WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.823 --> 00:00:04.952 (helicopter rotors) 2 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:07.000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 3 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:13.000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 4 00:00:13.710 --> 00:00:17.589 ♪ ♪ 5 00:00:18.798 --> 00:00:22.260 PAUL (off-screen): You're out on the edge of the world if you're on top of Everest. 6 00:00:37.024 --> 00:00:39.652 You can speak on a satellite phone, yeah. 7 00:00:39.735 --> 00:00:43.614 But that doesn't mean anybody can get to you. 8 00:00:53.708 --> 00:00:55.501 PETE (off-screen): You can have great guides, 9 00:00:55.585 --> 00:00:57.587 you can have an excellent route set, 10 00:00:57.670 --> 00:01:01.382 but when you are dealing with the highest mountain on Earth... 11 00:01:01.465 --> 00:01:04.468 You're still a long ways from anywhere. 12 00:01:08.639 --> 00:01:11.392 ERIC (off-screen): 26,000 feet does not feel that good. 13 00:01:11.475 --> 00:01:14.562 On the brain or the body. 14 00:01:15.855 --> 00:01:18.441 Now we've got a little snowstorm rolling in here which might be 15 00:01:18.524 --> 00:01:21.402 hampering our summit bid. 16 00:01:21.485 --> 00:01:24.155 We have one chance at this, and that's leaving tonight. 17 00:01:24.238 --> 00:01:27.074 We're all hopeful that we can make it. 18 00:01:27.533 --> 00:01:30.202 Otherwise we're going back down tomorrow regardless. 19 00:01:30.286 --> 00:01:35.577 CLIMBER: Let’s go! We’re ready! 20 00:01:35.660 --> 00:01:39.748 BAKER: There's a reason that some of this has never been done before. 21 00:01:40.606 --> 00:01:45.152 We're trying to go to the highest reaches of Mount Everest, 22 00:01:45.236 --> 00:01:49.198 to install the highest weather station in the world. 23 00:01:49.907 --> 00:01:54.662 To try to do science up at some of these elevations is an added challenge. 24 00:01:55.871 --> 00:01:58.124 And we're pushing the envelope. 25 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:03.963 (theme music plays). 26 00:02:10.594 --> 00:02:12.430 NARRATOR: Every spring in the Himalayas, 27 00:02:12.513 --> 00:02:15.558 a temporary town comes to life. 28 00:02:18.644 --> 00:02:20.021 For the next two months, 29 00:02:20.104 --> 00:02:23.774 this will be the highest village on Earth. 30 00:02:24.984 --> 00:02:29.196 Everest's south base camp, 31 00:02:29.947 --> 00:02:32.366 at over 5,000 meters 32 00:02:32.450 --> 00:02:34.785 it's at the extreme edge of where the atmosphere can 33 00:02:34.869 --> 00:02:37.997 sustain human life. 34 00:02:39.248 --> 00:02:41.959 For decades, climbers have gathered here, 35 00:02:42.043 --> 00:02:45.463 each preparing for their chance at Everest's summit. 36 00:02:45.546 --> 00:02:51.260 (bells ringing) 37 00:02:51.635 --> 00:02:55.514 This season, one group is here with an entirely different goal... 38 00:02:55.598 --> 00:02:57.892 TOM: Namaste, my name's Tom. 39 00:02:57.975 --> 00:03:01.937 NARRATOR: To get a better understanding of how this mountain impacts all of us. 40 00:03:02.813 --> 00:03:06.317 (chanting in native language) 41 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:10.029 PAUL (off-screen): We know literally nothing about what goes on above 5,000 meters. 42 00:03:10.112 --> 00:03:14.867 And yet, it's this fantastic window into a portion of the atmosphere, 43 00:03:14.950 --> 00:03:16.911 where granted not a lot of people live, 44 00:03:16.994 --> 00:03:18.496 but that's critically important to what goes on 45 00:03:18.579 --> 00:03:20.373 in the rest of the world. 46 00:03:20.456 --> 00:03:24.460 NARRATOR: Paul Mayewski will be leading a team of more than 30 scientists, 47 00:03:24.543 --> 00:03:27.630 in some of the most challenging conditions on Earth, 48 00:03:27.713 --> 00:03:31.967 to compile the first complete portrait of the iconic mountain. 49 00:03:32.051 --> 00:03:35.262 PAUL: The National Geographic Rolex Perpetual Planet Expedition 50 00:03:35.346 --> 00:03:37.765 is the largest scientific expedition 51 00:03:37.848 --> 00:03:39.809 ever conducted on Everest. 52 00:03:39.892 --> 00:03:41.560 NARRATOR: Among those braving the mission will be: 53 00:03:41.644 --> 00:03:43.604 Geologists... 54 00:03:43.687 --> 00:03:46.440 Glacial experts... 55 00:03:46.524 --> 00:03:49.110 And a biology team... 56 00:03:49.985 --> 00:03:52.279 Most ambitious of all, 57 00:03:52.363 --> 00:03:55.408 two climate scientists are here to install the highest weather station 58 00:03:55.491 --> 00:03:57.910 the world has ever known, 59 00:03:57.993 --> 00:04:01.372 as close as they can get to the summit. 60 00:04:06.502 --> 00:04:08.546 PAUL (off-screen): Preparing for every expedition is different. 61 00:04:08.629 --> 00:04:10.297 This one was going to very high elevation. 62 00:04:10.381 --> 00:04:13.717 The plan was to not only create a scientific program that would be 63 00:04:13.801 --> 00:04:15.970 multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary, 64 00:04:16.053 --> 00:04:18.556 but find the right people to do this. 65 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:21.142 NARRATOR: One of the first to get the call was glaciochemist and 66 00:04:21.225 --> 00:04:23.519 mountaineer Mario Potocki. 67 00:04:23.602 --> 00:04:25.896 MARIO (off-screen): It was beyond the dreams, going to Everest, 68 00:04:25.980 --> 00:04:29.567 so I said, "Of course. Such adventure. Yes, please." 69 00:04:30.234 --> 00:04:32.570 But doing work at that elevation, 70 00:04:32.653 --> 00:04:37.241 8,000 meter in death zone, that's gonna be challenging. 71 00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:43.122 NARRATOR: Mario's mission is to collect a core from the highest ice on the planet. 72 00:04:43.706 --> 00:04:47.877 Inside the ice is a record of several thousand years' worth of climate on Everest. 73 00:04:48.669 --> 00:04:52.047 It contains critical pieces of missing information to help scientists 74 00:04:52.131 --> 00:04:55.384 understand climate change today. 75 00:04:55.468 --> 00:05:00.014 But the thin atmosphere near the summit presents Mario with a new challenge. 76 00:05:01.974 --> 00:05:03.684 To safely get to the top of one of the 77 00:05:03.767 --> 00:05:07.271 most extreme environments in the world, 78 00:05:07.354 --> 00:05:10.900 the scientists need a different kind of expert. 79 00:05:12.067 --> 00:05:15.696 Pete Athans has made dozens of expeditions to the Himalayas, 80 00:05:15.779 --> 00:05:19.074 starting 40 years ago. 81 00:05:19.158 --> 00:05:23.245 PETE (off-screen): I just love the feeling of being stripped down to just 82 00:05:23.329 --> 00:05:26.081 very, very basic elements. 83 00:05:26.165 --> 00:05:30.336 When you get out into the wild conditions and wild places 84 00:05:30.419 --> 00:05:33.422 on Earth you're let's just say, 85 00:05:33.506 --> 00:05:37.301 the simplicity of life becomes much more forward. 86 00:05:38.594 --> 00:05:42.056 NARRATOR: Incredibly, Pete has summited Everest seven times, 87 00:05:42.139 --> 00:05:46.143 leading teams of climbers all the way to the top. 88 00:05:47.978 --> 00:05:49.396 PETE: You find out what they're made of, 89 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:51.482 what your team is made up of and what you're made of 90 00:05:51.565 --> 00:05:54.109 as an individual. 91 00:05:55.194 --> 00:05:58.489 To see if you have the capability and aspirations, energy, 92 00:05:58.572 --> 00:06:01.992 physiology to rise to the occasion. 93 00:06:02.076 --> 00:06:06.247 NARRATOR: But this expedition is like none other Pete has ever attempted. 94 00:06:06.330 --> 00:06:10.334 PETE: They're trying to commit to getting those takeaways from the rooftop 95 00:06:10.417 --> 00:06:12.044 of the world that we don't know. 96 00:06:12.127 --> 00:06:16.674 That's the new terra incognita. That's what we don't know. It just hasn't been done. 97 00:06:20.052 --> 00:06:24.306 NARRATOR: Everest has always held its secrets close. 98 00:06:26.100 --> 00:06:28.185 Just 100 years ago, 99 00:06:28.269 --> 00:06:31.146 the Himalayas were such unknown territory that the maps were 100 00:06:31.230 --> 00:06:34.567 mostly blank spaces. 101 00:06:37.987 --> 00:06:43.450 It took more than three decades from the first attempt to summit Everest in 1921, 102 00:06:43.534 --> 00:06:48.122 before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay would be the ones to finally 103 00:06:48.205 --> 00:06:51.959 touch the highest point on earth. 104 00:06:54.336 --> 00:06:58.799 That first success inspired thousands of others to try their luck. 105 00:07:00.217 --> 00:07:05.055 PETE (off-screen): I think the enhancements in everything from the clothing we wear 106 00:07:05.139 --> 00:07:09.184 to our communications equipment have made climbing Everest easier. 107 00:07:09.268 --> 00:07:11.687 However, on the worst days, 108 00:07:11.770 --> 00:07:15.816 it's still impossible for even the best climbers in the world. 109 00:07:23.115 --> 00:07:23.907 NARRATOR: At base camp, 110 00:07:23.991 --> 00:07:27.911 Pete is heading up the safety and climbing logistics for the scientists, 111 00:07:27.995 --> 00:07:31.457 none of whom have ever attempted to summit Everest before. 112 00:07:32.666 --> 00:07:36.587 One of the first features they'll have to navigate is the notoriously 113 00:07:36.670 --> 00:07:40.049 dangerous Khumbu Icefall. 114 00:07:40.132 --> 00:07:43.636 PETE: For dealing with the Khumbu Icefall we setup a simulator at basecamp out in 115 00:07:43.719 --> 00:07:47.264 the less complicated icefall, very close to basecamp. 116 00:07:49.558 --> 00:07:52.394 We setup some difficult ladders for them, 117 00:07:52.478 --> 00:07:54.980 getting a feel for spikes and their crampons, 118 00:07:55.064 --> 00:07:57.691 and how to manage the rungs on the ladder. 119 00:07:59.234 --> 00:08:01.904 NARRATOR: To study the impacts of pollution on Everest's glaciers, 120 00:08:01.987 --> 00:08:06.158 Inka Koch needs to collect snow from above the icefall. 121 00:08:07.076 --> 00:08:08.786 INKA (off-screen): Once I decided that I would go up to 122 00:08:08.869 --> 00:08:11.080 six and a half thousand meters on Everest, 123 00:08:11.163 --> 00:08:15.125 and through the Khumbu Icefall, which is quite treacherous, 124 00:08:15.209 --> 00:08:19.421 I got really scared. 125 00:08:21.340 --> 00:08:22.591 CLIMBER (off-screen): Climbing! 126 00:08:22.675 --> 00:08:27.471 INKA (off-screen): And was super excited, but also really quite intimidated. 127 00:08:31.016 --> 00:08:32.810 MARK (off-screen): You can kick your toe in and then drop your heel. 128 00:08:32.893 --> 00:08:36.063 PETE (off-screen): Setting up fixed lines, practicing with ice screws and 129 00:08:36.146 --> 00:08:38.899 other types of anchors that they may not be familiar with, 130 00:08:38.982 --> 00:08:41.151 and then running them through, for lack of a better term, 131 00:08:41.235 --> 00:08:42.778 an obstacle course. 132 00:08:42.861 --> 00:08:44.613 Just whatever works more efficiently on... 133 00:08:44.697 --> 00:08:49.076 To the point where they just felt less intimidated by the physical environment. 134 00:08:51.161 --> 00:08:54.665 MARIO (off-screen): You have to have a lot of respect going through Khumbu Icefall. 135 00:08:54.748 --> 00:08:59.336 That was the biggest thing in our heads, because the safety issue. 136 00:08:59.420 --> 00:09:02.047 It's like very unpredictable place. 137 00:09:02.131 --> 00:09:04.425 NARRATOR: The ice fall is the most active, shifting part 138 00:09:04.508 --> 00:09:08.679 of a giant, constantly moving, 16-kilometer-long glacier. 139 00:09:09.805 --> 00:09:13.016 Base camp lies directly on top of its lowest curve. 140 00:09:14.560 --> 00:09:17.104 To get to the summit from Everest's south side, 141 00:09:17.187 --> 00:09:20.232 climbers follow the glacier up the mountain, 142 00:09:20.315 --> 00:09:23.777 stopping to acclimate for several nights at camps along the way. 143 00:09:25.821 --> 00:09:29.199 The Khumbu is the highest glacier in the world. 144 00:09:29.283 --> 00:09:32.411 To better understand how it's impacted by a warming climate, 145 00:09:32.494 --> 00:09:34.997 expedition scientists will be studying it from 146 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:36.582 many different angles. 147 00:09:36.665 --> 00:09:37.875 ALEX: You can see the bedrock there... 148 00:09:37.958 --> 00:09:41.795 One of the big scientific questions this expedition is answering is how climate 149 00:09:41.879 --> 00:09:45.674 change in particular is happening in the high mountain regions? 150 00:09:46.592 --> 00:09:48.635 How quickly are the glaciers changing? 151 00:09:48.719 --> 00:09:53.515 How quickly are they reducing in their size and their volume? 152 00:09:56.143 --> 00:09:57.686 NARRATOR: To answer these questions, 153 00:09:57.770 --> 00:10:00.689 National Geographic geographer, Alex Tait, 154 00:10:00.773 --> 00:10:04.485 is heading up a team to map the giant glacier in its entirety, 155 00:10:04.568 --> 00:10:07.237 including base camp. 156 00:10:08.322 --> 00:10:12.910 The highly detailed map will be a snapshot of the iceform today, 157 00:10:12.993 --> 00:10:16.830 so they'll be able to track changes in the future. 158 00:10:17.539 --> 00:10:20.542 They'll be using a combination of digital scans and photographs to 159 00:10:20.626 --> 00:10:24.505 stitch together 3D images of the environment. 160 00:10:28.425 --> 00:10:33.514 Chris Millbern's job is to scan and photograph every square centimeter in sight. 161 00:10:36.683 --> 00:10:38.018 CHRIS: If we can pull off this scan, 162 00:10:38.101 --> 00:10:41.271 I'm pretty convinced that we can pull it off anywhere. 163 00:10:45.150 --> 00:10:47.027 This is a really difficult environment and 164 00:10:47.110 --> 00:10:48.737 it's really hard to climb around so we can 165 00:10:48.821 --> 00:10:52.074 only take pictures from so many angles on foot. 166 00:10:53.784 --> 00:10:57.913 Drones really help us give the overall sphere an extra bit of resolution, 167 00:10:57.996 --> 00:11:01.458 an extra bit of perspective on Everest base camp. 168 00:11:11.844 --> 00:11:15.764 We're using LiDAR, which is a laser scanning tool. 169 00:11:15.848 --> 00:11:19.351 And this laser scanner shoots out 2 million points per second, 170 00:11:19.434 --> 00:11:22.271 taking individual measurements every single time that it shoots out 171 00:11:22.354 --> 00:11:24.022 one of those lasers. 172 00:11:24.106 --> 00:11:27.442 It does that in a 360 degree sphere and measures everything 173 00:11:27.526 --> 00:11:30.320 that it can see. 174 00:11:30.404 --> 00:11:33.782 What we then do is we take high resolution images to paste onto 175 00:11:33.866 --> 00:11:37.452 those measurements that the laser scanning provides. 176 00:11:41.164 --> 00:11:43.208 NARRATOR: To map the entire extent of the glacier, 177 00:11:43.292 --> 00:11:45.586 the team takes to the skies, 178 00:11:45.669 --> 00:11:48.964 using LiDAR mounted underneath a helicopter. 179 00:11:51.592 --> 00:11:54.887 CHRIS: Having a scan of a glacier means that you can measure the exact recession 180 00:11:54.970 --> 00:11:57.472 a year from now, five years from now, ten years from now, 181 00:11:57.556 --> 00:12:00.893 and see exactly what the difference is. 182 00:12:02.394 --> 00:12:06.481 PAUL: The way that we can understand the impact of warming in the Himalayas, 183 00:12:06.565 --> 00:12:10.861 is largely through the extent of glaciers. 184 00:12:11.570 --> 00:12:13.572 NARRATOR: After the north and south poles, 185 00:12:13.655 --> 00:12:16.199 the Himalayas have more frozen water than 186 00:12:16.283 --> 00:12:18.535 anywhere in the world. 187 00:12:18.619 --> 00:12:21.747 PAUL: The high mountain areas are critically important because those are 188 00:12:21.830 --> 00:12:23.457 our water towers. 189 00:12:23.540 --> 00:12:26.793 Those are the places where a tremendous amount of water is stored. 190 00:12:28.211 --> 00:12:30.839 NARRATOR: Nearly a quarter of the world's population depends on that 191 00:12:30.923 --> 00:12:33.300 glacial water to survive. 192 00:12:33.383 --> 00:12:35.052 ALEX (off-screen): Downstream from high-mountain Asia, 193 00:12:35.135 --> 00:12:36.762 we have hundreds of millions of people who 194 00:12:36.845 --> 00:12:40.182 rely on the water from the rivers that flow out. 195 00:12:40.265 --> 00:12:43.477 NARRATOR: The glaciers that hold the precious resource have been shrinking at an 196 00:12:43.560 --> 00:12:46.730 alarming rate over the past few decades. 197 00:12:46.813 --> 00:12:50.525 Since 2000, melting in these mountains has doubled. 198 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:53.236 Without a plan for what's ahead, 199 00:12:53.320 --> 00:12:56.323 most of south Asia could be facing catastrophe. 200 00:13:00.410 --> 00:13:04.873 NARRATOR: The Himalayas are losing around 7.5 billion tons of ice every year. 201 00:13:06.083 --> 00:13:08.543 This creates two different dangers. 202 00:13:08.627 --> 00:13:10.545 If the glaciers disappear, 203 00:13:10.629 --> 00:13:14.466 the water supply for more than a billion people will be at risk. 204 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:18.679 And as the meltwater rushes down from the mountains, 205 00:13:18.762 --> 00:13:21.139 there's a more immediate danger... 206 00:13:21.223 --> 00:13:23.892 Deadly flash flooding. 207 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:27.980 Until now, there have been few warning systems 208 00:13:28.063 --> 00:13:30.524 in place to predict disaster and provide 209 00:13:30.607 --> 00:13:34.194 lifesaving information for people below. 210 00:13:35.028 --> 00:13:38.532 Tom Matthews and Baker Perry are here to try and change that. 211 00:13:39.116 --> 00:13:42.536 Their plan is to install a network of weather stations at five carefully chosen 212 00:13:42.619 --> 00:13:45.831 locations along the main climbing route. 213 00:13:47.082 --> 00:13:51.336 The last station will be placed as close to the summit as the team can get. 214 00:13:52.462 --> 00:13:55.465 All the stations will have instruments measuring temperature... 215 00:13:55.549 --> 00:13:56.466 Humidity... 216 00:13:56.550 --> 00:13:57.592 Air pressure... 217 00:13:57.676 --> 00:14:00.053 And wind speed... 218 00:14:00.137 --> 00:14:02.222 This network will produce a constant stream of near 219 00:14:02.305 --> 00:14:06.435 real-time data to help create accurate weather forecasts. 220 00:14:08.020 --> 00:14:10.647 One of the lower stations will be installed near base camp, 221 00:14:10.731 --> 00:14:13.483 with part of it perched on the ice itself. 222 00:14:14.484 --> 00:14:17.154 TOM: These will just hold... Good. Good, good, good. 223 00:14:17.237 --> 00:14:19.114 MAN: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 224 00:14:19.197 --> 00:14:21.116 TOM (off-screen): We knew it would get harder and harder as we went up to 225 00:14:21.199 --> 00:14:22.993 install these weather stations. 226 00:14:23.076 --> 00:14:24.411 Yep, tighten everything. 227 00:14:24.494 --> 00:14:27.664 So we knew early on that the Sherpa team were going to be instrumental in this, 228 00:14:27.748 --> 00:14:31.752 that we would have to work quickly and efficiently as a team to deploy those weather 229 00:14:31.835 --> 00:14:34.796 stations as fast as possible. 230 00:14:36.506 --> 00:14:38.592 Once the base camp science had been done, 231 00:14:38.675 --> 00:14:41.845 we could then start focusing on moving higher. 232 00:14:42.429 --> 00:14:45.891 PETE: Does everybody have a mask and a regulator? 233 00:14:46.975 --> 00:14:48.602 TOM (off-screen): The fear of going through the ice fall and 234 00:14:48.685 --> 00:14:51.354 the worry of columns of ice collapsing, 235 00:14:51.438 --> 00:14:53.690 of avalanches coming down from the slopes, 236 00:14:53.774 --> 00:14:55.484 it was a little bit overwhelming at times to 237 00:14:55.567 --> 00:14:59.196 think about the ordeal that was ahead, or the challenge that was ahead. 238 00:14:59.905 --> 00:15:01.490 NARRATOR: Over the next four weeks, 239 00:15:01.573 --> 00:15:04.117 the high-altitude team of scientists and Sherpas will 240 00:15:04.201 --> 00:15:08.538 work their way up from basecamp ever closer to Everest's summit. 241 00:15:09.331 --> 00:15:11.416 They will set up weather stations and collect ice cores 242 00:15:11.500 --> 00:15:14.544 at key locations along the way. 243 00:15:14.628 --> 00:15:17.881 Camp 1 is just above the ice fall. 244 00:15:17.964 --> 00:15:21.676 Camp 2 sits in the middle of a huge natural amphitheater, 245 00:15:21.760 --> 00:15:24.096 filled with massive amounts of snow. 246 00:15:24.179 --> 00:15:28.016 Camp 3 is perched at 7,000 meters. 247 00:15:29.267 --> 00:15:31.436 TOM (off-screen): You can barely believe there's a camp up there. 248 00:15:31.520 --> 00:15:33.480 It's only as you're ascending to Camp 3 that 249 00:15:33.563 --> 00:15:36.775 you can see there's this kind of notch carved out, 250 00:15:36.858 --> 00:15:40.362 and there's an area that you can pitch tents. 251 00:15:41.071 --> 00:15:45.075 NARRATOR: From there they'll climb up to Camp 4 in the South Col. 252 00:15:45.659 --> 00:15:48.537 TOM (off-screen): You're still looking up at the top of the mountain there. 253 00:15:48.620 --> 00:15:52.207 From the South Col, you've pretty much got to climb the equivalent height of the 254 00:15:52.290 --> 00:15:55.377 tallest mountain in England. 255 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:58.797 NARRATOR: The Balcony is the last resting stop before the final 256 00:15:58.880 --> 00:16:01.424 few hundred meters to the summit. 257 00:16:10.350 --> 00:16:13.562 TOM: 4:00 am, we're about to start up the icefall proper. 258 00:16:13.645 --> 00:16:18.567 Hopefully we'll get through it as quick as we can and emerge safely at Camp 1. 259 00:16:19.192 --> 00:16:20.735 BAKER: All good. 260 00:16:20.819 --> 00:16:23.029 AMRIT: Excited! 261 00:16:23.113 --> 00:16:25.198 MAN (off-screen): Yeah! 262 00:16:26.750 --> 00:16:30.879 NARRATOR: The first phase of the climb is a test of skill and nerves. 263 00:16:32.255 --> 00:16:34.966 PETE (off-screen): In recent years certainly the most fatalities have taken place 264 00:16:35.050 --> 00:16:37.177 in the Khumbu Icefall. 265 00:16:37.260 --> 00:16:40.263 It's our greatest technical challenge. 266 00:16:41.431 --> 00:16:44.601 It's the one where you have the fewest options for putting a safe 267 00:16:44.684 --> 00:16:47.312 and efficient route through. 268 00:16:47.395 --> 00:16:49.647 AMRIT: So, who got the first ladder of the day? 269 00:16:49.731 --> 00:16:52.567 Cause it's going up on the ladder. 270 00:16:57.447 --> 00:17:00.492 BAKER (off-screen): You're always on edge for sounds and 271 00:17:00.575 --> 00:17:04.204 for what might be coming at you. 272 00:17:05.830 --> 00:17:07.999 If the hazards weren't there, 273 00:17:08.083 --> 00:17:13.254 of a block of ice falling or an avalanche occurring, 274 00:17:13.338 --> 00:17:15.423 it'd be a lot more fun. 275 00:17:15.507 --> 00:17:19.010 I mean it's an obstacle course to go through. 276 00:17:29.396 --> 00:17:32.524 TOM: You're aware of the risk and the kind of Russian roulette nature of it. 277 00:17:32.607 --> 00:17:36.945 You know every crack, every rumble from up above 278 00:17:37.028 --> 00:17:40.615 is accompanied by quite the same level of fear. 279 00:17:41.199 --> 00:17:42.992 PETE: I'm hopeful that we'll be able to understand 280 00:17:43.076 --> 00:17:45.703 more about the glacier after this expedition, 281 00:17:45.787 --> 00:17:47.831 and maybe we'll be able to come up with some theory as to what 282 00:17:47.914 --> 00:17:50.708 exactly is going on there. 283 00:17:50.792 --> 00:17:55.380 What makes one good day turn into someone else's bad day within 24 hours? 284 00:17:55.463 --> 00:17:58.007 How do we predict that if we can? 285 00:18:03.304 --> 00:18:06.683 NARRATOR: The dangers on Mount Everest are natural and expected, 286 00:18:06.766 --> 00:18:09.060 but this year there's another hazard, 287 00:18:09.144 --> 00:18:11.855 one more difficult to accept. 288 00:18:11.938 --> 00:18:14.941 REPORTER: It's a bucket list for many, turning fatal this year. 289 00:18:15.024 --> 00:18:18.903 Reports of inexperience and overcrowding emerging in one of the deadliest 290 00:18:18.987 --> 00:18:22.323 seasons to hit Mount Everest. 291 00:18:23.950 --> 00:18:27.829 TOM (off-screen): We were unlucky enough to experience Everest in a very, 292 00:18:27.912 --> 00:18:29.497 very busy season. 293 00:18:29.581 --> 00:18:31.499 People are only moving higher up on the mountain 294 00:18:31.583 --> 00:18:33.877 when the weather is okay to do it. 295 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:37.630 There weren't many windows that were suitable for climbing. 296 00:18:46.931 --> 00:18:49.559 DIRK (off-screen): We're kinda at this bottleneck in the icefall 297 00:18:49.642 --> 00:18:51.519 where there's two vertical ladders, 298 00:18:51.603 --> 00:18:54.856 and they're a little bit of a tough climb for some people, 299 00:18:54.939 --> 00:18:58.902 so there's 150 people standing here under a serac, 300 00:18:58.985 --> 00:19:01.696 we're kinda standing back from it a little bit. 301 00:19:01.779 --> 00:19:04.699 It's not the safest situation. 302 00:19:05.658 --> 00:19:07.619 BAKER: We're gonna be here a while, 303 00:19:07.702 --> 00:19:10.121 so we might as well get comfortable. 304 00:19:10.205 --> 00:19:13.249 Appreciating the virtue of patience. 305 00:19:14.459 --> 00:19:17.253 AMRIT: My fingers are getting a little cold, my toes are getting cold, 306 00:19:17.337 --> 00:19:20.840 but it'll get over. 307 00:19:21.382 --> 00:19:23.801 It's all good. 308 00:19:31.851 --> 00:19:33.436 MARIO (off-screen): That's a very charming place. 309 00:19:33.520 --> 00:19:35.813 It's hard to describe because you feel all pressure, 310 00:19:35.897 --> 00:19:37.565 or all tension, 311 00:19:37.649 --> 00:19:43.071 emotional tension because you have hanging gigantic pieces of ice overhead. 312 00:19:44.155 --> 00:19:46.449 But then when you're just over everything and 313 00:19:46.533 --> 00:19:47.951 in Camp 1 you just like think, 314 00:19:48.034 --> 00:19:50.453 ‘Oh my god that was an amazing experience.' 315 00:19:50.537 --> 00:19:53.540 AMRIT: Heavy breathing, short breath, 316 00:19:53.623 --> 00:19:55.542 but now I feel very good. 317 00:19:55.625 --> 00:19:57.544 It's very rewarding. 318 00:19:57.627 --> 00:20:00.755 We feel like we did something good today. 319 00:20:01.756 --> 00:20:04.801 NARRATOR: As the high-altitude team approaches elevations increasingly 320 00:20:04.884 --> 00:20:06.886 dangerous to human life... 321 00:20:06.970 --> 00:20:08.263 ANTON (off-screen): Two types of surveys we'll be doing. 322 00:20:08.346 --> 00:20:09.847 Water filtration... 323 00:20:09.931 --> 00:20:11.349 NARRATOR: Back at base camp... 324 00:20:11.432 --> 00:20:12.934 ANTON: Collecting water samples. 325 00:20:13.017 --> 00:20:16.646 And also doing things like turning over rocks, looking underneath, 326 00:20:16.729 --> 00:20:18.231 and seeing what's there. 327 00:20:18.314 --> 00:20:21.484 NARRATOR: Biology lead Tracie Seimon and her husband Anton Seimon are 328 00:20:21.568 --> 00:20:25.029 studying life forms better suited to survive up here. 329 00:20:25.113 --> 00:20:28.157 TRACIE (off-screen): The biodiversity of this area is really poorly understood. 330 00:20:28.241 --> 00:20:32.829 This will be the first comprehensive biodiversity survey 331 00:20:32.912 --> 00:20:35.665 performed on Mount Everest. 332 00:20:35.748 --> 00:20:39.502 We are at 5,300 meters. 333 00:20:40.420 --> 00:20:45.592 We are trying to find some of the highest life forms we can. 334 00:20:46.509 --> 00:20:47.677 ANTON (off-screen): Really interesting. 335 00:20:47.760 --> 00:20:50.054 There's much more life up here than meets the eye at first glance, 336 00:20:50.138 --> 00:20:51.472 that's for sure. 337 00:20:51.556 --> 00:20:54.100 So here's some tussock grass and some mosses, 338 00:20:54.183 --> 00:20:57.061 and these were all growing under the pebbles and rocks you see here. 339 00:20:57.145 --> 00:21:01.274 And here, there is a very delicate little plant. 340 00:21:01.357 --> 00:21:03.610 There's a little alpine garden here. 341 00:21:04.360 --> 00:21:07.238 NARRATOR: There are even tiny insects, known as bristletails. 342 00:21:07.322 --> 00:21:09.907 Related to the common silverfish. 343 00:21:10.950 --> 00:21:15.913 TRACIE: He's got these long filaments sticking out, that's a bristletail. 344 00:21:15.997 --> 00:21:18.374 NARRATOR: The drastic changes these specialized species 345 00:21:18.458 --> 00:21:21.753 are facing up here could provide an early indicator 346 00:21:21.836 --> 00:21:26.049 of what's in store for the rest of the world as our climate warms. 347 00:21:26.132 --> 00:21:28.551 ANTON (off-screen): We're getting a window into what the rest of the world is 348 00:21:28.635 --> 00:21:33.473 starting to experience and likely to experience in growing proportions. 349 00:21:33.556 --> 00:21:38.478 As the ice is melting and everything's moving uphill, the snow lines are rising, 350 00:21:38.561 --> 00:21:42.065 the biosphere itself is rising to occupy that space. 351 00:21:42.148 --> 00:21:43.775 But how rapidly is it rising? 352 00:21:43.858 --> 00:21:45.943 Which species are rising faster? 353 00:21:46.027 --> 00:21:48.946 What's being left behind? 354 00:21:54.661 --> 00:21:58.081 NARRATOR: As the high-altitude team moves farther up the mountain, 355 00:21:58.164 --> 00:22:00.875 the greatest danger they must face comes from the very thing they're 356 00:22:00.958 --> 00:22:02.710 determined to measure... 357 00:22:02.794 --> 00:22:04.128 The weather. 358 00:22:04.212 --> 00:22:06.506 PETE (off-screen): The fears are always the uncontrollable elements... 359 00:22:06.589 --> 00:22:07.757 The weather. 360 00:22:07.840 --> 00:22:10.593 That's always the one we try to keep an eye on the most, 361 00:22:10.677 --> 00:22:13.012 so we don't put our team into any type 362 00:22:13.096 --> 00:22:15.848 of hazardous jeopardy. 363 00:22:15.932 --> 00:22:18.768 People are well prepared to deal with the cold, 364 00:22:18.851 --> 00:22:22.772 but it's really more having the ability to deal with the wind. 365 00:22:23.898 --> 00:22:25.525 TOM (off-screen): We changed our plans this morning. 366 00:22:25.608 --> 00:22:26.984 We were originally going to leave tomorrow, 367 00:22:27.068 --> 00:22:28.986 but the weather window dictates that it's 368 00:22:29.070 --> 00:22:31.114 really most sensible to leave today. 369 00:22:31.197 --> 00:22:37.203 BAKER: I think we're all excited to go up, but obviously a little 370 00:22:37.286 --> 00:22:42.083 apprehensive with just health and altitude 371 00:22:42.166 --> 00:22:45.503 and crowds and weather, 372 00:22:45.586 --> 00:22:49.006 but this is the time to go. 373 00:22:50.299 --> 00:22:54.303 NARRATOR: As the scientist and Sherpa team responds to the changing conditions, 374 00:22:54.387 --> 00:22:58.099 Pete keeps close track of all the teams from base camp. 375 00:22:58.641 --> 00:23:02.770 PETE (off-screen): I'm always conflicted about having people under my care on Everest, 376 00:23:02.854 --> 00:23:05.064 especially when I'm not going above basecamp, 377 00:23:05.148 --> 00:23:08.735 and because as well as somebody might understand the mountain 378 00:23:08.818 --> 00:23:13.072 the natural world doesn't always know who the experts are. 379 00:23:18.286 --> 00:23:22.415 NARRATOR: Pete Athans knows better than most how unforgiving Everest can be. 380 00:23:23.207 --> 00:23:26.502 He was on the mountain on one of its darkest days. 381 00:23:27.378 --> 00:23:29.756 On May 10th, 1996, 382 00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:33.801 he was making his fifth ascent up Mount Everest. 383 00:23:33.885 --> 00:23:37.847 He had reached Camp 3 for the night when he received the news. 384 00:23:37.930 --> 00:23:42.602 PETE: We heard at about 11:00 PM at night that there were still 16 people 385 00:23:42.685 --> 00:23:45.438 who hadn't made it back down to the high camp, 386 00:23:45.521 --> 00:23:48.232 at Camp 4, 26,000 feet. 387 00:23:48.316 --> 00:23:52.653 We dropped everything that we had at that point and worked our way back up 388 00:23:52.737 --> 00:23:56.115 to Camp 4 to assist people. 389 00:23:56.199 --> 00:23:57.700 NARRATOR: Earlier that day, 390 00:23:57.784 --> 00:24:00.745 several teams had set out to make their summit attempt. 391 00:24:00.828 --> 00:24:03.331 But a series of delays with rope lines and 392 00:24:03.414 --> 00:24:06.709 crowding slowed many members of the teams, 393 00:24:06.793 --> 00:24:11.130 and some were still pushing towards the top late into the afternoon. 394 00:24:12.048 --> 00:24:15.051 As the day inched closer to night, 395 00:24:15.134 --> 00:24:18.095 a powerful blizzard pounded the mountain. 396 00:24:18.179 --> 00:24:20.348 PETE: There were extreme high winds. 397 00:24:20.431 --> 00:24:24.560 There was some snow fall, poor visibility. 398 00:24:25.394 --> 00:24:28.356 NARRATOR: Unable to locate the safety of Camp 4, 399 00:24:28.439 --> 00:24:31.692 the climbers were trapped out in the open on the mountain. 400 00:24:31.776 --> 00:24:34.904 Eight people lost their lives. 401 00:24:36.197 --> 00:24:39.575 Preventing tragedies like these is just one more motivation 402 00:24:39.659 --> 00:24:41.994 for the weather station team. 403 00:24:42.078 --> 00:24:46.457 TOM: Being able to predict the weather with greater accuracy 404 00:24:46.541 --> 00:24:49.836 and avoid surprises could potentially save lives. 405 00:24:52.713 --> 00:24:54.841 DAWA (off-screen): We are at Camp 3 today. 406 00:24:54.924 --> 00:24:57.343 We just came from Camp 2. 407 00:24:57.426 --> 00:25:00.513 Mostly like, vertical uphill. 408 00:25:01.556 --> 00:25:04.433 But we had a really kinda mixed day today 409 00:25:04.517 --> 00:25:07.645 with the hot sun into the snowy ending, 410 00:25:07.728 --> 00:25:10.898 and now it's getting better here. 411 00:25:12.441 --> 00:25:15.528 TENKZA (over radio): Be by 5:30. 412 00:25:15.611 --> 00:25:19.323 PETE (off-screen): So the Sherpa team will meet them at 5:30 at Camp 3. 413 00:25:19.407 --> 00:25:21.534 TENKZA (over radio): Yeah, that's correct. 414 00:25:21.617 --> 00:25:22.743 PETE: Okay Tenkza, 415 00:25:22.827 --> 00:25:25.580 that's a good time for them to start, 416 00:25:25.663 --> 00:25:29.083 and they will then get to the South Col pretty early. 417 00:25:29.166 --> 00:25:31.419 TENKZA (over radio): Sounds good, see you tomorrow. 418 00:25:31.502 --> 00:25:33.004 (speaking native language). 419 00:25:33.087 --> 00:25:35.089 PETE: Basecamp standing by. 420 00:25:40.970 --> 00:25:42.680 TOM: Cold start but we're nearly there now. 421 00:25:42.763 --> 00:25:45.641 Sherpas just joined us from Camp 2. 422 00:25:45.725 --> 00:25:48.144 About to saddle up, start the oxygen flowing, 423 00:25:48.227 --> 00:25:51.439 then long climb to Camp 4. 424 00:26:06.120 --> 00:26:08.706 CLIMBER: Moving up. 425 00:26:08.789 --> 00:26:11.375 Almost to the South Col. 426 00:26:11.459 --> 00:26:14.378 It’s good to be heading higher. 427 00:26:19.342 --> 00:26:23.179 TOM (off-screen): Many times I was thinking about what the early pioneers of 428 00:26:23.262 --> 00:26:25.306 Everest climbing must have been thinking 429 00:26:25.389 --> 00:26:28.142 at different stages of the climb. 430 00:26:28.225 --> 00:26:30.937 The uncertainty of what was ahead. 431 00:26:31.020 --> 00:26:35.191 And not knowing at any point, whether perhaps the route would become unclimbable. 432 00:26:36.984 --> 00:26:42.573 I don't know how those early climbers managed to suppress those voices of fear and doubt 433 00:26:42.657 --> 00:26:45.785 as they were pressing on towards the summit. 434 00:26:48.621 --> 00:26:52.249 NARRATOR: This team has more in its sights than the summit. 435 00:26:52.333 --> 00:26:56.587 Mario is finally within reach of the ice core he's come to Everest for. 436 00:26:57.713 --> 00:27:00.049 MARIO (off-screen): We are at Camp 4, South Col. 437 00:27:00.132 --> 00:27:04.261 30 minutes from here there is a beautiful blue ice. 438 00:27:04.345 --> 00:27:10.059 I believe it's very old glacier and I'd love to drill a couple meters on the top, 439 00:27:10.142 --> 00:27:13.270 and meter or two on the bottom. 440 00:27:13.354 --> 00:27:16.565 I hope that will work. 441 00:27:16.649 --> 00:27:19.068 PAUL (off-screen): Ice cores are like a big detective story. 442 00:27:19.151 --> 00:27:22.530 We work with historians, archeologists, atmospheric chemists. 443 00:27:22.613 --> 00:27:26.993 Locked in those ice cores is everything that happened in the atmosphere. 444 00:27:28.536 --> 00:27:31.872 NARRATOR: Never before has an ice core been collected from this height. 445 00:27:32.581 --> 00:27:38.212 MARIO (off-screen): It's like opening a new window for science for us. 446 00:27:38.295 --> 00:27:40.840 It's absolutely unknown territory. 447 00:27:40.923 --> 00:27:43.217 NARRATOR: Now into Everest's death zone, 448 00:27:43.300 --> 00:27:46.595 above 8,000 meters, there is no margin for error. 449 00:27:46.679 --> 00:27:49.015 DAWA: Yeah, it's windy here. 450 00:27:49.098 --> 00:27:51.767 Very windy. 451 00:27:52.601 --> 00:27:54.854 PAUL (off-screen): You'll have literally only a couple of hours. 452 00:27:54.937 --> 00:27:58.524 In which you can exert yourself enough to, to drill down, 453 00:27:58.607 --> 00:28:01.652 pull the sample back out again, get it into a container. 454 00:28:01.736 --> 00:28:04.739 And there are a lot of places you can make a mistake. 455 00:28:05.614 --> 00:28:08.993 MARIO (off-screen): Whenever you drill, it's never the same type of ice. 456 00:28:09.076 --> 00:28:12.371 So, we didn't know really what we may expect. 457 00:28:14.248 --> 00:28:18.002 Just very first bite in ice, when the drill start rotating, 458 00:28:18.085 --> 00:28:21.839 and you see it's just going deeper and penetrating ice. 459 00:28:21.922 --> 00:28:24.842 It's just like, phew yeah, it's going to work. 460 00:28:24.925 --> 00:28:29.638 It was the most wonderful moment actually, because all stress just gone. 461 00:28:34.226 --> 00:28:36.896 I remember, I just, like, took my mask off. 462 00:28:36.979 --> 00:28:38.564 It's like, "Yes, it's going happen." 463 00:28:38.647 --> 00:28:41.400 So, everybody's just happy, like, "Hey, Mario, it's good ice." 464 00:28:41.484 --> 00:28:45.446 I was like, "Yeah, that's fantastic." 465 00:28:45.529 --> 00:28:47.948 So, like everybody start work really fast. 466 00:28:53.454 --> 00:28:55.039 (groans) 467 00:28:55.831 --> 00:28:59.210 Two or three times more and we're finished. 468 00:29:01.462 --> 00:29:03.464 NARRATOR: With every foot of ice drilled, 469 00:29:03.547 --> 00:29:06.425 the core reaches further back into time. 470 00:29:07.259 --> 00:29:10.262 Ten meters could mean Mario has reached ice that will reveal secrets 471 00:29:10.346 --> 00:29:13.349 around 5,000 years old. 472 00:29:13.432 --> 00:29:18.312 MARIO: I'm so extremely happy because it's going... 473 00:29:18.395 --> 00:29:20.231 Well we may finish soon because it's 474 00:29:20.314 --> 00:29:23.526 getting more and more difficult, but it's fantastic. 475 00:29:23.609 --> 00:29:26.403 The ice quality is WOW! 476 00:29:26.487 --> 00:29:28.364 Ok that's number 7. 477 00:29:28.447 --> 00:29:33.285 Amazing! Whooo! 478 00:29:34.453 --> 00:29:37.081 Awesome! 479 00:29:39.083 --> 00:29:41.710 Thank you everybody! 480 00:29:41.794 --> 00:29:44.380 PAUL (off-screen): In order to make better predictions for the future, 481 00:29:44.463 --> 00:29:46.841 you need to go back in time to see under a 482 00:29:46.924 --> 00:29:48.509 naturally colder climate, 483 00:29:48.592 --> 00:29:50.636 were there more storms or fewer storms? 484 00:29:50.719 --> 00:29:54.515 Was there more precipitation coming in, or less? 485 00:29:58.185 --> 00:29:59.895 NARRATOR: In a valley below, 486 00:29:59.979 --> 00:30:02.523 another team hopes to collect more information to fill in 487 00:30:02.606 --> 00:30:05.442 the pieces of this ancient climate. 488 00:30:05.526 --> 00:30:09.113 But their challenge isn't ice, it's water. 489 00:30:15.077 --> 00:30:18.747 NARRATOR: Geologists Mary Hubbard and Ananta Gajurel 490 00:30:18.831 --> 00:30:20.666 head up the effort to collect mud samples 491 00:30:20.749 --> 00:30:23.836 containing lifeforms from centuries ago... 492 00:30:23.919 --> 00:30:25.796 Ten meters deep in the lake. 493 00:30:25.880 --> 00:30:28.924 MARY: So our project here is to take rafts and go out on this lake 494 00:30:29.008 --> 00:30:31.010 to take a sediment core. 495 00:30:31.093 --> 00:30:35.556 We've got two boats that we will raft together in catamaran style. 496 00:30:35.639 --> 00:30:37.725 And then we'll go under the boat. 497 00:30:37.808 --> 00:30:38.934 SHERPA: Under the boat? 498 00:30:39.018 --> 00:30:40.352 MARY: Under the boat. 499 00:30:40.436 --> 00:30:43.898 On an annual basis, streams are flowing into the lake, they bring sediment with them, 500 00:30:43.981 --> 00:30:45.316 the sediment's deposited. 501 00:30:45.399 --> 00:30:47.193 There's also wind-blown pollen that comes 502 00:30:47.276 --> 00:30:50.154 from trees in the areas or plants in the area, 503 00:30:50.237 --> 00:30:51.906 and that's deposited in the lake. 504 00:30:51.989 --> 00:30:54.450 So that's all recorded. 505 00:30:54.533 --> 00:30:57.369 BIBEK (off-screen): In this context of changing climate 506 00:30:57.453 --> 00:30:59.747 everything we can get our hands on to figure out 507 00:30:59.830 --> 00:31:04.960 how climate is behaving through the time is really important. 508 00:31:06.086 --> 00:31:09.423 It gives you like a tape recording of the climate, 509 00:31:09.506 --> 00:31:10.966 of the surrounding, 510 00:31:11.050 --> 00:31:14.094 of almost everything in that time. 511 00:31:14.929 --> 00:31:18.933 It's really important to understand the past to predict what's going to 512 00:31:19.016 --> 00:31:21.936 happen in the future. 513 00:31:24.813 --> 00:31:29.193 MARY: So can you, can you pick this up 514 00:31:29.276 --> 00:31:33.030 and hold it vertical in the hole. 515 00:31:35.532 --> 00:31:38.369 The core is just a weighted device with a plexiglass tube that will 516 00:31:38.452 --> 00:31:40.204 collect the sediment, that we drop, 517 00:31:40.287 --> 00:31:42.498 and gravity takes it to the bottom. 518 00:31:44.291 --> 00:31:49.004 There's a small weight that sits on a pipe, 519 00:31:49.088 --> 00:31:51.423 and you pull it up about eight to ten inches and 520 00:31:51.507 --> 00:31:52.883 you drop it back down, 521 00:31:52.967 --> 00:31:54.843 and you do that multiple times and it hammers that 522 00:31:54.927 --> 00:31:58.472 core tube down into the mud. 523 00:31:58.555 --> 00:31:59.890 BIBEK: Come on. 524 00:31:59.974 --> 00:32:01.392 MARY: Yep, I can feel it going down. 525 00:32:01.475 --> 00:32:04.728 BIBEK: Almost everything in the mountains is difficult... 526 00:32:04.812 --> 00:32:08.732 (overlapping chatter) 527 00:32:08.816 --> 00:32:12.945 BIBEK (off-screen): Cause you are not at your full strength at that altitude. 528 00:32:13.821 --> 00:32:16.073 MARY (off-screen): Keep it vertical. 529 00:32:16.156 --> 00:32:17.408 A little muddy. 530 00:32:17.491 --> 00:32:19.618 Keep it vertical, vertical, vertical! 531 00:32:19.702 --> 00:32:23.038 The sediment was much heavier than I anticipated. 532 00:32:23.122 --> 00:32:24.957 You have to keep the sediment barrel, 533 00:32:25.040 --> 00:32:28.836 the core barrel, vertical until you get it all capped and sealed, 534 00:32:28.919 --> 00:32:30.879 which actually happens on shore. 535 00:32:30.963 --> 00:32:32.298 Yeah, we're going to set it... 536 00:32:32.381 --> 00:32:38.512 When we pulled the lake core up, you can't quite see what's inside. 537 00:32:38.595 --> 00:32:42.141 It's a little bit like getting a Christmas present that's wrapped in paper. 538 00:32:42.224 --> 00:32:46.562 It's not until we get it back to the laboratory that you then really see 539 00:32:46.645 --> 00:32:50.065 those nice layers of the core. 540 00:32:56.238 --> 00:32:59.158 DIRK: A lot of people up on the route! 541 00:32:59.241 --> 00:33:01.785 NARRATOR: At 8,000 meters, the high-altitude team 542 00:33:01.869 --> 00:33:03.829 is facing their one chance to enter the most 543 00:33:03.912 --> 00:33:06.665 extreme reaches of the planet. 544 00:33:06.749 --> 00:33:11.337 They'll only be able to spend a few hours here to install the final weather station. 545 00:33:11.420 --> 00:33:14.882 A year of preparation all comes down to this. 546 00:33:14.965 --> 00:33:16.717 MARIO (off-screen): Finished packing a drill. 547 00:33:16.800 --> 00:33:22.389 We fill our bottles, because around 11:00 pm we are going to the summit, drill, 548 00:33:22.473 --> 00:33:28.854 and put weather stations, the highest ones, both. 549 00:33:29.980 --> 00:33:32.399 Fingers crossed. 550 00:33:32.483 --> 00:33:33.692 TOM (off-screen): Suiting up. 551 00:33:33.776 --> 00:33:35.819 Harness on. Crampons on. 552 00:33:35.903 --> 00:33:40.783 I'm about to start the final 850 meters to the summit. 553 00:33:41.325 --> 00:33:46.372 There's not a breath of wind, we couldn't ask for more at this stage. 554 00:33:47.748 --> 00:33:50.501 I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous. 555 00:33:50.584 --> 00:33:54.797 I am, I guess there's nothing left to do but face the music and dance. 556 00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:56.548 MARK (off-screen): Yeah. 557 00:33:56.632 --> 00:33:59.259 BAKER: Do me a favor and turn me up to two? 558 00:33:59.343 --> 00:34:01.011 MARK: Yeah. 559 00:34:03.931 --> 00:34:07.434 BAKER (off-screen): Just going into the unknown in the middle of the night, you know, 560 00:34:07.518 --> 00:34:11.855 recognizing that we're totally dependent on our down suits, 561 00:34:11.939 --> 00:34:16.819 on our crampons, on our oxygen to literally 562 00:34:16.902 --> 00:34:21.407 keep us alive is, is a pretty humbling feeling. 563 00:34:24.076 --> 00:34:25.786 CLIMBER: Let’s do it! 564 00:34:25.869 --> 00:34:27.246 We’re ready! 565 00:34:29.706 --> 00:34:32.793 TOM (off-screen): We're heading upwards, and we can already see 566 00:34:32.876 --> 00:34:36.171 climbers ahead and we can even see some returning. 567 00:34:36.255 --> 00:34:37.673 It feels like a bit you know, 568 00:34:37.756 --> 00:34:39.466 kind of like heading into a war zone. 569 00:34:39.550 --> 00:34:40.968 You're very much aware, 570 00:34:41.051 --> 00:34:43.345 at least I was, that it's an alien environment, 571 00:34:43.429 --> 00:34:45.973 that's not really built for us. 572 00:34:49.852 --> 00:34:53.188 MARIO (off-screen): You lose your feeling of space pretty much, 573 00:34:53.272 --> 00:34:56.275 and having headlamp and like blowing snow, 574 00:34:56.358 --> 00:34:59.570 you see like tiny stars just passing just next to your eyes, 575 00:34:59.653 --> 00:35:02.739 and then you see back of your climbing partner. 576 00:35:04.032 --> 00:35:07.369 BAKER: Beautiful morning and a light snow. 577 00:35:07.911 --> 00:35:13.584 BAKER (off-screen): There was a concern in the back of my mind about the number of climbers. 578 00:35:17.296 --> 00:35:19.882 MARIO (off-screen): From the South Col to the balcony, even in the dark, 579 00:35:19.965 --> 00:35:23.218 you see a like huge line of lights, 580 00:35:23.302 --> 00:35:26.889 and pretty much no one's moving. 581 00:35:29.975 --> 00:35:34.563 PETE (off-screen): The congestion on the climb was of the sorts that they realized it 582 00:35:34.646 --> 00:35:37.149 was going to perhaps put the team in jeopardy 583 00:35:37.232 --> 00:35:40.777 and/or put the objectives at jeopardy. 584 00:35:40.861 --> 00:35:43.947 TOM: It’s fast and then slow 585 00:35:44.031 --> 00:35:47.451 and so we’re in a big crowd now. 586 00:35:47.534 --> 00:35:53.040 Otherwise, it feels tough. Tough going. 587 00:35:53.999 --> 00:35:56.710 BAKER: Too many people. We’re at the balcony! 588 00:35:56.793 --> 00:36:01.715 There’s a huge line of people. It’s slow going. 589 00:36:01.798 --> 00:36:09.264 This is uh- I think the main thing it’s really cold. My hands and toes are cold, 590 00:36:09.348 --> 00:36:13.101 ‘cause we’re moving so slow. 591 00:36:14.686 --> 00:36:18.732 TOM (off-screen): We were very well aware this was a problem that was unfolding around us. 592 00:36:18.815 --> 00:36:20.776 Given how long it had taken us in that queue, 593 00:36:20.859 --> 00:36:24.154 we would not have enough time because we would not have enough oxygen. 594 00:36:29.701 --> 00:36:34.248 NARRATOR: Just 500 meters from Everest's summit, the team faces a decision... 595 00:36:34.915 --> 00:36:37.459 Wait for the route to clear and hope they can make it to the top, 596 00:36:37.543 --> 00:36:40.879 or build the weather station right here, on the balcony. 597 00:36:42.005 --> 00:36:45.926 MARIO: I think the idea appeared in Panuru's head that we'll probably have 598 00:36:46.009 --> 00:36:49.012 to work at the balcony. 599 00:36:49.096 --> 00:36:51.807 PAUL: The ultimate decision was made by the lead Sherpa, Panuru, 600 00:36:51.890 --> 00:36:54.601 and he was the most experienced person number one, 601 00:36:54.685 --> 00:36:56.895 and number two he was there. 602 00:36:57.729 --> 00:37:00.691 BAKER: Just... my mask totally iced up. 603 00:37:00.774 --> 00:37:02.442 I couldn't breathe. 604 00:37:02.859 --> 00:37:07.239 PETE (off-screen): They were feeling like they weren't going to get enough margin of safety 605 00:37:07.322 --> 00:37:11.285 to have two to three hours to do an install of equipment up there, 606 00:37:11.368 --> 00:37:14.288 and then get back down safely with the oxygen supplies 607 00:37:14.371 --> 00:37:16.748 that they currently had. 608 00:37:16.832 --> 00:37:18.792 NARRATOR: Knowing how much work they have ahead of them, 609 00:37:18.875 --> 00:37:20.502 the team agrees: 610 00:37:20.586 --> 00:37:23.463 this is where they'll put the highest weather station. 611 00:37:23.547 --> 00:37:27.926 BAKER (off-screen): Part of me was certainly a bit disappointed not to have the chance 612 00:37:28.010 --> 00:37:29.803 to go up a little higher. 613 00:37:29.886 --> 00:37:33.599 But none of us was there solely to summit the mountain. 614 00:37:33.682 --> 00:37:39.479 We had important scientific objectives to complete and that was our task. 615 00:37:39.563 --> 00:37:41.148 MAN: Oh no. 616 00:37:42.232 --> 00:37:45.068 TOM: Really we’re waiting for the drill battery to warm up. 617 00:37:45.152 --> 00:37:46.737 They’re too cold. 618 00:37:47.112 --> 00:37:53.452 BAKER (off-screen): We realized that the batteries were in fact too cold to operate the drill. 619 00:37:53.535 --> 00:37:56.079 They just did not have enough power. 620 00:37:56.830 --> 00:37:59.791 TOM: We’re trying to warm them up in down jackets, 621 00:37:59.875 --> 00:38:02.044 stuffed under our armpits. 622 00:38:02.127 --> 00:38:04.212 Hopefully that works. 623 00:38:04.296 --> 00:38:07.466 Sun’s about to come up. That can help a bit too. 624 00:38:07.549 --> 00:38:08.884 They’re too cold for it to work. 625 00:38:08.967 --> 00:38:12.596 My guess is it’s about -25°. 626 00:38:12.679 --> 00:38:16.350 And... you know we feel it, the batters feel it, so... 627 00:38:16.433 --> 00:38:20.854 We’ll just have to wait. 628 00:38:22.564 --> 00:38:25.734 BAKER (off-screen): A real sense of panic set in.... 629 00:38:29.738 --> 00:38:32.866 NARRATOR: The team waits for an hour... 630 00:38:40.499 --> 00:38:44.211 And then, a battery sparks to life. 631 00:38:44.294 --> 00:38:46.213 TOM (off-screen): So once the batteries have started working, 632 00:38:46.296 --> 00:38:49.591 we're straight into installing the station. 633 00:38:50.884 --> 00:38:53.178 And then we start doing the things we've been preparing for. 634 00:38:53.261 --> 00:38:56.973 We start attaching the sensors in the order that makes most sense. 635 00:39:01.895 --> 00:39:04.898 So, we're sliding them on, securing them, 636 00:39:04.981 --> 00:39:06.733 and the Sherpa are doing this themselves, 637 00:39:06.817 --> 00:39:08.402 because we've run through this so many times. 638 00:39:08.485 --> 00:39:12.197 BAKER: Do you need to use the shovel? 639 00:39:12.280 --> 00:39:14.825 I think this is it. 640 00:39:14.908 --> 00:39:16.743 Yeah, it's good. 641 00:39:16.827 --> 00:39:18.662 We have our wind. 642 00:39:18.745 --> 00:39:22.582 TOM: Radio. 643 00:39:28.588 --> 00:39:31.550 BAKER: Temperature? 644 00:39:36.012 --> 00:39:42.102 TOM: Turning on... 3,2,1. 645 00:39:42.185 --> 00:39:45.772 She's on! 646 00:39:46.815 --> 00:39:49.443 Charging! 647 00:39:52.362 --> 00:39:53.655 Brilliant job! 648 00:39:58.285 --> 00:40:02.831 TOM: We just finished installing this weather station. 649 00:40:02.914 --> 00:40:05.125 Undoubtedly the highest that's ever been installed. 650 00:40:05.208 --> 00:40:07.294 On the balcony. Everest. 651 00:40:07.377 --> 00:40:09.880 Fantastic work from the Sherpa team, 652 00:40:09.963 --> 00:40:11.882 who put it up really quickly. 653 00:40:11.965 --> 00:40:14.676 Really excited to start looking at the data that's coming from this. 654 00:40:14.760 --> 00:40:20.056 It's transmitting now back to Washington, D.C. 655 00:40:31.902 --> 00:40:34.821 TOM (off-screen): We wouldn't have been able to achieve anything like we did 656 00:40:34.905 --> 00:40:38.825 without the help of that incredible Sherpa team. 657 00:40:38.909 --> 00:40:40.368 This is their home. 658 00:40:40.452 --> 00:40:43.914 And they allowed us into their home to conduct this science and allowed us 659 00:40:43.997 --> 00:40:47.042 to come back out safely. 660 00:40:52.964 --> 00:40:54.674 PAUL (off-screen): Everest is an amazing place. 661 00:40:54.758 --> 00:40:55.926 It's iconic. 662 00:40:56.009 --> 00:40:59.387 From our point of view scientifically, this was a great opportunity to make some 663 00:40:59.471 --> 00:41:03.642 contributions that to the field of environmental change, and climate change, 664 00:41:03.725 --> 00:41:06.937 that really couldn't be made anywhere else. 665 00:41:09.648 --> 00:41:12.484 NARRATOR: The expedition has been a great success but the scientific work 666 00:41:12.567 --> 00:41:15.612 is just beginning. 667 00:41:15.695 --> 00:41:20.325 The samples and data collected will drive years of breakthrough research. 668 00:41:20.408 --> 00:41:25.705 MARIO (off-screen): This ice at the South Col is different because it's been formed by 669 00:41:25.789 --> 00:41:29.709 crystals that's rounded by very strong wind. 670 00:41:29.793 --> 00:41:31.878 It's very neat ice. 671 00:41:31.962 --> 00:41:34.798 I have never seen anything like that before. 672 00:41:37.175 --> 00:41:41.721 NARRATOR: Early examinations of the ice core show something surprising. 673 00:41:41.805 --> 00:41:43.265 The most recent layer, 674 00:41:43.348 --> 00:41:45.016 on the very top of the core, 675 00:41:45.100 --> 00:41:48.061 is already 2,000 years old. 676 00:41:48.144 --> 00:41:52.023 This points to significant surface loss on the glacier, 677 00:41:52.107 --> 00:41:55.610 even above 8,000 meters. 678 00:41:56.862 --> 00:42:01.783 It's a signal that human activity has impacted the entire surface of the planet, 679 00:42:01.867 --> 00:42:05.203 including its highest reaches. 680 00:42:06.955 --> 00:42:12.752 In Montana, Mary Hubbard's lake core analysis indicates the same warming trend. 681 00:42:12.836 --> 00:42:14.671 MARY (off-screen): Once you have it open, you can see the layers, 682 00:42:14.754 --> 00:42:15.964 but you still have the question. 683 00:42:16.047 --> 00:42:17.090 So how old is this? 684 00:42:17.173 --> 00:42:21.261 How much time is represented in this bit of mud that I'm holding in my hands? 685 00:42:21.344 --> 00:42:24.764 And we now have a sense that it's probably just shy of 686 00:42:24.848 --> 00:42:28.435 2,000 years old that's represented there. 687 00:42:28.518 --> 00:42:32.939 MARY: Ok, nice neat layering right straight all the way down... 688 00:42:34.733 --> 00:42:38.111 NARRATOR: The different sections of the lake core reveal the region's plant and 689 00:42:38.194 --> 00:42:41.781 animal life as it was hundreds and thousands of years ago. 690 00:42:41.865 --> 00:42:44.034 PICO: Take a look at that one. 691 00:42:44.117 --> 00:42:49.205 MARY (off-screen): The pollen samples indicate that more recent times have had a higher 692 00:42:49.289 --> 00:42:55.211 abundance of tree species, whereas the older time period had more grasses and shrubs. 693 00:42:55.295 --> 00:43:00.133 And the forests have been able to move a little bit higher up the valleys. 694 00:43:00.216 --> 00:43:01.843 PICO: The forest is coming in. 695 00:43:01.927 --> 00:43:03.887 MARY: So that's consistent with the retreat of the glacier. 696 00:43:03.970 --> 00:43:05.055 PICO: Mmm-hmm. 697 00:43:05.138 --> 00:43:07.599 MARY (off-screen): We want to understand where that might go in the future. 698 00:43:07.682 --> 00:43:10.018 PICO: The trees are coming from lower elevation. 699 00:43:11.519 --> 00:43:15.774 NARRATOR: Data is now streaming 24/7 from the highest mountain on Earth, 700 00:43:15.857 --> 00:43:19.486 pointing the way to the future. 701 00:43:19.569 --> 00:43:21.196 TOM (off-screen): So from what we've seen so far, 702 00:43:21.279 --> 00:43:24.658 it looks like the snow and ice may be more sensitive to melt 703 00:43:24.741 --> 00:43:27.661 and therefore declining more than we previously thought 704 00:43:27.744 --> 00:43:31.289 before we went up there and put these weather stations in. 705 00:43:34.167 --> 00:43:38.588 PAUL (off-screen): The bottom line is that if we understand what's in store for us, 706 00:43:38.672 --> 00:43:41.925 where changes will occur, what sort of changes, 707 00:43:42.008 --> 00:43:44.844 we can make better predictions and we can plan better. 708 00:43:44.928 --> 00:43:47.931 And we can begin to organize our lives so that in some ways our 709 00:43:48.014 --> 00:43:51.643 quality of life could be better in the future than it is now. 710 00:43:51.726 --> 00:43:53.603 ANTON: 100 years ago, George Mallory, 711 00:43:53.687 --> 00:43:55.981 the early mountaineer was famously asked, "Why go to the Everest?" 712 00:43:56.064 --> 00:43:57.440 And he very famously answered, 713 00:43:57.524 --> 00:43:59.109 "Because it's there." 714 00:43:59.192 --> 00:44:00.318 I'm not satisfied with that. 715 00:44:00.402 --> 00:44:03.196 I say go to Mount Everest because it's informative, it can tell us things, 716 00:44:03.279 --> 00:44:06.282 it can tell us stories, it can help us understand the world we live in. 717 00:44:06.366 --> 00:44:07.492 Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.