Original subtitles

(WIND HOWLING)

(WOMAN VOCALIZING)

MAN ON RADIO: Well done, you're doing really well. Keep it up.

We can see your every move now. Fantastic.

Don't rush. There's no rush. Over.

ALISON: It's amazing. Over.

-MAN ON RADIO: Go on, Alison. -ALISON: Whoo!

-She's done it, she's there. -Whoo! I feel like...

This is the most fantastic day of my life. Over.

(VOCALIZING)

MALE NARRATOR: A 33-year-old mother has become

the first British woman to conquer Mount Everest alone

and without an oxygen supply.

Alison Hargreaves from Torlundy near Fort William is

the only British professional female mountaineer.

MAN 1: Alison Hargreaves had nurtured her ambition

to conquer Everest without oxygen since her schooldays.

After a failed attempt last year,

driven back by appalling weather,

the 33-year-old finally sent word back to her husband by fax

that she was on top of the world.

MAN 2: Alison, mother of two,

reached the summit of Everest, 8848 meters,

13th of May 1995 at 12:08pm Nepalese time.

(ALISON SPEAKING)

Base to Tom and Kate, my two children.

I'm on the highest point in the world

and I love them dearly. Over.

(VOCALIZING)

KRISS: Keep your heads up. Heads up, heads up.

-Heads up. Heads up. -MAN 3: Kate. Heads up. Kate.

Careful. Go that way, Tom.

Just like as if we're going skiing. Very straight, Tom.

KRISS: You're a mother of two young children.

What did they think when mum come home a world record holder?

Well, they don't really understand, I mean,

they know mum's done something special 'cause people

keep asking them about what mummy's just done.

ALISON: Um, but mummy's always gone off and climbed mountains,

so to a certain extent, it's fairly normal.

Do you think mum is very clever?

-Yes. -Why is your mum very clever?

Because she climbed Mount Everest.

And she climbed Mount Everest, all on...

-Her own. -Without any...

BOTH: Oxygen.

And why is that clever?

Because it, because it's clever. (LAUGHS)

Because it's very clever!

Shall we pump it out for your mum because she's a-

Let's give three cheers for your mum

-'cause she's a record breaker! -(CHEERING)

MAN 4: What's next?

Um, in a couple of weeks' time I'm off to Pakistan to try and climb K2,

which is the second-highest in the world.

So it's not so high, but maybe a little bit more difficult.

-So that'll be fun. -MAN 4: What drives you on?

Ah. I don't know, something inside.

I mean, I love climbing mountains and,

and I love standing on top.

And to have stood on top of the highest in the world,

for me, is just unbelievable.

NARRATOR: Conquering Everest and K2 in the one season

without oxygen is unprecedented.

But as she prepares to set off,

Alison Hargreaves is well aware of the dangers.

When we go climbing, we obviously minimize the risks,

and if we thought it was that risky, we wouldn't go climbing.

I mean, anybody who, who went off thinking that, you know,

there was a, you know, very high chance they wouldn't come back,

I think is, is a very, it's a unfair thing to do,

especially with their own family.

ALISON: Basically, you know, climbers climb.

We know our strengths and our weaknesses, and hopefully

we can normally make the right decisions at the right time.

KRISS: Tom, what do you think of your mummy?

She's very nice and she's, and she is very clever,

so she, she'll do it.

(ALISON PANTING)

(WIND HOWLING)

I'm a mole I'm a mole and I live in a hole

(PANTING)

Ooh.

(PANTING)

I'm a mole.

(CHUCKLES)

(VOCALIZING)

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(CHILDREN LAUGHING)

(CHILDREN LAUGHING)

JIM: I had the worst job

that any parent's ever gonna have in their life.

I sat the children down in a quiet room and, um,

and told them that their mother was more than likely dead

and they wouldn't see her again.

And she was lost on a storm in K2.

Um...

And Kate cried and shouted, as small children will,

and, uh, Tom asked if he and Kate

could see their mum's last mountain.

And I didn't think for very long.

I gave them my promise

that they would see where their mum died

and, more importantly, their mum's last mountain.

JIM: Well, that's it, chaps, that's the last of the bags.

Everything's packed, now all we need is the station.

-JIM: Thank you. -MAN 5: Take care.

Look after the kids.

JIM: I will do, don't worry.

See you all when I come back.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)

MAN ON PA: The passengers sitting out on the left-hand

side can have a view of K2

and the tall treat on to the left to it

is finally visible.

KATE: Where is K2?

JIM: K2's the pointy one, straight on the skies here.

-Over there? -Yeah, the big pointy one.

Your mum stood on top of that, and Everest.

-That one big pointy. -Yeah, let's look it up.

(VOCALIZING)

JIM: Nobody knows how life is gonna unfold.

Nobody knew we were going to have two smashing children.

But we did.

And the one promise we made to each other

that was totally binding was that we would always

bring our children up in the wide-open spaces, in freedom,

learning what spirit's about,

learning what adventure's about,

enjoying, understanding and accepting

the wild and beautiful place of this Earth.

(SINGING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

I wouldn't like to see Tom and Kate do anything

that-that people wanted them to do.

I'd only like to see Tom and Kate have

the opportunity to do what they want to do,

be it bricklayer or brain surgeon.

But it would be an awfully hard act for Kate

to have to follow the greatest woman climber.

And even more impossible to follow as a boy.

But who knows?

(SINGING CONTINUES)

TOM: The mountains, I think, are magnetic.

There is some sort of force that pulls you in.

(VOCALIZING)

KATE: It's the aura. It's the, the purity.

The open, vast sky.

You can see forever.

And the mountains have this awesome power.

(RUMBLING)

Oh, my God!

Oh, whoa.

(RUMBLING)

TOM: You can't conquer them.

They were there before us, and after we've gone,

they'll still be there.

And so i-instead of fighting against them,

you have to find a way to work with them.

You have to be in harmony,

and sometimes they let you and other times they won't.

But we're always sort of pushing ourselves a little bit

to see how far we can go, you know,

how far at the edge can we go before we topple off.

(INTENSE MUSIC)

Danger is very personal to everybody.

Yes!

Pushing your own personal limits is more or less

going for longer or higher or faster or harder.

But never fighting against the mountain because you can't,

because they'll always win in the end.

(ICE SHATTERING)

(WATER GURGLING)

My relationship with the mountains is, I would say,

not completely different to Tom's.

You know, our love and our drive is exactly the same,

but he's got goals in mind.

KATE: He's got, "I wanna do this peak and this peak

and this peak and I want to do this route on this peak

and this one and this one," and he just

strives to, to climb.

It's all he's ever wanted to do, you know?

That's fine, and that is and has always been Tom.

Nobody knows why Tom is the way he is,

he's just a climber and always will be.

(CLANKING)

KATE: Anyone that's ever seen Tom on a mountain

would say how much like an ibex he is.

Just so sure-footed. It's hard to explain.

I've never seen anyone like that.

I don't know what Tom's plans are, I've got no idea.

But if he does take his climbing to a higher level,

I definitely want to be a part of it.

And while he's climbing,

I'm sure I'll be doing other things.

I adore to climb mountains, don't get me wrong,

but I don't just necessarily want to get to the top and down again.

But if I'm climbing with Tom, it's, like,

200 million times easier

than if I was doing it with anybody else.

Anybody else in the entire world.

Having Tom by my side is like having protection,

a helping hand, or just...

He's a nice person to have next to you

when you're on the mountain.

It's so...

MAN 5: That's a nice thing for a sister to say, isn't it, Tom?

-It's very nice, yeah. -See? I can be nice.

Ah, okay. I didn't know. (LAUGHS)

(CHUCKLES)

Sorry, Joe.

(BIRD CHIRPING)

MAN 6: The time is 17 minutes to 9:00,

the climber, Tom Ballard,

has just completed a remarkable feat.

The six great north faces of the Alps,

all climbed alone, in winter, in one season.

He's the son of Alison Hargreaves,

who did the same thing in the summer season.

In 1995, Alison Hargreaves was killed

after reaching the summit of K2,

the world's second-highest mountain.

MAN ON RADIO: The six great peaks of Europe,

climb the north faces, all in one winter

sounds an absolutely miserable business to me.

How-how difficult was it?

TOM: Uh, the main difficulty is

getting the right conditions at the right time.

And then, you know, I think that, uh, maybe

sort of 80% is probably sort of down,

more down to luck wi-with the weather, and...

The thing is, the, the mountains will always be there.

You just have to make sure that you are.

MAN ON RADIO: It's just a shame that climbing

isn't an Olympic sport because

we'd be nailed on for gold with you,

surely, wouldn't we?

TOM: Yeah, it would be nice, actually,

to have a nice gold medal instead of just

a nice feeling at the end of the day.

MAN ON RADIO: Well, Tom, lovely talking to you,

and continued success.

I'm sure your mum would be very proud indeed.

TOM: I think so, too. Thank you very much.

MAN ON RADIO: Alright, all the best.

That's, uh, Tom Ballard,

a world-beating British climber.

And we are proud of him.

TOM: It's, uh, just gone 26 minutes past 11:00. I...

JIM: I genuinely believe, like his mother had a talent,

Tom has a fantastic talent, and I believe that Tom,

up to this moment in time, knows how to use that talent.

But I don't believe in omnipotence.

The problem is that the game is played,

particularly if he transfers it to higher peaks.

Goes from playing Russian roulette

with maybe no or one bullet in,

to playing Russian roulette with quite a lot of bullets in.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

WOMAN ON TV: The search continues for a British climber

who's gone missing on Nanga Parbat, a giant peak

in Pakistan, nicknamed the Killer Mountain.

Two military helicopters are searching

for Tom Ballard and Italian Daniele Nardi

as they lost contact over a week ago.

MAN ON TV: Tom Ballard, part of

an East Midlands mountaineering dynasty,

is regarded as one of the world's finest alpinists.

He posts regular updates of his exploits

to his thousands of followers online.

His last update was nine days ago.

Life is "like a holiday,

while we wait for that elusive weather window."

He hasn't been seen since Sunday.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

So... we've got Tom and Daniele

somewhere high on the spur, the comms aren't working,

and that's the last concrete information we have.

Kate is in South Africa

and she said, "How long, dad? How long?"

And I said, "Look, you know," I said "you know me,

I'm not given to snatching at things in the air,

nor am I given to, you know, letting my emotions run away."

But seven to ten days, no problem.

You know, the boy will be cold,

he might have a bit of frostbite,

he'll certainly be really bad-tempered,

but that's the thing we have to remember.

(TELEPHONE RINGING)

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

JIM: Hi, Kate. Hello.

-KATE: Can you hear me? -JIM: Yes, I can hear you.

KATE: I was just talking to Luigi,

that's Daniele's other brother,

and he said if I was gonna call you,

then maybe I could just update you.

That would be very nice, Kate.

KATE: So helicopters took off this morning to go have a look,

uh, at, uh, possible sighting.

Um, what they saw, they can't see clearly,

but what they could see is that the two, the two bodies,

and they are bodies because they're not moving.

If they are bodies, 80% sure they are bodies.

One is wearing orange, one is wearing blue.

Or they can't be a 100% sure but like I said,

they're not moving, so...

Okay, dear. Okay. And, uh...

KATE: S-so that's what he just told me.

Okay. So how are you bearing up with that?

(KATE SOBBING)

JIM: It's heart-breaking, Kate. I'm, I'm sorry.

You know, I wish I could, I wish I could say something

that could make you feel better at the moment.

Um...

(KATE SNIFFLES)

You, you, you, you really do need to try and find,

uh, something to do and help,

that-that takes your mind off it so that you can, you can

go back to, to, to trying to remember the good times,

the great times, and, um...

KATE: I don't wanna, dad, as far as I'm concerned,

I'm not willing to talk and think about the good times,

and any, like, any, uh...

I'm not, we, until we find Tom, until the rescue is called off,

I'm not gonna think of the situation like Tom is dead,

I don't, I'm not willing to accept it

until the rescue is being called off one way or the other.

So I'm not willing to listen to anyone

that has anything to say about Tom being dead,

because, quite frankly, I know Tom so well

and I know that he can get himself out of any situations.

So if that is, perhaps, Tom lying there,

then, as far as I'm concerned,

he's still alive and we need to go and get him.

JIM: Yeah, well, I'm sure, I'm sure there's a lot of people

feel that, the same as you do, Kate.

D-do you want to talk later? Shall I ring you-

-KATE: I'll talk to you later. -Okay, dear.

-Okay? Lots of love. -KATE: Bye.

Lots of hugs. Talk to you later. Au revoir.

-KATE: Sure. Au revoir. -Au revoir, dear.

Well, that's how some people cope,

and, unfortunately, it seems to be the way

Kate is coping, and it's not a, a happy experience

'cause there's nothing I can say.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

JIM: I suppose what, what is frustrating Kate

is the fact is, it is out of her control.

Probably we will not know very much

about what was found on the mountain

till the search is finished,

but, you know, there is still a chance.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

Hello, very good evening to you.

Rescuers have found the bodies

of the missing British mountaineer, Tom Ballard,

and his Italian climbing companion, Daniele Nardi,

in Pakistan.

Contact was lost with the pair almost two weeks ago during an ascent

of one of the world's highest mountains.

Nanga Parbat, in the Himalayas.

Mr. Ballard is the son of Alison Hargreaves,

who died on a mountain peak, too.

MAN ON TV: After hours of searching

from Pakistani helicopters and special teams from Spain,

the Italian ambassador to Pakistan announced

the search was over, as the bodies had been spotted.

Alex Txikon was part of the search team

and was one of the first to climb Nanga Parbat

in the winter, just three years ago.

ALEX: Not so good news, we spotted the bodies

of Daniele Nardi and Tom Ballard.

They are in quite difficult and high altitude area,

which is impossible for us to reach there.

Really super risky to attempt

any, any, any rescue missions.

They will stay for always on Nanga Parbat.

You know, it's a very, very sad moment.

MAN ON TV: Tom Ballard's mother Alison Hargreaves, was killed

in a storm while descending from the summit of K2,

the world's second-highest mountain,

about a 100 miles away from where Tom died.

PILOT: As captain, I welcome you onboard on flight TK451.

After another two to three minutes, uh, uh,

you will, people sitting on the right will be able to see

Nanga Parbat and, uh, we'll commence, insha Allah, descent,

uh, after ten minutes...

KATE: It's six months since we lost Tom.

He and Daniele are still up there,

at peace, on Nanga Parbat.

I've been to collect Tom's passport.

That's a big relief to have

that small red book back in the family's possession.

But it's, it's papers, you know?

It's not, it's not actually Tom.

So it's just paperwork.

The most important thing now for me

is to meet the Italian ambassador of Pakistan.

He supervised over the search and rescue efforts

after Tom and Daniele went missing.

So he'll have more information about

what actually happened to Tom and Daniele.

What happens in, in Nanga Parbat, apparently,

is, on that, on the...

on that route is that snow comes down...

and it snows heavily.

Then it kind of freezes

and accumulates

and when it's too heavy, it just goes down.

And that happens every three to six hours.

So one idea is that there may have been a ice avalanche,

a serac, which hit them.

It was certainly not a snowstorm

because a snowstorm would've wiped out everything.

And, uh, Alex Txikon,

who we enlisted for the rescue operation,

inferred from the position of the bodies

and, uh, the general conditions of how they were found,

that they may have died a different way,

which was, uh, as they were coming down,

they were still roped,

and, uh, Tom was possibly,

because he's, he's kind of hanging

in a, in an awkward position in the ropes,

he might have gotten tangled in the ropes.

Daniele was going up to try to, to cut the ropes

or, you know, get freed of the ropes,

and they may have been victim of climate,

of the minus-50 degrees, and may have died that way.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Alex Txikon used those words.

They have died a cruel death.

I'm sorry. I thought you actually were aware of all this.

No, no, no. Not aware of that at all.

We've, of course, we don't, didn't ever think

we knew exactly what had happened,

but the story that we took onboard was that...

they climbed, they went to bed in their tent,

probably very cold up at that altitude,

and sometime during the night,

while they were peacefully asleep,

probably dreaming about climbing,

that a serac from high above them broke off

and the force just ripped them straight out of their tent

and threw them off the mountain,

and they would've died immediately on impact,

uh, from the force, just as,

just as we believe, happened to mum,

that she wouldn't have felt anything,

it just happened so suddenly

that you don't, and that he was asleep.

That was, so that was kind of reassuring for us,

and that's been for the last however many months

since the accident, that's what we have thought happened.

And now today, to have heard...

that they were hanging,

dangling, dying slowly,

fully aware of what was going on, um...

and that, and, uh,

his exact words were that it was a, a, a cruel death.

That's, that's really big news.

I could be happier and live easier

knowing that he was at peace.

But to hear that he could've been really suffering

for a long time, and we couldn't get to them...

is... heartbreaking.

(CHURCH BELL TOLLING)

JIM: When I wake up in the morning,

I'm perfectly well aware

that, since that day, uh, when the news came through,

my world would be completely different...

because...

I never saw a way in which Tom

would come to grieve on mountains early.

Goes right down the side...

It still doesn't seem real sometimes.

You know, I don't, I don't think it isn't real,

but it is difficult to see it as real.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

I think you just have to accept

that Tom is not coming back...

just like his mum didn't,

and you have to work out a way of living with it.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

(SINGING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

JIM: The last floods, Tom, were just after your mum died,

and it was like the mountain shedding tears for her.

It just rained and rained and stormed and stormed.

And it washed all the roads out.

Your mum's spirit is still here.

It's only your mum's body that's gone.

That doesn't matter, Tom, your mum's spirit is in

all these mountains, she's probably just coming back

from a good day's climbing today.

There'll be no rest for anybody now that your mum's around.

Oh, dear.

(SINGING CONTINUES)

KATE: In 1995 dad brought Tom and I here for a journey to K2,

which was mum's last mountain.

But now the most important thing for me is, I'm going to

trek to Nanga Parbat base camp to visit Tom's last mountain.

It's kind of history repeating itself.

(SINGING CONTINUES)

I was only four at the time.

And, yeah, so the only part of the trek I remember

is that I had a minder.

I had Big Ibrahim, as we called him,

and I, I remember his smell.

I remember his smell. A nice smell, not a bad smell.

Just a, a warm, safe smell from,

'cause I think I slept a lot on his, on his neck.

I just remember him always looking after me.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Dear Mr. Jim and Miss Kate

When I heard Tom was climbing Nanga Parbat

I wanted to go to Base Camp to greet him

I would have been happy to see him

after such a long time

And Tom would have been very surprised to see me

But it was not to be

May Allah grant you strength

And if you ever come to Pakistan,

please come to visit me in my home

I wanna go across the bridge.

You wanna go across the bridge?

You're gonna cross the bridge with Ibrahim?

JIM: I think you can go anywhere with Ibrahim.

(ALL CHEERING)

I feel a little bit nervous. (LAUGHS)

Not nervous, but I've got butterflies.

KATE: So it's been 25 years since I've seen him.

Pretty excited.

MAN 7: Yeah, have a look.

-MAN 8: That's him. -MAN 7: Yeah.

MAN 7: Can I come? Okay, I'll leave it down here.

(CAR DOOR OPENS)

-Hello. -Hello, how are you?

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

-How do you? -Uh, good.

(CHUCKLES)

-Good? Yeah, yeah. Welcome. -Thank you for having me here.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

-You're well? Yes. Yes. -Yes. You're well? Okay.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(CHUCKLES)

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

-Long time. -Yes. Yes, yes.

I'm big now. (LAUGHS)

Still smaller than you.

-MAN 7: Good? -Yes.

-Just to translate, yes. -Mm-hmm.

-It's good to be here.

-Yeah. Yeah. -(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

So, how are you feeling to see Kate again?

He cannot feel his express... He cannot feel his express.

-He's so emotional. -KATE: Yeah, same.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

He feels very regretted because

it is, somehow it is very nice to see her,

but some o-other point,

it's very sad to see her without her brother

because she was, he was carrying her

as a, like, child and with his, with her brother,

and now it is so, so hard to see her. Yeah.

(SNIFFLES)

He said I always hoped I would see her again.

Okay.

JIM: Well done. Thank you, Ibrahim.

-Are we there, daddy? -JIM: This is it, love. Yeah.

Thank you.

KATE: I also brought for you...

because it's my favorite photograph.

Sleeping, no?

(LAUGHS)

MAN 8: Can you remember, was Kate heavy on your shoulder?

-IBRAHIM: Yeah, little heavy. -No.

(LAUGHING)

But...

(CLEARS THROAT)

I'm happy Tom and my mum are here.

Yeah.

If anywhere they could be...

it's the most beautiful place in the world

and it's where they wanted to be.

TOM: I can, dad.

Oh, look at the mountains, dad. Look. They're stunning.

I know, the, the sun has come out again, it's licking

the top of that. That's 6400 meters above sea level.

(CHILDREN CLAMORING)

KATE: Big Ibrahim, he has welcomed us into his home,

and we've had tea and biscuits,

and now he'll join us on our trek to Nanga Parbat.

-KATE: Bye-bye. Bye. -Yeah.

-KATE: Bye. -Bye.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(PRAYING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(SINGING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

KATE: Somehow the stars have aligned and we will,

God willing, see Nanga Parbat today.

And actually, it's a very special day today.

It's, it's Tom's birthday today. Tom would be 31 today.

Happy birthday, Tom.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

TOM: Even before I was born, I climbed, uh, the Eiger,

inside my mum's, uh, tummy.

She was, um, six months pregnant with me.

I think she had to find it a bit difficult with her bump

to squeeze through.

And then when I was first born,

I was always exposed to this environment,

um, and so that must be...

I mean, mountains are in my blood, I guess.

Mummy?

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Good job you're going, isn't it?

-Mm. -Good job.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

TOM: I think you've always got that thing inside you

that says, you know, whether you want to be a footballer

or, or anything like that.

Inside you, you know what you want to be

and you know what you want to do.

It's kind of your calling, if you like.

So then I had kind of, you know, I had a vision

of, you know, I, I knew what I wanted to do then.

MAN 9: So it's not just a physical thing,

but quite a spiritual experience?

Very much so, yes. Mm.

TOM: Definitely, yeah.

MAN 9: So when you're on the mountains, when you're

climbing, you're in touch

with something deeper within you?

TOM: Yes. Yes.

But you never know quite what it is.

It's just, you know, it feels right.

(WIND HOWLING)

JIM: You can tell that he's totally in control.

Totally at peace with himself.

You know, he's now about 70, 80 feet above the floor,

and, I mean, I know as a realist that if he falls off now,

or certainly fell off higher up,

the chances are he's gonna get very seriously hurt.

I've always thought there is quite a definite line

between good adventure and danger.

And the trick is to make sure

you've always got your feet on the line,

and you don't step over it.

When he's older, it's up to him

how far he takes himself to the edge of that line.

-Do you remember? -IBRAHIM: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Yeah. -I tried to carry to you.

-KATE: You carry him also. -Yeah, yeah, also.

KATE: Yeah. You carried both.

This is Kipper, and this came from, this came from my mum.

-So, so it's always with me. -IBRAHIM: Yeah, yeah.

KATE: I don't know how much I remember of my mum

and how much I know of my mum

from her appearance in film

and magazines and newspapers,

and my stories that my dad has told me.

It's difficult to differentiate what's my true memories

and what's come from outside.

Although her physical form is not here,

I feel her in every way,

and especially in the mountains.

Now with Tom also being lost here, it's like I have to spend

even more time here because it's where they are.

Ooh. (PANTING)

MAN 10: Now look, this is Nanga Parbat.

-KATE: Big lump of a mountain. -MAN 11: It is, isn't it?

KATE: It's ginormous, and we're still very far away.

It's, it's breathtaking.

I can understand why he wanted to climb it.

I wanna climb it, too.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

Tom was a mountaineer through and through.

He was born to be on the mountains.

He got all of mum's gift for mountaineering.

And I didn't. (LAUGHS)

Whoo-hoo!

In my teenage years

I found myself very jealous of Tom's genius...

TOM: Yeah, nice. Brilliant.

KATE: ...of how talented he was.

Not only that, but also his drive

and how passionate he was about a certain thing.

And I was always like this, like that, enjoyed this,

enjoyed that, loved this, loved that.

Hey, hey, hey, hut, hut, hut...

Tom, there was one thing and it was mountaineering climbing.

Ah!

And that I envied

'cause he just knew.

(GRUNTS) Ah!

TOM: Aw, fucker!

Fuck!

Oh!

(WIND HOWLING)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

This is the kitchen, um, food is hanging up from various places,

so we can't be attacked by any animals, wild animals.

Mainly meat. Um, we have the stove.

Uh, all the implement... Just a normal kitchen, really.

Also sort of partly living room. Uh, quite open plan.

Um, plenty of fresh air, good ventilation and nice view.

Uh, stone's throw away from the river.

MAN 12: Yeah, and show me where you sleep.

Uh, uh, I sleep in the van.

The big tent, my father sleeps in there.

That's where we keep all the stuff in there.

And I sleep in, in the van.

Uh, obviously, it's full of climbing gear and...

-MAN 12: Uh, Comfortable? -Yeah, it's very comfortable.

Yeah. Very comfortable. Uh, in winter it's a bit cold.

And do you miss living in a, in a house with a bedroom-

(INDISTINCT YELLING)

Not especially, but... no. Not especially, no.

-You're used to this now? -Well, yeah.

Been living like this, or even just without the kitchen,

just with the van, uh, for the last, uh, four or five years,

so it's quite normal for me now.

(POP SONG ON CAR STEREO)

JIM: There is something very simple and very primeval

about having only one thing to do.

We had nothing else to do but climb the routes

that Tom wanted to climb.

We just had enough money.

We just had enough equipment in the early days.

And that's what we did,

which is what made Tom what he was.

(CLANKING)

His training was like you would train for Olympics.

Today dry tooling. Ah.

Training for the winter...

in summer. (LAUGHS)

MAN 12: Yeah. (LAUGHS)

This is not winter. We're not, we're not tough.

MAN 12: It's, uh, virtual ice, virtual snow.

Yeah, you have to imagine it's cold,

there is ice, there is snow.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

(VOCALIZING)

TOM: When I'm climbing I become a part of the mountain itself

and that, and that becomes a part of me.

Um, like, for instance, I'm, I'm a moving rock or a piece of ice.

You're becoming more, more in tune with the mountain.

It's a completely different experience.

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

Because of my sort of circumstances and my,

the way I am personally

and the fact that I prefer to be on my own,

I prefer to be away from people.

And the way we sort of live in a campsite, I think

that's just a help because I've become fitter.

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

STEFY: Always training. He never stopped.

He had, uh, super energy.

I always thought he wasn't, uh, he wasn't part of this world.

He was like, uh, an alien.

-Do you say an alien? -MAN 13: An alien.

An alien. An alien. Yeah, yeah. (LAUGHS)

He wasn't human. (LAUGHS)

(WAVES CRASHING)

(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

How did I fall in love with Tom?

Uh, I liked him, first of all, because he was different.

He had a completely different lifestyle.

Out of the ordinary, you know?

No, he was cool, I mean, because he was authentic.

He was a, a pure person.

He just liked to climb, to be in nature

and to live as he wanted was important for him.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

Of course he made room in his life for me

because we climbed together.

It wouldn't have been possible if I wasn't a climber.

He wouldn't even have started.

(EAGLE SCREECHING)

I like my life with him because

we could have adventures together,

we could share things.

And that's the most important thing.

The first time actually we kissed, (LAUGHS)

it was, uh, when we climbed the first route,

the first ascent of Baptism of Fire, actually, called it.

Uh, and, yeah, we were both, uh, 26 when we met.

MAN 12: Now tilting your head.

-Ha-ha. Yeah, it's funny. -Funny?

-Back with the... Like this? -Yes.

STEFY: When I first knew him, he wasn't well known.

Oh, proper climate, eh?

But the project that made him stand out

was the six north faces.

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

He was called to do lectures,

they made a film of him.

And so I think his life changed,

and everybody wanted to know him for sure,

somebody so special.

-Hello. -Hi, nice to meet you.

-I met your mother a few times. -Mm.

In the, in the '80s. And I did a book on women climbing.

-TOM: Yeah, "Women On Top." -And in this book...

I say openly she was the greatest mountaineer ever.

-Yeah, I think that's true. -She's not yet...

No, no one's even close, I think. Nobody's even got close.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Isn't that the son of that lady

I'm mad about him

And he's so strong and handsome

And you're now becoming a professional mountaineer?

-Yeah. -Okay. Okay. All the best.

-TOM: Thank you very much. After you. -(IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Congratulations

(IN ENGLISH) Ah, thank you very much.

You are very, very figo. (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

How do you say "figo"?

(LAUGHS)

STEFY: (IN ENGLISH) Everybody loved Tom.

Everybody loved Tom.

My mum was in love with him, oh, my God.

Everybody was in love in my family with Tom. (LAUGHS)

My brothers loved him.

-Gracias. -You're welcome.

He was simple.

He was simple and very nice with everybody.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

-Have a nice evening. -Ciao.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

But then, of course, he couldn't judge people and...

Like a child, you know,

that you give him a sweet, he takes it

even if it's not good.

-(APPLAUSE) -(MAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Here comes our guest of honor Daniele, how are you doing?

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Daniele is a great mountaineer

And has had some great triumphs

The first thing I thought when we met was

you're not a typical mountaineer

I was expecting someone from the North of Italy

But, instead, I discovered you're from Lattina in the South

Yes, actually I come from Sezze in Lattina

I come from the hills to go and climb the 8000m peaks

ALESSANDRA: Daniele always, uh, wanted to be recognized

as a good mountaineer.

He said he felt like he was always an outcaster

because he, he came from the south,

because he was not, he told me,

"For-for most people in Italy, I'm not credible."

He wanted to be credible as a mountaineer

because all the important, the biggest mountaineers, uh,

Italian mountaineers, are from the north.

Here people take the boat and go to sea, you know?

They don't climb the mountains, so he was a, he was an outcast,

but he was also a real fighter.

(WIND HOWLING)

Whoo! Windy!

JIM: He was 42, so he was much older than Tom.

An impressive Himalayan record.

Climbed some big peaks.

But I've never met the guy,

I'd never heard of him until Tom told me

that Daniele had suggested they become climbing partners.

And I think that Daniele realized what a tour de force

Tom was capable of delivering.

-DANIELE: Soft snow, huh? -Yeah, it's not very nice.

(DANIELE LAUGHS)

The first time we met Daniele, it was in Germany 2016.

He went climbing with him, and, yeah,

for sure he had some experience, Daniele,

I won't say no,

but for sure he wasn't even close as talented as Tom.

Tom, he was... how you say? In Italian we say...

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

He was one of the best in the world.

-MAN 13: Tom? -Tom, yeah.

-(LAUGHS) -(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

We've reached the top

(LAUGHS) Yeah!

ALESSANDRA: Daniele told me that Tom was very strong,

very technical and very focused.

And Daniele thought that he could be a good companion.

The best companion, maybe.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

I'm organizing an expedition to Pakistan

To climb an 8000m peak in winter

It's a very difficult mountain to climb

Which 8000m peak?

Nanga Parbat.

By yourself?

No, with Daniele Nardi

For him, Nanga Parbat has always been a dream

He's already tried to climb it four times

I like climbing with him

So I said I'll come with you whenever you want

And so, this winter we're going to give it a go

STEFY: I wasn't happy about him going there.

And I tried to convince, to persuade him not to go.

But then I also thought, "Okay, I can't really,

because it is his life,

and if he wants to go, he must go."

ALESSANDRA: This expedition was going to be

Daniele's fifth attempt to the summit,

but through the Mummery Spur.

He always told me at the beginning,

"I'm not going to Nanga Parbat,

I'm going to the Mummery Spur."

"The Mummery Spur is the challenge for me."

(INTENSE MUSIC)

There are various routes up Nanga Parbat,

the Kinshofer Route and the Messner Route,

but Daniele wasn't interested in those.

He wanted to go up Nanga Parbat through the Mummery Spur,

which has still not been climbed.

He loved that route because he told me

that it was the most direct to the top

and it was, uh, it was the most elegant.

If you look at the mountain,

it's like a finger pointing to the top,

and he was in love with this fact.

He was with love, in love with the elegance, you know?

(RUMBLING)

But he talked also about the fact

that this sport could be very dangerous.

(WIND HOWLING)

Super dangerous. Super dangerous.

It's one of the craziest places

that I ever been in my life, believe me.

(RUMBLING)

ALEX: It's much more dangerous and risky

than, than, than hard and technical.

It's so dangerous, I will show you right now. Look at here.

These seracs is totally crazy.

MAN 14: This is huge, great blocks of ice?

Yes, it's all, it's ice, and it's more

than 100 meters of height.

ALEX: When this serac fell down,

even the avalanches reached to the base camp,

And-and-and-this is like an, it's big explosion.

It's, it's, it's huge. It's massive. It's giant.

(RUMBLING)

(MAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Avalanches fall every week

Every day, Sometimes 5 a day

My brother and I were forced to come down

this route in 1970 in order to save our lives

But sadly, my brother then died in an avalanche

(RUMBLING)

I would only say that

it's best not to go to that place

But, everyone has the right

to choose where they kill themselves

(RUMBLING)

MAN 14: So when you heard that Daniele and Tom wanted to climb

the Mummer Spur at that time of the year...

I wasn't scared, this, this 7th of January,

I wasn't scared because I knew

that Daniele has the experience.

But with Nanga Parbat,

sometimes I think climber will become obsessed,

and I think Daniele was a little bit obsessed

with-with Mummery Spur.

For me, Mummery is the best dream I can imagine.

Okay, so I use all my energy

and my power to do it for three years.

Daniele Nardi was with us

on the attempts on Nanga Parbat 2014/15, 15/16.

-You sure of that? -Yes, I bring 2000 meter rope.

He knew very well that we show to the world that Nanga Parbat

was possible in winter by the Kinshofer Route.

But for Daniele that's not enough, the classical route.

Daniele Nardi wants to show, in my opinion,

to the world, that I'm here,

I'm Daniele Nardi and I will try from Mummery route.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

If I introduced you as a madman trying to kill himself

Would that be fair?

Not really, I'm looking for life

But I am quite mad, in a way

How many bodies are there on Nanga Parbat?

Lots. Too many. Too many dead

This is your 5th attempt

Isn't it a bit of an obsession?

If you make it to the top, what will you do?

I think I might cry

And if you don't come back?

How would you like to be remembered?

Wow! Good question

Ah! Ah! Ah...

Daniele was a good climber,

but, I think, was drunk on ambition.

But for Tom,

you know, if you are driving in a car, okay, I'm...

How you say in English? Say high... when you're...

-MAN 14: Hitchhiking. -Hitchhiking? The...

And the car stop to you, "hey, hello."

But you are with a, a man that is totally drunk

and you take the decision to go with him,

and then you crash, and both of you died.

You know you take your decision.

STEFY: Uh, climbing, alpinism is not for heroes.

It's not a right thing that

you must be there in danger for months.

It wasn't Tom's style.

I mean, it was completely stupid.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(LAUGHING)

Before he left, he left some stuff here in Fassa Valley

in my house, and I thought,

"Fuck, this may be is the last time he is here."

I had that feeling it was the last time I would see him.

I don't know. Strange. Premonition, you call it?

-Oh. Yeah. -Mm-hmm.

Stay in touch, be connected to our Facebook profile

because we send you our photo, Twitter, Instagram.

-Please. -Every hour.

Follow us, Nardi and Ballard, to Pakistan.

Be connected.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Yeah! Ooh.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

KATE: I think we're nearing Halala Bridge.

It seems to be the, uh, starting point for our trek.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

I just feel so happy from inside.

I can't, I can't stop smiling, even though, obviously,

it's, it's horrible circumstances.

KATE: But it doesn't take away the beauty

and the joy of the mountains in this place.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

JIM: I think, for Kate,

it comes down to a trip of two halves.

I think first of all

there's the joy of meeting with Big Ibrahim.

Then, I think, she'll enjoy seeing, uh, where Tom lies,

and, uh, covering the terrain that Tom covered.

Except, of course, it will be entirely different in the sense

that, that she's there's in autumn

and he was there in deep winter.

The army you're not behind the plough

You're in the army now

You're in the army now

You're not behind a plough You'll never get rich...

(MAN WHISTLING)

25 years later, I'm still walking with Katie

-Yeah. -Yeah.

It's great. I love it. Yeah.

Oh, it just feels so natural, it's nice.

-But happy. Yeah, yeah. -MAN 15: Happy?

Together we walk

He's happy that I'm walking and not on his shoulders.

(LAUGHING)

You know? Yeah, yeah. (LAUGHS)

KATE: I don't think that the roles have changed in any way.

He's most definitely still my minder, and looking after me.

But I'm very conscious of, of his health as well.

It's slightly worrying a little bit how heavy he's breathing.

He had to stop a lot and, um,

he just doesn't seem like he's in the best of shapes.

He's retired, so it's understandable.

But we're walking together the whole way,

so we'll take care of each other.

(PANTING)

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(LAUGHS)

Nice snow.

-DANIELE: You're enjoying? -Yeah, it's good fun.

Not so easy with these boots, but...

-DANIELE: Yeah. -Better than walking.

-Sure. With snowshoes. -Ha-ha...

ALESSANDRA: I spent with them, uh,

three weeks going to the base camp,

then I spent some days there, and then I came back.

And, um, I had the feeling that Tom was really,

at the beginning, was really excited to be there.

And, uh, they were really nice together. Really nice.

They took care of each other in a, in a very tender way.

They were like brothers.

And they, they just could look each other

and understand what they were thinking or what to do.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(PANTING)

ALESSANDRA: I don't know Tom so well.

He was so sweet, but I think there was anger.

Ah!

Like, uh, a knot of anger

that can explode sometimes.

And, uh...

yes, and sadness, yeah.

(VOCALIZING)

I think he also felt the pressure

of being Alison's son.

All these stories about his mother,

how great she was, uh, how extraordinary she was.

She was an inspiration, but she was also, um,

a very heavy heritage.

The way she died

put her in a place where now she's untouchable.

-Ah! -Higher, higher, higher.

Bit right, bit right.

Not good.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

-Yeah! -Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Go! -Go!

(LAUGHING)

I don't know how you organized this expedition

without beer, without wine, without vodka,

without (SIGHS) whisky?

No brandy. Fuck.

DANIELE: Karim, really, I do it

because you are Pakistani, so I told-

Come on, man. Why you didn't ask us?

DANIELE: Because I say they are Islam,

they pray five times a day, so--

Islam is moderate Islam now.

-DANIELE: More? -Yeah, we can drink.

-Really? -Yeah.

-(LAUGHS) -I love it.

KARIM: In the beginning it was, uh,

you know, it was first time with them.

Four of us, you know, we had a good relation,

we were understanding each other.

We were learning from each other, you know?

We had a good team I think, yeah.

Here, Mr. Rahmat.

And, uh, Tom wants to try some overhangings.

Wow, great, man.

Tom was the youngest in our team.

Was really great person.

And I thought this is a good partner, you know?

TOM: It snowed over yesterday,

so I'm breaking the trail to camp one.

Um, we gotta find a new way across the glacier

because the, the way that we came last,

uh, the serac is falling down.

Very cold today. Very clear.

Absolutely amazing.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

TOM: Uh, it's very cold, we'll stay here tonight,

then move up to camp two or here in camp three tomorrow,

depending on the snow conditions.

Hopefully there'll be some avalanches tonight, clear the snow,

otherwise it's gonna be hard work.

(SNIFFLES)

(RUMBLING)

(WIND HOWLING)

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Basically, it's like a complete white-out

We decided to come here to Camp 2

even in these terrible conditions

It hasn't got any worse but it hasn't got any better either

So we're in a bit of an odd situation

We're taking a bit of a risk but

we're going to check Camp 2 and then go back down

Beautiful, though

Living in the wildness of nature like this

It's truly incredible

I have seen huge, huge crevices there that,

which I didn't see before.

(RUMBLING)

KARIM: It was terrifying and we have emotions

to reach higher and higher,

but if something happened while climbing there,

you won't survive.

(RUMBLING)

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

(WIND HOWLING)

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

(WIND GUSHING)

Weather's not the best today,

but, uh, it's hard work

on the way to camp three.

Tough snow.

It's the strangest.

Fortunately not too cold.

(SIGHS) Cold enough.

Hard work.

KARIM: Three days, four days, five days.

Sometimes seven days snowfall.

It destroyed the trail, it destroyed the camps.

-Oh. It's gone. -DANIELE: Yeah.

If it were, I'm sure it's still there.

And I think everything inside will be fine,

but, you know, the tent, I don't know, maybe it's broken.

-Poles may be broken. -This very place.

DANIELE: Somewhere underneath the snow is the tent.

From this...it's come down, you know?

DANIELE: Yeah, yeah.

That line leads to the tent.

Somewhere underneath the snow.

STEFY: Just stupid. I mean...

Ugh.

He should have been organized one month before.

He didn't take much to think about that.

If you know that it's very snowy in February...

I mean, it's not snowy like here.

Also here you can die from an avalanche.

But there, why you want to be there in February?

(GRUNTING) Yeah.

STEFY: I don't understand.

I mean, you lose your life. You're playing with your life.

I didn't thought that Tom was so reckless.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

-Yeah. -Okay.

Two hours to find the day.

-The tent. -The tent. One tent.

We need to find that, the other one

under one m-meter of, of snow.

I think the Yeti stole the tent.

Yeti.

KARIM: Do you think we'll find another tent tomorrow?

-I hope so. -We have to find.

KARIM: If we don't find, we no have more kambals

for you and for Rahmat.

TOM: Yeah, that's a big problem.

KARIM: It's a problem.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

TOM: So we, uh, arrived at camp three,

but, uh, it doesn't exist anymore.

Camp three is buried underneath the snow.

Uh, we dug three holes, three tunnels.

(EXHALES SHARPLY) Can't find anything at all.

Um, and now the,

uh, the wind is picking up high up.

Uh, some very interesting clouds.

So time to go down.

Uh, we have to go back down to base camp,

uh, reorganize, and then, uh,

when the weather's good, try again.

In this moment, in this moment

I decided to stop climbing here...

because I felt this is a signal

to leave the mountain.

I told Daniele, "Look, Daniele,

it's time to go out."

And what he said, "Karim, I know this mountain very well."

"I want to reach the summit."

I said, "It's up to you."

"I don't want to lose my life here."

And I told them... I want to go.

And he, he, he said, "Are you scared?"

I said, "No, I'm not scared."

"I'm not scared, but I can come back,

"I can climb again."

(INTENSE MUSIC)

KARIM: When Tom brought my gear, which I left in camp two,

and he brought his harness,

I thought he would, uh, abandon the expedition

and join me to return to home.

(PANTING)

Of course, he was listening the mountains

and watching the weather,

watching the dangerous conditions.

I don't know why he didn't listen at the end,

at the last moment, at the last chance,

that he continued.

This I didn't understand.

(INTENSE MUSIC)

When they had to stay almost 20 days

after me in base camp...

they didn't realize the danger from the mountain.

I think Daniele convinced Tom

that they can reach the summit.

STEFY: I don't know, I think that guy...

Mm-mm...

Tom, he never judged people.

He never said even half a bad word about anybody.

He couldn't even see

if a person was using him in any way.

And I'm really scared is that he, that guy manipulated him.

ALESSANDRA: For sure, I can tell you

that Daniele didn't manipulate Tom.

It was not manipulation.

Tom was really much smarter than this.

It was like saying that he was a little bit dumb, you know?

Little bit stupid.

(PANTING)

Tom was brilliant. He was not stupid, not at all.

You don't go to Nanga Parbat

if you're not really, really committed.

I don't know why Tom was committed, but he was.

Ah.

What a fantastic evening.

Look at the light. Incredible.

But absolutely stunning.

(ISLAMIC CALL TO PRAYER)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(ISLAMIC CALL TO PRAYER)

(VOCALIZING)

(WIND HOWLING)

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

TOM: I'm a moving rock or a piece of ice.

I have to be in harmony. Pushing your own personal...

Never fighting against the mountain because you can't.

They let you, and other times they won't.

They'll always win in the end.

We have to work with them.

You have to be in harmony.

ALESSANDRA: The mountain change you in a way

that if you don't, if you don't experience it,

you cannot really understand it.

You are... It can make you another person.

Things or decisions that, uh,

here you would never, never take,

there they seem possible.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

(VOCALIZING)

I think that after two months there,

probably they were not like us.

Yes, for sure. For sure.

They were functioning in another way...

because their body changed there,

deeply, strongly.

STEFY: I think he was skinnier. He lost weight.

He didn't look fine.

I don't know, I see sufferance in his eyes.

I don't know why.

I never been anxious about him that much.

I say, "Now, now stop it, come back."

I wanted to buy him a ticket to come back also.

The last message I sent him

was that I'm not happy you're climbing,

and I said, "It's dangerous," and he say,

"Bah, no. It's my job."

"If you don't like it, leave me.'

I said then, "Better," I mean, because...

I don't know, I wasn't happy.

I don't know. He sent me a broken heart.

That's it. We didn't leave each other in a nice way.

Mn-mm.

It was very hard, and then after a few days

I said, "This has to be the end."

"Love of my life, if I had never told you." (SNIFFLES)

(WIND HOWLING)

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

ALEX: I was climbing Nangi, too, at the time,

but was asked to lead the search for the two mens.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

Daniele Nardi and Tom Ballard, they had not made contact

with base camp for many days.

Uh, the last communication, it was with, uh, with Khaleel Bhai.

They were on camp four on the, on the ridge, on the Mummery.

-YOU CAN, CAN YOU SEE THE CAVE? -YES.

-It's like a cave. -Yes.

They were somewhere in, in, in that area.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

ALEX: Where is Mummery?

ALEX: All of the responsibility from the family

is my responsibility, so I can't make any mistake,

and I must find, I must find.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

I'm moving from one side of the helicopter to the other side,

from one side, and, uh, with one hand with my camera,

yes, recording for something, but I was with my eye

and totally focused... and cleaning the window.

I press a little bit more

for the pilot to slowly take me here,

but, "No, Alex, the fuel, the fuel, the fuel, the fuel,

it's too risky, too risky."

But I told him why we can't do

just here, here, here, here, here?

For me, this 35 minutes,

they were, uh, eternal.

I saw something strange in one small rocky point

and so I flew with drone.

(DRONE WHIRRING)

I saw first a pole, something like black

and then something orange...

and I think in my mind, "Oh, if avalanche crashed to them

and they were in their sleeping bags,

was like, ooh,

...going on in my, my body.

Uh, and I start digging and digging, digging,

digging the snow.

We find, uh, the camp two tent

from Daniele and Tom totally destroyed.

Inside, uh, we see one sleeping bags,

some pickaxes, no mattresses.

And as you can see here, nothing.

No evidences of life.

-Today ten days. -Yes.

(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)

JIM: I think Tom would've found...

Well, I don't think, I know Tom would've found

the, the organizing rescues

and people leaping in and out of helicopters and all that

really, really offensive.

Tom would never expect anybody to rescue him.

Uh, nor would his mother.

They would have expected to get themselves off.

If you can't get yourselves off

when you are playing the game at the top,

then you don't deserve to come off.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

ALEX: You know, the hardest thing for me, Chris,

was that I walk in their track.

In their track that was made by the foot of Tom and Daniele.

This was the hardest moment for me in this rescue action.

It was like a message, it was like, something like,

wow, so painful, this moment.

On 5 of March, we continued to climbing up.

We-we did twice, okay? Up and down, up and down.

And we are here,

in the craziest place that we can be there.

Oh, this time very dangerous, the Mummery.

So I think 200 meters and then we are more safe, no, Ali?

-Uh, but now we are not safe. -Okay.

Not sure, you know, if they, some seracs fell down,

we are not safe, not this time.

(MAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

-(RUMBLING) -(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Camp one, camp two... Alex... Over!

Get out of there!

An avalanche has swept the Mummery route...

It's going to camp 2... Get out!

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(RUMBLING)

ALEX: We hear all the time, the seracs,

how they were crashing, you know?

And we could not risk anymore, any single life

or any single second more in this crazy place,

so we moved to the base camp.

We were, there was a telescope at this point with a tripod.

I-I took the telescope and I thought, "Give me a chance."

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

-Anchor there. Rope. Rope. -ALI: Yes, yes, this is rope.

ALEX: And the, the bodies are here, you see?

ALI: Down. Look, look down. Look.

ALEX: In less than 15 seconds, I found them.

This is, you see rope? Fifteen seconds.

ALI: Look, look, look, Alex, Alex.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ALEX: I found the anchor here,

I follow down there, down there, down there,

and immediately here, as you can see here,

this is Tom, down there on the fixed rope,

and up is Daniele.

(CLACKING)

ALESSANDRA: When Alex Txikon found them, finally at last...

and I knew how they were found,

that they were close

and linked with a rope,

I thought that at least they were not alone.

-MAN 13: They were together. -Yeah, they were together.

(VOCALIZING)

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

-Good? -Very nice.

STEFY: It was his destiny.

I don't know, I don't, I don't know if I believe in destiny.

We choose. It's our path.

And I can't blame anybody about his death, you know?

Because why?

It's not even fair to blame

the climber that he was with.

He choose to be there, so it's not fair.

It was his choice, and we have to respect it.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

KATE: Tom was, above all, a solo climber.

That's where he excelled.

And I have found myself at times thinking,

I wish he'd have just stuck to solo climbing.

If he could've been soloing,

i-it would've been a different outcome for Tom.

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

(APPLAUSE)

(GUNSHOT)

(VOCALIZING)

JIM: Tom was a mountain warrior.

His mum was a mountain warrior.

You know, Tom will be 30 forever...

at the peak of his physical...

doing what he wanted to do,

where he wanted to do.

And if nature took him back, there's nothing we can do...

apart from raise our hats...

to a life well-lived.

JIM: Hey? You sad?

Hey. Don't be sad.

Look, there's a little cloud right against it.

Tom, there's a little cloud right above the top of K2.

Do you know it's your mum waving to you?

You see, there's one little one there waving.

Looks like an angel's wings. Can you see it?

-TOM: Is that mummy? -JIM: It could be.

Can you see it? Right above the summit.

TOM: Yeah. Is that mummy, daddy?

JIM: Well, I think it's a sign that your mum knows you're here.

She's here, Tom.

TOM: She's, she's always there, isn't she?

JIM: That's right, she's always there.

(VOCALIZING)

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

It is so sad when you lose someone from your family

A father, a mother or a brother

Kate is like an orphan now which is very sad.

When a person is facing many problems

They can become stronger in the end

Her mother is here forever

and now Tom is too.

KATE: I wanted to...

embrace the mountain.

I wanted to see what he'd seen,

try and understand

what went through his mind...

and just try to get a grasp

of, of how he might have felt being here.

Nice snow.

And I have completely achieved that.

And I know what has happened, I know where he's gone,

I know that his body is never coming back,

but his spirit will live on forever.

And it'll live on in me and in the mountains

and in everyone that was ever close to him.

JIM: Gonna turn and give me a smile?

(VOCALIZING)

KATE: It's almost like mum's cradling him,

and they'll be together forever now.

(VOCALIZING)

I wish I could be with them.

But I've still got dad,

and dad and I will pull through this together.

And as hard as it is, we know...

that they did what they wanted to do.

(SNIFFLES)

(VOCALIZING)

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

Whoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo!

(KATE SIGHING)

KATE: It is difficult to not dwell on what's happened,

of course.

And it's not something that I'm over in that sense.

It's, uh, it'll be an ongoing process,

I think, my entire life.

Then it'll get easier, hopefully,

i-in years to come.

But there is only forward to look.

There's no point looking back. I'm not going that way.

That's a wonderful thing to hear, Kate. Absolutely.

JIM: I mean, I think since Tom died,

Kate and I have developed a bond

which is, I suppose, really, truly spiritual.

And th-that's how I feel.

And the thing that I never expected to do

was be able to share her adventures and joys

and sadnesses

in a way that gave me

unbelievable warmth and pleasure.

(VOCALIZING)

KATE: Coming from a climbing legacy,

I always felt just great pride.

But because mum and Tom were so extraordinary,

I almost have a duty to them to be extraordinary, too,

and not just be the average Joe

and to be a little bit more special.

Ooh!

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

My mum and brother, the wind beneath my wings.

(VOCALIZING)

I feel your heart beating.

It's wonderful.

Just like when I carried you over to the window.

It was a windowsill I carried you over to, when you were born.

It was. (CHUCKLES)

If I'd have known what a nuisance you were, I'd have taken you back.

(LAUGHING)

Have you got one in blue? (LAUGHING)

JIM: Go, Kate, go.

Keep waving.

Oh, well done, lass.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

(VOCALIZING)

(INDISTINCT SINGING)

(SINGING CONTINUES)

(SINGING CONTINUES)

(VOCALIZING)

(VOCALIZING)