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... It's the problem with this seat we've had. It's the only major concern. ...to trekking unaided to the South Pole. Whoo-hoo! Last season, we relived five heroic journeys of NZ's greatest explorers. Now we have a new challenge ` to take on a series of even more epic expeditions. Wow. It's beautiful. We'll encounter some of the toughest terrain this country has to offer ` You can imagine what they felt like. from the vast Olivine Ice Plateau... This place is enormous! ...to the deadly currents of the Three Kings Islands. Each week, we'll retrace the hardest parts of pioneering NZ expeditions. We're good, we're good, we're good! But we will not just be following in their footsteps. We will be trying the same food, wearing the same boots... Oh, that's cold! ...and using the same equipment. This week, we take on Edmund Hillary's first major ascent ` the towering Mt Tapuae-o-Uenuku in the Kaikoura Ranges. Less talking, more cutting. We'll confront the mountains without any ropes... Feels a wee bit unsafe doing this. ...and in difficult weather. These clouds just come and go. We will push ourselves to the limit... It's never a good idea to look up. ...to reveal just what Hillary faced... Well done. Well done. Well done. We've knocked the bastard off. BOTH LAUGH ...on the peak where he took his first steps on his journey to the top of the world. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2013 TENSE MUSIC We're on a Royal NZ Air Force C-130, headed to Woodbourne base in Blenheim. It's the workhorse of the air force, and this plane specifically has worked in Afghanistan and East Timor. We're here because this story is about the NZ Air Force's most famous recruit. Back in 1944, on a transport aircraft, sat a tall, gangly bloke from Tuakau in South Auckland. He was on his way to Woodbourne, where he was about to start training as an air force navigator. As he sat on the plane, he was worried about the family business, where he worked as a beekeeper. He was anxious how his family would cope while he was away at war. But that's what's unusual about this story. It's not a geographic first, but a personal first crossing ` the first major mountain climb by a man who had a life full of dreams of adventure. I doubt that even in his wildest dreams the air force trainee Edmund Percival Hillary could have seen where those adventures would take him. During the Second World War, Woodbourne was the base for the No. 2 Service Flying Training School. It was home to over 2000 air force trainees ` so many, in fact, that the base needed to expand outwards into the surrounding countryside. Hillary was posted to RNZAF Station Delta, or 'the Delta', as it was known. It was a collection of seven training camps in an area where on one side the Waihopai and Wairau Rivers met, and on the other, the Omata River passed by. The training was tough, but there was plenty of sport, and the food was good. Hillary loved it. But what he loved most was the valley was lined on both sides by tall mountains. And it was those mountains that would inspire the young air force recruit. He started to plan his first foray into mountaineering, studying maps and organising himself some basic climbing gear. So, what have we got? So, what have we got? (GRUNTS) First things first, mate. Don't ever fall on my pack. (LAUGHS) If you look at modern-day crampons, often there are front points sticking out of them. But this was the bad old days. They didn't have it back then. Oh, we got some mint cake. Fantastic. So, he used that on Everest as well, right? So, he used that on Everest as well, right? I think he did, yeah. Do you recognise this? Do you recognise this? Is that, like, a beekeeper's hat? In all of the pictures I've seen of him, during his biggest climbs, he's always had this stripy hat. That's right. Talking about hats - you like this Snoopy little hat? (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS) Look at your one. (LAUGHS) That's fantastic. Check it out. Here we go. Check it out. Here we go. What do you think? Check it out. Here we go. What do you think? (LAUGHS) Wow. Wow. What a nice change. A sleeping bag. So, what did they call these? '20 belows'? That's right. Aren't they the original Fairydowns? This is going to be a lot better than just the blankets. The young Edmund Hillary began to spend all his money and every spare moment climbing the small peaks around the camp. But one mountain stood above them all. Mt Tapuae-o-Uenuku, at 2885m, is the highest peak in the Kaikoura Ranges, and the highest mountain in the country outside of the Southern Alps. He couldn't stop thinking about it and tried unsuccessfully to convince his fellow trainees to climb it with him. Eventually, he gave up on them and decided to go it alone. He just needed to find a way to get to the base of the mountain. (LAUGHS) It's an old Indian. I don't mind if it's not the world's fastest, as long as it's the strongest. One of Ed's fellow trainees, he had a motorbike, and he was more than happy to let Ed use it. Till he found out that Ed couldn't ride. So instead, what he offered to do was to take him to the base of the mountain. So on Friday night after dinner, they prepared to set off. OK. So, there's two problems here. The first is Ed was 6'5" and he had his heavy pack. I don't know how we'll both fit. Yeah. Yeah. And secondly, do you have any idea how to drive this thing? (SNORTS) Plenty of farm bikes. MOTORBIKE REVS TENSE MUSIC But Hillary's journey on the back of the bike was almost his last. It was the middle of winter, and the road was slick with ice. With his huge frame perched on the back, the bike slid off the road and into a ditch. It couldn't have been a worse start. Back then, just to get to the foothills of the mountain was a bone-rattling 130km journey. Then to climb it and get back would normally take another four days. But Ed had only managed to get a three-day pass. His fellow trainees thought he was mad. But Ed was sure that if everything went right, he would get back in time without being reported as AWOL. The bike had never been very well, and as they travelled on, it got sicker till, uh, only a third of the way in, the driver dropped Ed off and headed back to base. Our bike has clearly read Ed's book as well. And it doesn't want to go any further either. We had no intention of having to walk from here, but it looks like we will. Sir Ed said he was pretty happy to be back on his feet, and I can understand what he means. What do you mean? What was wrong with my driving? But now he'd struck his first major problem. Walking would add an entire day to his journey. He would now only have two days to climb the mountain and get back to base. He managed only two short lifts from passers-by, but most of the way he was on foot ` not much fun with a heavy pack. As the shadows lengthened, he said goodbye to the road and planned his route up the Hodder River. The few people he met on the way tried to discourage him, but the more he went on, the more spectacular the snow-capped mountains looked. Thanks, mate. From the road, the Hodder River winds its way through a narrow canyon of rock. Armed with his map and compass, Hillary began to take bearings and make some notes. His navigation training was being put to good use. The first part of Ed's trip, once he'd left the road, was to get to Shin Hut. It's only about 4 K's, but it's a lot harder than it sounds. The river comes down through a steep gorge, and it bounces from side to side. You keep getting bluffed out. Every few yards, you've gotta find a way to get across to the other side. When Ed came through here, he described it as though he was travelling through the bowels of the mountain. It looks pretty deep, but there's a way... Across there? Across there? ...across here. How's it`? Keep your` Hold on. Try and keep uphill, Kev. Crossing a river should always be done where there's no white water, so this is less than ideal. There's white water everywhere. It's a bit stronger than I thought. Come on. > It's so swift, in fact, that for once even Murray our cameraman needs a helping hand. Oh. (GRUNTS) Let's come up here. It's freezing cold, and you know in 30 seconds you'll be straight back into it again. It's more full on than we were expecting. This section sees almost no sun, so the rocks are slimy and slick. Should we go around that way? Should we go around that way? Yeah. 'As we cross, Murray releases his hold to get a better shot,... It's so slippery! You all right? '...but he slips. RHYTHMIC DRUMMING 'He's under the water and in deep trouble.' REFLECTIVE MUSIC We're retracing the steps of air force navigator Edmund Hillary in his 1944 ascent of Mt Tapuae-o-Uenuku, his first attempt at a major peak and his first solo climb. It's a bit stronger than I thought. We're criss-crossing up the Hodder River,... That's freezing! And it's quite slippery. ...but while fording a rough section, Muz, our cameraman, finds himself knocked off his feet and washed downstream. It's not deep, but the power of the water pins him to the riverbed. Chasing him downstream, Kev manages to grab him before he can go through the next set of rapids. You all right? You all right? Are you all right? You all right? Are you all right? Yeah. I can't believe you're still filming! (LAUGHS) Muz is all right. As usual, he's more concerned about his camera. Luckily, we only have a short distance to travel to our overnight campsite. Shin Hut sits high above the river, well out of the flood zone. Hillary, too, spent the night here preparing for the climb. Hey, Muz and Kev, check it out. Wow, look at that. So, this is like it was. REFLECTIVE MUSIC Far out. Look at the writing on the walls. Look at the names. It's kind of like walking inside of a book, isn't it? It's kind of like walking inside of a book, isn't it? Like a museum. There is one obvious name missing from these walls. Forever modest, Ed didn't feel the need to leave his mark on the hut. Why would anyone care that a young air force trainee was off to climb a mountain? You've had a look at the map. Tell me the plan for tomorrow. We've just got a little bit more up the gorge to go, a little bit more river crossings, then to a little saddle and up to the top of Tongue Spur, then straight all the way to the top. You know, I was thinking about Ed, and for a guy in his mid-20s, for this to be the first major mountain that he took on, for him to do it in winter ` you know, that's pretty gutsy. you know, that's pretty gutsy. Pretty audacious. It was` It was only three years before that the first winter ascent... 1941. ...had happened. ...had happened. Yeah. Amazing. The young navigator sheltered from the cold inside the hut, only to find it was infested with mice and fleas. 70 years later, it still is. So we're taking his advice and sleeping outside. But then it's not the first time Ed's words of wisdom have helped us out. We've done a lot of stories, but the one I like` the thing I like most about this one is that it is modern, and we actually have met Sir Ed. In fact, we were very fortunate that he was the patron of both of our campaigns. It was great, you know, bumping into him and having a few cups of tea, and hearing some stories, like down in Antarctica and... Oh, what was the one he used to tell? The one about the tractors. Oh yeah. Yeah, uh, they were` What were they doing? They were` The petrol lines would freeze, and so they drew straws on who would put the burner underneath them to thaw them out for the tractors to go. And all I remember Ed saying was that he stood well back. BOTH LAUGH I think the thing is people of our... age kind of remember Sir Ed as this elderly statesman. Yeah, older guy. Yeah, older guy. I think of` I think lots of people can remember him, but I think very few people have an image in their head of a` of a young, 25-year-old air force recruit taking on his first mountain. That's what's so cool about being here. Yeah. Yeah, it just feels` It feels a lot more real. That said, we gotta get some sleep. It is a big day tomorrow. That's for sure. That's for sure. OK. That's for sure. OK. All right. Early start. REFLECTIVE MUSIC On the breakfast menu today, it is marmalade sandwiches. So, in 1944, this is what Ed had for breakfast before he clambered his way up the mountain. < It worked for him, didn't it? < It worked for him, didn't it? Yep. You know, we only got about... four and a half hours' sleep. But never mind. This is actually surprisingly good. Ed had never intended for Shin Hut to be the starting point for his climb, but the delay caused by the broken motorcycle gave him no choice. The mountain had a hut much closer to the summit that everyone used as their base, but he was due back in camp in only two days. It meant Ed would have to travel a much longer distance than anyone previously had in order to scale the peak in a single day. An alpine start is when you wake up very early and set off before the sun's up. A lot of climbers don't like climbing in the dark. (GRUNTS) And you can see why. Compared to climbing in the daytime, it's much colder, it's a bit spooky, uh, and it's dark. It's really hard to see. But there is a real logic to it. (GRUNTS) The sooner you can get going in the morning, that means that you can get up on to the ice before the sun hits it. The other good thing is you wanna try and avoid the afternoon, when it's at it's highest avalanche risk. Ed had spent the previous day carefully working out the route he was going to take. But he still wrote that this part of the trek, along the riverbed and up the ridge, was quite tricky. As dawn breaks, we are already high above the hut and have made good progress. Hillary described this part as 'grinding slowly up the long ridge', looking back over the spectacular views of the Awatere Valley. After walking for so long up the ridge in the dark and in the half-light, Hillary said it was fantastic to see the sun finally come up. He could start to get a little bit warm and have a little break and enjoy the incredible view. Staring down at his first alpine pass, he found the scenery glorious. But it filled him with the need for more. As he continued his long march up Tongue Spur, he took compass bearings and notes as he went. As long as the weather held, he believed he could reach the summit in only a few hours. Hold that. Whenever you climb a mountain, there's always a milestone that you reach when you reach the snow line. For Hillary it happened at 5000ft. We're a bit higher than that. It must be about 6000ft. Which means there's more than 3000 to go. The great thing about there being a clear sky last night is that it's made the ice nice and frozen for us to walk on uphill. The hobnails aren't much good on the rock, but on a slope like this, they're fantastic for grip. Still, usually in steep terrain like this, we'd be roped together for safety. But Hillary was climbing solo. Being alone this high in the mountains meant that there was no margin for error. Even a simple sprained ankle could be a death sentence. You all right? You all right? You all right? You all right? Yeah. No, no, I'm good. Oh, it was just getting a bit steep. It's getting a bit curly, isn't it? It's getting a bit curly, isn't it? It's getting a bit steep, eh? We` We can kick steps only so far, I think. We're much better off to start cutting now. We're much better off to start cutting now. OK. Oh. Do you want to start? Yeah, I'll start. Yeah, I'll start. (LAUGHS) When Hillary went up, he said he had to cut hundreds. I guess Kev will be pretty good by the time he gets to the top. (LAUGHS) Feels a wee bit unsafe doing this with no rope on. But that's what he did. But that's what he did. Less talking, more cutting. But that's what he did. Less talking, more cutting. (LAUGHS) Gonna be your turn soon. Gonna be your turn soon. Well, Hillary came up here by himself, didn't he? (LAUGHS) But the steps were the least of Hillary's problems. The weather, so perfect when he started, turned bad and began to close in on him. For us, almost unbelievably, it's doing exactly the same thing. From out of nowhere, the cloud rolls up into the valley, and in less than 20 minutes we're on a different mountain. We're about 7000ft now. It's been going fairly well. The main concern is the weather's just turned, started to cloud in. When Sir Ed got to about 7000ft, he had exactly the same thing happen to him. It started to turn into a snowstorm. It started to turn into a snowstorm. He had to decide to` whether to turn around or keep going. He kept on going, but of course, he was a solo climber, and that came with the risk of having no one there to support you. So he had to be confident in his ability. The thing about Sir Ed is that he did a lot of solo climbing because he found it so hard to find other people to climb with. The higher we climb, the worse the visibility gets. It's unnerving not knowing if we're about to walk over a sheer drop or accidentally stumble into a crevasse. This is starting to remind me of the white-outs we had in Antarctica. Yeah. We didn't have to kick as many steps, though. If it doesn't clear soon, we'll have to find shelter and just hope for the best. REFLECTIVE MUSIC We've travelled back to 1944 to take on Edmund Hillary's wartime ascent of Mt Tapuae-o-Uenuku, his first solo attempt at a major peak. This is starting to remind me of the white-outs we had in Antarctica. We're more than 2000m up the mountain, navigating our way through a white-out. What is that here? Must just be some snowfall. Avalanche. These clouds just come and go within seconds. In the meantime, we know we just gotta go up. (PANTS) For Hillary, the winter snowstorm got worse. He was considering turning back when he started to hear what sounded like a thin human voice calling for help. He carried on, trying to find the source of the sound, before finally realising it was the eerie wail of a kea. For us, the white-out at least appears to be lifting. But we may have been better off not being able to see the drop-off we are about to face. (GRUNTS) We're approaching a pinnacle or steep section of rock that we're gonna have to get around. Problem is... there's a big drop-off to the right. It's one thing to do this roped up with a partner. It's another thing altogether to do it free-climbing. Ed began to edge his way around the pinnacle and admitted he was scared. He said that being spreadeagled on a bluff without a rope wasn't so funny when you were by yourself. ROCKS CLATTER There's heaps of loose rock, mate. TENSE MUSIC Climbing alone in the mountains offers up a whole new set of challenges, many of them psychological. There's a couple of big steps, but... just be careful of the... (GRUNTS) loose rock. It's getting windier too. The chances of a hold breaking are no different than when you're roped, but with the adrenalin of climbing solo, you can be easily distracted, often forgetting to check that your holds are actually attached to the mountain. < How is it now? I can see lots of rock coming down. < How is it now? I can see lots of rock coming down. Yeah. It's just all breaking up. Come on. And if a hold breaks, it means you're in serious trouble. Hillary said that he felt isolated, frightened and exhilarated, with no one but a lone native parrot to share the experience with. Yeah, I'm around the corner. Just take it really easy, mate. There are a few that'll still keep coming out. There are a few that'll still keep coming out. OK. Just take your time. You can tell the ice has fractured all this` You can tell the ice has fractured all this` ROCK SLIDES Oh jeepers. (BREATHES HEAVILY) The ice has fractured all this rock. It must be scary, cos I can't hear anything. You've gone quiet. > You don't look down, eh? (GRUNTS) These hobnail boots, they're not good for this. Yep. Can you just loop your leg around? Uh, there's nothing to put it on. Here we go. Here we go. Your pick's still there on the other side, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. OK. OK. Yeah, hope so. (GRUNTS) Yeah, that's all right. Yeah, that's all right. Good work. Let's get off this. We'll head up to the ice and get away from this bloody stuff. Good to be off that? Oh yeah. It was much worse than I thought it was gonna be. This rock is just splinters. And these things ` you're tap-dancing. You're sliding all over the place. I can see why, uh, Ed found it tough to find climbing partners, and how he found it even tougher to find climbing partners that came along twice. (CHUCKLES) By now it was midday. Ed had been climbing for seven hours, and he still had at least two to go before he reached the top of the mountain. And then that was only halfway. A strong, cold wind had sprung up out of nowhere, so he found a sheltered spot for a quick bite of lunch. On some of his climbs later in his life, there was something that he never went without ` this stuff. It's called Romney's Kendal Mint Cake. Doesn't seem like much of a cake. It's largely made of sugar. But let's have a go. But let's have a go. Cool. Thanks very much. Oh, that's good. It's mostly sugar. Oh, that's good. It's mostly sugar. Mostly sugar. Little bit of mint. Oh! Oh! Oh! You all right? You all right? Yeah. What was that? I think it was this. That's what it was. So as the sun's starting to come up, it's starting to melt the snow at the top of the ridge here. We're in a bit of a funnel, and the snow's coming down. It seems a pretty good sign that we need to be on our way, eh? It seems a pretty good sign that we need to be on our way, eh? Yep. (GRUNTS) I'm ready to go. But it's not just the falling ice we need to worry about. The cloud is back, just when we need it least. So we're about 300 vertical metres from the top. That's about 1000ft. We've just gotta go up through this snow-filled gully here, then on the ridge line all the way to the top, which you can't see. The cloud's been coming in and out the whole day. As we head up, we'll have to be careful of rockfall, because as you look around, you can see where a few have landed. All right. If it stays this bad, it's gonna make the final pitch to the top very interesting. REFLECTIVE MUSIC We are in the South Island's Kaikoura Ranges, retracing the 1944 ascent of Mt Tapuae-o-Uenuku by air force navigator-under-training Edmund Hillary. We've just got to go up through this steep, snow-filled gully here, then on the ridge line all the way to the top, which you can't see. The bad weather that dogged Hillary has put in an appearance for us as well. It's as if the mountain too wants to do its part to recreate Ed's climb. But if the air temperature continues to drop, we will have to abandon our attempt. BOTH PANT As fast as it closes in, it can open up as well. Yeah. Be great if we had a view from the top. The brief clearances are enough to convince us we should keep going. It's what makes the mountain so dangerous. Having put in so much effort to reach the top, to turn around with only a few hundred metres to go takes huge mental toughness. It's never a good idea to look up. There's always much more than you think. I think about 10 more zigs, five more zags. Hillary too had doubt. At one point, the solo climber was hit by a large chunk of ice and was nearly wiped off the slope. He was badly shaken. He had to move. But he wasn't sure if it should be up or down. Such a simple choice on a lonely, remote mountain. He chose to go up... and it changed history. You can tell the snow's a bit fresher, eh? You can tell the snow's a bit fresher, eh? Yeah. Guess that's what you'd expect getting near the top. Just coming up the last little bit, it's been really steep. The weather's gotten cold. The cloud's rolled in. It'll be good to get on the ridge and out of the wind. Somewhere, a few hundred yards away, is the top. We can't see it. When Ed came up the final ridge to the summit slope, he said it was completely sucked in. And we know how he feels. I can't see anything. We know we're on the summit ridge. Although we can't see it, a few steps either side of us is a sheer drop to the valley below. It's a surreal and scary feeling. Starting to get a bit cold. Should we put another layer on? Starting to get a bit cold. Should we put another layer on? Yeah, OK. Can't be far now. Can't be far now. Yeah. The first time Europeans tried to get to the top of the mountain was back in 1849, by two guys, Eyre and Hamilton. They were accompanied by seven Maori guides, who obviously knew the area pretty well. But around this point, one of the Maori guides fell to his death, and the rest refused to get to the top. It was the first known death on the mountain. In fact, the mountain wasn't climbed again till` for the first time, until 1864, when Nehemiah McRae led a party of three to the top. He left a �5 note there, though, Jamie. Did they? Did they? Don't think it's still there. Did they? Don't think it's still there. (LAUGHS) Hillary, by now, had been travelling for two days, surviving on just four hours' sleep and very little food. As he trudged on to the summit, the conditions he faced were almost identical to ours. Just really don't want to walk off the ridge. No. No. Yeah, it's just so hard to see. We can walk around here. We are now in a total white-out. With no horizon and no reference points, it's incredibly disorientating. Our only way of finding our way is to continue walking upwards. But then, through the white abyss, a thin ribbon of rock appears. It's the top of the mountain. We're nearly there. Which is not quite the same as being there. We'll find some shelter behind those rocks. Yeah. From the south, a freezing wind bites at our faces, so it's a huge relief to finally reach the summit. Good job! Well done. Well done. Well done. We've knocked the bastard off. (LAUGHS) Well, we're at the top. Well, not exactly. You can see by the spike sticking out of the ice where the exact summit is. But there's a reason that we're not gonna go there. There are a series of mountains throughout the South Island that the Ngai Tahu tribe treat as sacred, and this is one of them. So out of respect for that space, we'll just stop here. When Sir Ed got here, the conditions were much like this. He couldn't see very much at all. So, how did it feel when the world's greatest mountaineer got to the top of his very first peak? Well, he said it was a bit dis` he was a bit disappointed. He didn't feel like, uh, anything, really. I guess that's because he only made it halfway. For Ed, getting back down the mountain was a really big part of the trip. He often said to people that the hardest part of mountaineering was getting to the bottom of the mountain. Speaking of which, we should probably head back down. Well, hold on. Time for a little bit of cake, though. Time for a little bit of cake, though. Yeah. This is something that I made at home. It's not the official stuff, but don't tell anyone, Muz. Oh, that's a good bit. After battling for hours up the mountain, there seems no better way to celebrate... Oh yeah. ...than with some of Jamie's home-made baking. It seems such a Sir Ed thing to do. I feel like I've had about 10 teaspoons of sugar. How much sugar is there in it? Well, that's all it is, really. Oh, except for the chocolate. Well, that's all it is, really. Oh, except for the chocolate. BOTH LAUGH I don't want to give too much away. Yeah? Yeah? Yeah? You ready, Muz? Let's go. You ready, Muz? Let's go. Let's go. Travelling up a mountain in a white-out is one thing, as up can only lead to the top. Travelling down is a whole new ball game. REFLECTIVE MUSIC We're in the South Island of NZ retracing the wartime ascent of Mt Tapuae-o-Uenuku by RNZAF navigator-under-training Edmund Percival Hillary. Oh,... that is quite slippery! 'We've faced a treacherous gorge,... You all right? Muz! '...a dangerous solo climb... It must be scary, cos I can't hear anything. > '...and a blinding white-out.' At least it's not snowing. Yeah. Now, having reached the summit, we must tackle what's often the hardest part of a climb ` the getting back down again. Ed got to the top around 2pm, but it was wintertime and the days were quite short. So he had to rush down to get below the snow line before it got dark and too cold. We've got a challenge too. It's not the dark, it's that out there. There's a good chance that that might turn into a really nasty front, so we can't muck around. Hillary knew he hadn't a hope of making it off the mountain before dark, but if he could make it back as far as Shin Hut, he would at least have some shelter and a place to sleep. But if he couldn't find the hut in the dark, it would mean a night out in the freezing cold. Oh. The thing about mountaineering is that some routes require a lot more time than there is sunshine. But if you're prepared to travel in the dark, it means you can take on bigger challenges, and sometimes it means you don't need to take a tent or extra food. That's what Sir Ed was trying. Most people climb this mountain from halfway up. He was trying to do the whole thing from the base to the top, and back again, in one day. And even though he'd started up at 5 o'clock in the morning and walked for nearly 14 hours, he was losing his race against time. Now it was starting to get dark. If he got lost, he would be in serious trouble. But because he was a navigator, he had been taking notes all the way to the summit. All he needed to do was turn around and follow them all the way back. Because it was getting darker and darker, though, it meant that he was getting slower. He kind of roughly knew where he was, but he couldn't be quite certain. Then he stumbled across a rock. It was a rock that he thought he remembered stumbling across that day, when he got to the top of the ridge line. And he hoped that if it was the same rock, it would be the signpost to the way back down. Down to the river. If he'd got it wrong, at best it could have meant being lost in the middle of nowhere. But at worst, it might have meant a fall off the edge of the ridge, hundreds of feet to the valley below. Well, we're pretty confident we know where we are, but, uh, let's take it` take it easy, eh? I reckon. I reckon. Can't be too careful. I reckon. Can't be too careful. Give us your ice axe. Oh, cheers. Yeah. (GRUNTS) OK. Here we go. Here we go. Whoa. You take the lead. You take the lead. All right. It's ironic that having spent most of the day battling a white-out, we now have to deal with a blackout. In the dark, your depth perception is non-existent. It's hard to tell if you're stepping on to a ledge or over a bluff. It'd be so easy to take a step off into the black. It's scary, scary stuff. Have you got a`? Can you see your way? Yep. Yeah, down here. There's another big platform right here. Try and get yourself solid, and I'll let myself down. (GRUNTS) Frustration is the main battle here. With a long way to travel, you want to go quicker, push the limits. But Hillary, as a solo climber, needed to stay focused and take his time. Come down... That's it. You've got it. All right. I'm gonna go down this little chute. All right. I'm gonna go down this little chute. Yep. In the day, this would be a simple climb. Just watch those handholds. 'But at night, with fatigue setting in, every move needs to be assessed, every hole double-checked. (GRUNTS) 'There's no margin for error.' (GRUNTS) (GRUNTS) You good? (GRUNTS) (GRUNTS) Well done. You all right? (GRUNTS) Well done. You all right? Yeah. Oh! Holding on. Holding on. (GRUNTS) Just give me the torch? (GRUNTS) Just give me the torch? Yep. Good man. Hillary was confident in his bearings. But he still slid and tumbled over the steep slope. He was relieved when the river finally slid into view. Just about there. Kev. Take the axe? Yep. Oh man. It's funny. When we left this river this morning, I never wanted to see it again. Yeah. Yeah. And now I'm so happy. In the dark of the river, Hillary only had his compass and the bearings he'd recorded earlier on the way up to rely on. If he'd been off by even a degree, he would miss the hut completely. But then, 14 hours after setting off, glinting in the dark, stood Shin Hut ` exactly where his compass had led him. The navigator had arrived. How do you feel? How do you feel? I'm knackered. Do you want me to, uh`? Should we start a fire? Nah, it's` It's been a big day. I think it's just time to roll out the sleeping bags. OK. OK. Yeah. OK. Yeah. Good job. (BREATHES HEAVILY) POIGNANT MUSIC Ed had one more major challenge, and that was to make it back to camp before he was listed as AWOL. He left Shin Hut at 4am and shuffled down the river in the dark. He walked down the road for six hours before a car stopped to offer him a lift. The driver knew all about the crazy airman who had set off to climb the mountain. He'd been the main topic of conversation among the locals. They all believed he'd be dead by now. He reached Blenheim late in the evening, dirty, unshaven and very tired. But he didn't care. He'd climbed a decent mountain at last. It's just amazing what Ed achieved in that short time of space. But the thing that's impressed me most was how many obstacles he had to overcome on his way to get to the top. After the bike broke down, he had the 15-mile tramp. And then he had to go through the gorge to get to the hut. And the hut was flea-infested, and then the mice. That's right. Then up the ridge and around the, uh, pinnacle. Once he reached the summit, that wasn't the end of the climb. He had to go down, fight the dark approaching. And then to drop down into the river at night-time. It was amazing. And to do all that and to get back to the base before the three-day leave pass was up was amazing. If this was Ed's first major mountain that he'd ever climbed ` and in winter ` he must have gained a lot of confidence. He'd been dreaming about doing something like this for years. All those adventure books that he read on the train going to and from school ` and now this was his big chance to have a big adventure. I think a lot of people have dreams, but the difference with Ed is that he had the determination to make that first step to try and make them happen. And in nine years, he went from this mountain up to climbing Everest, the top of the world. It's amazing. It's almost superhuman. I think we quickly think that the only way he could have done these things is that because he had two hearts and three lungs, and there's no way for us to be able to achieve the same things. And I think that's doing him a disservice ` and ourselves. Because what his real strength was is that he had a vision, and he was able to single-mindedly pursue his goal. That was his strength. Yeah, and using his own words, 'People don't choose to be extraordinary. People decide to do extraordinary things.' Oh. That's pretty deep. Let's go have a honey sandwich. 'FIRST CROSSINGS' THEME Captions by Tom Wilson. Edited by Tracey Dawson. www.tvnz.co.nz/access-services Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2013