tonight on "nightline," death on the mountain. the extraordinary story of 29 mountaineers who set out on the world's toughest climb. 11 of them fated never to return. >> i came up to help you guys. >> reporter: the climber's view. more than two years later, the story of what really happened up there can be told. >> release the rope! >> as the adventure of a lifetime turned into a nightmare. and, all heart in a tiny texas town they still cheer for the home team even if the game has changed a bit. a story how six-man football is keeping a friday night tradition at hometown spirit alive. >> announcer: from the global

resources of abc news with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city this is "nightline," november 25th, 2010. >> good evening, i'm bill weir. we begin with a story to make you even more thankful for whatever warmth and comfort you have tonight. a tale of love and death on the freezing roof of the world. while thousands have conquered most everest over the year only a few hundred have stood at the top of k-2, because it is steeper, toughest and riskier. the expedition we followed tonight went up with cameras romming, men hoping to document personal glory but instead they captured one of the worst disasters in mountaineering history. >> 11 climbers died. >> you couldn't have asked for a better day in a million years. and only on k-2 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 do fall you release, okay? it's our lives, too, okay? >> reporter: but what they didn't know is they would soon be victim to the worst day on the world's deadliest mountain. 29 would go up, only 18 would return. >> release the rope! >> reporter: on that day, k-2 would kill the first irishman to make the summit. a 61-year-old grandfather on his third attempt. >> one guy died. i came up here to help you guys! >> reporter: and one half of mountaineering's 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 hours of spine-rat ming jeeps and an eight-day hike, they finally get their first glimpse in person, and just the sight of it fills their blood with excitement and dread. >> how does it look? >> wow and [ bleep ]. >> reporter: fredrik strong was among the gaggle of mountaineering teams that converged on k-2 two summers ago. >> the bottleneck looks scary. >> reporter: and camera rolling, he got to know the koreans, spaniards, duchl and nepalese and eric meyer, from colorado.

>> why i go and try to climb high peaks is that you learn things about yourself, you -- you know you deepen friendships. >> reporter: on this expedition there is no deeper partnership than cecilia and ralf. married just a year. she's the first woman ever to climb the highest peaks on seven continents. and had a hard time finding boyfriends who could keep up until she met ralf. >> that's when he proposed? did he get down on one knee? >> he did. with his skis on. >> reporter: the two had tried k-2 once before but turned back in bad weather. and this time even under blue skies, the mountain provides constant reminders of the risk. >> jesus christ. it's really dangerous. there's 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. >> standing close to a leg. >> sorry? >> there's more body parts down there? >> looks like it. can't really tell. >> reporter: it is the gimrimmest possible warning, but it scares no one from the task at hand testing their endurance of warms of ice and rock. >> how do you feel? >> tired. really tired. >> reporter: the air is so thin oxygen, so scarce the brain fog s s. 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 k-2, 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 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 treacherous stretch called the bottleneck. fredrik and eric realize there is no way they can make the summit before dark. >> we are really late. i don't know what we're going to do. >> reporter: hearts broken they turn back and are in camp when they hear a scream. >> what's happening? >> do you see? right in the bottleneck? >> a serbian climber unclips to help cecilia with her load and then slips and falls. >> it's blue ice and it's -- you know -- >> reporter: very slippery. >> slippery. >> reporter: he plummets 600 feet, smashing into the rocks, but fredrik and eric notice signs of life.

>> he's moving. >> he is moving over. >> reporter: they climb up to help, but he's already died. so, they quickly hatch a plan to lower his body back to camp. >> put this, much faster in large dose. but that up there. no problem. and we out of here. okay. >> fed rick 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. >> stop! jesus christ. >> start falling down. >> what is hell is this? one guy died. i came up here to help you guys, and -- >> get down. get down.

oh, let's go down. >> up in the bottleneck, the others have no idea two are dead and ralf is feeling weak in the thin air. >> how are you? >> not a great day today. hard day today. >> they know that pressing on means a decent in the dark a dangerous gamble. still, they push until ralf can go no further. >> i gave him my oxygen and then i thought he would feel better. >> but he doesn't. and he encouraging his wife to go on without him. and she makes it with another norwegian, just before sunset. >> it was amazing. it was -- it was fantastic. we could see the shape of k-2, the shadow we could see so far into china. it was -- there 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 and was he happy for you? >> yeah, he was -- he was so happy. that was the way he was. >> reporter: a dutch climber is also among the 14 who make the summit. calls his wife with joy. after a lifetime of dreaming and a year of training, they are 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 rappel under a massive, icy overhang called the cerak. >> did you hear the ice break loose? >> i don't think i heard it but but -- but i felt it. >> reporter: falling ice sweeps her husband off the mountain and cuts their safety ropes back to camp. in a day cecilia somehow picks her way down in the dark

holding out hope that ralf has survived. >> of course, he's gone to the tent. he's in, 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 walk 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. if your racing thoughts keep you awake... sleep is here, on the wings of lunesta. and if you wake up often in the middle of the night... rest is here on the wings of lunesta. lunesta helps you fall asleep and stay asleep, so you can wake up feeling rested. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery

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we return now to the doomed expedition atop k-2, those climbers would could not resist a push to the summit at dusk though they knew their odds of survival would plummet. of the 29 that went to the top, thee have already fallen to their deaths, and the worst was still to come. 20 hours have passed since the international team set off for the summit. night has fallen and three are dead. the dozen left on top of k-2 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. the survivors agonize about 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 don't know if i can get down without oxygen. >> 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,

wilco and another dutchman walk in. >> how many victims? >> 11. 11 people. >> they are stunned to hear the final toll. >> mr. perk mr. wong -- >> no, he's dead. >> reporter: the hobbled survivors are lifted off but two years later, bodies of the fallen remain on k-2. journalist graham bowley just released "no way down," the most comprehensive account of the expedition expedition, after setting out to understand why they take such risks. >> reporter: what is the reward? >> it touches people's lives. they're exploring nature. they're exploring themselves. i'm very glad that there are people like these people that i got to know doing what they do. i think it's pushing forward bound rips for all of us. >> reporter: are you second-guessing decisions that you 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 -- i hate k-2. i hate that mountain. i just love a very, very small part of it. >> reporter: she feels the need to go back to k-2 some day soon not to climb but to lay a proper memorial to her husband, at the base of a mountain with no regard of love or loss. we want to thank graham bowley for his insight on this story. his account, "no way down," is

in bookstores now. and when we come back there may be fewer players on the field, but the game is faster higher scoring than 11-man football. we check out how they do it in small town texas. depression is a serious medical condition. i feel like i have to wind myself up to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest the lack of energy. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about pristiq® a prescription medicine proven to treat depression. pristiq is thought to work by affecting the levels of two chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephrine. tell your doctor right away if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in mood, behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children, teens and young adults. pristiq is not approved for children under 18. do not take pristiq with maois. taking pristiq with nsaid pain relievers aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. tell your doctor about all your medications including those for migraine to avoid a potentially life-threatening condition. pristiq may cause or worsen high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or glaucoma. tell your doctor if

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> well chances are you consumed a little football with your turkey and pie today. but you didn't see it like this. shrinking towns and shrinking schools have threatened the spot with extinction in rural texas, which, if you are familiar with the culture down there, is a bit like taking searching away from

hawaiians. ryan owens shows us the solution that some towns have found. >> reporter: in parts of west texas, there are more pump jacks than people. towns where the train no longer stops. where downtown is all but dried up. petersburg, texas, population 1,200 or so, is one of those towns. over the last few decades, petersburg has lost most of its industry. and a lot of its people. but there is one thing it will not let go of. its beloved buffaloes. this is texas, after all. >> i heard once that texas people go to worship twice. once on sunday morning, one on friday night. >> reporter: it is homecoming friday in petersburg. buffaloes haven't roamed this land in a century, but today, they are everywhere you look. at the afternoon pep rally,

nearly the whole town is here. the guest of honor, the buffaloes first quarterback. this is a team a school with a proud tradition. but pride will only get you so far, especially when you have just 78 students in your high school. >> don't aim for their numbers in the front of their chest. aim for their spine. put your face mask through their chest to their spine. >> reporter: the coach knows tough talk will not fill up these stands. but friday after friday the buffaloes do. by literally shrinking the game of football. they play a shorter game. four ten-minute quarters. on a shorter field. the 40 yard line is midfield. and the most noticeable difference? only six players on the field. traditional football has 11. most of these kids play offense and defense and are on the field the entire game.

don't you ever just wish kind of wish we had more people on this team? >> it just depends. if you love the game you're going to want to be in it and be able to play it. >> reporter: don't you ever just want to rest? >> sometimes, but i like being on offense and defense both. >> reporter: six-man football moves a whole lot faster than a regular game. just ask the volunteers who move the chains on the sideline. and there's way -- way more scoring. these teams sometimes have to drive three or four hours just to find another six-man team to play. but no matter how far they go, their fans follow. >> if you're a robber and we had an away game you could come here and clean up because the doors are shut and everything is locked up, we are gone. the town is vacant. >> reporter: coach o'malley, a six-man specialist, came to petersburg five years ago after the town made what turned out to

be the excruciating decision to shrink their buffaloes from 11 to 6-man. one look at the school's trophy case, you see why the move was tough and necessary. for decades, petersburg was a power house, but their last state championship was all the way back in 1963. if you guys were trying to field an 11-man team at this point, do you guys think you would ever be able to win a game? >> no. >> no, sir. >> reporter: no hesitation whatsoever on that. >> i don't think we'd be able to stand with the big boys. >> reporter: but for this school to be standing at all takes a lot of work. starting at the top. coach o'malley is also principal o'malley. are there enough hours in a day? >> no there isn't. i wouldn't recommend this just to anybody. >> reporter: he's not the only one multitasking. at halftime of the homecoming game, look carefully and you

will see members of the marching band are wearing jerseys. you can't have a football game without a half time show. practice presents another challenge. to scrimmage in six-man, you need 12 kids. right now, they are one short. so, this tiny freshman no pads no helmet does his best to stand in. the team's determination has impressed six-man's toughest critics. including these two members of the state's last championship team that team, that one from '63. >> you have seven, you have enough. you get a kid out of the band at halftime if you have to. >> this is a can-do area. we'll get it done. >> reporter: and get it done they did. petersburg won their homecoming game. on a smaller field, with fewer players, but it is a victory just the same. not just for a team but for a

town that's lost an awful lot over the years. but isn't ready to lose its friday nights. i'm ryan owens for "nightline" in petersburg, texas. >> got to work with what you got. our thanks to ryan owens for that. we'll be right back with a look at the troops celebrating this holiday overseas. but first, here's what's coming up next with jimmy kimmel. >> jimmy: we have a big show tonight with patrick dempsey, about mee hammer music from nelly and celebrity surprises agalore. is that a word? well, national unfriend day, "jimmy kimmel live" is next. c