WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:10.000 And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 00:10.000 --> 00:19.000 Tonight, we bring you a story of man's assault against nature. 00:19.000 --> 00:21.000 We call it The Mountain. 00:21.000 --> 00:28.000 So now, starring Harley Bear and Ben Wright, here is tonight's suspense play, The Mountain. 00:28.000 --> 00:41.000 We made Camp Four on the East Glacier, 22,000 feet above sea level. 00:41.000 --> 00:47.000 In that cold, thin air we stood looking up, and in the great loneliness we saw it. 00:47.000 --> 00:51.000 For a few seconds as the mist cleared, we saw it. 00:51.000 --> 00:55.000 The mountain, the peak towering over us. 00:55.000 --> 00:59.000 It was beautiful and terrible. 00:59.000 --> 01:04.000 Then a swirling curtain moved around it, and it was gone again. 01:04.000 --> 01:07.000 There were six of us in the forest. 01:07.000 --> 01:12.000 Anton and Leeds had been sent back to Camp Three, some 4,000 feet below. 01:12.000 --> 01:14.000 Both had been badly frostbitten. 01:14.000 --> 01:17.000 So then there were six of us left to make the attempt. 01:17.000 --> 01:19.000 Nobody had done it before. 01:19.000 --> 01:23.000 No one had ever reached the top of that tremendous, windswept place. 01:23.000 --> 01:26.000 And now we were ready for the assault. 01:26.000 --> 01:30.000 That night we held our last meeting in Camp Four. 01:30.000 --> 01:34.000 Thomas, Feldman, Elridge, Gaines, Perucci, and myself. 01:34.000 --> 01:37.000 It's the best way, the most practical. 01:37.000 --> 01:39.000 Three of us stay and three of us try to make it. 01:39.000 --> 01:41.000 Now we stand a better chance if we all do it together. 01:41.000 --> 01:42.000 What do you think, Bob? 01:42.000 --> 01:43.000 I don't think so. 01:43.000 --> 01:44.000 Thomas is right. 01:44.000 --> 01:48.000 If three of us go and have to turn back, the other three will still be fresh, and they can have a go. 01:48.000 --> 01:49.000 That's right. 01:49.000 --> 01:50.000 All right. 01:50.000 --> 01:52.000 I think it has to be. 01:52.000 --> 01:54.000 Okay, two parties. 01:54.000 --> 01:55.000 Thomas, you'll head out the second. 01:55.000 --> 01:56.000 Stay at the camp. 01:56.000 --> 01:57.000 I'll lead the first one up. 01:57.000 --> 01:58.000 Right. 01:58.000 --> 01:59.000 Oh, now wait a minute. 01:59.000 --> 02:00.000 Don't we get a vote on this? 02:00.000 --> 02:01.000 No, it's a waste of time. 02:01.000 --> 02:03.000 Start voting and we'll start arguing again. 02:03.000 --> 02:05.000 Those monsoons aren't going to hold off forever. 02:05.000 --> 02:07.000 Yeah, but how's your leg, Harry? 02:07.000 --> 02:09.000 Oh, it's not bad, but I might hold you back. 02:09.000 --> 02:10.000 You better leave me down here. 02:10.000 --> 02:11.000 All right. 02:11.000 --> 02:13.000 Perucci, you want me to go? 02:13.000 --> 02:14.000 Do you feel up to it? 02:14.000 --> 02:15.000 Sure, you bet. 02:15.000 --> 02:16.000 Gaines? 02:16.000 --> 02:17.000 Okay. 02:17.000 --> 02:18.000 Uh-uh. 02:18.000 --> 02:19.000 You're not acclimated. 02:19.000 --> 02:20.000 Cough? 02:20.000 --> 02:21.000 Nothing. 02:21.000 --> 02:22.000 It'd get a lot worse, Harry. 02:22.000 --> 02:23.000 You better not. 02:23.000 --> 02:27.000 Well, look, why not let me go with you and leave Harry and Charles down here? 02:27.000 --> 02:30.000 That leg will be all right in a couple of days, don't you think, Harry? 02:30.000 --> 02:31.000 It ought to be. 02:31.000 --> 02:33.000 He hasn't had enough experience for a lead man. 02:33.000 --> 02:34.000 Oh. 02:34.000 --> 02:36.000 There's nothing wrong with me. 02:36.000 --> 02:37.000 Or is there? 02:37.000 --> 02:40.000 Well, I don't know, John. 02:40.000 --> 02:42.000 It's going to be pretty tough. 02:42.000 --> 02:43.000 Well? 02:43.000 --> 02:44.000 Listen, John. 02:44.000 --> 02:46.000 You'll keep out of this, Thomas. 02:46.000 --> 02:47.000 What about it, Bob? 02:47.000 --> 02:49.000 I'm in good shape. 02:49.000 --> 02:52.000 Well, I guess so. 02:52.000 --> 02:54.000 Okay, you, Perucci, and myself. 02:54.000 --> 02:55.000 That'll be it. 02:55.000 --> 02:57.000 We'll start at daybreak. 02:57.000 --> 03:02.000 And that's the way we decided there was no other possibility. 03:02.000 --> 03:04.000 It wasn't that we didn't like Elridge. 03:04.000 --> 03:09.000 It was just that he was always flying off the handle, and because of that, he wasn't a good risk. 03:09.000 --> 03:12.000 Nerves don't go so well with mountain climbing. 03:12.000 --> 03:15.000 Not that mountain, cold and dangerous. 03:15.000 --> 03:18.000 It's never gained peak, hidden in mist. 03:18.000 --> 03:24.000 Later that evening, Thomas and I were going over the equipment before turning in. 03:24.000 --> 03:28.000 You know, someday they'll invent an oxygen tank that's light. 03:28.000 --> 03:30.000 I don't bet these things weigh over 30 pounds. 03:30.000 --> 03:32.000 Yeah. 03:32.000 --> 03:35.000 Say, about Elridge. 03:35.000 --> 03:36.000 What about him? 03:36.000 --> 03:37.000 You think he ought to go? 03:37.000 --> 03:38.000 It doesn't matter. 03:38.000 --> 03:39.000 It's the only way, I guess. 03:39.000 --> 03:41.000 You're taking a big chance. 03:41.000 --> 03:43.000 He'll be all right. 03:43.000 --> 03:45.000 We could only wait just a couple of days. 03:45.000 --> 03:46.000 Harry'd be all right. 03:46.000 --> 03:50.000 We're late now. If the mountain starts, none of us will be able to do it. 03:50.000 --> 03:52.000 Yeah, that's the trouble. 03:52.000 --> 03:55.000 While you're out producing alone, he gets on pretty well with Elridge. 03:55.000 --> 03:56.000 That'll help. 03:56.000 --> 03:57.000 Yeah, it'll be fine. 03:57.000 --> 03:59.000 We're all in good shape. 03:59.000 --> 04:01.000 I think we're going to make it. 04:01.000 --> 04:03.000 In a way, I hope you don't. 04:03.000 --> 04:05.000 I'd like a crack out of myself. 04:05.000 --> 04:06.000 Wouldn't that be something? 04:06.000 --> 04:08.000 The first man to get to the top. 04:08.000 --> 04:12.000 You understand why I didn't take you, don't you? 04:12.000 --> 04:13.000 Of course. 04:13.000 --> 04:15.000 Wishful thinking, that's all. 04:15.000 --> 04:16.000 Well, you'd better turn in. 04:16.000 --> 04:18.000 I'll finish checking this out. 04:18.000 --> 04:20.000 Okay. See you in the morning. 04:27.000 --> 04:31.000 On May the 18th, we started to climb the Northwest Bridge. 04:31.000 --> 04:33.000 We were at 23,000 feet. 04:33.000 --> 04:39.000 Each of us carried a 30-pound oxygen tank besides the equipment we needed for our next camp. 04:39.000 --> 04:43.000 For three or four hours, it wasn't bad, but as we went higher, 04:43.000 --> 04:45.000 the wind started to take it out of us. 04:45.000 --> 04:47.000 We felt the cold more. 04:52.000 --> 04:53.000 Take ten, huh? 04:53.000 --> 04:54.000 Yeah. 04:56.000 --> 05:01.000 Boy, when you look at it up there, that's it. 05:01.000 --> 05:04.000 You almost feel like you can jump and touch the top. 05:04.000 --> 05:06.000 It'd be a big jump for Roochie. 05:06.000 --> 05:08.000 What do you figure, about 3,500 feet more? 05:08.000 --> 05:10.000 Yeah, something like that. 05:10.000 --> 05:14.000 If the weather holds, we might make it by tomorrow. 05:14.000 --> 05:15.000 That's what I thought. 05:15.000 --> 05:17.000 Not a cloud in the sky. 05:17.000 --> 05:19.000 Will you look at that thing? 05:19.000 --> 05:22.000 Boy, what can you say when you see a mountain like that? 05:22.000 --> 05:24.000 Save your breath. 05:24.000 --> 05:26.000 We'll move in a few minutes. 05:28.000 --> 05:33.000 Then we get patches of snow, and the pace slowed down. 05:33.000 --> 05:37.000 We spelled each other's leader, and it was my turn up ahead. 05:37.000 --> 05:40.000 Roochie was bringing up the rear when I heard him yell. 05:44.000 --> 05:46.000 Bob, Roochie's gone down. 05:46.000 --> 05:47.000 Dig in. 05:47.000 --> 05:48.000 All right. 05:49.000 --> 05:50.000 What is it? 05:50.000 --> 05:51.000 Kravats? 05:51.000 --> 05:53.000 Yeah, use the ice axe. 05:58.000 --> 05:59.000 It won't hold. 05:59.000 --> 06:01.000 The snow's too soft here. 06:01.000 --> 06:02.000 It's slipping. 06:02.000 --> 06:04.000 Father, it's slipping. 06:04.000 --> 06:07.000 I saw the snow crumbling away from beneath Eldridge's feet. 06:07.000 --> 06:12.000 I saw it, and I thought of a man I knew who slipped from an aerial ladder 100 feet up. 06:12.000 --> 06:19.000 And as he fell to the ground, his legs raced wildly, arms waving, trying to find their arms to pull himself back up. 06:19.000 --> 06:25.000 And Eldridge was doing it now, his heels churning into the soft snow at the edge of the kravats. 06:25.000 --> 06:27.000 And then he found solid ice. 06:27.000 --> 06:28.000 Bob? 06:28.000 --> 06:29.000 Yeah? 06:29.000 --> 06:31.000 Can you pull me back? 06:31.000 --> 06:34.000 I can't get Roochie up from here. 06:34.000 --> 06:36.000 I'm afraid I'll go over too. 06:36.000 --> 06:37.000 I'm right out of the air group. 06:37.000 --> 06:39.000 Can he get a hold of his axe? 06:39.000 --> 06:41.000 No, he's acting free. 06:41.000 --> 06:42.000 The walk's over. 06:42.000 --> 06:43.000 Hurry. 06:43.000 --> 06:44.000 I'll try. 06:47.000 --> 06:48.000 You have to, John. 06:48.000 --> 06:50.000 I can't do it alone. 06:50.000 --> 06:51.000 There's too much weight. 06:51.000 --> 06:53.000 I'm telling you, I can't. 06:53.000 --> 06:54.000 I'm afraid to move. 06:54.000 --> 06:57.000 I can feel it going under me or around me. 06:57.000 --> 06:59.000 There's solid ice a couple of feet back. 06:59.000 --> 07:01.000 I can grab it with my axe. 07:01.000 --> 07:02.000 Don't let go! 07:02.000 --> 07:04.000 Don't let it go slack, Bob. 07:04.000 --> 07:05.000 I won't. 07:05.000 --> 07:08.000 You just hang on. 07:08.000 --> 07:12.000 I knew that if I slipped behind me, it was the end. 07:12.000 --> 07:17.000 I looked at the figure of Eldridge, his body bent backwards away from the drop beneath him. 07:17.000 --> 07:22.000 I closed my eyes, reached behind with my pick, and dug into the ice. 07:22.000 --> 07:23.000 I can't! 07:23.000 --> 07:24.000 I'm slipping! 07:24.000 --> 07:25.000 I can't! 07:25.000 --> 07:28.000 And as Eldridge shouted, I thought I heard another cry. 07:28.000 --> 07:31.000 And then suddenly the rope's weight was lighter. 07:31.000 --> 07:39.000 I saw Eldridge get up on hands and knees, crawl away from the crevasse toward me. 07:39.000 --> 07:40.000 Norman! 07:40.000 --> 07:41.000 Where's Norman? 07:41.000 --> 07:42.000 He's gone. 07:42.000 --> 07:43.000 He fell. 07:43.000 --> 07:44.000 He's gone. 07:44.000 --> 07:45.000 He can't be. 07:45.000 --> 07:46.000 How? 07:46.000 --> 07:47.000 I don't know. 07:47.000 --> 07:54.000 Perhaps the rope frayed on some ice at the edge. 07:54.000 --> 07:58.000 Suddenly it went slacker. 07:58.000 --> 08:00.000 I heard him. 08:00.000 --> 08:02.000 Bob, I heard him. 08:02.000 --> 08:04.000 Well, maybe it's not deep. 08:04.000 --> 08:07.000 He might have fallen into a drift at the bottom. 08:07.000 --> 08:08.000 You stay here. 08:08.000 --> 08:11.000 I've got to see. 08:11.000 --> 08:18.000 I belayed the rope about the eye pack and paid out the rest of it as I slid down the slope 08:18.000 --> 08:19.000 of the crevasse. 08:19.000 --> 08:29.000 But when I looked over the edge, I knew that dark blue, almost black emptiness below, I 08:29.000 --> 08:36.000 knew there'd be no snow drift for Norman Perucci's body unless it was perhaps 10,000 08:36.000 --> 08:44.000 feet below us. 08:44.000 --> 08:49.000 We bypassed that place, found a shelter from the wind, and pitched our tent. 08:49.000 --> 08:52.000 For a long time, neither one of us spoke. 08:52.000 --> 08:56.000 I think we were too exhausted to say anything. 08:56.000 --> 08:59.000 Exhausted and shocked. 08:59.000 --> 09:02.000 There are only two of us now. 09:02.000 --> 09:07.000 I keep hearing him. 09:07.000 --> 09:09.000 Yeah, I know. 09:09.000 --> 09:11.000 No, you don't. 09:11.000 --> 09:14.000 Not the way I do. 09:14.000 --> 09:16.000 He was a nice kid. 09:16.000 --> 09:19.000 Yeah. 09:19.000 --> 09:22.000 Doesn't he was cold? 09:22.000 --> 09:24.000 How high do you think we are? 09:24.000 --> 09:26.000 Twenty-four thousand. 09:26.000 --> 09:29.000 Yeah, I wondered. 09:29.000 --> 09:31.000 A little hard to breathe. 09:31.000 --> 09:32.000 You better use the oxygen. 09:32.000 --> 09:33.000 No, not yet. 09:33.000 --> 09:35.000 We won't need it tomorrow. 09:35.000 --> 09:37.000 Yes, we will. 09:37.000 --> 09:38.000 Better save it. 09:38.000 --> 09:39.000 We're going down in the morning. 09:39.000 --> 09:40.000 No! 09:40.000 --> 09:41.000 We've got to. 09:41.000 --> 09:43.000 You and I couldn't make it up there alone. 09:43.000 --> 09:45.000 There's 2,500 feet to go, maybe more. 09:45.000 --> 09:47.000 No, we've got to go back. 09:47.000 --> 09:48.000 We'll let the others try. 09:48.000 --> 09:50.000 Just because he's gone, is that why? 09:50.000 --> 09:52.000 Look, I've done more climbing than you out here. 09:52.000 --> 09:53.000 What happened today is bad for the nerves. 09:53.000 --> 09:55.000 We couldn't make it. 09:55.000 --> 09:57.000 We'll go back and try again later. 09:57.000 --> 09:58.000 The monsoons will be here later. 09:58.000 --> 09:59.000 We've got to do it now. 09:59.000 --> 10:01.000 Thomas and the others can do it. 10:01.000 --> 10:02.000 No, we'll keep going. 10:02.000 --> 10:03.000 I've got to. 10:03.000 --> 10:04.000 I'm not going back. 10:04.000 --> 10:05.000 What's the matter with you? 10:05.000 --> 10:06.000 You're talking like a kid. 10:06.000 --> 10:09.000 Look, I was the last one on your list when you got the party together, wasn't I? 10:09.000 --> 10:10.000 Yes, but... 10:10.000 --> 10:11.000 Why? 10:11.000 --> 10:12.000 Why was I last? 10:12.000 --> 10:13.000 I don't know. 10:13.000 --> 10:14.000 Somebody had to be with you, that's all. 10:14.000 --> 10:15.000 You're a liar. 10:15.000 --> 10:16.000 You didn't want me along. 10:16.000 --> 10:17.000 None of you did. 10:17.000 --> 10:18.000 You're here, aren't you? 10:18.000 --> 10:22.000 You know I'm afraid of climbing, don't you? 10:22.000 --> 10:23.000 Whiz into everybody a little. 10:23.000 --> 10:24.000 Isn't that why we do it? 10:24.000 --> 10:25.000 Isn't that part of it? 10:25.000 --> 10:26.000 No, I mean really scared. 10:26.000 --> 10:27.000 I'm really scared. 10:27.000 --> 10:28.000 You know that. 10:28.000 --> 10:29.000 No, I don't. 10:29.000 --> 10:30.000 Well, something happened when North... 10:30.000 --> 10:37.000 Something happened to me today and I've got to go onto the top now. 10:37.000 --> 10:40.000 You think I'll call you a coward if we don't? 10:40.000 --> 10:41.000 No. 10:41.000 --> 10:42.000 All right, then forget it. 10:42.000 --> 10:43.000 We'll try again. 10:43.000 --> 10:45.000 Maybe next year you'll be along too. 10:45.000 --> 10:48.000 I'll do it alone then. 10:48.000 --> 10:50.000 I'm going on alone. 10:50.000 --> 10:52.000 You want to come along with me, all right? 10:52.000 --> 10:54.000 If not, it doesn't matter anyway. 10:54.000 --> 10:56.000 Well, I'm going. 10:56.000 --> 10:57.000 So long. 10:57.000 --> 10:58.000 John? 10:58.000 --> 10:59.000 John! 10:59.000 --> 11:02.000 He didn't stop. 11:02.000 --> 11:09.000 He just moved up the ice slab and around a hammock out of sight. 11:09.000 --> 11:11.000 I went back inside the tent to get my pack. 11:11.000 --> 11:15.000 I couldn't let him do it alone and I was trapped into going with him. 11:15.000 --> 11:18.000 Then I saw that the fool hadn't even taken his rope. 11:18.000 --> 11:21.000 It was neatly coiled in the corner. 11:21.000 --> 11:25.000 I grabbed it up and as I did so I saw the end of it. 11:25.000 --> 11:29.000 The end which had broken when Paruti hung over the crevasse. 11:29.000 --> 11:33.000 The rope which Eldridge had said was parted by the ice. 11:33.000 --> 11:36.000 But there were no frayed ends. 11:36.000 --> 11:38.000 The break was clean. 11:38.000 --> 11:44.000 It had been cut through and the oil of Eldridge's knife blade was still on it. 11:44.000 --> 11:47.000 When Eldridge had thought he was going over the crevasse, 11:47.000 --> 11:51.000 he'd cut the rope which had held Norman Paruti's body some 20 feet into the chasm. 11:51.000 --> 11:54.000 To save his own life, he'd done this. 11:54.000 --> 11:58.000 I pulled the coil through the straps of my pack and left the tent. 11:58.000 --> 12:08.000 I caught up with Eldridge about a hundred feet higher. 12:08.000 --> 12:14.000 He was standing on a shallow ledge catching his breath and his head was tilted back, 12:14.000 --> 12:17.000 eyes fixed on that mountain. 12:17.000 --> 12:29.000 Nasty foot back there. I was cutting steps up the cliff. I nearly fell. 12:29.000 --> 12:31.000 You didn't though. 12:31.000 --> 12:34.000 No I didn't. 12:34.000 --> 12:36.000 You're coming with me, huh? 12:36.000 --> 12:40.000 I want to see that you get down alive. 12:40.000 --> 12:44.000 You forgot your rope. I found it in the tent. 12:44.000 --> 12:46.000 I didn't think I'd need it. 12:46.000 --> 12:48.000 You might. 12:48.000 --> 12:50.000 Here. 12:50.000 --> 12:51.000 Thanks. 12:51.000 --> 12:53.000 We better tie on together. 12:53.000 --> 12:55.000 All right. 12:55.000 --> 12:56.000 You want to go first? 12:56.000 --> 12:58.000 No. 12:58.000 --> 13:01.000 It's your party now. 13:01.000 --> 13:03.000 You lead. 13:03.000 --> 13:05.000 See? 13:05.000 --> 13:08.000 He had a funny look on his face as we roped together. 13:08.000 --> 13:12.000 I think he must have known then that I'd found out what he'd done. 13:12.000 --> 13:17.000 He didn't say anything though but turned and began to move upwards. 13:17.000 --> 13:21.000 At three o'clock that afternoon we were at about 25,000 feet. 13:21.000 --> 13:25.000 It was hard to breathe now. Terribly hard. 13:25.000 --> 13:27.000 We decided to rest for a few minutes. 13:27.000 --> 13:35.000 I remember looking down from the ridge, looking down into the incredible scene below and then up 13:35.000 --> 13:42.000 and the peak which loomed over us clear against the sky, perhaps 1,500, 2,000 feet over us. 13:42.000 --> 13:53.000 I remembered Perucci's excitement as he'd seen it further down and even then I thought it could be beaten, that we might do it. 13:53.000 --> 14:02.000 We'll use the oxygen from here as soon as we start again. 14:02.000 --> 14:05.000 We can't do any more today. 14:05.000 --> 14:07.000 We can. 14:07.000 --> 14:08.000 Go higher. 14:08.000 --> 14:10.000 Then what? 14:10.000 --> 14:14.000 When it gets dark, camp. 14:14.000 --> 14:19.000 Finish it tomorrow if we don't today. 14:19.000 --> 14:22.000 If the storm comes up we'll be in trouble. 14:22.000 --> 14:24.000 They won't. 14:24.000 --> 14:26.000 They're going to make it I know. 14:26.000 --> 14:27.000 I know we are. 14:27.000 --> 14:29.000 They haven't been far. 14:29.000 --> 14:31.000 It doesn't matter after that. 14:31.000 --> 14:33.000 We'll have to go down to the others. 14:33.000 --> 14:35.000 Yeah. 14:35.000 --> 14:36.000 I suppose so. 14:36.000 --> 14:40.000 We'll have to tell them about Perucci. 14:40.000 --> 14:42.000 Yes? 14:42.000 --> 14:46.000 Are we going to tell the same story? 14:46.000 --> 14:49.000 I think we will. 14:49.000 --> 14:53.000 Do you know why I followed you? 14:53.000 --> 14:56.000 Why I came along? 14:56.000 --> 14:57.000 Yes. 14:57.000 --> 14:59.000 Just like that. 14:59.000 --> 15:01.000 Yes. 15:01.000 --> 15:04.000 You murdered a man and that's all there is to it. 15:04.000 --> 15:05.000 No. 15:05.000 --> 15:07.000 It wasn't murder. 15:07.000 --> 15:09.000 I was afraid. 15:09.000 --> 15:11.000 In Europe I went over with all goats. 15:11.000 --> 15:13.000 Oh, it was the only way. 15:13.000 --> 15:18.000 If you'd waited, we could have got him out. 15:18.000 --> 15:20.000 I didn't know it then. 15:20.000 --> 15:22.000 I thought myself, go ahead. 15:22.000 --> 15:23.000 I had to do it. 15:23.000 --> 15:24.000 And what's all this for? 15:24.000 --> 15:27.000 To wipe out the sin? 15:27.000 --> 15:29.000 Get to the peak and be a man again? 15:29.000 --> 15:30.000 Yeah. 15:30.000 --> 15:31.000 No way. 15:31.000 --> 15:34.000 Perhaps you won't be. 15:34.000 --> 15:36.000 You'll never be. 15:36.000 --> 15:39.000 When this gets out and it's going to, 15:39.000 --> 15:42.000 there'll be no place for you to hide. 15:42.000 --> 15:44.000 No place to go. 15:44.000 --> 15:52.000 Well, we'd better get moving. 15:52.000 --> 15:55.000 We began to use the oxygen, sparingly, 15:55.000 --> 15:59.000 and kept moving up, slower and slower. 15:59.000 --> 16:02.000 Our hearts pounding with the effort. 16:02.000 --> 16:06.000 100 feet, 200, 300. 16:06.000 --> 16:09.000 And I began to feel lightheaded. 16:09.000 --> 16:11.000 I couldn't. 16:11.000 --> 16:13.000 Now another step. 16:13.000 --> 16:15.000 I couldn't. 16:15.000 --> 16:18.000 And then it was 400 feet. 16:18.000 --> 16:21.000 A hellish collapse in front of me. 16:21.000 --> 16:24.000 Lay in the fine snow, sobbing. 16:24.000 --> 16:29.000 And stop. 16:29.000 --> 16:31.000 Stop here. 16:31.000 --> 16:33.000 No. 16:33.000 --> 16:35.000 We've got to go on. 16:35.000 --> 16:37.000 No. 16:37.000 --> 16:42.000 We've got to. 16:42.000 --> 16:45.000 And sobbed like a child. 16:45.000 --> 16:47.000 His mind willed him to keep going, 16:47.000 --> 16:50.000 but his body wouldn't allow him. 16:50.000 --> 16:52.000 We lay there using our precious oxygen 16:52.000 --> 16:54.000 because I think had we not done so, 16:54.000 --> 16:57.000 we'd have died of fatigue. 16:57.000 --> 17:00.000 The wind had disappeared completely. 17:00.000 --> 17:03.000 And there was a silence so complete 17:03.000 --> 17:07.000 that you could almost imagine it bore a sound in itself. 17:07.000 --> 17:08.000 Deadening. 17:08.000 --> 17:10.000 Awful. 17:10.000 --> 17:12.000 We made camp and cried to sleep. 17:12.000 --> 17:15.000 We were too tired to think of food. 17:15.000 --> 17:18.000 And then with the night came a heavy mist. 17:18.000 --> 17:21.000 They began to grow much colder. 17:21.000 --> 17:24.000 The morning of May 20th was gray. 17:24.000 --> 17:27.000 The peak of the mountain was shrouded. 17:27.000 --> 17:30.000 And I knew it was going to snow. 17:30.000 --> 17:32.000 Directly ahead of us was an ice wall. 17:32.000 --> 17:35.000 There was no way around it. 17:35.000 --> 17:37.000 We had to climb almost vertically, 17:37.000 --> 17:41.000 cut our own steps with ice axes one by one, 17:41.000 --> 17:43.000 and climb. 17:43.000 --> 17:47.000 This time I took the lead. 17:47.000 --> 17:49.000 And as I nodded the rope, Eldred said, 17:49.000 --> 17:52.000 you don't trust me, do you? 17:52.000 --> 17:55.000 You're afraid if I'm leading and you fall, 17:55.000 --> 17:57.000 I'll cut the rope again. 17:57.000 --> 17:59.000 You might. 17:59.000 --> 18:02.000 Let's go. 18:02.000 --> 18:07.000 At that point we had ascended 25,400 feet. 18:07.000 --> 18:10.000 The ice wall would take us another hundred higher. 18:10.000 --> 18:21.000 The wind began to blow again when we were halfway up. 18:21.000 --> 18:24.000 We'll move around to the right after this step. 18:24.000 --> 18:26.000 There's a bit of a ledge. 18:26.000 --> 18:31.000 All right? 18:31.000 --> 18:34.000 Okay. Come on. 18:34.000 --> 18:37.000 No, wait. We can't stop. 18:37.000 --> 18:39.000 The oxygen won't hold out. 18:39.000 --> 18:42.000 We'll go back. 18:42.000 --> 18:44.000 This is it. 18:44.000 --> 18:46.000 Snow might keep up for days. 18:46.000 --> 18:48.000 I'm going up. 18:48.000 --> 18:50.000 You can't see six feet ahead of you. 18:50.000 --> 18:51.000 That's enough. 18:51.000 --> 18:53.000 I'm not going to give up now. 18:53.000 --> 18:54.000 We're too close. 18:54.000 --> 18:55.000 You're crazy. 18:55.000 --> 18:57.000 Yeah, I guess so. 18:57.000 --> 18:58.000 You're coming? 18:58.000 --> 19:00.000 Yes, I am. 19:00.000 --> 19:03.000 I want to get you back alive. 19:03.000 --> 19:11.000 The snow on the pyramid was solid. 19:11.000 --> 19:15.000 Even with the blizzard it was comparatively easy going. 19:15.000 --> 19:18.000 And then the slope seemed to lurch. 19:18.000 --> 19:22.000 And I had a split second to see the waves of snow pouring down on me. 19:22.000 --> 19:24.000 An avalanche swept us down. 19:24.000 --> 19:43.000 I'd stopped falling. 19:43.000 --> 19:48.000 My first stop when I came through, I wasn't dead. 19:48.000 --> 19:51.000 Then I saw a pair of legs pout next to me. 19:51.000 --> 19:55.000 I didn't think that you were going to make it. 19:55.000 --> 19:57.000 Where'd that land? 19:57.000 --> 20:00.000 Hanging over the ice wall. 20:00.000 --> 20:02.000 You were behind me. 20:02.000 --> 20:04.000 You didn't go over. 20:04.000 --> 20:06.000 No, don't ask me why. 20:06.000 --> 20:10.000 There must have been a corner at the avalanche that hit us. 20:10.000 --> 20:14.000 You ended up pulling me down. 20:14.000 --> 20:19.000 My axe caught in one of the steps that held us both. 20:19.000 --> 20:22.000 Then you pulled me up. 20:22.000 --> 20:25.000 Yeah, yeah, it looks like it. 20:25.000 --> 20:27.000 Thanks. 20:27.000 --> 20:29.000 How long have you been out? 20:29.000 --> 20:31.000 About an hour. 20:31.000 --> 20:33.000 A little more. 20:33.000 --> 20:34.000 The blizzard's letting up? 20:34.000 --> 20:35.000 Yeah. 20:35.000 --> 20:38.000 You feel like going on? 20:38.000 --> 20:40.000 I think so. 20:40.000 --> 20:42.000 All right. 20:42.000 --> 20:44.000 Will you tell me something? 20:44.000 --> 20:45.000 What? 20:45.000 --> 20:48.000 Why did you pull me out of it? 20:48.000 --> 20:52.000 Why didn't you just let me go over the edge? 20:52.000 --> 20:55.000 Then you wouldn't have had me around to tell. 20:55.000 --> 20:57.000 I'm not a murderer, Bob. 20:57.000 --> 21:00.000 I cut Norman's rope because I was afraid. 21:00.000 --> 21:05.000 If I thought there was even a chance of us not falling, I wouldn't have done it. 21:05.000 --> 21:07.000 But I didn't, though. 21:07.000 --> 21:10.000 Now, it doesn't excuse me, but it... 21:10.000 --> 21:14.000 It doesn't mean that I'd kill you to get out of it. 21:14.000 --> 21:18.000 Well, we've got to save the chalk. We'll need our breath. 21:18.000 --> 21:20.000 Now, do you want to leave? 21:20.000 --> 21:22.000 Or shall I? 21:22.000 --> 21:24.000 I'll do it. 21:24.000 --> 21:35.000 The storm had passed, and all we could see was the cold sky again. 21:35.000 --> 21:39.000 The peak was still only occasionally visible through patches of mist. 21:39.000 --> 21:41.000 We went up. 21:41.000 --> 21:42.000 Higher. 21:42.000 --> 21:43.000 Higher. 21:43.000 --> 21:47.000 Then my oxygen tank gave out, and we had to share altitude. 21:47.000 --> 21:51.000 We'd nearly reached 26,000 feet, and we could see the top. 21:51.000 --> 21:53.000 For a moment, it stood out clear. 21:53.000 --> 21:57.000 And it looked so easy, the last lap. 21:57.000 --> 22:05.000 But by now, we could move only a few steps at a time, till we had to rest. 22:05.000 --> 22:10.000 And I couldn't get up again. 22:10.000 --> 22:16.000 Hey, look. Looks pretty easy. 22:16.000 --> 22:19.000 If I set ridge, I... 22:19.000 --> 22:21.000 I have to wait. 22:21.000 --> 22:24.000 Huh? All right. 22:24.000 --> 22:27.000 You wait for me. I'll go off. 22:27.000 --> 22:30.000 No, we'll... we'll do it together. 22:30.000 --> 22:31.000 Huh? 22:31.000 --> 22:34.000 Just wait a couple minutes. 22:34.000 --> 22:37.000 It'll be getting dark. 22:37.000 --> 22:38.000 I'll be back for you. 22:38.000 --> 22:41.000 No, don't. I'll be back. 22:41.000 --> 22:45.000 Here. Here. You take the oxygen. 22:45.000 --> 22:46.000 I don't need it. 22:46.000 --> 22:47.000 No, don't. No. 22:47.000 --> 22:51.000 I won't need it. Here. 22:51.000 --> 22:53.000 Wait here. 22:53.000 --> 22:56.000 Now, I'll get down again. 22:56.000 --> 22:58.000 Oh, wait. 22:58.000 --> 23:03.000 I... I'm sorry I was afraid. 23:03.000 --> 23:07.000 I still am afraid. 23:07.000 --> 23:10.000 Now, that's why I... 23:10.000 --> 23:13.000 I've got to do it. 23:13.000 --> 23:16.000 You understand? 23:16.000 --> 23:18.000 Yeah. 23:18.000 --> 23:23.000 Fell off, Bob. 23:23.000 --> 23:29.000 I didn't have the strength to stop him as he untied the rope which held us together. 23:29.000 --> 23:31.000 And he was gone. 23:31.000 --> 23:35.000 And after a while, I felt stronger and I sat up. 23:35.000 --> 23:44.000 I could see him, a dark blob against the mountain of snow, smaller, smaller. 23:44.000 --> 23:46.000 And he was climbing upward. 23:46.000 --> 23:53.000 He'd reached the final pinnacle and become a dot that was lost in the mist. 23:53.000 --> 23:56.000 I saw Eldridge once more. 23:56.000 --> 24:01.000 He couldn't have been more than 250 feet below the peak. 24:01.000 --> 24:03.000 For perhaps 10 seconds I saw him. 24:03.000 --> 24:05.000 And then he disappeared. 24:05.000 --> 24:07.000 I waited. 24:07.000 --> 24:09.000 And waited into the night. 24:09.000 --> 24:12.000 And the next morning I began to look for him. 24:12.000 --> 24:14.000 But the oxygen was gone. 24:14.000 --> 24:19.000 I knew that if I had to climb another foot, I'd die. 24:19.000 --> 24:22.000 And so I turned back. 24:22.000 --> 24:25.000 There was no wind anymore. 24:25.000 --> 24:28.000 It was almost warm. 24:28.000 --> 24:36.000 Somehow I got down, down to the base camp, and I told them the story. 24:36.000 --> 24:40.000 Almost the whole story, but not quite. 24:40.000 --> 24:49.000 I changed a rope which had been cut with a knife into a rope which had frayed and parted on the ice. 24:49.000 --> 24:57.000 I remember as we started down to the valley below, I turned and stood a minute looking back, 24:57.000 --> 25:01.000 looking up. 25:01.000 --> 25:06.000 And then a cloud softly poured over the peak. 25:06.000 --> 25:11.000 And in a moment the mountain was gone. 25:11.000 --> 25:34.000 Music 25:34.000 --> 25:43.000 Suspense, in which Parley Bearer and Ben Wright starred in tonight's presentation of the mountain. 25:43.000 --> 25:48.000 Next week, a story of what might have happened to the first atomic-powered submarine. 25:48.000 --> 25:52.000 We call it X-915. 25:52.000 --> 25:56.000 That's next week on Suspense. 25:56.000 --> 26:04.000 Music