The title says it all. The tallest mountain in the world, and a six part series that pushed climbers and crew alike to their limits!

 

I started the ball rolling in 2005, with a recce/filming trip to see whether Russell Brice and Himalayan Experience could attract the kind of clients that would have Discovery viewers on the edge of their seats.

 

The resulting ten minute taster persuaded thechannel that they could.

 

So in 2006, a 17-strong team from Bristol-based Tigress Productions returned - along with Russell's climbers and sherpas - to film that year's expedition to the top.

 

The final assault involved two teams of climbers and film-makers summiting on consecutive days. The production was pioneering in the use of `sherpa-cams' - cameras attached to the heads of three sherpas on each day, with microwave transmitters beaming their pictures back to Base Camp.

 

On Day 2, they saved the day, as both cameras being used by the summit cameraman froze solid at -40, and he was unable to shoot a single frame.

 

They captured memorable images as two climbers refused instructions to turn around short of the summit, and as the Himex team sparked a worldwide controversy, leaving an unsupported British climber from another team to die at over 8000 meters because they didn't have the resources to mount a rescue operation so high on the mountain.