The Men Who Would Be Kings

You can be as fit, prepared and careful as you like, but if the altitude demons decide to visit there is nothing you can do about it. Until you’ve tested your body at high altitude, there is no way of knowing if you’ll cope or even if you’ll survive.

Throughout my documentary filming career I’ve been lucky enough to work in some pretty extreme environments around the world, so I was surprised when a fellow cameraman warned me that mountains were in a different category of danger from jungles, deserts, caves, oceans and the like. And he was right.

Just a few months after he had given me that prophetic warning, 11 people had died attempting to climb Everest, some of whom I’d met, interviewed and grown to like. Countless others were dealing with the devastating consequences of acute mountain sickness and severe frostbite. And then we returned home to an international controversy over the death of a climber.

What drives someone to risk it all just to be able to say that they’ve stood on top of the world? Many people have had a childhood dream of climbing Everest, but what kind of person makes that a reality? My first job on the Discovery Everest program was to find that out.

Next: Remarkable Stories