Everest 'Impossible' Southwest Face · First Ascent 

This is that week of each year where I climb the highest peaks in the world from my mobile phone

In 1974 Tom Hornbein (RIP) gave my high school class a presentation of his first ascent of the West Ridge in 1963. The next year i began my climbing career summiting Dragontail Peak in the Washington Cascades. Still climbing almost daily today at 67👍

Chris Bonnington, Joe Tasker, Doug Scott, Dougal Haston, Peter Boardman -- a Hall Of Fame of British 70s-80s mountaineers. A breakthrough climb on Everest well before the commercialization of the mountain -- with an extraordinary overnight bivouac by Haston and Scott near the south summit after reaching the top. A bivouac slightly higher than the one done by the American expedition in 1963. Overnight bivouacs on Everest at that height are almost sure death. The fact Scott and Haston survived it with little to no frostbite was a miracle. This documentary and the photo of Doug Scott climbing the snow-covered Hillary Step were the primary instigators of my own fascination with Everest. I was told the best way to start on a journey to Everest was to first learn rock climbing and then move onto snow and ice. Problem was, I was living in New York City. But soon I found boulders in Central Park, began learning the basics and eventually graduated to the steep and historic cliffs of the Gunks and other climbing areas in New England. Years later, after reading of the deaths of so many of my mountaineering heros like Boardman and Tasker on the north ridge, I was convinced I might want to stick with the rock climbing I was enjoying and some easier mountaineering -- and pass on a career of ascending 8000 meter peaks. The growing commercialization of Everest (and a family and a career) has now almost fully crushed my dreams of becoming a Himalayan mountaineer. But watching this documentary stirs those old feelings -- a dream lost -- but a dream worth dreaming -- and one that opened a door and gave me years of wonderful climbing experiences. It also reminds me of what Everest used to be. A place for real climbers. People who were passionate about climbing and not merely the bragging rights of having stood on the highest point on Earth.

Back when people still respected the beast called Everest. And almost every guy looked like a Bee Gee.

I love how calmly and soft people used to speak. Respectful too

Finally something I haven't seen! I think I've watched every video on RU-vid about climbing mountains over 8000m! Thanks David Snow for educating the masses on the history of Mount Everest! Great video!

Many of these documentaries show at least one of the mountaineers reflecting on whether the climb is worth even one life lost. They say "no" but they never stop the expedition.

I met Doug Scott at the Banff Mountain Film Festival about 30 years ago. He signed my books, we chatted and I asked if I could have a photo with him. He quipped "I'd rather have a photo with the lady you are with." LOL. RIP big guy.

For whatever the reason, I’m infatuated with Mt. Everest . This is the most informative place I’ve found and Kuddos to David Snow!! 👍👍👍

I'm proud to say l knew Doug Scott.( He was my teacher in Nottingham ) He took us climbing all over Britain especially The Highlands of Scotland. I still go there every year. And always talk about him to anybody who would listen. ( And of course the Scot. Dogle Haston )

i absolutely LOVED this video, not only because I was 5 years old in 1975 but also it reminds me of my dad also loving to climb and me following him around just about everywhere to this day I love climbing, thank you Dad🥰

The Sherpas always seem incredible to me.

It's amazing! the company i worked for actually made the tents for Base Camp 2 of this expedition. BCT Outdoors in Bradford Yorkshire.

As a young climber in the 70s, I enjoyed the story of this expedition as told in Sir Bonnington's book over and over again. While never going to the higher mountains, I threw myself into rock and ice climbing in New England and have climbed and guided in these old hills ever since. I never knew there was so much footage from this expedition and have thoroughly enjoyed this!

🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱. To piekne. Everest jest królem gór. W domu śniegu. . Cały Nepal jest wspaniały. 😊 Pozdrawiam szerpow i himalaistów. Renata

The book is excellent, this video brings it to life, thank you David Snow for sharing.

I watch every documentary you upload, thank you so much!!!!

Four Slovak climbers climbed the Bonnington route alpine style without oxygen in 1988, one of them made it to the summit, while other three made it to south summit. Sadly, they all perished during the descent being nearly blind after three days spent in death zone.

Smoking cigarettes, drinking whiskey and climbing Everest. Bravo.

Dude these sherpas and porters are crazy. Hauling loads up and descending, just to turn around and do it again. Each time they climb a mountain, they really climb it fifty times. Respect

Please dig up more of these classics!

Only one ladder on the 1953 expedition 🤔 all the more incredible that the summit was reached back then

I love these guys! Rip Mick Burke!

Thank you for sharing this, David. This is a great story, from the 1975 British Expedition. The Southwest Face Route, my God what a challenging route. Few choose to do it even today. If you are successful you eventually wind up near the South Summit and the Hillary Step, like the more travelled and easier routes. What I don't understand from this video is what descent route the successful summiteers took back down that caused the deaths. If anyone has info on those descents from this expedition we would appreciate that insight. As we all know, the descent is so much more challenging than the ascent in many cases. If some attempted to descent back down the Southwest Face that would be significant news. Great video and great history.

David Snow is king of the mountain climbing videos, thank you Sir

Amazing to see at least one of the climbing members was a smoker. Would be hard enough on a fully functional set of lungs, let alone lungs impeded by smoking damage.

This is real - if scary - mountaineering. Sad that many - most - of these real climbers didn't live old. Messner was a rarity and he almost got killed twice.

Read the book. Everest the hard way. Never knew this video existed, read the book twice. Really takes you there, well as close as I’ll ever get. Amazing adventures they had.

Everest is all about altitude, and the accompanying cold, wind, snow, ice, avalanches, ice-falls, and thin air.

That expedition was well run and well led, but unfortunately Mick Burke died and it was his decision to risk the climb late in the day.

Enjoy very much these earlier films on the expeditions, the manner in which they were filmed, and narrated, with minimum musical soundtrack. Thank you, @DavidSnowClimbing for posting these gems!

I remember Chris bonnington in the 60s on the TV on Sunday afternoons climbing ,and I wasn't over excited about it ,but I can't get enough of these mountain climbing videos and this has been one of the best if not the best ,I'm addicted to them and start off watching them in bed every night until I fall asleep His climbing looked very difficult when he did it on t v But Everest and the rest of these mountains look as they are much EASIER but dangerous with the weather and ice I couldn't imagine those who climb Everest could climb those that bonnington climbed on Sunday afternoons ,they didn't have the snow and ice and very bad weather but that looked liked proper mountain climbing what he did

a wonderful film thank you for sharing

Awesome content. I had not seen this one before. Keep em coming!

Thanks a lot for the great upload.

The best I've seen on everest 🤘

"It won't offend the ecologists because it will be blown away anyway" Lol, I don't think that'll convince the ecologists!

"..for less than a pound a day, they risk their lives..." - this is how bold the climbers are. I would be intensely embarrassed to offer the sherpas less than a £ a day, but the climbers have the stomach for it! Truly a brave bunch.

I climbed Everest without oxygen in 2004.. Then I woke up

Back then the climbers made the route for the sherpas, now it's the other way around.

Mates Dad Tut. Met a few of these guys. Bonkers the lot of em and brilliant too.

Boy I would of love to meet Chris Bonington

That mustve been one of the best bottles of whisky in the world at that time and place!

Chris Bonington...Top geezer.

Big thanks i recently listened to doug scott up and a about my what a life he as had not missed anything. this film sums adds to what i have heard from the audio book love the the 70s mountaineering docs and books even though i was too young my dad would of watched this with a beer and peanuts lol

Thank you so much

These freaking guys, spend a night up their, and their doc knows them well enough that he says 'you should take good care of your hand now, but you obviously won't do that'. Haha they where so badass, just walked away without any major injury from a night sleeping on the top of Everest. @ 1:00:21

Que hermoso y arriesgado este deporte ,yo lo encontraba una locura pero al ver esas montañas tan hermosas,esa solidaridad que hay los vale ,es un gran desafío a la naturaleza

Climbing these over 8000 meter peaks back in 1975 seemed noble. Today it seems commercialized and touristy.

"the purpose of this years expedition, is to try to find any traces of last years expedition", monty python

I like this channel, I've been looking for this one , Chris used dougal hastons and Don whillans on k2 in the early 70s, Doug also is a beast , I may be wrong but dougal died on a mountain not long after , I'm gonna Google and find out , thanks David, I love the content and see your channel growing, congratulations

In all these great stories of exploration, there always seems to be a great Scotsman involved. When you think of the fantastic achievements and inventions by such a small nation, it really is hard to fathom. As these guys might say "One is incredulous " 😉

Life =....Taking away , the moments , that make up a dull day 🤪

What strikes me throughout the film is how healthy and capable Mick Burke appeared to be. 3:45 31:22 1:01:26 All it took was one Everest storm and he was gone.

I wonder if the average bloke from Thetford or Coventry would have lugged all of that weight for less than a quid a day?

"Good scramble, lads." Yeah, sure. Understatement of the 20th century?

This is great footage but it also shows how things have changed you can't go anywhere without waiting in line it's good to the old there's not a place you can go or humans haven't been and left their trash all I do now is go to my favorite places and pick up trash those are my expeditions and no one will face the taboo subject humans have overpopulated the planet

At least one of those porters 40lb backpacks was entirely full of cigarettes lol

Thanks for uploading this! finally something new! - A viewer in Durango, Colorado

Why did they go in September? Why not April, May? Weren't they playing with fire during monsoon season?

*Said in the most British of British accents* "Unfortunately the lad has been drowned, you can come back now, over"

Love to see a hd version

I'm shocked even bonninton treated the sherpas differently they were treated as if one of us, I mean is that what he has been keeping hidden all this time I'm really shocked. And more so about how he presented himself afterwards and yet he has these views all along

Why is it that I'm so obsessed with Everest when I have such a deep-seated fear of heights that some of the better videos in terms of clarity and definition give me a bit of a panic attack? But maybe I actually like that adrenaline rush, looking down from the top of the world.

Fyfe sat on his arse, ordering everyone about. He never changed.

I find it interesting that they climbed in September and not in May. Maybe more people should try that time of year, so there will be less overcrowding in May.

It's fascinating how the used to think they had to choose who got to go to the summit and now everyone and their Mother goes.

I have to acclimatize to the hair on this expedition.

Do you have any documentary regarding the Yugoslav route from 1979? I think it was never repeated again because of difficulty.

aaah, the era of the really short shorts..... lol...

I hope Mick got to the top. He would have died a happy man

No credits to music by Mike Oldfield, Hergest Ridge, album from 1974. (e.g., 14:45-15:15, 50:18-51:15, and the end of the video). Was fairly new back then :-)

I’m concerned with diet, nutritional snacks, and proper exercise to get ready for difficult treks. These guys 25:05 smoke cigarettes and talk about making sure the whiskey makes it to camp. The 70s men were a different breed.

They get to base camp and it's empty, these days with the commercial tourist industry there are 500 tents at base camp.

Mad respect for these guys! I just watched a really good docu about a accent from chinas side and i may be wrong but it looked alot easier than nepal. No icefall only 3 camps

"To the right of the body". So casually said, I wonder what body it was up that high in the 70s with only 22 odd dead and mostly Sherpas.

Imagine if others arrive at the top and think you've gone the easy way...

$5 to carry a load up to Camp V, $10 additional to carry up to Camp VI

4:49 a £ a bottle sound pretty good these days but I'm sure it was a different story in 1975.

I want Allan Clarke to be my GP. He is great.

Oh you brave people

Makes you wonder what the climbers of yesteryear would make of the equipment used today.

i havent watched it yet but is it actually real footage?? i thought it would be a re-enacment

The cell phone of the 70's at the 57 minute mark if curious lol.

Makes me want to go back to Kathmandu. Bad place for disease though.

Back when only 23 had died... total, not in one season 😮

"hello Mike, unfortunately the lad has been drowned"

Shurpa no better than cattle. 😢😢😢

I say, chaps, jolly good show, what! :-D

4:56 giving that look 😍 lol

19:14 that was impressive!

At minute 4.55 I see a beautiful Nepali country girl ..😃❤️

I'm reminded of an old commercial jingle: Who wears short shorts?

“Hippies in Kathmandu” 😊

Imagine. All these guys are now in their 70's 80's or dead.

Don Whillens should have been there for the pure entertainment value.

Who wore short shorts? They wore short shorts!

It is interesting to see how the early teams organized themselves and climbed the mountain, before it became "commercialized". it seems that they picked the strongest of the team to be the ones to summit and NOT everyone went to the top automatically. Also I stopped it as I am wondering who is the SMOKER in the group. AS a medical person, I am thinking DUH, does not smoking have a negative impact on a person's ability to breathe, and be able to also breathe at higher altitudes? Guess that did not come to full realization until a couple of decades later!! Oh brother! If they only had an oximeter on their finger to see what that cigarette is doing to the spo2 level they would quit!

No one ever shows the walk out.

How many bottles of whisky did they bring?