mount everest the ultimate dream destination for many climbers but it was a nightmare last month when an avalanche took the life of 16 sherpas. the story of the triumphs and tragedies of mount everest.

mound everest symbolizes to ultimate climb. it wasn't until 1963 that the mountain was conquered. since then more than 4,000 climbers have scaled everest and 250 people have died trying. the deadliest day this year on april 18th when an avalanche struck. this video obtained by the new york times shows sh erpa guides making their way up just before a massive ice block broke. >> we heard the sound then we heard it. >> reporter: pena took this video on everest that day. he said he tried to help the injured guides but he says what sticks with hill is the fear he saw in those who survived and

the tears that filled their dries. it is presumed 16sherpas died that day. 13 bodies were recovered. three remain missing. the deaths have brought attention to the risks the sherpa take to guide their clients. >> reporter: tradition music, mourners racked with the deaths of a dozen men. family and friends are praying over coffins. three bodies are believed to have lost to the mountains. hundreds line the street as their bodies were taken to cremation. >> we believe they've lost their breadwinners, their husbands, fathers, sons. >> reporter: the industry is a

potential moneymaker for nepal. sherpa guides scale mount everest and they can make six grand in a three month period. during a time known as the spring expectation. that money is 10 times the national average. at the time the moment of all sherpas is that we should mourn for everest. guides are calling for more insurance money and more compensation for the families of those lost. without deal this could be the end of this time honored tradition for the year. >> i think it's going to impact climbing for years to come in the himeleyans. >> the mountain remains open this year. the majority of sherpa guides say they don't want to climb. some say they're in mourning for their lost friends and

family. others site more spiritual reasons saying this year's tragedy shows the gods are angry. still to come on a second look,. >> it dills without prejudice of skill or experience or strength. >> one survivor of a deadly 1996 blizzard on the mountain talks about his experience that led to his best seller into thin air. >> breathtaking images of doomed expectation. a newly recapped film brings the past to life.

tonight on a second look, mount everest. eight people died when they were caught in a sudden blizzard as they attempted to summit mount everest. the disaster was documented by journalist crockhower in his

book. >> reporter: mount everest. the closest point to heaven from here on earth. it can be a deadly trip. for every four climbers who reach the top one dies. usually descending. when fatigue can kill. >> at base camp last year in everest i saw many many people who had no business being there. i probably had no business being there. people who dreamed of climbing everest and their credentials did not match that peak. >> reporter: he and five others reached the summit only two made it back. texas doctor beckwetters lost an arm, fingers and nose to frostbite. crockhower was covering the proliferation of guided tours promising a safe trip to the top of the world. >> it is an extremely harsh environment. it's like being in outer space.

everest is really dangerous. and it kills without prejudice to skill or experience or strength often. and it kills experienced climbers as well as neofites. >> richard wheats runs camp everest. who takes climbers to 1,700 feet. >> there were over 300 people there the most i've ever seen. 16 expeditions. >> reporter: near company charges less than $4,000 to visit base camp and does not do the summit. paying for guides and permits to the top can cost more than $60,000. >> this is everest. >> right. >> and it doesn't matter what day of any month of the year there the always be storms there and that is part of the allure for many many people. you take the chance. >> reporter: crackhower on

assignment thinks guided climbs should be banned. >> there's these weird diseases at the altitude. your lungs fill with fluid without warning. your drown in your own juices. your brain swells and you unconscious. a lot can go wrong. >> reporter: many sherpa people think are spiritual. they feel if climbers do not respect the mountain the gods will get angry. >> reporter: juandela made it to 27,000 feet. what he witnessed sounds impossible. pollution, poisoning the

environment at the top of the world. >> there was a lot of pollution at base camp. >> how bad is the pollution there? >> it's very bad. bottles and tissues and plastic everywhere. >> reporter: he was so upset he enrolled in the environmental studies program at cal. he showed me pictures. hundreds of orange colored oxygen bottles littering the landscape 5 miles high. climbers have no incentive to take their crash back down the mountain. >> this area is very polluted here. >> reporter: in an attempt to discourage pollution, the government of nepal have raised the permit fees from 5,000 to $55,000. but so long as individuals dream and countries climb for national pride, everest will have visitors. no matter how deadly the price. >> when we come back on a second look. a film crew was on mount

everest when that blizzard struck in 1986. ktvu spoke with the film maker about how he filmed the faithful storm at the summit. and a bit later, newly restored images from a doomed 1924 expedition to mount everest. stepping back in time still ahead on a second look. sofa... desk... you know what? why don't you go get some frozen yogurt. i got this. you're so sweet. you got this, right? i do got this. from the shelf, and to your home. starting at $99.

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why don't you go get some frozen yogurt. i got this. you're so sweet. you got this, right? i do got this. from the shelf, and to your home. starting at $99. tonight on a second look the magic and mystery of mount everest. one of the best known tragedies. eight people died in a blizzard. brashier and his i max team were on everest. he sat down to talk about what it was like. >> how many times have you climbed? >> four times. 11 expetitions to the mountain and four times to the top. >> you just happened to be there when is this blizzard

hit. you were there with your camera. >> a lot of things have changed. last year in may, we had 12 teams on the mountain. they're making a movie about which is documented on the book about our climb and that's when we ended up getting involved in the tragedy. >> we have a picture of the, i believe it's your. >> yes. >> you took the pictures. what we're look at now is actual video. but we have pictures of the tents you took at night. >> yes this is a beautiful shot at night at base camp. base camp is 17,600 feet. and at night is the ice fall where we went into. >> so has the blizzard hit? >> no. >> so you had no idea. >> no, but one of the reasons was the climbers were a little overcrowded. >> are these the climbers that got in trouble. >> that's only 300 feet below

the top and that is scott fishers and rob hall's team. both of them died. the climber on the top left is climbing just above what we call the hillary step. the last obstacle. >> how would you describe so we get a feeling what conditions are like when you're that high on mount everest. >> when you're that high on everest. you've been 50 to 60 hours without more than three to four hours of sleep. you're sleep deprived then, you're hipoxic which means your body is oxygen strived. you're severely dehydrated and malnourishedded. great combination of things. >> seems like something all of us -- and you've been up there four times to do that. we also have a photo of you with your imax camera. you're with a colleague here. how much does this camera weigh. >> the top part weighs 24

pounds. to hold a big camera like that still you need a 70-pound tripod and head. it uses 4.5 pounds of film, 500 feet of film in 90 seconds. >> so how much film did you have to take to the top of mount everest. >> i took one roll to the very stop. >> it was two weeks after the blizzard when eight people died that you actually did make it again to the top of mount everest. and in your travels when you were trying to help, this is one of the bodies you discovered. who is this? >> we don't know who this was. the bodies we found were higher up. but this photo is in our book just to illustrate the fact that with this increased number of people climbing on the mountain there's more accidents and it's grim thought but that was just an anonymous body. the truth is that's only half a body right there. someone had fallen down years before and now their body had come out of the snow. >> when you found a body. what do you do?

do you leave it in that position or -- i guess it's kind of ceremonial to find a crevase and drop it down if you can. >> that would be lower down. the state you're in which is the state i was in when we passed our fallen friend scott fisher and ron hall, you're in a tran state. you are barely able to put one foot in front of the other. you're in no position to remove bodies. >> and to get to the top you must do this. >> we used 65 ladder sections this year spanning maybe 15 or 20 crevases like that. it's a lot more dangerous than it looks. we're not crazy. we're most of us are not thrill seekers.

we're very cautious people. >> a number of people have lost their lives crossing that very ice. >> yes but not from falling in the crevase. from having this wall fall on you but it's very rare for someone to fall of a ladder into a crevase. >> and you also passed someone you thought was dead. >> that's rivers. he dame back to death. his nose is frostbitten. his lips are frostbitten. his eyes are swollen shut. his hands are frozen solid down to the wrist. but the guy is alive and he's telling jokes and he's telling us how thankful he is that we're there waiting for him. so it was just wonderful out of all that terrible mess of may

96 that we had this gift of beck weathers. >> the outcome for him was he lost both hands and had to have his nose restructures. how is he today is -- how he is today if. >> he is back at work. they made him a way to grasp from his left hand. he's a pathologist, he needs his eyes and brains. he can still look through the microscope and make decisions in biopsies. >> one of the persons you died were you on the phone. >> no, thankfully we had headed up from -- from camp two to camp three. after conversations with rob hall. >> he had pretty much resigned himself to the fact he was going to die. they patched him to his wife who was in new zealand. >> he was on a radio patched into a sap phone. we don't have sat phones at 28,000 feet. >> well, the entire story is

told in the book everest mountain without mercy. then you have a movie coming out. >> when we come back to a second look. the phone record of mallory and irvine's trip to mount everest. stunning images preserved forever and coming to a bay area theater. >> and the balance between exploration and conservation. still ahead on a second look. that's a negative. what's that alarm? fuel cell two is down. i'm going to have to guide her in manually. this is very exciting. but i'm at my stop. come again? i'm watching this on the train. it's so hard to leave. good luck with everything. with the u-verse tv app, the u-verse revolves around you the u-verse revolves around you

tonight on a second look, the first to conquer mount everest. many people have tried to summit the peak and failed. one of the biggest attempts was mallory's expedition. it was mallory who famously responded when asked why he wanted to climb everest, because it is there.

it was beautifully filmed with a hand cranked camera. it will play at the castro theater. it wasn't until 19 years after the mallory expetition that two men made it to the top of the mountain and returned to share their story. edmond hillary and norway reached the peak at 11:30 in the morning on may 29, 1953. the two spent only 15 minutes atop the mountain. as hillary told the story, both men reached the summit at the same time. >> we had been climbing together. i think we became a fairly heavy pair. this was just one example of how together you are. and how one is always protecting the other. i was leading down the asphalt. when i was passing a crevase a large piece of ice came down.

and he pulledded me up so i didn't go very far. >> how did it feel up there on top of the world? >> very happy. >> in 2003, sir edmond hillary son's talked about how he celebrated the 50th anniversary of his father's achievement when climbing that mountain. >> there's a lot of times you want to be some where else. because the jet stream blasting over the top. but when you reach there it's incredible uplifting experience. it's very exciting. >> so you took a film crew along with national geographic. the pictures from there are spectacular. this is the highest point on plant earth. >> it's not easy to get this footage either. we nearly had both of our

camera men killed in a terrible collapse. a very dangerous part of the climb. it's a taxing sort of experience. you can see there the jet stream blasting over the top of the mountain. and at that particular occasion it destroyed many of the tents are completely wrecked. you have to drop back down to base camp, regroup and give it another go. >> this is no weekend hiking expedition. people have died up there. >> over 200 people have died up in the mountain. it's not a weekend either. we were is there for 2-1/2 months. >> and your dad was the first to get a sherpa guide. you went up once with your dad. that must have been something. >> i went up with my father. when we got up in 1990 we were the first father and son ever to reach the summit. i -- my dad was up there in

1993 and i was up there in 1990. last year we went up with the national geographic team to celebrate the 50th anniversary and produce this film. >> your dad looks great by the way at the age of 83. he looks like he's in great condition. >> we had this amazing party here in san francisco. 1,000 people just to celebrate that 50th anniversary. >> and there were 60 locals were at the celebration that made it to the top of everest. e didn't know there were that many from the bay area -- i didn't know there were that many from the bay area. >> they came from all over the world and there were some sherpas. >> there's word that it's getting too crowded, too polluted. many people are leaving their trash. is it getting too crowded there and would you like to see some restrictions. >> look, you know i think we have to realize that the

nepales have arrived today have a tourism industry just like we do in the west. and what we need to hope for of course is that there are reasonable restraints put on people in terms of the impact on the environment and local people's culture. but it really is a very important industry for them. >> i look at this as the shuttle launches. as adults we react to it differently. what do you hope kids get from this. when they see your documentary. >> it's about going on an adventure. working as a team. that great goals, successes don't come easy. you have to do your ground work, you have to do your apprenticeship. and i hope that they give something back.

it's something i do as i go back once or twice every year involved with the work of 42

schools and hospitals around the foot of the mountain. and i hope that the people that trek with me back into this area really want to have a great adventure that you learn you can make a difference to people living in very poor conditions. >> a san francisco institution recently honored norgey in a very unusual way. tending the red panda was born in the sacramento zoo and came to san francisco zoo at just 10 days old. litman said by choosing the name henzing will bring back interest to the himeleyans. >> that's it for this week's second look. i'm julie haener, thanks for watching.

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