Original subtitles

I love you, too Adele. And Siena.

Siena wrote "Love, Love Love, Love" all over this.

Well, have a safe night and climb well tomorrow...

When you climb on the Eiger North Face you hear the cowbells and the noises

from down there, but in the same time you feel to be very far away.

I'll be lying on one side the whole night,

but I'll be tied in so I don't have to worry about rolling off.

Starting out before dawn is spooky.

Robert traversed off to the left and I came down off the ledge and

then when Daniela was coming down,

her legs were much shorter and she couldn't reach the foothold.

And there was no protection in.

I was stuck on the bivouac ledge.

And I knew if I would jump and miss the foothold,

I would tumble down about eighty feet before the rope could catch me.

She managed to make it down okay, fortunately.

But it was an ominous start to the day.

When you climb the Eiger, I think you cannot avoid thinking

about the people who died in the wall,

especially if you come to certain places where you know there were

big tragedies and you simply have to think about it.

In a way, this also makes the face very special.

It's very alive.

A scary thing about the Eiger is that the rock is often loose and so,

if you fall and the protection doesn't hold, then you can fall a

very long ways.

Even a dangerous climb can be made safer,

if you just approach it intelligently.

We need to secure the ropes to the cliff

so as I go up, I look for good cracks for anchors, where the rock

is solid enough.

But the rock is coated in ice so even with the axes,

it's hard to get a solid grip.

I followed John through all the difficult sections and I just happened

to be looking through the scope at the moment when he slipped

and naturally my heart stopped.

The weather on the Eiger changes very fast.

Really crazy weather.

Down in the valley you have clear sunshine,

and up there you have a snowstorm.

I have already thought a number of times about my father

and the fact that he came up this route.

And I can't dwell on that too much while I'm climbing.

But we'll see what happens overnight.

I have a long night coming up.

Dad was bivouacked on a ledge like this when he scribbled

a final note to us:

"We're hoping to make the top in a few days

but we're being very safe so don't worry.

I love you all very, very much. Dad."

After we passed the spot where Dad's rope had broken,

I glanced back.

I'd been trying to get past that place for 40 years.

I flung my grief and fear off the mountain, and kept going.

Up here, so high on the face

we're beyond the point of no return.

It's terrifying in a way because you know you can't

go back down... only up.

The weight of forty years is lifted.

But I was emotionally exhausted and so was Daniela.

Oh, God.

Great.

For me, this climb has helped heal an old wound.

But instead of focusing on my connection with Dad like I expected

I felt much closer to my wife and daughter,

who stood by me while I did what I had to do.

We'll see you really soon, okay?

Okay, I love you too. Okay.

By the time I got to the summit my back pain was getting much worse.

Robert persuaded me to get lifted off the mountain.

This was no easy decision for me.

I really wanted to keep going but I knew he was right.

When I landed in the, in the field, and I saw my kids there,

I just felt so great.

It was so good to have them back.

Often the way down is much more dangerous than the way up,

because you are really tired, and so you must think about every step.

Just a little jolt of adrenaline there at the very end.

Congratulations. Oh! Yeah, thank you.

The emotional struggle that I went through on the Eiger was worth it,

because it has allowed me to connect Siena with this love for

the mountains that I felt as a boy.

But I have one more stop to make back to the town of Leysin

where I grew up.

Dad was buried here in a snowstorm.

When I was here before, it had always been a very sad experience,

but this time I felt, I felt like I'd been freed in many ways.

Like I'd done the climb and honored my father and moved on.

It was almost a liberating experience to be here.

These mountains attract strong people.

They always have.

The Alps embrace us, just as they welcomed the first settlers

who looked up at these peaks many centuries ago,

and said to themselves we belong here.