[¶]
MAN: Mount Everest.
The highest point on Earth, 29,035 feet.
The Tibetans call it Chomolungma:
"the Mother Goddess."
For a sighted person, climbing Mount Everest
is one of the greatest physical challenges
on the face of the Earth.
For the blind,
it's been deemed virtually impossible.
This is the story of a group of guys
who set off to conquer the mountain.
They're my friends, but I call them heroes
because they risked their lives to include me, a blind man.
Heat's coming on. Knees up, ladies.
Oh, man, it looks like
Superman's Winter Palace in here.
JEFF: Your turn, Big E.
All right, easy 20-foot climb here. ERIK: Okay.
Step forward a bit. Okay. Yeah.
Here we go.
Your turn, Super Blind.
JEFF: All right, buddy.
Bit of an overhang. Yeah.
Other than that, it's pretty simple.
Okay.
Climbing. JEFF: Climbing.
CHRIS: Good job.
[WIND BLOWING]
We're on a narrow snow bridge here, Erik.
Stay to your left.
Jeez-- JEFF: Pull him back.
Jeff, get him. JEFF: I'm on it, I'm on it.
Erik, give me your hand.
I got you, Jeff.
Get him. Reach up, Erik.
I can't feel it. Right here.
A little to your right.
CHRIS: We got you, Erik.
JEFF: Come on. CHRIS: Hang in there, dude.
You can do it. I got it.
Yeah? You got it. You got it, buddy.
Come on, hold on. I'm pulling you up.
Okay. Here we go.
Here we go.
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
That first step's a doozy, isn't it?
Are you all right, dude? [PANTING] Yeah.
Yeah, wonderful.
Good job.
Thanks.
We got you. Okay.
[SIGHS]
All right, buddy. Straight on, five steps.
ERIK: I started my path up Everest
16 years ago,
when I first went blind.
It feels like I've dreamed and trained for this
my entire life.
Now it's all going to be put to the test
on the world's tallest peak.
But even if I do everything right,
only one in six who try actually summit Everest
and make it back down again alive.
[¶]
PV: This place is a shifting river of ice.
The quicker we get through it,
the less chance a sérac of ice breaks off and kills someone.
All right, Big E, you're up.
CHRIS: Step forward. Yeah, okay, that's the second ladder.
You're locked in, yeah. Okay.
Shift your weight. Okay.
This ladder's high up, but at least it's rickety.
It's called positive pessimism. Erik understands.
ERIK: Yeah.
I can't feel my legs, but at least they're shaking.
[CHUCKLES]
There you go.
How far down is it?
What do you care?
I think it's scarier falling into the unknown.
More scary than falling into something you can see.
Okay.
Uh, I think I can see through to Texas.
Thanks.
PV: We've practiced this a thousand times.
CHRIS: Just back a little bit on the inside. Inside.
Erik, easy. Inside.
Erik, keep your weight over your feet.
Steady. That's it, Erik.
You're locked in.
That's it, you're locked. Keep your ankles steady.
Yes. PV: That's it, Erik.
CHRIS: All right. Don't lunge forward, though.
We were-- We were never this high up before.
Yeah, well, guess what? You are now.
CHRIS: Back a bit. Good. Lock.
Keep your ankles steady.
How much further?
You got six more steps. That's one.
Try to keep your ankles steady.
No, no, easy, easy. Inside. PV: Whoa, whoa.
CHRIS: Erik, more towards your left.
Back a bit and you're locked.
Good. Next step.
[EXHALES]
That's it, Erik.
That's good.
Okay, stop.
Okay, listen, Erik. Yeah.
The next step you take is one foot up.
That's home base. Am I locked?
CHRIS: Yes, you're in.
Go.
You can breathe now. Yeah.
Good job.
Only 29 more of those ladders to go.
[¶]
Right here. Yeah.
This is your tent. Okay.
MAN 1: Need a shovel over here. MAN 2: Over here.
[UNZIPS]
MAN 2: Hey, you got the radio?
You got it? Yeah.
All right, I'll be the one that says it.
Did we just make a serious mistake bringing Erik up here?
He'll rally.
He always does.
CHRIS: Oh, yeah, and if he doesn't,
all our chances at the summit go with him.
No.
I'll talk to him. I'll talk to him.
MAN 2: Hey, you got the radio?
MAN 1: It wouldn't work out here.
[SIGHS]
[EXHALES]
[SNIFFS]
You won't summit if you can't pick up the pace, Erik.
Do you understand?
Maybe you guys should just go on without me.
There's an old Tibetan saying:
The nature of mind is like water.
If you do not disturb it, it will become clear.
Am I supposed to snatch a pebble from your hand now or something?
[CHUCKLES]
No.
No, it just means that maybe the best way
to approach such a monster of a mountain
is to break it down into more manageable chunks.
Clear your mind of expectation
and experience the climb just moment by moment, step by step.
And-- And however high you get on this mountain,
that's your summit, dude, and you celebrate that.
MAN: Keep your eyes still, please.
Okay. Thank you, Erik.
You were great.
Mwah.
Will you go wait in the lobby for me?
[SIGHS]
Is it that bad?
Erik has retinoschisis, an extremely rare eye disease.
His retinas are already detached from the center of his pupils,
so he can't see straight ahead.
Now, he has some peripheral vision.
But the pressure will eventually cause both retinas to split.
How long, um, until--?
Will he be able to see?
It's not very predictable.
Well, what's your best guess?
DOCTOR: I'm sorry.
Erik will be blind by his early teens.
[SIGHS]
"Yet--
"Yet his heart wanted to fight.
"To fight the--
"To fight the whole world, but--
"But these--
"But these two small hands were
all he had to do it with."
Thank you, Erik.
You wait outside, honey.
We're not gonna put him in a special school.
Besides his limitations, there are liability issues.
Uh, we've never had a blind student before.
Well, he's not totally blind yet.
Uh, I was working in Hong Kong for a firm
for the past four years and Erik had private tutors,
but now that we're back,
we were hoping to enroll him in a public school.
A school for the blind has so many techniques to offer.
No, my baby reads.
Okay, he holds the book right up against his face,
but he still sees it.
He's smart. He swims. He dribbles a basketball.
He plays football with his brothers.
And he's not gonna sit and wait for the dinner bell to ring.
He's going to a normal school with normal children.
DAD: As you can see, we just want him to have a normal life.
[¶]
Hey, come on.
Let's go, little brother. We trust you. Come on.
BOY 1: Yeah. BOY 2: Come on.
DAD: What are you doing?
BOY 2: Come on. DAD: Your mother will kill me.
[BOY GIGGLES]
BOY 2: Come on. Oh, God.
DAD: You can do it.
Just stay straight. Stay traight ahead.
Whose idea was this?
DAD: There, good start.
Stay just like that.
I'm not watching.
Oh!
[LAUGHING] Yeah!
Whoo!
I told you, guys. I told you.
I told you, guys. Oh-ho!
[¶]
Mom? Dad?
Mom?
[DOOR OPENS] MOM: Erik?
What's wrong, baby?
What is it? What's wrong?
Come on, tell me.
I always thought the doctors were wrong.
I can beat this. Beat what?
[SNIFFLES, WHIMPERS]
I can't see anything.
It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be--
It's not gonna be okay, Mom.
It's not.
I can't do sports.
I'm not gonna have any friends.
Forget girlfriends.
I hate this.
I hate everything.
[SNIFFS]
It's stupid. It's over. No, Erik.
Your life is not stupid.
I know you better than I know my own heart.
And I see so much for you.
It's more than--
More than you and I could ever even imagine.
You're just gonna have the most extraordinary life.
[SOBBING]
It's gonna be extraordinary.
Come here. It's okay.
It's okay, baby.
It's okay.
[¶]
[COUGHING]
[SIGHS]
How you doing, buddy?
Oh, dude.
Looks like you went 10 rounds
with George Foreman there, buddy.
Here, clean your face up.
It took me 13 hours to cross the Khumbu Ice Falls.
We were supposed to do it in six.
It's chaotic. There's no patterns.
I can't take a step without feeling like
it's gonna drop into space.
I mean, this is just the beginning. I--
I don't know.
Man, those are natural fears that every climber has.
It was the same thing when we climbed
Mount McKinley and Annapurna.
It's about ambition and fear.
The ambition is the overwhelming desire
to get you to the top.
But the fear will keep you alive.
[MEN CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY OUTSIDE]
MAN: Bring that over here.
¶ It's a beautiful morning ¶
¶ The sun is shining down ¶
¶ And we are going climbing ¶
We better get going just so he stops singing.
[¶]
This is all about getting you to the summit, dude.
Well, we're all here for you.
[EXHALES]
I know you're scared, Big E.
And this sounds stupid, but just don't think about it.
I swear, it works.
[ERIK BREATHING HEAVILY]
[HEART BEATS]
Still water. My mind is still water.
[¶]
[LAUGHING] All right.
All right, Big E, now you're moving.
Great, E.
CHRIS: Whoo!
Have you been practicing when we're not looking?
[LAUGHS]
I've been practicing when I'm not looking.
[LAUGHING] Keep it coming, man.
Still water.
That's it. JEFF: That's the second ladder.
Up a bit.
Sweet!
All right.
[ALL APPLAUD]
Almost there, E. Whoo-hoo!
Eight hours, 30 minutes. All right, man.
Yapodora, man, yapodora.
What's that mean, Ang?
Yapodora means you're badass. [LAUGHS]
It's a good way to do it. I got to eat a little more too.
Excuse me, Bob. Uh, Erik's here.
Um, Erik, this is, uh, Bob Allman.
Bob, my son, Erik.
Nice to meet you. Hi, Erik.
Bob's a lawyer. He was a wrestler at Penn.
He won the NCAA championship in his weight class.
Blind since birth. Cool.
DAD: Come on, you guys, sit down.
Uh, Erik, we thought this'd be good to talk about,
because it's one sport where it's a level playing field.
You really don't need to be sighted to be a good wrestler.
What if I, you know, get my butt kicked
or get my nose broken or something?
Well, at least you don't have to
look at it in the mirror, right?
[CHUCKLES]
ERIK: That's true.
I don't, ahem, really find anything funny about that.
Well, we talked about this, Ellen.
I know, but I don't think it's a good idea.
Ellen, we have a choice. We can support Erik's life,
or we can be opposed to everything he wants to do.
Now, I say we be his partners.
I know, I really-- I want him to do things too,
I really do. I just--
I don't want anyone to hurt him.
DAD: Well, it's a chance we're gonna have to take.
DAD: Come on, Erik!
[CROWD CHEERING]
Come on, get up. COACH: Get him off.
DAD: Get out of there!
COACH: Move him around. Come on!
Let's go, Erik. Let's go, let's go.
Get up! COACH: Keep working.
Keep working. DAD: Work it!
Come on, Erik! Get out of it.
DAD: Pick it up! Go, go!
[ALL CHEERING]
That's it! Ha-ha!
[ALL CHEER]
[BOTH GRUNTING]
DAD: Keep him down, come on!
Pin him! [BLOWS WHISTLE]
[ALL CHEER]
[LAUGHING]
CROWD [CHANTING]: Erik, Erik, Erik,
Erik, Erik, Erik... DAD: Winner!
...Erik, Erik, Erik,
Erik, Erik, Erik,
Erik, Erik, Erik...
That's my boy.
...Erik, Erik, Erik...
BOY 1: Go, Big E! BOY 2: All right, buddy!
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
We're gonna put some ice on it.
Did the other guy look as bad as I do?
[BOTH LAUGH]
He looked much worse-- [GASPS] Jeez, it's cold.
Oh, Erik, stop being a baby.
I'm gonna put it on.
It's okay? Yeah.
Why do you always wear this bird thing?
Oh, I got that when we lived in Hong Kong.
I was really happy there.
And you're not happy here?
No, of course I am.
It's just in a different way.
I haven't seen my face in four years.
I don't even know what I look like anymore.
Well, you are getting more handsome every day.
Yeah, right.
My forehead's all sticking out like a Neanderthal
and my nose is huge.
Well, now, that is quite an insult,
because out of all my children,
you are the one that looks the most like me.
Give me your hand.
I want you to feel my face.
Now feel your face.
Do you see how similar they are?
Yeah.
You got a nose like mine.
Mm-hm.
And the same-- Our eyes are the same too.
[LAUGHS]
So if you're ugly, I guess that makes me ugly too, huh?
Everybody knows you're beautiful, Mom.
And you're a real looker, Erik.
You're gonna break a lot of hearts.
[GROANS]
[MIMICS GROANING]
CHRIS: Four feet across.
To your left.
Okay hold up, E.
Okay. What do we got?
It looks like the ladder gave way. Big crevasse.
We're gonna have to jump it. [EXHALES]
Okay. All right.
This ain't no place to be screwing the pooch.
You have to stand on the edge of the ice.
Get a solid stance.
Easy. Okay.
Do not slip. Okay.
You hear this?
[TUMBLING]
You slip, you die.
Great, all right.
Okay, you got it?
Yeah.
[GRUNTS]
[CHUCKLES]
All right.
Okay, your turn.
How far is it?
What are you doing? You can't reach the other side.
You have to jump.
I'm just getting ready.
Give me your poles.
Jesus.
I wish there was a freaking ladder.
Well, you know what?
You can wish in one hand and crap in the other
and see which one fills up first.
If you ever quit climbing, you should become a philosopher.
Stop procrastinating. Make it a good jump or you will die.
Why do you keep repeating that?
Focus!
[¶]
[GRUNTS]
Good jump, Big E, you didn't die.
Hey. Thanks for giving me a ride home, coach.
No problem, you were great today.
Yeah.
I don't know where my parents are.
They usually come to every game.
Hello, son. Dad?
Why didn't you and Mom come to the game?
I was waiting for you.
[WHIMPERING] I'm sorry, I, uh--
I wish we could have. Dad?
[SOBBING]
Erik, there's no other way to tell you this.
Your mother was in a terrible car accident.
[¶]
[SIGHS]
Are you sure you wanna do this, Erik?
Okay, it's about, uh, 15 feet straight ahead of you.
[¶]
[SIGHS]
[WHIMPERING]
[SHUDDERING]
[SNIFFLES]
[¶]
[WHIMPERING]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
Oh, man, the lightning is just--
Shh-shh-shh. I know.
It's right beneath us, lighting up the clouds.
They look like big, white, puffy blankets of snow.
Man, that's just creepy.
Did you know that there is a way to hear objects?
Sound vibrations are constantly bouncing off objects
and then moving back to us.
It's called echolocation, or sonar.
Bats have it, whales have it and so do humans.
Most humans aren't aware that they have the capacity.
Uh, who's this? Uh, Erik.
Erik, you're up. Come this way.
Uh, could you give me your cane, please?
Thank you. This is so stupid.
Good luck. Thanks.
Away you go. Straight?
I think so. Yeah, thanks a lot.
[FOOTSTEPS ECHOING]
That's so cool. MAN: Ah.
With practice, echolocation can become a precise new way
of seeing the world.
Now, this is a friction climb. It's pitched about 60 degrees.
All right? Cool.
Get to the rock.
BOY 1: Go, Erik.
GIRL 1: Come on, Erik.
BOY 2: Erik, yeah. ALL: Yeah.
[ALL APPLAUD]
BOY 3: Move. BOY 4: Use the Force.
BOY 5: Go for it.
GIRL 2: Get up. BOY 6: Use your spider sense.
Use your spidey sense. GIRL 2: Good luck.
BOY 7: Go, go, go.
BOY 8: Monkey boy, you did it. [ALL CHEER]
BOY 9: All right, Erik.
INSTRUCTOR: That was the first pitch.
Now it gets steeper.
Friction won't hold you to the rock.
[¶]
[GRUNTS]
Move to your right, Erik.
Feel for it. Good.
There's a big knob above your left hand.
Reach higher.
Where?
INSTRUCTOR: Higher.
I can't find it.
INSTRUCTOR: This is about self-reliance.
It's about moving upward under your own power.
To be independent, to find your own way up that rock.
[¶]
Okay, Dad? Yeah.
Let's go belay. All right, I'm climbing.
Traverse over to your left a bit,
there's some nice holes there.
Don't look down, I don't.
So you do this for fun, huh? Yeah.
You have your eyes closed or are you cheating?
[CHUCKLES]
[¶]
[GRUNTS]
You okay? Yeah.
Here we are. Yeah, we made it.
[BOTH PANTING]
You're gonna be a great teacher, son.
Thanks.
Phoenix is a long way from Connecticut,
but I'm happy for you.
You know what's funny?
I always hated school. Now it's my job.
[CHUCKLES]
You know, you're the first blind person they've ever hired.
Your mother would be very proud. You should be too.
Yeah, well, student teaching is one thing.
Now I gotta it do for real, right?
Well, I'd take a class from you any day, Erik.
All right, I got the blind guy.
Doggy, doggy, doggy.
Are you ready?
Forward, Wizard, forward. Thank you, thank you.
Good morning. Forward, Wizard.
[INAUDIBLE]
Hey, welcome, everybody.
I have a seating chart over here.
I want you to find your name and sit in your assigned seats.
Okay, if you need help, I have a chart that I can read,
and I'll help you out.
My name's Mr. Weihenmayer
and I'll be your teacher this year.
I can't see over big Tiffany's head.
Can I sit by Jake? He's my best friend.
Uh, I'd rather you'd sit in your assigned seat, Brian.
My name's David.
David.
Okay, everybody in their seats? How's it--? How's it going?
STUDENTS: Good. ERIK: Great.
He can't see your hand, stupid. He's blind.
Okay, I won't call on you if you've your hand raised,
but, um, how about if you have a question,
you say your name and I'll call on you?
[ALL CALLING OUT]
Tiffany, Tiffany, Tiffany.
Tiffany, you have a question?
Can we play with your dog?
Uh, no.
Uh, Wizard's a-- That's Wizard, everybody.
Wizard's my guide dog.
He's at work right now, just like me.
And, uh, when his harness is on,
he's a mature, responsible working dog.
His job is to take me from place to place.
But when his harness is off, he's a--
He goes into supreme dog mode.
[IMITATES GROWLING]
I was-- I was kidding.
MAN: Hey, man.
Hey.
Uh, how--? How'd it go today?
Uh, well, on a scale of one to 10, it was, um...
It sucked.
[CHUCKLES]
Yeah. Yeah, thanks for asking, whoever you are.
Oh, uh, Sam. Sam Bridges.
Sam, Sam Bridges.
Uh, um, everybody knows who you are.
Sam Bridges. I-- You know, I read your file. You climb.
Uh, yeah, yeah, rock climbing, mostly.
Me too. We-- We should go one day together.
Uh, y-yeah, sure.
Okay, yeah, there's a-- A climbing gym here in town.
Great, that'd be great. Cool.
Uh, hey, man, don't worry about today.
You know, first day, always a bear.
Yeah.
You're gonna like it here. Thanks. Thanks.
See you.
I got ADD, right? Yeah.
And, uh, when I was in school,
I couldn't tune anything out.
Man, I couldn't focus.
I had this one teacher who told me
that I should take up rock climbing.
That it would help me to concentrate.
And he was dead-on, man.
Hundred feet up, dangling from a crimper by my fingertips.
First time in my life I was able to concentrate.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
You know, rocks bring out the best in people, dude.
Yeah, some of my best friends are rocks.
[LAUGHS]
Hey. Hey, what do I have here?
Uh,
left hand up 2 feet and, uh, over a foot.
Okay. Okay.
Oh, shit.
Sorry, dude. I meant right hand.
But you're good, man. We should do something bigger.
Okay.
[COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING OVER JUKEBOX]
[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]
So who are the good-looking teachers?
Koopman's okay. Yeah?
Mm, Drewry... hm, nah.
Nice shot, dude. What are you, Super Blind?
Dalton is hot.
She has always got these little miniskirts on.
Oh, miniskirts, I love those.
Nice.
Hey, you know what does it for me?
What?
A woman's voice.
Oh, nice. No.
No, really, like, some women have that sexy purr.
I know. You know?
That's always a definite turn-on to me.
And then others have that high-pitched chirpy kind, dude.
Not at all. Does nothing.
And there's always the highly articulate, fast-talking ones
which can be interesting if they're cute.
A fellow horndog.
[LAUGHS]
Yes, I am. [CLEARS THROAT]
I am just as superficial as the next guy.
WOMAN: Loser.
[SNICKERS]
Hey. Come here.
Is Ellie Reeve good-looking?
I'm gonna leave that a little mystery for you.
Thanks. Why don't you ask her out?
What am I supposed to do?
Walk up to her door and knock on it
and ask to borrow erasers?
[CHUCKLES]
You know, that's a good idea.
Can I help you, Mr. Weihenmayer?
Yes. I-- I was wondering if you had any spare erasers.
I, um-- I can't seem to locate mine.
I'm sorry. I'm all out.
Great. Thanks. Um,
but if you like, you're welcome to pull up a chair
and listen to the rest of the story.
Yeah, I'd like that. Thank you.
Okay.
Sorry.
"If someone loves a flower of which one blossom
"grows throughout the galaxy on just one single star,
"it makes her happy just to look at the star.
"She can say to herself
"that whenever she sees that star twinkle,
"her flower is there, her flower is safe.
"Because if the flower wasn't there,
"that star would be darkened
"and all the other stars would cease to twinkle
in their sadness."
Ew, dude, your car's filthy.
Yeah, well, clean trucks are for sissies.
Dude, I got something for you. Yeah, what's that?
Lucky trekking poles.
Nice.
Well, they say four legs are better than two.
This is sweet.
It's gonna be like driving a Ferrari up the mountain.
[LAUGHS]
Dude, you look like a melted crayon box, huh?
Color coordination isn't exactly my thing.
Hey. Hey.
Mountains are more important to Jeff
than, uh, girlfriends, uh, a home, a job.
If I didn't have a girlfriend, I wouldn't have to do this.
[HORN HONKING]
[ROCK MUSIC BLASTING OVER RADIO]
Ah, Chris Morris.
This dude's real address
is the third dirt road on the right...
O'Donnell.
...first log house on the left, Wasilla, Alaska.
I kid you not.
Oh, that's cool. What's up, buddy?
Hey. Hey, dude.
How's it going, brother? Good.
How are you? Nice to meet you.
Hey, listen. Uh, I just wanna say right off the bat,
uh, I don't wanna be treated any differently
than any other person on this team.
We wouldn't dream of it. That's cool.
How's that for starters?
What are you ladies standing around for? Gear up.
[SNICKERS] Great.
I think I spoke too soon.
Hey, Erik, have a great Christmas.
Hey, thanks. You too, Tom.
Forward, Wizard. ELLIE: Mr. Weihenmayer.
Hello, Miss Reeve. Hi.
I wouldn't want you to leave without this.
What--? What is it? Well, it's a card.
Oh.
Well, can you read it for me, please?
Oh, no, you read it.
Do you want me to open it? No, no, I-- I can do it.
Thank you.
MAN: Happy holidays.
[CHUCKLES]
It's in Braille.
Uh, "Merry Christmas.
It's been really nice getting to now you."
No, no, not "now." "Know."
Know. Gosh.
Realize that I dictated to an 80-year-old blind man.
That's why it's-- It's, you know, kind of bland.
[LAUGHS]
That's, uh-- That's really cool. Thank you.
You're welcome. Thank you very much.
Um...
Well, um, Merry Christmas.
Yes, uh, Merry Christmas to you too.
Come here, Wizard. Come here, boy.
Um...
Thank you very much.
Mm-hm. Mm-hm.
Forward, Wizard.
Hey-- Hey, Miss Reeve?
Mm-hm.
Um,
when I get back,
would you like to go out sometime?
Yes.
[GIGGLES]
Okay, great. That-- That'd be great.
Merry Christmas.
Right, Wizard.
Thank you. Do I have any food on my face?
No. That happens sometimes.
[LAUGHS]
Nothing in your teeth either. Oh, good.
Good. Ahem.
So, um-- So there was this-- This king, once--
Once upon a time.
I was gonna start a story with "Once upon a time."
Once upon a time there was a king,
and he had this daughter that he wanted to marry off.
She was beautiful, by the way.
And he didn't want any just, uh, Tom, Dick or Harry
as a son-in-law, all right?
So he devised a test.
A maze, if you will.
Whichever eligible bachelor
could work his way through the maze
would win his daughter's hand in marriage.
So months pass and none of these guys could do it, right?
And the-- The princess, she's getting really depressed.
Her-- Her therapy bills are skyrocketing.
She has, you know, her fairy godmother on speed dial,
"Am I ever gonna find my true love?"
[BOTH CHUCKLES]
So one day,
this handsome young blind man walks up to the castle.
Handsome? Very.
Well, dashing, for sure.
Nobody thought he could do it. Everybody laughed at this guy.
So he enters the maze.
And every time his path was blocked, he would pause
and wait for a breeze.
[IMITATES WIND WHISTLING]
For this dashing blind dude knew that wherever there was a breeze
there must be a passageway. Pretty smart, huh?
Mm-hm.
So he followed the breeze
all the way through the maze,
out of the maze
and into the heart of the fair young maiden.
And they were married and lived happily ever after.
Wait, you've heard this story? Actually, I saw the movie.
[LAUGHS]
I'm sorry, I--
No. No, Ellie.
You don't ever have to apologize.
You don't ever have to be self-conscious around me.
Nothing you say can be wrong, okay?
Don't ever think you can tell
a better blind joke than I can, deal?
Deal. All right.
[CHUCKLES LIGHTLY]
"I saw the movie." That was a good one. [LAUGHS]
What do you miss most now that you're blind?
Uh...
Nothing, really. It's been a while.
Come on. There must be something that you miss.
I miss...
I miss faces.
Yeah.
I miss seeing people's expressions
go from sad to happy,
from anger to laughter.
I miss that.
Do you wonder what I look like?
Is this a test?
[BOTH LAUGH]
Uh, no.
Yeah, you know, of course-- Of course I do.
You can feel my face.
Uh, Ellie, blind people only do that in the movies.
[GIGGLES] Oh.
But since you asked,
I would love to feel your face.
If the offer still stands now.
Here.
[¶]
Hm.
I wish you could see me.
I just did.
CROWD: Happy New Year.
[ALL WHOOPING, CHEERING]
Happy New Year. Happy New Year.
Left, Wizard, left.
[¶]
Hi. Hi.
These are for you.
[LAUGHING]
You're a mess. Yeah.
There's a small tornado outside of your house, apparently.
Wow, you went through all this trouble for me.
Oh, no, no, it's no big deal, really.
Uh, Wizard picked them out.
That's sweet. Thank you.
You're welcome.
Come here. Thanks.
Yeah?
[DAVE MATTHEWS' "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" PLAYING]
You okay? You got it?
Yeah, can I get a hand? Yeah.
Okay.
Good job.
Hey, you wanna lead the last pitch?
I've never lead before.
You can do it.
Okay. Yeah?
Yeah. All right.
¶ Where are you going? ¶
You all right?
¶ Where do you go? ¶
¶ Are you lookin' for answers To questions...? ¶
Go for it. Okay.
¶ Where do you go? ¶
You're doing fine.
¶ Where are you going? ¶
Look for a good hold, okay?
[CRIES OUT] You okay?
Yes.
¶ ...No Superman ¶
ERIK: Take your time.
¶ No answers for you ¶
¶ I am no hero... ¶
Wow.
Oh, my gosh, it's beautiful.
Awesome.
¶ Is where you are Is where I belong ¶
[SIGHS]
Okay.
[SIGHS]
God, it's nice up here.
Yeah.
Mwah.
Hey, Ellie?
Um...
Oh, God, this is, uh...
Climbing McKinley was easier than this.
I, uh-- I've been getting a lot of offers, you know,
for lecturing and other climbing expeditions.
And, uh,
I-- I think I can make a-- A good living out of it.
But in order to take full advantage of it,
I-- I-- I need to be in Colorado.
And, uh, I wanna move there.
And I-- I want you to move with me.
Erik, you know my feelings on that subject. I--
No, I know, I know, I know. I won't move anywhere--
Listen, Ellie.
You are the most important aspect of my life.
More important to me than any mountain.
And, uh, well, I-- I want you to be my wife.
Will you marry me?
God, I-- I wish I could see your face right now
so I could see what it's saying.
It's saying yes.
Let me put it on you. Okay.
Here.
Oh, it's this hand.
Right. Okay.
[LAUGHING]
There.
It's beautiful.
You're beautiful. It's so beautiful.
[¶]
ERIK: Dear Ellie.
Over the past six weeks,
we've climbed through the ice fall.
And each time I do it faster and faster.
It took me 13 hours the first time,
but now I'm down to six. Big relief.
You can't imagine what it's like up here.
Tomorrow we're climbing through the Western Cym
which will get us to Camp 3.
PV says that if you make it there
you stand a fighting chance of summiting.
Thank God for PV.
I keep thinking how much our lives changed
the day we met him.
I miss you. Kiss our little girl.
I'll be home soon. Erik.
ERIK: Look at these shoes.
Little crampons for Emma.
ELLIE: Oh, yeah?
What's in here? Bath mats.
Wait. Hold on a second.
Look, Kim, there's Erik Weihenmayer.
Yeah? PV: Hi.
Uh, I'm Pasquale Scaturro. Everyone just calls me PV.
Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, good to meet you.
This is my wife, Kim.
Hi. Nice to meet you, Kim.
This is my wife, Ellie. That's my girl, Emma.
Hi. Hi. Nice to meet you.
Hi. Nice to meet both of you.
So I've heard a lot about you, Erik. What's going on?
Uh, not much.
Just, you know, looking for sponsors, freebies, the usual.
Yeash. So where's your next climb?
I don't know. I've done, uh, Kilimanjaro,
Aconcagua, Mount McKinley.
Listen,
have you ever considered climbing Everest?
Yeah. I mean, you know, I thought about it.
Considered it.
Dreamt about it, but-- PV: Dude, you wanna?
I'm serious. I love climbing, organizing expeditions.
I'm-- I'm not a guide, I'm-- I'm a geophysicist but...
I just led the first whitewater expedition
on the Tekezé River. I've been up Everest twice.
That's awesome.
Uh, look.
Here's my card. Uh...
Thanks. You--
Just think about it, okay? Yeah.
Yeah, that's great. Okay.
Nice to meet you. Yeah, you too.
ERIK: Hey, you too, Kim. Nice to meet you.
See you.
Ready? Yeah.
Look, Ellie.
I know you don't wanna hear this.
[SIGHS]
I'm thinking about climbing Mount Everest.
Here we go again. [SCOFFS]
It's not that I think you won't use good judgment
or Everest is out of your league. Then what?
Look, I'm not saying that I don't want you to go.
I know you've already planned it out.
No, no, I haven't.
I never even spoke the words out loud before.
Remember when I turned back on Kilimanjaro
700 feet from the summit?
And I cried all the way home on the airplane?
Yeah. Yeah, you cried for days.
Yeah.
Because I fell short.
If it gets hard, I can turn back gracefully.
Are you sure?
This is a chance for me to be a pioneer.
To do something that no blind person has ever done before.
I want an extraordinary life.
Right?
I'm anything but ordinary.
But if you fail,
it might send the wrong message.
Like, a blind person shouldn't have been there.
Oh, come on. Is that who we are? People who don't take risks?
How long?
Three months.
Look, I know it's a long time.
I know it's a long time to be away from you and Emma.
But PV--
He's-- He's gonna put together a great team.
[¶]
Hey.
Mwah.
I said to you that no mountain is more important than you
and I meant that.
So if you don't want me to go, I won't.
What kind of example would I be setting for Emma
if I don't let you go?
That I stop people from chasing their dreams.
Does that mean you'll support me?
[GROANS]
Of course.
Every inch. Every little inch of the way.
This is-- This is who you are, right?
I mean, and this is who I want Emma to be too.
Okay.
I love you. Hm.
PV: We'll be six to 10 weeks
on the mountain before attempting to summit.
Now, the goal is to get up and down several times
to make sure that we're acclimatized.
Okay, just give me your hand. Yeah.
We're gonna start at base camp.
Okay. We'll make a trip through
the Khumbu Ice Falls
to Camp 1... ERIK: Uh-huh.
...and back. We rest.
Then it's back up to Camp 1.
That's when we begin our acclimatization program.
From there, we'll go through the Western Cym up to Camp 2.
And rest.
Then it's on to Camp 3, way up here on the Lhotse Face.
Right there. ERIK: Uh-huh, that's far.
And then all the way back down to base camp again.
Okay.
Now, once we're back there,
we'll rest for a whole week
before heading back one last time all the way up to Camp 4
for our summit attempt.
ERIK: Great.
[CLEARS THROAT] Should be a cakewalk.
PV [LAUGHING]: Yeah.
Uh, dude, that's just a-- A model, man.
The real mountain's a little bigger.
[ALL LAUGH]
Listen. Listen, that's the trick of Everest.
Now technically, it's not as difficult as McKinley
or any of the other mountains you guys have climbed.
But the altitude will kill you.
Okay, now, you're all accomplished climbers.
Hell, Erik and his boys
have climbed three of the seven summits and El Capitan.
But this is the big daddy.
And Erik's daddy, Ed,
has some great news for all of us. Ed?
[ALL APPLAUD] MAN: Whoo!
Thanks, PV.
Well, um,
it looks like I've convinced
the National Federation of the Blind
to commit $250,000 to fund the expedition.
[ALL APPLAUD]
Now, bear in mind, that's blind people all across the country
doing bake sales and car washes to raise this money.
So let's make them proud.
If Erik can get to the summit,
it won't change people's perceptions
of what a blind man can do.
It will shatter them. Huh?
[ALL CHEER AND APPLAUD]
ED: They'll love that.
What's up, Hoss?
CHRIS: How you doing, Hogg?
So how you feeling, bro?
Still a little shocked, actually.
Oh, you want a hug. That's-- That's sweet.
[ALL LAUGH]
Where's Sam?
He's moping on the couch.
Yeah, got the dark clouds rolling in.
Hey, dude.
[SIGHS]
[LAUGHS]
Dude. Dude.
Can you believe we're actually gonna climb this beast?
The, um, Federation wants to have some kind of...
[SIGHS]
Uh, there's no easy way to tell you this.
I'm not gonna come.
What? You're kidding, right?
No, I'm not.
I-- I've been thinking a lot about this and--
Sam, you're-- You're the one who got me
into the whole climbing obsession.
I mean, you're gonna bail right before we climb
the biggest mountain in the world?
I got a family now.
I just don't wanna be away from them for that long.
I got a family too.
I know, but you have to do this, Erik.
I don't.
[SIGHS]
Look, I don't know if I can do this without you, Sam. I mean--
You've been on every big climb I've ever been on.
I know, dude, but so have Jeff and Chris.
And you got PV this time, man. There's nobody better than him.
[¶]
Okay. Hey--
Sorry, dude. It's okay-- Hey. It's okay.
Will you still help me train?
You bet your sweet blind ass I will help you train.
[LAUGHS]
As a matter of fact, I'm gonna do everything in my power
to get you to the top of that mountain
and when you are there, freezing your ass off,
I'm gonna be down here all toasty and warm,
taking all the credit.
I can see myself on Oprah already.
Tell her I say hello.
[DAVE MATTHEWS' "EVERYDAY" PLAYING]
¶ Pick me up, love... ¶
All right, let's kick into Morris gear.
¶ Up to the top, love Everyday ¶
¶ Pay no mind to Taunts or advances ¶
¶ I take my chances on Everyday ¶
¶ Left to right Up and down, love ¶
¶ I push up love, love... ¶
Let me do that.
¶ ...Everyday ¶
¶ Jump in the mud, oh Get your hands dirty with ¶
¶ Love it up on Everyday ¶
¶ All you need is All you want is ¶
¶ All you need is love ¶
¶ All you need is What you want is... ¶
Nice work there, blind man.
It's about time you figured that out.
[LAUGHING] Oh!
¶ Everyday ¶
¶ Oh, everyday ¶
Whoo-hoo!
Go, go, go!
¶ Lift me up, love ¶ ¶ Everyday ¶
You smell that? That's the smell of victory.
I think you boys are ready.
[ALL BREATHING HEAVILY]
Whew.
We're gonna miss you up there, man.
I know, man.
You know what, man? Yeah?
You may be blind, but you sure are ugly.
[BOTH LAUGH]
[¶]
[SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
Oh, man.
Erik, come and check this out.
Dude, you can see the South Col, man.
Here, it's this way.
See the summit? There's huge
plumes of snow coming off the top, man.
Looks like a waterfall running up into the sky.
It's awesome. Yeah.
ERIK: That's insane.
[SIGHS]
[LAUGHS]
What are all those mounds?
Memorials.
To Sherpas and climbers killed on other expeditions.
Some of them are friends of mine.
Their bodies are still up on that mountain.
It's too risky to bring them back down.
[¶]
[LIGHT APPLAUSE]
Don't know why everyone's clapping.
Today was a walk in the park.
[LAUGHS]
I think they're clapping for me, son.
There's one for me. Here you go, Dad.
Oh!
It's a miracle. ERIK: It's awesome.
I didn't think I'd make it.
ERIK: Good job. Thanks.
Good job.
That's my summit.
All right, enough rest. Let's put up the tent.
You ready, Dad?
[LAUGHS] All right, you rest.
You're up, Big E.
He is climbing the mountain too?
Absolutely.
ANG: Hi, Erik.
Hey, Ang, want some coffee?
Yes, please, Erik. Here you go.
Thank you.
No. Thank you, Ang.
Sherpas weren't exactly lined up out the door
to join our expedition.
I just want you to know I appreciate you coming along.
You cannot take it personally.
In our culture we believe that those who are blind
have bad karma.
Huh.
What made you join us then?
I believe that people make their own karma.
[CHUCKLES]
I'll drink to that.
Besides that, PV pay me a lot of money.
[BOTH LAUGH]
[¶]
Well, dudes,
no church can rival the grandeur of Everest.
Dear God.
Give us the will and the patience
to climb this awesome mountain
and come home to our loved ones.
Help us to make good decisions
and take care of one another
and leave the mountain
with our friendships strengthened.
Amen.
ALL: Amen.
MAN [LAUGHING]: Whoo!
ED: Look out for him up there, hey?
MAN: Good luck. ED: Thank you.
Thanks you very much.
Thanks, guys. Thank you.
Hey, Dad, are you gonna be okay getting down?
I'm good to go, son.
MARK: Yeah, he'll tough it out.
ERIK: Okay, man.
Godspeed, Erik. Thanks for your help.
You all right there? Take good care of yourself.
Thanks, buddy.
Appreciate it.
Well, Erik, uh,
thanks for letting me be part of this, uh--
This great adventure. Oh.
Of course, Dad.
Now, uh, we're gonna be following you pretty closely.
So, uh, we expect that summit call, all right?
Yeah, I know. No, you will. You'll get one.
Yeah, okay.
MAN: Let's go, dude. Let's go.
Have a good flight back.
PV: Pick it up, guys. Come on.
Take good care of that hip, all right?
Yeah.
You be safe, son.
All right.
[SIGHS]
[WIND BLOWING]
Well, ain't gonna be traveling today.
It's 0/0 out there. It's all socked in.
Pass the tea, Mike.
The sky gets so gray and flat
you can't tell it from the snow.
Come to think of it, you're in 0/0 all day long, blind boy.
You wanna head out, it's probably okay.
Hey, Big E.'s got a better sense of direction than I do, man.
Four days of high pressure, starting tomorrow.
ALL: Yeah! All right! Okay!
Now, listen, we only have a few days left,
then we have to be off the mountain.
So one hard day to Camp 2, another to Camp 3
another to Camp 4, then summit day.
You guys are gonna do it, hey?
[ALL LAUGH]
KEVIN: All right, what are we eating?
Have a seat.
KEVIN: Yeah, man. Yeah, we're good.
[¶]
[SIGHS]
You all right, dude?
Feels like I'm running a marathon
with a plastic bag over my head.
Ha. Don't worry.
It's supposed to feel miserable.
[¶]
Feel for that little cliff right in front of you there.
Got it. Step up on that.
Yeah, that's it. It's about a foot high.
All right, man.
[PANTING]
[RETCHES]
Whoa! Whoa!
All right, dude.
About 25,000 feet up
and Super Blind's puking his guts out.
It's a fine day on the mountain.
Whoo!
Let's do it.
PV: Follow my voice, Erik.
One hundred yards.
Welcome to Camp 4, dude. Last stop before we summit.
Yeah!
[SQUAWKING]
[¶]
[WIND BLOWING]
The original plan, PV, was to rest only seven hours
and head to the summit tonight.
Copy that, Kevin.
But a lot of the stronger climbers
are toast after setting up camp.
Will the weather hold another day?
[COMPUTER BEEPING]
It doesn't look good.
Well, dudes, what do you think?
Anyone that wants to summit tonight,
give me a "yes" on the radio.
Otherwise, we stick together and push out tomorrow.
But it's your call. It's your call.
[RADIO STATIC HISSES]
I guess that means it's all for one.
And one for all.
MIKE [OVER RADIO]: And one for all.
BRAD [OVER RADIO]: And one for all.
MAN 1 [OVER RADIO]: And one for all.
MAN 2: And one for all.
We push out tomorrow.
[WIND BLOWING]
PV, what's wrong? Are you all right?
No, I don't think so.
[INHALES AND EXHALES]
This is PV.
I'm toast.
Do you need help getting down?
No, no, no, go on without me.
[¶]
Godspeed, gentlemen.
[WIND HOWLING]
Why are you guys just standing around not talking?
Well, we can't move forward in this storm, numb nuts.
Looks like our luck has run out.
What do you think, Big E.?
It's looking pretty grim.
I say we give it a chance.
I think it's gonna clear.
Great, the blind guy thinks it's gonna clear.
[EXHALES]
[LAUGHS]
Hey.
[SNIFFLES]
[SIGHS]
[WHIMPERS]
See that beautiful star, Emma?
It's just like the one in the story
that your daddy and I read to you.
The story I read to him when we first met.
It means your daddy's gonna make it.
[WIND BLOWING]
Hey, guys,
don't quit yet.
Storm's moving fast to the northeast.
You may not see it up there, but down here
the weather's just cleared.
Awesome. Awesome.
Hey, look. Looks like Super Blind may be right.
Whoo! Oh, yeah.
Let's see if this thing breaks up.
Let's move out. Follow me out.
Hey, Big E., I guess you're a weatherman now too, huh?
ERIK: You don't call me Super Blind for nothing.
CHRIS: You got that right.
Okay, let's go. Over to the right.
ERIK: Stay close.
[CLINKING ON ICE]
Just follow the sound of my ice pick.
[¶]
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
[PANTING]
Oh, no.
[¶]
CHRIS: The ropes the Sherpas set up for us
are all frozen in.
Erik, we got a problem.
Erik, do you copy?
What's the matter?
The fixed lines are frozen.
The ones ahead, we--
It's too steep to climb without them.
This ain't your train, Big E.
What do we do, PV?
Where's O'Donnell? He's the ice man.
He's way back there.
He's having problems
with this zone too.
[BOTH BREATHING HEAVILY]
Hang in, I'll clear it out.
Don't do it, dude.
It's gonna sap all your energy.
Bro, I wouldn't even be here
if it wasn't for you and your dad.
It's all good, brother.
CHRIS: Okay, you guys head on up.
I'll go check on Mikey O.
[¶]
[GRUNTING]
Straight ahead, bro. Get over here, man.
How are you feeling?
[PANTING]
This--
[COUGHS]
This is gonna--
This is gonna have to be my summit.
I was gonna say
if I make it,
you'll be my hero.
But you already are.
Thanks, bro.
Let's go, Ang. Let's go.
Ang, what do I got? Talk to me.
ANG: One step down, Erik.
What?
One step down.
All right.
Be careful.
Okay.
[MOANS]
ERIK: Hold on a second, Ang.
ANG: Are you okay?
[ERIK GROANS]
I think I hit the wall.
Erik, you wanna keep going or you wanna go back?
[PANTING]
CHRIS: Hey, Super Blind!
You sure are slow, but at least,
you can't see where you're going!
ERIK: What took you so long?
CHRIS: Hey, you know how I like
to make a big entrance.
Okay, follow me directly.
To the left, we got an 8000 foot drop to Nepal.
To the right, we got a 12,000 foot drop to Tibet.
No room for error.
Let's kick this into Morris gear.
[¶]
We're almost there, E-train.
[WIND HOWLING]
CHRIS: Almost there, Big E.
Big E., Big E.
[ERIK PANTING]
CHRIS [BREATHLESSLY]: Welcome to the top of the world, man.
[LAUGHING]
[BOTH LAUGHING]
This is Erik, Chris and Pasang.
We're on the top.
I can't believe it. I can't believe it.
Yapodora, Ang.
Yapodora. Yapodora.
PV [OVER RADIO]: You're the best, Big E.
You're the strongest man in the world.
[LAUGHS]
You're all right, Big E.
I wasn't gonna let you summit
and have to hear about it the rest of my life.
Thank God.
Oh!
All right, boys.
We did it.
Hey-- Hey, Kevin? Kevin?
KEVIN: Yeah, Big E.?
You remember what to do?
They're already on their way, buddy.
[GASPS]
He made it.
[ALL CHEERING]
[SHOUTS]
[SQUEALING]
You did it, man. Oh, God.
So many people doubted you, but you did it.
[BOTH LAUGHING]
PV [OVER RADIO]: Weather's changing, boys.
Celebrate fast.
And listen, making it to the summit is optional.
Getting down is mandatory.
Maybe we should go down. We should go down.
Wait a second, Big E.
You're only gonna be here once, man.
Take a look around. Take it all in.
Think about where you are and what you've done.
[ERIK PANTING]
[¶]
[MEN CHEERING]
ALL: We're on the top of the world!
Yeah!
Top of the world. We did it.
[¶]
[SIGHS]
All right, let's go down.
[¶]