tonight on "nightline," death on the mountain. the extraordinary story of the 29 mountaineers who made the world's toughest climb, and the 11 who never came back. >> help you guys. >> for the first time, the story of what really happened up there can be told. >> release the rope! >> as the adventure of a lifetime turned into a nightmare. plus, not so fond farewell. a jetblue flight attendant spectacular blowdown gains him folk hero status and a stint in jail. why the art of the long good-bye is tonight's "sign of the is tonight's "sign of the times." >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," august

10th, 2010. >> good evening, everyone. we begin tonight with that extraordinary footage of love and death on the roof of the world. while thousands have conquered mt. everest over the years, only a few hundred have stood atop k2. steeper, tougher and riskier and so it draws the brave and the foolish to the china-pakistan border each season. this expedition went up with cameras rolling, men hoping to document personal glory. cameras rolling, men hoping to document personal glory. but as you see now, they instead captured one of the worst disasters in mountain nearing history. >> 11 climbers died on the world's second highest peak. >> you couldn't have asked for a better day in a million years. and only on k2 does a perfect summit day become a deadly day. >> reporter: on a good day, this mountain kills 1 out of every 4 climbers. >> doesn't take for much to go

wrong to be catastrophic. >> reporter: these men and women knew those odds when they posed for this picture. and then tried for the summit. >> if you fall, you release, okay? it's our lives, too, okay? >> reporter: but what they didn't know is they could soon be victim to the worst day of the world's deadliest mountain. 28 would go up. only 18 would return. >> release the rope! >> reporter: on that day, k2 would kill the first irishman to make the summit. a 61-year-old grandfather and his third attempt. >> one guy died. i came up here to help you guys. >> reporter: and one half of the most adored couple. soul mates in love with each other and extreme adventure. >> we are many from u.s.

we are from nepal. australia. many countries. >> reporter: they fly deep into northern pakistan and after han eight-day hike, they get their first glance. first glance. and just the sight of it fills them with excitement and dread. >> how does it look, fred? >> wow, and [ bleep ]. >> reporter: fredrik strang was among the gaggle of teams that converged two years ago. >> tomorrow is going to be a tough day. the bottleneck looks scary. >> reporter: and camera rolling, he got to know the koreans and spaniards, dutch and nepal ease, and eric meyer, a veteran climber from colorado. >> why i go and try to climb high peaks is that you learn things about yourself, you -- you know, you deepen

friendships. >> fantastic day. >> reporter: on this expedition, there is no deeper partnership than cecelia skog and ralph bae. married just a year. she's the first woman ever to climb the highest peaks on seven continents. had a hard time finding boyfriends who could help up until she met ralph. >> that's when he proposed? >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: did he get down on one knee? >> he did with his skis on. >> reporter: they had tried k2 once before but turned back in bad weather. and this time, even under blue skies, the mountain provides constant reminders of the risk. >> really dangerous. no safe way to get up through no safe way to get up through here. >> reporter: just outside of base camp, another reminder. dozens of hammered tin memorials, scattered with the remains of fallen climbers dashed to pieces. >> sorry. >> standing close to a leg.

>> sorry. >> there's more body parts down there? >> looks like it. can't really tell. >> reporter: it is the grimmest possible warning, but it scares no one from the task at hand. testing their endurance on walls of ice and rock. >> how you feel? >> tired. >> yeah? >> very tired. >> reporter: the air is so thin, oxygen, so scarce, the brain fog s. the muscles chill. >> when you go up, your muscle tells you, you need to breathe, or, you have to stop. >> yeah, exactly. >> reporter: they spend months on k2 acclimating to the altitude, waiting for the weather to clear, and finally, blue skies. no wind. time to summit. >> we are working like a one team. >> reporter: they know they have 18 hours to make it up and back before their bodies shut down

from lack of oxygen. but so many climbers create a traffic jam on the bottleneck. fredrik and eric realize there's no way they can make the summit before dark. >> we are really late. i don't know what we're going to do. i don't know what we're going to >> reporter: hearts broken, they turn back, and are in camp when they hear a scream. >> what's happening? >> right in the bottleneck. >> reporter: a serbian climber unclips from a safety rope to help skog with her load, and then slips and falls. >> it's blue ice and it's -- yeah. >> reporter: very slippery. >> reporter: very slippery. >> slippery. >> reporter: he plummets 600 feet, smashes into the rocks, but fed rick and eric notice signs of life. >> he's moving. >> he is moving. >> reporter: they climb up to help, but dren has already died. so they quickly hatch a plan to lower his body back to camp. >> put this much faster, in

large dose. put that rope there. no problem. and we auto here. >> reporter: fredrik puts the camera in his pocket, but doesn't realize it is still recording as a pakistani porter falls and nearly pulls them all down with him. >> release the rope! release the rope! release the rope! and then he just loses the grip of the rope. jesus christ. start falling down. what the hell is this? one guy died. i came up here to help you guys and -- >> get down. get down. >> let's go down. >> reporter: the others have no idea two are dead and ralph is feeling weak in the thin air. >> how are you?

>> not a great day today. hard day for me today. >> reporter: they know that pressing on means a dissent in the dark, a dangerous gamble. still, they push, until ralph can go no further. >> so i gave him my oxygen and i thought maybe then he would feel better. >> reporter: but he doesn't, and encouraging his wife to go on with him, and she makes it, makes the summit just before sunset. >> oh, it was amazing. it was -- it was fantastic. we could see the shape of k2, the shadow. we could see so far into china. it was -- no wind. the sun was still up. >> reporter: so you had that amazing euphoric moment at the summit and you go back to your husband to celebrate with you. was he happy for you? >> yeah, he was so happy. that was the way he was. >> reporter: a dutch climber is

among the 14 who make the among the 14 who make the summit. he calls his wife with joy. after a lifetime of dreaming and a year of training, they're all giddy. but it is almost dark, and they only have a few hours to get back to camp and precious oxygen. but first, they must repel under a massive icy overhang called the serac. and did you hear the ice break loose? >> i don't think i heard it, but -- but i felt it. >> reporter: the falling ice sweeps her husband off the mountain and cuts their safety ropes back to camp. in a daze, she picks her way down in the dark, holding out hope that ralph has survived. >> of course he's gone to the tent. he's in the tent. >> reporter: he's waiting for you at the camp. >> yeah, yeah.

but -- >> reporter: is that when it hit you, when you walked into the tent and he wasn't there? >> i don't know. i don't know when it did. >> reporter: three are now dead, but the drum beat of tragedy is just beginning.

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and we return now to the doomed expedition atop k2, those climbers would cho not resist a punch of summit at dusk. of the 29 who went for the punch of summit at dusk. of the 29 who went for the summit, three have already fallen to their deaths, and the worst is still to come. 20 hours have past since the international team set off for the summit. night has fallen, and three are dead. the dozen left on top of k2 have a grim choice. either spend the night freezing and gasping in the dangerously thin air or try to make it down the mountain in the dark without ropes. a she pa proves it is possible, arriving back at camp to report that all of their lifelines have been swept away by falling ice. >> there is nothing. no ice anchor, no axe, no rock anchor, no fix line. nothing. >> reporter: but most of the climbers aren't as skilled as he is, or as strong. the french grandfather, is so weak, his mind so foggy, he falls without a scream or a shout. another avalanche takes gerard mcdonald, the irishman, just hours after he calls his girlfriend from the top. and the rest simply disappear into cracks and crevasses, while down at camp, the survivors agonize over their inability to launch a rescue. >> tired, exhausted. we have to get down. there's not much we can do. >> this is not a guided tour. >> two nights already. spending a third night -- i'm not sure if i can get down without oxygen, you know? >> reporter: they can do little more than listen and hope. more than 48 hours after the summit push began, they're ready to give up when miraculously, wilko and another durman wander into camp. >> how many victims are already dead? >> 11. 11 people. >> reporter: they are stunned to hear the final toll. >> mr. perk, mr. wan. >> what about -- >> no, he's dead. >> reporter: the hobbled survivors are lifted off, but two years later, bodies of the fallen remain on k2. graham bowley just released "no way down," the most comprehensive account of the expedition. >> i wasn't convinced there was a reward, but i am now. >> reporter: what is it? >> i think it touches people's lives. they're exploring nature. they're exploring themselves. i'm very good that there are people like these people i got to know, doing what they do. i think it's pushing bound rips for all of us. >> reporter: are you second-guessing decisions you've made, if you could do it all over again, would you have even gone? >> millions of times i have, thought about everything in detail, and -- but it doesn't change anything. we did what we did. we took those decisions and, but now i hate k2. i hate that mountain. i just -- i love a very, very small part of it. >> reporter: she feels the need to go back to k2 some day soon, not to climb, but to lay a proper memorial to her husband at the base of a mountain with night has fallen, and three are

falls without a scream or a

expedition. second-guessing decisions you've

no regard for love or loss. and we want to thank graham bowley for his insight on this tory. his account, "no way down," is in bookstores now. and, as proof that this tragedy

only adds to the mountain's lure, fed rick ericsson fell to only adds to the mountain's lure, fed rick ericsson fell to his death on k2 last friday, and another team is on the mountain right now poised for a summit push. when we come back, how an angry ride on the exit slide took a jetblue flooigt attendant to disgruntled worker to folk hero in a single day. it's tough to get enough servings of vegetables every day if you the taste of them. good thing v8 -fusion juice gives you

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"meg whitman says she'll run california like her company..." seen this attack on meg whitman? who are these people? they're the unions and special interests behind jerry brown. they want jerry brown because, he won't "rock the boat," in sacramento. he'll be the same as he ever was. high taxes. lost jobs. big pensions for state employees. the special interests have chosen their governor. how about you?

>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> his name is steven slater, and if you don't know his name by now, you'll probably know what he did. he is the flight attendant who got so frustrated on the job yesterday that he quit in epic fashion. and tonight, he is free on bail after cooling his heels behind bars all day, all the while, his after cooling his heels behind bars all day, all the while, his folk heel roe reputation was burning up the internet. andrea canning looks at how one man's meltdown is a "sign of the man's meltdown is a "sign of the times." >> reporter: remember when being >> reporter: remember when being a flight attendant was a job of glamour and adventure? >> service like this combined with the clipper's solid comfort. >> reporter: well, those days >> reporter: well, those days are over. now flight attendants deal with frustrated passengers who are cramp and cranky. >> what happened up there?

>> reporter: enter america's >> reporter: enter america's newest folk hero. steven slater, the now infamous jetblue flight attendant, isn't being praised for saving anyone's life or averting disaster, but because he lost his cool, when a passenger tried to get her bag and hit him on the head. when she didn't apologize, slater got on the intercom and had these words -- >> i quit, that's it. i'm done. and i thought that was the end of it. >> reporter: in his exit, which can be heard on this airport radio traffic. radio traffic. >> we just had a slide deployment. >> reporter: slater activated the emergency inflatable chute and slid down the tarmac, but not before grabbing a few beers for the road. >> i think he just had a very small meltdown, and i think he deserved to be able to have that meltdown. >> reporter: and it isn't just his mother on his side. >> for people who have been pushed to the limit, he's a hero. he said, i'm out of here, and he

didn't say i'm out of here until he told everybody off. and the best thing what he did is he proved that the emergency chute actually works. >> reporter: just a day after his tarmac tantrum, the buzz around the water cooler seems to be much in his favor. there are facebook pages with tens of thousands of fans, and mrogs giving him virtual pats on the back. there are even t-shirts for sale. >> this is a major per sonnage for of our time. i'll follow his tweets. >> reporter: slater spent the day being arraigned in the new york courtroom and sitting in jail, waiting to be bailed out. does he know he is's become a folk hero overnight? he has thousands of fans on facebook now. >> he's been isolated from any news. >> reporter: could slater have done what we've all dreamed of doing at one job or another? >> anne hataway has a great quitting scene. she just throws her cell phone in the fountain and walks away. i was thinking, keep the job.

>> reporter: this fantasy of storming out of worm in a blaze of glory has been a recurring theme in movie after movie. >> i hate this job. i hate this [ bleep ] job and i don't need it. >> reporter: and "network," well, this is enough to make any news reporter any nervous. >> i'm as med as hell and i'm not going to take this anymore. >> reporter: that is the iconic "i'm quitting" scene. he won an oscar for it. he was dead by the time he won. maybe because of the rage. this character has more rage than mel gibson but expresses himself way more poetically. >> reporter: only time will tell if stephen later turns into another howard biel, inspiring others to follow in his footstops. >> i'm mad as hell -- >> reporter: slater just said, i'm not taking it anymore. this is the last time, and that's why it's such a fantasy that people are grabbing onto. oh, we wish we had that in us.

to tell people off and walk away and take two beers. that's the important thing. >> he definitely exited in a >> he definitely exited in a grand fashion. he is a dramatic fellow, so i wouldn't expect any less of him. >> reporter: slater now faces up to seven years behind bars for his stand, but he didn't slide into notoriety. >> it seems like something here has resonated with a few people and that's kind of neat. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm andrea canning in new york. >> maybe we should have inflatable slides and beer coolers in office buildings around the country. thanks to andrea for that. first, let's check in with the host of "jimmy kimmel live" to see what's coming up next. >> jimmy: tonight, gordon ramsay, jazz trumpeting from christian scott and sophia vergara. let's do this. there's no good reason for you not to watch. "jimmy kimmel live" is next. [ fema announcer ] this is a strawberry pop tart.

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