Everest: Beyond the Limit, a Review of Discovery Channel's Reality Show

Climbing Mount Everest. A challenge that most of us can not even begin to fathom. Yet there are many people who are obsessed with the thought of this challenge. Most of these people are highly experienced climbers and mountaineers, but Mount Everest is the highest point in the world and has claimed many victims.

Everest: Beyond the Limit

First, let me say the I have watched the whole series. Twice. Everest: Beyond the Limit is extremely compelling television. The scenery is unbelievable. It is gorgeous and barren all at the same time. As the climbers get higher on the mountain, all you see around them are the tops of other huge, snow-covered mountains and blue sky (if the weather cooperates). It is stunning.

The strength and skill that these people, mostly men, possess is amazing. To have the kind of drive that is necessary to even think about climbing a mountain such as Everest is inconceivable to most of us.

Discovery Channel's Reality Show

I caught the show Everest: Beyond the Limit one Tuesday night and I was instantly hooked. The show features one expedition, their leader and their sherpas. If you visit http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/everestbeyond/everestbeyond.html, you will find all the detailed information about the expedition. You will also find clips, interviews and webisodes. You'll be fascinated.

Climbing the World's Highest Peak

As I watched each episode, one thing kept striking me over and over again: are they nuts? The margin for error on these climbs is slim as a hair. And the price that you pay is loss of body parts or your life. Period. Case closed. There is no rescue.

The adventure takes many weeks. Over those weeks, the climbers move to higher and higher base camps in order to acclimate to the lack of oxygen. Each camp becomes more and more dangerous and climbers can not stay at the very highest camps for more than a few nights or their bodies will shut down due to lack of oxygen.

Traffic Jams?

Can you believe it? Yes, there are traffic jams on Mount Everest. The problem is that if a climber gets trapped through a narrow pass behind a traffic jam, it may cost him his bid for the summit, or worse, his life.

Litter on Mount Everest of all Sorts, Bodies Lie Where They Fall

Not only are there traffic jams, there is debris and litter, such as empty oxygen bottles (called O's on the Discovery Channel show), littering the mountain and the climb to the top. It's a shame, really to have such a beautiful site marred by this debris.

And the true tragedy is that the routes are also littered with bodies. Dead bodies. Climbers who die on the mountain stay on the mountain. The terrain is just too difficult to bring back the dead.

According to the program Everest: Beyond the Limit, a Chinese expedition attempted to climb the mountain for the sole purpose of retrieving one of their fallen comrades. They were able to move the body about five hundred feet and then had to give up. The terrain, temperatures and lack of oxygen made it impossible for them to bring the body down the mountain.

Have We lost Our Humanity?

During one of the last episodes of the show, one of the climbers is on his way down from the summit. He has pushed his body beyond the limits that any of us can imagine. But he did it. He came very close to literally sacrificing his life and limbs to get to the top of Mount Everest.

On the way down, he spots a man lying under a rock cropping. The man is semi-conscious and in very bad shape. The climber radios his leader and asks what he should do. Should he give this man his oxygen and risk not making it back himself? Are there any options?

The answer that came back, to me, was unbelievable. It was that he should leave him there and come back to camp. Nothing was done for the dying climber what so ever. In fact, one of the other climbers, a guide for the expedition, said that the man had been there that same morning and they had just by passed him. He must have been missing from another expedition. How have we become so blinded by our goals that this is acceptable behavior?

Sinking Too Low to Reach Goals Too High?

Now, the first thing that you must understand is that a rescue was probably impossible for this poor man. However, how is it possible to just climb past him and not do so much as radio out to the expedition leader that there is a man down and hope that his team could be notified?

There was no attempt to make this dying man more comfortable. There was no attempt to locate his group until much later. There was no attempt to get his some oxygen. Nothing. He was left to die alone.

Reaching the Top of Mount Everest?

The other thing that has disturbed me about this fascinating show was the attitude of the climbers who were not able to summit. I simply do not understand how making it seven eights of the way to the top mf Mount Everest is a failure. Ok, so the very top has eluded you. But you have done what very few people in the word have done, and you have survived. Many have not. Take the memories of an adventure of a life time and go home! Be proud. What you have done is utterly amazing.

Do We Really Belong on the Top of Mount Everest?

Maybe the summit of Mount Everest should remain Beyond the Limit. If a world exists such as this, where there is no margin for error and where dying climbers must be utterly abandoned, do we really belong there?

I am not naïve enough to believe that people will stop taking ultimate risks in order to (literally) reach new heights. I guess I just needed to say that maybe we should stop and think. Is climbing Mount Everest really worth widowing the woman who loves you with all of her heart and soul? Is it worth leaving your children fatherless? Is it worth having to live with the fact that you were forced to abandon a dying man? Is the summit of Mount Everest really worth the tips of your fingers and toes or other body parts? I was absolutely fascinated by the Discovery Channel'sEverest: Beyond the Limit. But I guess that the sacrifices that are made to reach goals such as this are beyond my own limits of comprehension.