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PAUL (off-screen): You're out on
the edge of the world if
you're on top of Everest.

You can speak on a
satellite phone, yeah.

But that doesn't mean
anybody can get to you.

PETE (off-screen): You can
have great guides,

you can have
an excellent route set,

but when you are
dealing with the highest
mountain on Earth...

You're still a long
ways from anywhere.

ERIC (off-screen): 26,000 feet
does not feel that good.

On the brain or the body.

Now we've got a
little snowstorm rolling
in here which might be

hampering our summit bid.

We have one chance at this,
and that's leaving tonight.

We're all hopeful
that we can make it.

Otherwise we're going back
down tomorrow regardless.

CLIMBER: Let’s go! We’re ready!

BAKER: There's a reason
that some of this has
never been done before.

We're trying to go to
the highest reaches
of Mount Everest,

to install the highest
weather station in the world.

To try to do science up
at some of these elevations
is an added challenge.

And we're pushing
the envelope.

(theme music plays).

NARRATOR: Every
spring in the Himalayas,

a temporary
town comes to life.

For the next two months,

this will be the
highest village on Earth.

Everest's south base camp,

at over 5,000 meters

it's at the extreme edge
of where the atmosphere can

sustain human life.

For decades,
climbers have gathered here,

each preparing for their
chance at Everest's summit.

(bells ringing)

This season, one group
is here with an entirely
different goal...

TOM: Namaste, my name's Tom.

NARRATOR: To get a better
understanding of how this
mountain impacts all of us.

(chanting in native language)

PAUL (off-screen): We know
literally nothing about what
goes on above 5,000 meters.

And yet, it's this
fantastic window into a
portion of the atmosphere,

where granted not
a lot of people live,

but that's critically
important to what goes on

in the rest of the world.

NARRATOR: Paul Mayewski
will be leading a team of
more than 30 scientists,

in some of the most challenging
conditions on Earth,

to compile the
first complete portrait
of the iconic mountain.

PAUL: The
National Geographic Rolex
Perpetual Planet Expedition

is the largest
scientific expedition

ever conducted on Everest.

NARRATOR: Among those
braving the mission will be:

Geologists...

Glacial experts...

And a biology team...

Most ambitious of all,

two climate scientists
are here to install the
highest weather station

the world has ever known,

as close as they
can get to the summit.

PAUL (off-screen): Preparing for
every expedition is different.

This one was going to
very high elevation.

The plan was to not
only create a scientific
program that would be

multi-disciplinary,
interdisciplinary,

but find the right
people to do this.

NARRATOR:
One of the first to get the
call was glaciochemist and

mountaineer Mario Potocki.

MARIO (off-screen): It
was beyond the dreams,
going to Everest,

so I said, "Of course.
Such adventure. Yes, please."

But doing work
at that elevation,

8,000 meter in death zone,
that's gonna be challenging.

NARRATOR: Mario's mission
is to collect a core from the
highest ice on the planet.

Inside the ice is a record
of several thousand years'
worth of climate on Everest.

It contains critical pieces
of missing information
to help scientists

understand climate
change today.

But the thin atmosphere
near the summit presents
Mario with a new challenge.

To safely get to the
top of one of the

most extreme
environments in the world,

the scientists need a
different kind of expert.

Pete Athans has made
dozens of expeditions
to the Himalayas,

starting 40 years ago.

PETE (off-screen): I just
love the feeling of being
stripped down to just

very, very basic elements.

When you get out into the
wild conditions and wild places

on Earth you're
let's just say,

the simplicity of life
becomes much more forward.

NARRATOR: Incredibly,
Pete has summited
Everest seven times,

leading teams of climbers
all the way to the top.

PETE: You find out
what they're made of,

what your team is made up
of and what you're made of

as an individual.

To see if you have
the capability and
aspirations, energy,

physiology to rise
to the occasion.

NARRATOR: But this
expedition is like none other
Pete has ever attempted.

PETE: They're trying
to commit to getting those
takeaways from the rooftop

of the world that we don't know.

That's the new terra incognita.
That's what we don't know.
It just hasn't been done.

NARRATOR: Everest has always
held its secrets close.

Just 100 years ago,

the Himalayas were
such unknown territory
that the maps were

mostly blank spaces.

It took more than three
decades from the first attempt
to summit Everest in 1921,

before Sir Edmund Hillary
and Tenzing Norgay would
be the ones to finally

touch the highest
point on earth.

That first success
inspired thousands of
others to try their luck.

PETE (off-screen): I think the
enhancements in everything
from the clothing we wear

to our communications
equipment have made
climbing Everest easier.

However, on the worst days,

it's still impossible
for even the best
climbers in the world.

NARRATOR: At base camp,

Pete is heading up
the safety and climbing
logistics for the scientists,

none of whom have ever attempted
to summit Everest before.

One of the first features
they'll have to navigate
is the notoriously

dangerous Khumbu Icefall.

PETE: For dealing with the
Khumbu Icefall we setup a
simulator at basecamp out in

the less complicated icefall,
very close to basecamp.

We setup some difficult
ladders for them,

getting a feel for spikes
and their crampons,

and how to manage
the rungs on the ladder.

NARRATOR: To study
the impacts of pollution
on Everest's glaciers,

Inka Koch needs to collect
snow from above the icefall.

INKA (off-screen): Once I
decided that I would go up to

six and a half thousand
meters on Everest,

and through the
Khumbu Icefall, which
is quite treacherous,

I got really scared.

CLIMBER (off-screen): Climbing!

INKA (off-screen): And was
super excited, but also
really quite intimidated.

MARK (off-screen): You
can kick your toe in and
then drop your heel.

PETE (off-screen): Setting
up fixed lines, practicing
with ice screws and

other types of anchors that
they may not be familiar with,

and then running them through,
for lack of a better term,

an obstacle course.

Just whatever works
more efficiently on...

To the point where they
just felt less intimidated
by the physical environment.

MARIO (off-screen): You have to
have a lot of respect going
through Khumbu Icefall.

That was the biggest
thing in our heads,
because the safety issue.

It's like very
unpredictable place.

NARRATOR: The ice fall is the
most active, shifting part

of a giant, constantly moving,
16-kilometer-long glacier.

Base camp lies directly on
top of its lowest curve.

To get to the summit
from Everest's south side,

climbers follow the
glacier up the mountain,

stopping to acclimate
for several nights
at camps along the way.

The Khumbu is the highest
glacier in the world.

To better understand
how it's impacted
by a warming climate,

expedition scientists
will be studying it from

many different angles.

ALEX: You can see
the bedrock there...

One of the big scientific
questions this expedition
is answering is how climate

change in particular
is happening in the
high mountain regions?

How quickly are the
glaciers changing?

How quickly are
they reducing in their
size and their volume?

NARRATOR: To answer
these questions,

National Geographic
geographer, Alex Tait,

is heading up a team to
map the giant glacier
in its entirety,

including base camp.

The highly detailed
map will be a snapshot
of the iceform today,

so they'll be able to
track changes in the future.

They'll be using
a combination of digital
scans and photographs to

stitch together
3D images of the environment.

Chris Millbern's job is to
scan and photograph every
square centimeter in sight.

CHRIS: If we can
pull off this scan,

I'm pretty convinced that
we can pull it off anywhere.

This is a really
difficult environment and

it's really hard to
climb around so we can

only take pictures from
so many angles on foot.

Drones really help us
give the overall sphere an
extra bit of resolution,

an extra bit of perspective
on Everest base camp.

We're using LiDAR,
which is a laser scanning tool.

And this laser scanner
shoots out 2 million
points per second,

taking individual
measurements every single
time that it shoots out

one of those lasers.

It does that in a
360 degree sphere and
measures everything

that it can see.

What we then do is we
take high resolution
images to paste onto

those measurements that
the laser scanning provides.

NARRATOR: To map the entire
extent of the glacier,

the team takes
to the skies,

using LiDAR mounted
underneath a helicopter.

CHRIS: Having a scan of
a glacier means that you can
measure the exact recession

a year from now, five years
from now, ten years from now,

and see exactly what
the difference is.

PAUL: The way that we can
understand the impact of
warming in the Himalayas,

is largely through the
extent of glaciers.

NARRATOR: After the
north and south poles,

the Himalayas have
more frozen water than

anywhere in the world.

PAUL: The high mountain
areas are critically
important because those are

our water towers.

Those are the
places where a tremendous
amount of water is stored.

NARRATOR: Nearly
a quarter of the world's
population depends on that

glacial water to survive.

ALEX (off-screen): Downstream
from high-mountain Asia,

we have hundreds
of millions of people who

rely on the water from
the rivers that flow out.

NARRATOR: The glaciers that
hold the precious resource
have been shrinking at an

alarming rate over
the past few decades.

Since 2000, melting in
these mountains has doubled.

Without a plan
for what's ahead,

most of south Asia could
be facing catastrophe.

NARRATOR: The Himalayas are
losing around 7.5 billion
tons of ice every year.

This creates two
different dangers.

If the glaciers disappear,

the water supply
for more than a billion
people will be at risk.

And as the meltwater
rushes down from the mountains,

there's a more
immediate danger...

Deadly flash flooding.

Until now, there have
been few warning systems

in place to predict
disaster and provide

lifesaving information
for people below.

Tom Matthews and
Baker Perry are here
to try and change that.

Their plan is to install a
network of weather stations
at five carefully chosen

locations along the
main climbing route.

The last station will
be placed as close to the
summit as the team can get.

All the stations
will have instruments
measuring temperature...

Humidity...

Air pressure...

And wind speed...

This network will produce
a constant stream of near

real-time data to help create
accurate weather forecasts.

One of the lower stations will
be installed near base camp,

with part of it perched
on the ice itself.

TOM: These will just hold...
Good. Good, good, good.

MAN: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

TOM (off-screen): We knew
it would get harder and
harder as we went up to

install these weather stations.

Yep, tighten everything.

So we knew early on that
the Sherpa team were going
to be instrumental in this,

that we would have to work
quickly and efficiently as a
team to deploy those weather

stations as fast as possible.

Once the base camp
science had been done,

we could then start
focusing on moving higher.

PETE: Does everybody have
a mask and a regulator?

TOM (off-screen): The fear of
going through the ice fall and

the worry of columns
of ice collapsing,

of avalanches coming
down from the slopes,

it was a little bit
overwhelming at times to

think about the ordeal
that was ahead, or the
challenge that was ahead.

NARRATOR: Over
the next four weeks,

the high-altitude team of
scientists and Sherpas will

work their way up from
basecamp ever closer
to Everest's summit.

They will set up weather
stations and collect ice cores

at key locations along the way.

Camp 1 is just
above the ice fall.

Camp 2 sits in the middle
of a huge natural amphitheater,

filled with massive
amounts of snow.

Camp 3 is perched
at 7,000 meters.

TOM (off-screen): You can barely
believe there's a camp up there.

It's only as you're
ascending to Camp 3 that

you can see there's this
kind of notch carved out,

and there's an area
that you can pitch tents.

NARRATOR: From there
they'll climb up to
Camp 4 in the South Col.

TOM (off-screen): You're
still looking up at the top
of the mountain there.

From the South Col, you've
pretty much got to climb
the equivalent height of the

tallest mountain in England.

NARRATOR: The Balcony
is the last resting
stop before the final

few hundred meters
to the summit.

TOM: 4:00 am, we're about to
start up the icefall proper.

Hopefully we'll get through
it as quick as we can and
emerge safely at Camp 1.

BAKER: All good.

AMRIT: Excited!

MAN (off-screen): Yeah!

NARRATOR: The first
phase of the climb is a
test of skill and nerves.

PETE (off-screen): In recent
years certainly the most
fatalities have taken place

in the Khumbu Icefall.

It's our greatest
technical challenge.

It's the one
where you have the fewest
options for putting a safe

and efficient route through.

AMRIT: So, who got the
first ladder of the day?

Cause it's going
up on the ladder.

BAKER (off-screen): You're
always on edge for sounds and

for what might be coming at you.

If the hazards weren't there,

of a block of ice falling
or an avalanche occurring,

it'd be a lot more fun.

I mean it's an obstacle
course to go through.

TOM: You're aware of the
risk and the kind of Russian
roulette nature of it.

You know every crack,
every rumble from up above

is accompanied by quite
the same level of fear.

PETE: I'm hopeful that
we'll be able to understand

more about the glacier
after this expedition,

and maybe we'll be
able to come up with
some theory as to what

exactly is going on there.

What makes one good day
turn into someone else's
bad day within 24 hours?

How do we predict
that if we can?

NARRATOR: The dangers
on Mount Everest are
natural and expected,

but this year
there's another hazard,

one more difficult
to accept.

REPORTER: It's a bucket list for
many, turning fatal this year.

Reports of inexperience
and overcrowding emerging
in one of the deadliest

seasons to hit Mount Everest.

TOM (off-screen): We were
unlucky enough to experience
Everest in a very,

very busy season.

People are only moving
higher up on the mountain

when the weather
is okay to do it.

There weren't
many windows that were
suitable for climbing.

DIRK (off-screen):
We're kinda at this
bottleneck in the icefall

where there's two
vertical ladders,

and they're a little bit of a
tough climb for some people,

so there's 150 people
standing here under a serac,

we're kinda standing back
from it a little bit.

It's not the safest situation.

BAKER: We're gonna
be here a while,

so we might as
well get comfortable.

Appreciating the
virtue of patience.

AMRIT: My fingers are
getting a little cold,
my toes are getting cold,

but it'll get over.

It's all good.

MARIO (off-screen): That's
a very charming place.

It's hard to describe because
you feel all pressure,

or all tension,

emotional tension because
you have hanging gigantic
pieces of ice overhead.

But then when you're
just over everything and

in Camp 1 you just like think,

‘Oh my god that was
an amazing experience.'

AMRIT: Heavy breathing,
short breath,

but now I feel very good.

It's very rewarding.

We feel like we did
something good today.

NARRATOR: As the
high-altitude team approaches
elevations increasingly

dangerous to human life...

ANTON (off-screen): Two types
of surveys we'll be doing.

Water filtration...

NARRATOR: Back at base camp...

ANTON: Collecting
water samples.

And also doing things
like turning over rocks,
looking underneath,

and seeing what's there.

NARRATOR: Biology lead
Tracie Seimon and her
husband Anton Seimon are

studying life forms better
suited to survive up here.

TRACIE (off-screen): The
biodiversity of this area is
really poorly understood.

This will be the
first comprehensive
biodiversity survey

performed on Mount Everest.

We are at 5,300 meters.

We are trying to find some of
the highest life forms we can.

ANTON (off-screen):
Really interesting.

There's much more
life up here than meets
the eye at first glance,

that's for sure.

So here's some tussock
grass and some mosses,

and these were all
growing under the pebbles
and rocks you see here.

And here, there is a
very delicate little plant.

There's a little
alpine garden here.

NARRATOR: There are even tiny
insects, known as bristletails.

Related to the
common silverfish.

TRACIE: He's got these
long filaments sticking
out, that's a bristletail.

NARRATOR: The drastic changes
these specialized species

are facing up here could
provide an early indicator

of what's in store
for the rest of the world
as our climate warms.

ANTON (off-screen): We're
getting a window into what
the rest of the world is

starting to experience
and likely to experience
in growing proportions.

As the ice is melting and
everything's moving uphill,
the snow lines are rising,

the biosphere itself is
rising to occupy that space.

But how rapidly is it rising?

Which species are
rising faster?

What's being left behind?

NARRATOR: As the
high-altitude team moves
farther up the mountain,

the greatest danger
they must face comes from
the very thing they're

determined to measure...

The weather.

PETE (off-screen):
The fears are always the
uncontrollable elements...

The weather.

That's always the one we try
to keep an eye on the most,

so we don't put our
team into any type

of hazardous jeopardy.

People are well prepared
to deal with the cold,

but it's really more having the
ability to deal with the wind.

TOM (off-screen): We changed
our plans this morning.

We were originally
going to leave tomorrow,

but the weather
window dictates that it's

really most sensible
to leave today.

BAKER: I think we're
all excited to go up,
but obviously a little

apprehensive with just
health and altitude

and crowds and weather,

but this is the time to go.

NARRATOR: As the scientist
and Sherpa team responds
to the changing conditions,

Pete keeps close track of
all the teams from base camp.

PETE (off-screen): I'm always
conflicted about having people
under my care on Everest,

especially when I'm not
going above basecamp,

and because as well
as somebody might
understand the mountain

the natural world doesn't always
know who the experts are.

NARRATOR: Pete Athans
knows better than most how
unforgiving Everest can be.

He was on the mountain on
one of its darkest days.

On May 10th, 1996,

he was making his fifth
ascent up Mount Everest.

He had reached Camp 3
for the night when he
received the news.

PETE: We heard at about
11:00 PM at night that
there were still 16 people

who hadn't made it
back down to the high camp,

at Camp 4, 26,000 feet.

We dropped everything
that we had at that point
and worked our way back up

to Camp 4 to assist people.

NARRATOR: Earlier that day,

several teams had set out to
make their summit attempt.

But a series of delays
with rope lines and

crowding slowed many
members of the teams,

and some were still
pushing towards the top
late into the afternoon.

As the day inched
closer to night,

a powerful blizzard
pounded the mountain.

PETE: There were
extreme high winds.

There was some snow
fall, poor visibility.

NARRATOR: Unable to locate
the safety of Camp 4,

the climbers were
trapped out in the open
on the mountain.

Eight people lost their lives.

Preventing tragedies
like these is just
one more motivation

for the weather station team.

TOM: Being able to predict the
weather with greater accuracy

and avoid surprises could
potentially save lives.

DAWA (off-screen): We
are at Camp 3 today.

We just came from Camp 2.

Mostly like, vertical uphill.

But we had a really
kinda mixed day today

with the hot sun into
the snowy ending,

and now it's
getting better here.

TENKZA (over radio): Be by 5:30.

PETE (off-screen): So
the Sherpa team will meet
them at 5:30 at Camp 3.

TENKZA (over radio):
Yeah, that's correct.

PETE: Okay Tenkza,

that's a good
time for them to start,

and they will then get to
the South Col pretty early.

TENKZA (over radio):
Sounds good, see you tomorrow.

(speaking native language).

PETE: Basecamp standing by.

TOM: Cold start but
we're nearly there now.

Sherpas just joined
us from Camp 2.

About to saddle up, start
the oxygen flowing,

then long climb to Camp 4.

CLIMBER: Moving up.

Almost to the South Col.

It’s good to be heading higher.

TOM (off-screen): Many times
I was thinking about what
the early pioneers of

Everest climbing must
have been thinking

at different
stages of the climb.

The uncertainty
of what was ahead.

And not knowing at any point,
whether perhaps the route
would become unclimbable.

I don't know how those early
climbers managed to suppress
those voices of fear and doubt

as they were pressing
on towards the summit.

NARRATOR: This team has more
in its sights than the summit.

Mario is finally within
reach of the ice core
he's come to Everest for.

MARIO (off-screen): We are
at Camp 4, South Col.

30 minutes from here there
is a beautiful blue ice.

I believe it's very old
glacier and I'd love to drill
a couple meters on the top,

and meter or two
on the bottom.

I hope that will work.

PAUL (off-screen): Ice cores are
like a big detective story.

We work with historians,
archeologists,
atmospheric chemists.

Locked in those ice
cores is everything that
happened in the atmosphere.

NARRATOR: Never before has
an ice core been collected
from this height.

MARIO (off-screen): It's
like opening a new window
for science for us.

It's absolutely
unknown territory.

NARRATOR: Now into
Everest's death zone,

above 8,000 meters, there
is no margin for error.

DAWA: Yeah, it's windy here.

Very windy.

PAUL (off-screen):
You'll have literally
only a couple of hours.

In which you can
exert yourself enough
to, to drill down,

pull the sample
back out again, get
it into a container.

And there are a lot of
places you can make a mistake.

MARIO (off-screen): Whenever
you drill, it's never the
same type of ice.

So, we didn't know
really what we may expect.

Just very first bite in ice,
when the drill start rotating,

and you see it's just going
deeper and penetrating ice.

It's just like, phew
yeah, it's going to work.

It was the most
wonderful moment actually,
because all stress just gone.

I remember, I just, like,
took my mask off.

It's like, "Yes,
it's going happen."

So, everybody's
just happy, like,
"Hey, Mario, it's good ice."

I was like,
"Yeah, that's fantastic."

So, like everybody
start work really fast.

(groans)

Two or three times more
and we're finished.

NARRATOR: With every
foot of ice drilled,

the core reaches
further back into time.

Ten meters could mean
Mario has reached ice
that will reveal secrets

around 5,000 years old.

MARIO: I'm so extremely
happy because it's going...

Well we may finish
soon because it's

getting more and more
difficult, but it's fantastic.

The ice quality is WOW!

Ok that's number 7.

Amazing! Whooo!

Awesome!

Thank you everybody!

PAUL (off-screen): In order
to make better predictions
for the future,

you need to go back
in time to see under a

naturally colder climate,

were there more
storms or fewer storms?

Was there more precipitation
coming in, or less?

NARRATOR: In a valley below,

another team
hopes to collect more
information to fill in

the pieces of this
ancient climate.

But their challenge
isn't ice, it's water.

NARRATOR: Geologists Mary
Hubbard and Ananta Gajurel

head up the effort
to collect mud samples

containing lifeforms
from centuries ago...

Ten meters deep in the lake.

MARY: So our project
here is to take rafts
and go out on this lake

to take a sediment core.

We've got two boats
that we will raft together
in catamaran style.

And then we'll go
under the boat.

SHERPA: Under the boat?

MARY: Under the boat.

On an annual basis, streams
are flowing into the lake,
they bring sediment with them,

the sediment's deposited.

There's also wind-blown
pollen that comes

from trees in the areas
or plants in the area,

and that's
deposited in the lake.

So that's all recorded.

BIBEK (off-screen): In this
context of changing climate

everything we can get our
hands on to figure out

how climate is behaving through
the time is really important.

It gives you like a tape
recording of the climate,

of the surrounding,

of almost
everything in that time.

It's really important
to understand the past
to predict what's going to

happen in the future.

MARY: So can you,
can you pick this up

and hold it
vertical in the hole.

The core is just
a weighted device with a
plexiglass tube that will

collect the sediment,
that we drop,

and gravity takes
it to the bottom.

There's a small weight
that sits on a pipe,

and you pull it up about
eight to ten inches and

you drop it back down,

and you do that multiple
times and it hammers that

core tube down into the mud.

BIBEK: Come on.

MARY: Yep, I can
feel it going down.

BIBEK: Almost everything in
the mountains is difficult...

(overlapping chatter)

BIBEK (off-screen): Cause
you are not at your full
strength at that altitude.

MARY (off-screen):
Keep it vertical.

A little muddy.

Keep it vertical,
vertical, vertical!

The sediment was much
heavier than I anticipated.

You have to keep
the sediment barrel,

the core barrel,
vertical until you get
it all capped and sealed,

which actually
happens on shore.

Yeah, we're going to set it...

When we pulled the
lake core up, you can't
quite see what's inside.

It's a little bit like
getting a Christmas present
that's wrapped in paper.

It's not until we get
it back to the laboratory
that you then really see

those nice layers of the core.

DIRK: A lot of
people up on the route!

NARRATOR: At 8,000 meters,
the high-altitude team

is facing their one
chance to enter the most

extreme reaches of the planet.

They'll only be able to spend
a few hours here to install
the final weather station.

A year of preparation
all comes down to this.

MARIO (off-screen):
Finished packing a drill.

We fill our bottles, because
around 11:00 pm we are
going to the summit, drill,

and put weather stations,
the highest ones, both.

Fingers crossed.

TOM (off-screen): Suiting up.

Harness on. Crampons on.

I'm about to start the final
850 meters to the summit.

There's not a breath
of wind, we couldn't ask
for more at this stage.

I'd be lying if I said
I wasn't a bit nervous.

I am, I guess there's
nothing left to do but
face the music and dance.

MARK (off-screen): Yeah.

BAKER: Do me a favor
and turn me up to two?

MARK: Yeah.

BAKER (off-screen): Just
going into the unknown in the
middle of the night, you know,

recognizing that we're
totally dependent
on our down suits,

on our crampons,
on our oxygen to literally

keep us alive is, is a
pretty humbling feeling.

CLIMBER: Let’s do it!

We’re ready!

TOM (off-screen): We're heading
upwards, and we can already see

climbers ahead and we can
even see some returning.

It feels like
a bit you know,

kind of like heading
into a war zone.

You're very much aware,

at least I was, that it's
an alien environment,

that's not really
built for us.

MARIO (off-screen):
You lose your feeling
of space pretty much,

and having headlamp
and like blowing snow,

you see like tiny stars just
passing just next to your eyes,

and then you see back of
your climbing partner.

BAKER: Beautiful
morning and a light snow.

BAKER (off-screen): There was a
concern in the back of my mind
about the number of climbers.

MARIO (off-screen): From the
South Col to the balcony,
even in the dark,

you see a like
huge line of lights,

and pretty much
no one's moving.

PETE (off-screen): The
congestion on the climb was of
the sorts that they realized it

was going to perhaps
put the team in jeopardy

and/or put the
objectives at jeopardy.

TOM: It’s fast and then slow

and so we’re in a big
crowd now.

Otherwise, it feels tough.
Tough going.

BAKER: Too many people.
We’re at the balcony!

There’s a huge line of people.
It’s slow going.

This is uh- I think the
main thing it’s really cold.
My hands and toes are cold,

‘cause we’re moving so slow.

TOM (off-screen): We were very
well aware this was a problem
that was unfolding around us.

Given how long it had
taken us in that queue,

we would not have
enough time because we
would not have enough oxygen.

NARRATOR: Just 500 meters
from Everest's summit, the
team faces a decision...

Wait for the route
to clear and hope they
can make it to the top,

or build the weather station
right here, on the balcony.

MARIO: I think the idea
appeared in Panuru's head
that we'll probably have

to work at the balcony.

PAUL: The ultimate
decision was made by
the lead Sherpa, Panuru,

and he was the most
experienced person number one,

and number two he was there.

BAKER: Just...
my mask totally iced up.

I couldn't breathe.

PETE (off-screen): They were
feeling like they weren't going
to get enough margin of safety

to have two to three
hours to do an install
of equipment up there,

and then get back down
safely with the oxygen supplies

that they currently had.

NARRATOR: Knowing how much
work they have ahead of them,

the team agrees:

this is where they'll put
the highest weather station.

BAKER (off-screen): Part of me
was certainly a bit disappointed
not to have the chance

to go up a little higher.

But none of us was there
solely to summit the mountain.

We had important scientific
objectives to complete and
that was our task.

MAN: Oh no.

TOM: Really we’re waiting for
the drill battery to warm up.

They’re too cold.

BAKER (off-screen): We realized
that the batteries were in fact
too cold to operate the drill.

They just did not
have enough power.

TOM: We’re trying to warm
them up in down jackets,

stuffed under our armpits.

Hopefully that works.

Sun’s about to come up.
That can help a bit too.

They’re too cold for it to work.

My guess is it’s about -25°.

And... you know we feel it,
the batters feel it, so...

We’ll just have to wait.

BAKER (off-screen): A real
sense of panic set in....

NARRATOR: The team
waits for an hour...

And then, a battery
sparks to life.

TOM (off-screen): So once the
batteries have started working,

we're straight into
installing the station.

And then we start
doing the things we've
been preparing for.

We start attaching the
sensors in the order
that makes most sense.

So, we're sliding them on,
securing them,

and the Sherpa are
doing this themselves,

because we've run through
this so many times.

BAKER: Do you need
to use the shovel?

I think this is it.

Yeah, it's good.

We have our wind.

TOM: Radio.

BAKER: Temperature?

TOM: Turning on... 3,2,1.

She's on!

Charging!

Brilliant job!

TOM: We just finished installing
this weather station.

Undoubtedly the highest
that's ever been installed.

On the balcony. Everest.

Fantastic work from
the Sherpa team,

who put it up really quickly.

Really excited to start
looking at the data that's
coming from this.

It's transmitting now
back to Washington, D.C.

TOM (off-screen): We wouldn't
have been able to achieve
anything like we did

without the help of that
incredible Sherpa team.

This is their home.

And they allowed us
into their home to conduct
this science and allowed us

to come back out safely.

PAUL (off-screen): Everest
is an amazing place.

It's iconic.

From our point of view
scientifically, this was a
great opportunity to make some

contributions that to
the field of environmental
change, and climate change,

that really couldn't
be made anywhere else.

NARRATOR: The expedition
has been a great success
but the scientific work

is just beginning.

The samples and data
collected will drive years
of breakthrough research.

MARIO (off-screen): This ice at
the South Col is different
because it's been formed by

crystals that's rounded
by very strong wind.

It's very neat ice.

I have never seen
anything like that before.

NARRATOR: Early
examinations of the ice core
show something surprising.

The most recent layer,

on the very top of the core,

is already 2,000 years old.

This points to significant
surface loss on the glacier,

even above 8,000 meters.

It's a signal that human
activity has impacted the
entire surface of the planet,

including its highest reaches.

In Montana, Mary Hubbard's
lake core analysis indicates
the same warming trend.

MARY (off-screen): Once you have
it open, you can see the layers,

but you still
have the question.

So how old is this?

How much time is represented
in this bit of mud that
I'm holding in my hands?

And we now have a sense that
it's probably just shy of

2,000 years old
that's represented there.

MARY: Ok, nice neat
layering right straight
all the way down...

NARRATOR: The different
sections of the lake core
reveal the region's plant and

animal life as it was hundreds
and thousands of years ago.

PICO: Take a look at that one.

MARY (off-screen): The pollen
samples indicate that more
recent times have had a higher

abundance of tree species,
whereas the older time period
had more grasses and shrubs.

And the forests have been
able to move a little bit
higher up the valleys.

PICO: The forest is coming in.

MARY: So that's consistent with
the retreat of the glacier.

PICO: Mmm-hmm.

MARY (off-screen): We want
to understand where that
might go in the future.

PICO: The trees are
coming from lower elevation.

NARRATOR: Data is now
streaming 24/7 from the
highest mountain on Earth,

pointing the
way to the future.

TOM (off-screen): So from
what we've seen so far,

it looks like the snow and ice
may be more sensitive to melt

and therefore declining more
than we previously thought

before we went up there and
put these weather stations in.

PAUL (off-screen): The bottom
line is that if we understand
what's in store for us,

where changes will occur,
what sort of changes,

we can make better predictions
and we can plan better.

And we can begin to organize our
lives so that in some ways our

quality of life could be better
in the future than it is now.

ANTON: 100 years ago,
George Mallory,

the early mountaineer
was famously asked,
"Why go to the Everest?"

And he very famously answered,

"Because it's there."

I'm not satisfied with that.

I say go to Mount Everest
because it's informative,
it can tell us things,

it can tell us stories,
it can help us understand
the world we live in.

Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.