeches given in Mallory's honour.
01:14:29Mallory the man soon became Mallory the legend.
01:14:35Many people were convinced he had reached the top of Everest.
01:14:41But to summit, he would first have had to free climb the second step.
01:14:48On June 14th, our expedition reached the second step.
01:14:54This formidable rock face that stood between Mallory and the summit.
01:15:02The Shervos cleared the fixed ropes and hauled the ladder away.
01:15:06Restoring the second step to what it was like in 1924.
01:15:15The goal is today, pull the ladders up.
01:15:19And climate-free, that is, without the assistance of the Chinese ladder.
01:15:50The
01:15:52The
01:15:52This whole time on the expedition I knew it was going to come down to this half hour on
01:15:58a cliff band at 28,300 feet.
01:16:01Could I do it?
01:16:02In the form that Mallory and Irvine would have encountered it, free of any ladder, free
01:16:07of any rope, free of any indication of man.
01:16:12You have the whole north face of Mount Everest all the way down to the central room, but
01:16:16the glacier below you, 7-8,000 feet of exposure, God, what am I doing?
01:16:37Just like Mallory and Irvine, Leo and I were tied together.
01:16:43It's the Brotherhood of the Rope.
01:17:00Imagine this, June 8th, 1924.
01:17:08...
01:17:11...
01:17:15...
01:17:16...
01:17:18...
01:17:40Come on man, you got it.
01:17:43Whoa!
01:17:54You okay?
01:17:57Yeah!
01:17:58Man!
01:18:00What happened, Dave?
01:18:02Bad step!
01:18:05Had I not caught myself,
01:18:09there's a good chance I could have fallen over the edge,
01:18:11pulled Leo from the mountain,
01:18:13and fallen 7,000 feet to the central Rungbuk glacier.
01:18:19I think it shook him up somewhat,
01:18:21and he ended up spending quite a long time
01:18:24figuring out what to do next,
01:18:25recomposing himself.
01:18:26I mean, I'd say at least 20 minutes.
01:18:29I'm gonna stand on my shoulders.
01:18:33Let me give another go.
01:18:38My job was to climb the second step.
01:18:43I knew that I had to try it from a different angle.
01:19:22I knew I'd be trying to figure out
01:19:23They could jump in here.
01:19:23You can jump in here,
01:19:27So, if you want me to climb into that.
01:19:27That's all I can do.
01:19:27I'll get to the next step.
01:19:28Do you want me to jump in here?
01:19:28I can't do my học.
01:19:28I can do it till now.
01:19:34I can do this.
01:20:01Okay, high step, Brad.
01:20:31I think I got it, Leo.
01:20:33We got it.
01:20:40Oh!
01:20:42Oh!
01:20:42Oh!
01:20:42Oh!
01:20:42Oh!
01:20:42Oh!
01:20:42Oh!
01:20:48Oh!
01:20:49Oh!
01:20:53Oh!
01:20:54Oh!
01:20:56Oh!
01:21:33Oh!
01:21:33Oh!
01:21:36I can't breathe.
01:21:41Oh!
01:22:13Oh!
01:22:20Oh!
01:22:22Oh!
01:22:22Oh!
01:22:22Oh!
01:22:38Oh!
01:22:50Oh!
01:22:51Oh!
01:23:20Oh!
01:23:22Oh!
01:23:28Oh!
01:23:31Oh!
01:23:32Oh!
01:23:33Oh!
01:23:35Oh!
01:23:40Oh!
01:23:41Oh!
01:23:51Oh!
01:23:56Oh!
01:23:58Oh!
01:24:00Oh!
01:24:07Oh!
01:24:11Oh!
01:24:13Oh!
01:24:14Oh!
01:24:16Oh!
01:24:16Oh!
01:24:16Oh!
01:24:17Oh!
01:24:17Oh!
01:24:18Oh!
01:24:18Oh!
01:24:20Oh!
01:24:43Eight years after I found the body of George Mallory, the circle is complete.
01:24:55A few hours before the monsoon closed in, Leo and I summited Mount Everest.
01:25:06And we have shown that these could have been Mallory and Irvin's final footsteps.
01:25:23Is this the summit crowning the day, how cool and how quiet?
01:25:33Have we vanquished an enemy, none but ourselves?
01:25:44A few hours before the monsoon closed in, Leo and I saw that, how cool and how quiet?
01:26:11The endless sky, I see you smile
01:26:14Every night I dream that you are by my side
01:26:22In a thousand frozen moments I am
01:26:26Steered into your eyes
01:26:29Brought you with me
01:26:31All these miles I have climbed
01:26:35I brought you with me
01:26:44On the edge of heaven
01:26:47I will wait for you
01:26:51On the edge of heaven
01:26:55Find me there
01:26:59On the edge of heaven
01:27:03Stand with me, my dear
01:27:07And you will feel the end of time
01:27:15And you will feel the end of Thee
01:27:30On the edge of heaven
01:27:51On the edge of heaven
01:27:57On the edge of heaven
01:28:08On the edge of heaven