1 I'm Kevin Biggar. And I'm Jamie Fitzgerald. Over the past 10 years, we've taken on some of the world's toughest adventures, from rowing across the Atlantic... That's the problem with this seat we've been having. ...to walking unaided to the South Pole. Whoo-hoo! Now we have a new challenge ` to relive the epic journeys of NZ's early explorers. I will bloody do this thing. We'll be taking on some of the toughest terrain this country has to offer, from the hanging valleys of Fiordland to the treacherous seas of the Open Bay Islands. Each week, we'll retrace the hardest parts of pioneering NZ expeditions. It is so worth it. But we're not only following in their footsteps, we'll be experiencing some of the same conditions and dangers the original adventurers faced ` wearing the same clothing and footwear, trying the same food and using the same equipment. This week ` All right. Tom Fyfe and George Graham's ascent of Mt De la Beche in the Southern Alps ` one of the first major conquests by NZ-born mountaineers. There it is. We'll enter the danger zone with hobnail boots and old-school climbing gear. Watch out for the rocks. We'll push ourselves to the limit to get inside the minds of these pioneer explorers... ...to show you what happened when Fyfe and Graham faced up to some of the most challenging terrain in the world, and to discover just how incredible their first ascent actually was. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2012 ACTION MUSIC We're in the South Island of NZ, at the bottom of the Tasman Glacier. We're heading straight for Australasia's largest mountain, Aoraki Mt Cook. It's an awe-inspiring piece of rock, snow and ice jutting 12,000ft up out of the Southern Alps. It's an amazing landscape filled with glaciers, snowy mountain peaks, and incredible vertical walls of rock. The views are stunning. As you look around, you realise how raw and unpredictable this place can really be. People have lost their lives here, but it's a place that's just so bloody beautiful that, despite all the risks, it was always known that people would want to come here to visit. Famous climbers from all around the world started to come here to attempt the first ascent at all these new peaks. In the late 1800s, the Mt Cook region was becoming a Mecca for the new global sport of mountain-climbing. The Hermitage Hotel was built in 1884, providing a permanent base for mountaineers, but the Mt Cook area proved so popular that the hotel soon needed more rooms. So in 1890, a young NZ-born plumber by the name of Tom Camperdown Fyfe took a job helping build the new hotel. He was from Timaru. He had no climbing experience. He had no climbing equipment. But as he saw the fancy-pants European mountaineers spend time in the mountains, he thought to himself, 'I really want to have a crack up there.' A year later, carpenter George Graham arrived to work at the Hermitage Hotel, and he and Fyfe became friends. They saved up their pennies and sent away to Europe for climbing gear. Then they turned their attention on the imposing Mt De la Beche. So two tradies set off to do what no one had managed to do so far. PENSIVE MUSIC Mt De la Beche rises like a pyramid from a long ridge. Named after English geologist Henry De la Beche, both the Rudolph and the Franz Joseph glaciers cascade off its ridge. But it was a giant boulder at the base of the Tasman Glacier, known at the De la Beche bivouac, which made this peak so popular. It offered climbers protection from the weather and a base to begin the ascent and so made the De la Beche range an achievable goal for mountaineers. When they weren't working in the Hermitage, Fyfe and Graham would be up in the glaciers and in the mountains teaching themselves how to climb. Because they spent so much time here, they got to know the local weather really well. For example, they knew that a nor'wester followed by a southerly change meant they had to get off the mountain fast. Often it probably saved their lives. In the early days of climbing, being caught on the mountain in bad weather could be a death sentence. The primitive equipment meant it was impossible to sit out a storm. Let's see what we've got to deal with. (WHOOPS) Got axe, rope... Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Look at those boots. Why climb the mountain when you can kick it down? (CHUCKLES) So these are the old-school hobnail boots. I mean, nowadays we'd have crampons, but they didn't have them back then, and there was a time in NZ when they didn't think crampons were even that sporting. Kevin, is this a Fyfe and Graham tribute or a love-boat cruise? BOTH CHUCKLE BOTH CHUCKLE No, he used to climb in those. Did he? Did he? He did a famous climb up Multi Brun wearing sandshoes. He thought that it gave better grip on to the rock. He thought that it gave better grip on to the rock. Oh, look what's in your boot. Yeah? Driving goggles. It'll work with the hat. It'll work with the hat. < (LAUGHS HEARTILY) Even in 1894, this was hardly state-of-the-art gear, but they were keen to begin, as nearly all the major peaks in the region were still unclimbed. It's pretty good. Isn't it? I think the only thing we're missing is a big` big beard about 3ft long, for warmth. (LAUGHS) I like the rope. That's the old hemp stuff. That'll, uh` What will that be like when it gets wet? More thinking about, in those long nights in the hut ` might be able to put some of this in the pipe. (CHORTLES) It is warm, but as soon as the wind picks up, it's gonna cut through this. Yeah. OK, speaking of wind... Heigh-ho, heigh-ho. Heigh-ho, heigh-ho. Yeah, it's starting to cut in a bit, so let's get out of here. GRAND MUSIC We'll do our best to follow the route laid out in Tom Fyfe's original reported account, first making our way up the Tasman Glacier, then searching out the boulder from the photos ` the De la Beche bivouac. Then we'll set up camp to begin preparing for the climb. The next day we plan to head up the Rudolph Glacier, across the Graham Saddle, and ascend the ridge to the summit of Mt De la Beche. Before Fyfe and Graham could even start climbing on the peaks, they had to get to the bottom of the mountain. That meant... (PANTS) crossing the Huka River. SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC The problem was, the Huka River is incredibly fast, deep and deadly cold, and very often it was too risky to even try and get the packhorses across. But that was in the bad old days. Then they put in one of these. Wires and cages have been used for over 200 years to get people across fast-flowing rivers. Now, it was Tom Fyfe' job to retrieve the cage. He had to pull along the wire and pull the cage back. We don't have a cage, but we have to get to the other side. So, uh, who's gonna go first? Well, tell you what,... tobacco tin colour side-up ` you go first. No colour up ` I go first. All right, all right, all right. OK. All right, all right, all right. OK. Here we go. (LAUGHS HEARTILY) All right, I'll go first. All right, I'll go first. Oh, I'll take that. All right, I'll go first. Oh, I'll take that. Oh, good on you. OK. SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC You've got it. (BREATHES HEAVILY) Oh. (BREATHES HEAVILY) Oh. < That's it. Take your time. (GRUNTS, PANTS) Just remember, mate, hold on with your legs if you roll over. Kevin's using the Tyrolean method for crossing a line. You lie on top of the rope with the instep of your right foot hooked over the top of it. (PANTS) It's exhausting work, made a lot harder by the drag of our old-fashioned climbing rope. I will bloody do this thing. < You're going awesome, mate. The only way to get any momentum is to basically do a one-armed push-up on the wire. (PANTS) A fall now would have stopped Fyfe in his tracks before he'd even started. I'm starting to run out of strength here. The further out Fyfe got, the harder it became and the less chance he had of escaping the river if he made a mistake. TENSE MUSIC < Oh my God. (PANTS) (PANTS) < Oh, Jeez. (PANTS) < Oh, Jeez. That wasn't supposed to happen. < You OK? < OK. Kevin has no hope of getting back on top of the rope,... and dropping into the river and rocks below could be lethal. His best option is to try and cling on and monkey-crawl the rest of the way. Oh. (BREATHES SHAKILY) That was unbelievable. That was so, so deceptive. It's a long way across. It's a lot longer than it looks. Now that Kevin's across, it should be much easier for me. I can hook my belt on to the wire, and he can pull me across. TENSE MUSIC You're going good. (PANTS) What I'm really concerned about, though, is how much the cable is bouncing. I hope this can take his weight. CABLE CREAKS That's it. Oh, good work. Fantastic. How hard was that? Fantastic. How hard was that? Were you even pulling? (LAUGHS) I was pulling. It was harder for me. I had to drag that rope over. We're not even at the bottom of De la Beche yet. We haven't even started climbing. SOLEMN MUSIC When Fyfe and Graham began their trek up the Tasman, the ice was perfect, and the glacier was essentially a road. Now, a century later, things are very different, with climate change having a dramatic effect on the landscape. Wow. The Tasman is NZ's longest glacier, but it used to be a lot longer. Back in the day, no one knew this place as well as Fyfe and Graham. If you were to bring them back now, they wouldn't recognise it. In 120 years, enormous chunks of ice have disappeared, and where we are now would be under 100m of ice. The glacier has retreated at about 180m a year since the 1990s. It's estimated that in 20 years it will not exist at all. The weather forecast for our climb tomorrow is looking good, but as we make our way up the glacier, we get a taste of the region's unpredictable weather as it starts to snow. (LAUGHS) Oh, it's beautiful. However, by mid-afternoon it's cleared again. Everything seems to be falling into place for our attempt on Mt De la Beche. But first we need to find the rock that Fyfe and Graham camped under to use as our base. Oh, jeepers. It's got to be this one here. It's as big as a house. So this was a natural... This would be the natural overhang of the` of the rock, and then people have put rocks on the side in order to stop the wind and rain from blowing in. What would you prefer ` the marine-view room or the rock-view room? Wow. We've been walking in the footsteps of Fyfe and Graham, but it's fantastic to` to be in a place where they've actually slept. OK. Well, let's sort of, uh` Let's get rid of some of the stuff out of our swags. We've got a heap to do. Uh, we need to head up, cut` cut out some ice steps, prepare for tomorrow. That's right. GRAND STRING MUSIC Lovely. The scale and beauty of the mountains is awe-inspiring. SNOW CRUNCHES UNDERFOOT SNOW CRUNCHES UNDERFOOT It's so beautiful here. But we have little time to take it all in, as we must work fast while conditions are good. When you don't have crampons, the only way to get up steep, snowy slopes like this is to chop steps. So the idea was to cut the steps in the afternoon snow, when the snow's soft. Then overnight they would freeze, and, uh, you'd get a staircase leading up to the mountain. The night before was quite back-breaking work, though. Well, at least it is for him. These steps were the key to Fyfe and Graham's climb. Because both were young and fit, carving the steps ahead of the climb meant that they could ascend further and higher in a shorter amount of time. When it was too late in the day for the climbers to run down to the bottom after cutting the steps, they'd use a technique called glissading,... ...which is really just a fancy term for sliding down on your feet ` or in this case, on your backside. You'd often use your ice axe as a brake. Problem is, if you gain too much speed and you lose control, you'll either stab yourself or you'll lose the axe completely, slip to the bottom, possibly over an edge or into a crevasse. Mate, you're talking up all the risks. Let's go. Mate, you're talking up all the risks. Let's go. (LAUGHS) All right. One, two, three. INTREPID MUSIC Whoo-hoo! (WHOOPS) SNOW SCRAPES (LAUGHS WILDLY) What's taken us hours to climb races by in just a few seconds. But then Jamie drops his ice axe. Hey! He has no way of stopping. He's now hurtling towards the crevasses below. We're in the Southern Alps, attempting to retrace Fyfe and Graham's 1894 climb of Mt De la Beche ` the first full ascent of a major mountain by NZ-born climbers. Whoo-hoo! (WHOOPS) We're glissading down the mountain, but it's gone badly for Jamie. He's dropped his ice axe ` and with it, his only chance of stopping before the edge of the mountain. Hey! But we're still roped together, and I have to slow him down somehow. (GRUNTS) So I plunge my ice axe into the snow, and eventually we come to a stop. LAUGHS: I left my ice axe! I was really worried. (CHUCKLES) I was really worried I was gonna get hurt, stab myself. And Kevin jolted me further, so I dropped my ice axe. You were yanking me, then I was yanking you. That was hilarious. Good job. That's amazing, eh. Took us about an hour` Took us a couple of hours to get to the top of the slope, and now we've come down in just a few seconds. That's the way to travel. (PANTS) Back to the bivvy. (PANTS) Back to the bivvy. You've got to get your ice axe. (PANTS) Back to the bivvy. You've got to get your ice axe. It's not too far to the ice axe. BOTH LAUGH, PANT OMINOUS RUMBLING FOREBODING MUSIC It's pretty warm now, but it's gonna get pretty cold. Yeah, definitely gonna drop below` drop below freezing this evening. How many blankets do we have? How many blankets do we have? Uh,... I think I've got two. How many have you got? BOTH CHUCKLE Good thing it's not gonna be a very long night, though. Good thing it's not gonna be a very long night, though. Yeah, well. Just very early. We need to get away super early, and thankfully those steps will be frozen over, with a bit of luck. Let's have a look. We'll see what we've got. > Let's have a look. We'll see what we've got. > What is it? What is it? Here we go. There we go. Oh, it is baked beans. There we go. Oh, it is baked beans. (CHUCKLES) There we go. Oh, it is baked beans. (CHUCKLES) Fantastic. The amazing thing about having a fire in Fyfe and Graham's time was that they could just nip across the glacier here and get scrub from the Multi Brun range. And now... And now... Well, how high above this glacier are we now? 200m? Yeah, a couple of hundred metres, and you can't see a` a single tree, a single stick of wood on the other side. Trillions of tons of ice... RUMBLING RUMBLING I mean, you can hear it come down here now. LOUD RUMBLING How safe do you feel in the bivvy? How safe do you feel in the bivvy? BOTH CHUCKLE Yeah, not that safe. It's an amazing sound, isn't it? It's like a... like a roar of a cannon or something. Yeah. I mean, we, uh` We're expecting this to stay safe overnight, but in fact, you know, the avalanche danger, or the rockfall danger, is` I mean, is very real, isn't it? Oh, it's got to be. That's what the` brought this rock here in the first place. At least under the rock we'll be dry and out of the worst of the weather. There's about 3ft between us and 1000 tons... Spooky, eh? Spooky, eh? ...of rock. (GRUNTS) I wonder what Fyfe and Graham would have talked about on the eve of their first climb, or their` the eve of their successful climb up De le Beche. They'd have talked about routes. Things like that. Climbing stuff. (CHUCKLES) I thought that was a joke. No, I'm serious. LAUGHS: What do you think they're talking ` previous plumbing and timber-trade conquests? (LAUGHS) RUMBLING FOREBODING MUSIC There's your swag. It's 4am. Time to get moving. This is the moment you've been looking forward to. Oh, that is a really heavy, heavy boot. (GRUNTS) < Ready? < Ready? Yeah. < Ready? Yeah. < Let's go climb a mountain. MAJESTIC MUSIC First light is still an hour away as we follow the trail we set yesterday and begin the long hike up our ice steps. Fyfe and Graham's route would take them up the Rudolph Glacier, then up to the Graham Saddle. As the sun rises, we can see it's a perfect day in the mountains. But we only have six hours to get to the summit. If Fyfe and Graham didn't reach the summit in time, they'd be forced to abandon the attempt, as there wouldn't have been enough daylight left for their descent. EPIC MUSIC So, that's the east coast. Absolutely the main divide. Ocean... and ocean. Amazing. Look, you can just make out a little bit of the ocean over there. Point us to the summit. Point us to the summit. There it is. That big lump of` of rock. Seems so close. Seems so close. The route they took is just a little snowy slope. It looks little from here. It's a big, steep, snowy slope up the ridge line... and up to the top. We go, then. We go, then. Let's do it. MUSIC SWELLS Early morning is the safest time to be moving on the mountain. The night-time cold freezes any lose boulders in place, and so prevents most rockfall. It also means the avalanche danger is low. But it's what's under our feet we have to be most cautious of, so for safety we'll be roped together from here on in. As we start to climb up, you can see that the ice sheet is starting to crack as it folds up the top of the hill, and that means this starts to happen. There are crevasses all around this region. Some of them are really obvious, like this one. But there are a whole bunch that are a lot more hidden. I guess that the key message is we can't afford not to be absolutely sure of each step that we take around this place. Crevasses here are typically 60m deep. But even a small one can be fatal if you fall in and become wedged in the ice. As you breathe out, you can slip further down, eventually constricting your diaphragm to the point where it's impossible to draw breath. In a matter of seconds, you're dead. No problem. See the size of this one here, Jamie? See the size of this one here, Jamie? < Yeah. Some of these crevasses ` simply jumping across them isn't an option. Problem is, we're walking parallel to it, and we need a way to get across. And that's where the snow bridge comes into it. You can just see a little small one here. Might be just enough for my weight. Holy... moly. A snow bridge forms when blown snow forms a crust over the... over the gap. And they're usually stronger nearer the edge. This one looks good near the edge, but it's the middle you have to be worried about, so I'm just gonna have to try it out. It's pretty skinny. I've got a good anchor. Fyfe and Graham were well aware of the dangers of snow bridges. Fyfe had fallen through one on a previous climb and had to be rescued. How's that anchor? How's that anchor? Yeah. This bridge is marginal and may not hold my weight. It's got to be 20m. But Jaime has a good footing and can provide a strong anchor. (CHUCKLES) Still good. Still good. (CHUCKLES) Still good. Still good. < Yeah? (CHUCKLES) Still good. Still good. < Yeah? Nice test though. Good reactions. I like the way you think. > Oh God. SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC I'm a bit worried about this mushy s` Holy moly. Holy moly. < You OK? Fellas! Oh! Danny C! Nonu, Nonu, Nonu! Boom! Richie. Register and use your MasterCard before September 15 and you could go on tour with the All Blacks. Yeah, mate. Yeah, mate. So, who am I rooming with? 1 We're in NZ's Southern Alps, retracing Fyfe and Graham's first ascent of Mt De la Beche in 1894. How's that anchor? We're crossing a snow bridge spanning a deep crevasse. I'm a bit worried about this mushy s` But the snow gives way under Kevin's feet. < You OK? < You OK? Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. You should see what I'm looking at, though. You be careful on that edge. < Can you support yourself? < Can you support yourself? I might be able to cut some steps in. < OK. More often than not, they had... travelling parties of more than two, and they'd simply be able to have someone anchor it, and the rest would help pull each other out. And when you're finished talking, would you mind pulling?! (LAUGHS) The temperature inside a crevasse is much lower than on top of the glacier, so climbers can freeze to death while waiting to be rescued. < If you were to stick your ice into the, uh, into the vertical wall, could you step on it? And I'll` And I'll pull in some slack. By using his ice axe to cut steps, Kevin can take the tension off the rope so I can slowly pull him out. Pull! (PANTS) (GRUNTS, PANTS) (LAUGHS TRIUMPHANTLY) You thought you'd never see me again. (GASPS) OK. Enough with the belay. < You OK? < You OK? Yeah. Hey, I've, uh` I've tested it out now. It's good for you. Jump in. We still haven't got across. There's got to be a better way. Let's go up the crevasse a bit more. There's got to be a better way. Let's go up the crevasse a bit more. < Further up? PENSIVE MUSIC In spite of my fall, we're still making reasonable time. But as the day warms up, we enter the most dangerous time to be on the mountain. This is really classic avalanche territory. Makes me nervous every time I'm near it. There are plenty of reasons that contribute to an avalanche ` you know, weather, the degree of the slope, the compactness of the snow itself. You know, either way, it's a really nasty place to be around. An avalanche can go from 0mph to 80mph in just five seconds, so it's like being hit by a big ice Mack Truck. But if you can survive that, then the next problem is you running out of air. But if you don't die of asphyxiation, then eventually, after about half an hour, then the cold will get you in the end. The pair laboured over the ever-widening crevasses. At one point, Fyfe fell through a hidden one and found his legs dangling in space. Graham only just managed to pull him out. They were still three hours from the summit, with the hardest part of the climb still ahead. We're just coming into an icefall. We have to make our way through to the other side, but there's so many different options. The walls are so high. It's like a maze inside here. These large towers of ice, or seracs, are formed by intersecting crevasses on the glacier. They range from the size of cars to small houses. Do you think there's a path through, though? I'm just nervous about this overhanging stuff. Yeah. Crossing an icefall is extremely precarious, as the structures are continually changing and are notorious for collapsing suddenly. And I'm very nervous about this big block right above us. The sun's been on that for half the day. This is not a spot to stay under. One of the overhanging seracs has recently crumbled and is blocking our path. OK. OK. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) OK. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) (GRUNTS) I don't know what you're grunting for. I'm doing most of the work here. (CHUCKLES) We're finally at the top of the glacier, but there's one more surprise that it has in store for us. This is a bergschrund. It's not necessarily a crevasse itself ` it's simply the bit that separates the slope or plateau above and the entire glacier down the valley. With bergschrunds, you never know what you're gonna get. Sometimes they're filled with snow, and you can just walk across. Other times you could look down and see China. This one is more the China sort. (CHUCKLES) This bergschrund is big enough to park a bus in. Just give me a bit of slack. I don't want to fall that way. There appears to be a strong snow bridge spanning it,... Just careful with your axe. ...but after my previous experiences with snow bridges, I'm very wary. < You're nearly there. Holy mackerel. Yeah. Yeah, there's a little gap just here. (BREATHES HEAVILY) Think we can do it. ACTION MUSIC From here we can begin the most technical part of the ascent ` a tricky free climb up the steep and unstable rock face. The bare face of the mountain is covered in tons of loose rock. There are a few loose ones around. This was to be the most dangerous part of Fyfe and Graham's climb. LOUD RUMBLING We're in the middle of NZ's Southern Alps, endeavouring to repeat Tom Fyfe and George Graham's 1894 first ascent of a major NZ peak. Good work. We've hit the most technically challenging section of the ascent ` a steep rock wall. It's not hard climbing, eh. It's just unstable. TENSE MUSIC SWELLS There are a few loose ones around. Loose rocks are falling down the face of the mountain all around us. < Watch out for the rocks. Pioneering climbers Fyfe and Graham regarded this as the most hazardous part of their entire journey. Really loose stuff. (GRUNTS) It's like climbing a vertical bowling alley as falling rocks whizz past you. That's one of the dangers of being on a mountain just like this. There's just so much rockfall. You just can't be too careful. Nah, that's OK, mate. At least we've got our hats (!) Nah, that's OK, mate. At least we've got our hats (!) (SCOFFS, CHUCKLES) < Good work. Jamie and I take turns leading up the face, but finding an easy path is getting harder the higher we go. Just on the right side you'll see there's a big fat crack here. ROCKS CLATTER In the end, our hobnail boots make climbing almost impossible. (GRUNTS) (GRUNTS) Nice one. I'm looking at the cliff hard here, because I don't want to get caught in a situation where I run out of handholds or run out of options. (PANTS) Be a lot easier... if you could get some grip on this. I'm tap-dancing here. I think it's time to get the secret weapon out. I think it's time to get the secret weapon out. Oh! Yeah, OK. You all right? You come down. You all right? You come down. OK, I'll come down. Feel like I need a cucumber sandwich and some Pimm's. It's just such a huge difference between both shoes. When you compare it with what we've been using up until now ` think we've even lost a couple of hobnails over the, uh, rocky surfaces that we've been on. You know, Fyfe and Graham ` you know, they were innovators and trailblazers in their own right, just from a footwear point of view. For safety and speed, they found that the sandshoes worked a lot better than the hobnail boots. Interestingly enough, it's the closest thing to modern-day climbing that they've left as part of their legacy. The sandshoes are a revelation and a relief. All right. (GRUNTS) Certainly a lot quieter. They're so snug-fitting I can make use of smaller footholds and therefore climb much faster. Good work. Good work. Just watch out for the rocks. Fantastic. Fantastic. That's heaps better. I feel like I should be doing a pirouette with these white numbers on now. A simple pair of tennis shoes was the secret behind Fyfe's mountaineering feats. He could climb significantly further in a day than any of his peers. It would be another 50 years before the rest of the world caught on to climbing in rubber sneakers. We're now off the rock and back in the snow, where the sun is turning the ice to slush. Oh, it's heartbreakingly slow, going up to your knees. It's back-breaking work when you're at the front, so when you get the chance to use the steps that Kevin's already made,... you take it. Fyfe and Graham were now on the home stretch. They just needed to work their way up the ridge line to get to the top of Mt De la Beche. What they didn't know was that the ridge had a hidden danger. Oh yeah. This is a cornice. It's an overhanging edge of snow. It's formed by the prevailing wind ` blows snow out and forms a shelf. And, uh,... often these shelves break away. You really don't want to be on it when it goes, cos the next stop is hundreds of metres down. So Fyfe and Graham, when they got to the top of the summit ridge, they found a huge cornice there. They're often very deceptive. You don't know if you're on the edge or not. Fyfe went up and put his, uh, his axe through the snow and found he was just standing on a wafer-thin edge of snow. You go over. You take a really good look and just imagine how he might have felt when he peered through at his ice axe. It'll be fine. I'll make you safe. It'll be OK. I'll` You'll be safe as. If you didn't weigh 130kg, I'd be worried. OK, just back it up a bit. INTREPID MUSIC There's a crevasse between me and the corniced edge of the mountain. < Watch out for those holes. The mass of overhanging ice should be strong enough to hold my weight. Give me some slack. I've got to jump across. But I've been wrong on this trip once before. Yeah. Yeah. Are you sure? Yeah. Are you sure? Yeah, I'm gonna jump. There's no other way of doing it? There's no other way of doing it? If you feel a sudden jerk, just sit down. (CHUCKLES) Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Yeah. LAUGHS: OK, here we go. TENSE MUSIC SWELLS (GRUNTS) We're in NZ's Southern Alps, retracing Fyfe and Graham's ascent of Mt De la Beche. We're using the same climbing equipment and clothing that they had back in 1894. We've survived a thrilling glissade, crevasse fields,... See the size of this one here, Jamie. ...and rockfalls. Just watch out for the rocks. RUMBLING Just give me some slack. I'm going to jump across. Now, like Tom Fyfe on the original ascent, Kevin is about to have a close encounter with an overhanging ice shelf known as a cornice. Here we go. (GRUNTS) Oh, it's beautiful. The drop, though... < Careful. < Careful. Just a little bit more. (CHUCKLES) Oh, wow. Yeah. < How far down? To the valley floor? I don't know. I think if I said 1000m, I wouldn't be wrong. Just` Just a little bit less slack. That's it. It's a strange feeling knowing that all that separates you from a massive drop are a few centimetres of melting ice. I just these things tend to go late in the afternoon on a summer's day,... which would be about now, then. I was really hoping that Jamie had a good, solid anchor. I've seen the size of his arse, though, so I wasn't too concerned. It only takes a couple of comments like that before... I'm gonna pull out the knife next time. Despite our detours, the perfect weather means we should reach the summit in our six-hour time limit. But the heat of the day is starting to have an effect, and we have used up all of our water. It's bizarre being surrounded by tons of frozen water and still be dying for a drink. GRUNTS: Oh, yeah. Oh. Nearly. As we reach the 2400m mark, the altitude begins to take its toll on our bodies. It's getting hard to breathe, and we can only climb in short bursts before we run out of energy. (PANTS) Wow. We're really really close. (PANTS) Really close. There's got to only have been another 50 vertical metres, or` if that. (PANTS) Oh, you can` You can see the world. Fyfe and Graham must have... (PANTS) thought their lucky days had all come at once. < Last little bit, Jamie. You can do it. Good work. (PANTS) ROCKS CLATTER Wow. > 15th of February,... (PANTS) 1894. Fyfe and Graham... The feeling they must have got would have been extraordinary. MAJESTIC MUSIC Yeah, it's been a journey. I'm not so keen on heights, so this was always going to be a challenge, but... blimey, what a proud feeling. Hey, is there room up there for two? Uh, not if you're wanting to hold on to any part of this part of the rock. (CHUCKLES) I'll come down, and then you can come and have a look. I'll come down, and then you can come and have a look. < All right. TRIUMPHANT MUSIC I can't believe the last few metres would be so hard. ROCKS CRUNCH Oh yeah. Whoo! All right. Oh, how incredible. What a place. This is amazing. (PANTS) It's incredible. The sense of vertigo, though, is quite something. GASPS: It's... Oh, man, I hope this rock stays where it is. It's just incredible. Now I know why Fyfe and Graham wanted to keep on doing this and took all the risks they did. After an incredible feat of mountaineering, Fyfe and Graham achieved what all others before them had failed to do. They had conquered Mt De la Beche. The triumph on Mt De la Beche drove Fyfe on. On Christmas Day, 1894, he led the first group that claimed the ultimate prize, reaching the summit of Aoraki Mt Cook. Before Fyfe began climbing, no major summits had been reached anywhere in NZ. When this self-taught plumber from Timaru finally hung up his hobnail boots and sandshoes, few remained unclimbed. Thomas Fyfe was NZ's first outstanding mountaineer. What did you think of De la Beche? Oh, it was amazing. It's the first really big mountain I've ever climbed, and it really helps you understand about Fyfe and Graham, though ` how important it was for them to knock it off, because they had failed on it, and so many other people had failed. And then to make all the right route choices, to get up so early and to prove that they could beat those incredibly steep slopes and that amazing final ascent up to the peak ` I think that was the one that` that proved to them that they were able to compete in the world. And then, uh, Fyfe went on to do Multi Brun. And at the end of the year he climbs Mt Cook. You know what I like about these two guys? You know, Fyfe came here to fix the toilets at the Hermitage, as a plumber. You know, Graham ` local chippy. You know, Graham ` local chippy. Yeah, yeah. You know, two tradesmen ` that's pretty typically Kiwi, right? You know, two tradesmen ` that's pretty typically Kiwi, right? Yeah, it's fantastic. Kiwi. Then they're out there, they notice these mountains, and Fyfe in particular thinks, 'You know, I really want to have a crack at all that.' Then four years later, they're doing amazing things. Absolutely. It's the best in the world. Yeah. I don't think many Kiwis know much about Fyfe and Graham at all. Yeah. I don't think many Kiwis know much about Fyfe and Graham at all. No, no. You know, and these are people that have trailblazed a huge legacy in mountaineering and what was possible for Kiwis, so more Kiwis need to know about that. They definitely should. They definitely should. You know what else I learnt? They definitely should. You know what else I learnt? What? I` I'm still not that keen on heights. I` I'm still not that keen on heights. (LAUGHS) Uh, but I'm really pleased that I did it. All that I'd like is for our next trip to be at sea level. Oh, sounds a great idea. Let's see what we can do.