1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:01,620 [cold wind blowing] 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:05,300 [Lt. Col. Rob Marshall] We knew that it was getting more and more crowded, 3 00:00:05,300 --> 00:00:06,600 and on Everest, especially 4 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:09,500 on summit day, waiting in line is deadly. 5 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:11,960 You are eating up all of your resources, 6 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,140 but you're not gaining any elevation. 7 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:17,800 When we got out of our tents at 8 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,800 26,000 feet, there was already a line of headlamps going up the mountain. 9 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:23,040 Here we go. 10 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:26,640 [city sounds, ambient music] 11 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,300 In '97 I graduated from Mercer Island High School; 12 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:32,460 little island in Big Lake Washington. 13 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:33,900 right next to Seattle. 14 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,100 And I always wanted to fly, 15 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:38,120 but I've grown up loving the outdoors, 16 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,400 so the Air Force Academy seemed like the perfect combination of 17 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:47,100 great education, beautiful 18,000-acre campus up in the mountains, 18 00:00:47,180 --> 00:00:49,600 and then a high probability of being able to fly. 19 00:00:50,460 --> 00:00:51,720 [rotors spinning] 20 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:53,420 When I was at the Air Force Academy, 21 00:00:53,540 --> 00:00:55,240 I joined the Mountaineering Club. 22 00:00:55,340 --> 00:00:57,340 That's where I climbed my first 14,000-foot peak, 23 00:00:57,340 --> 00:00:59,600 and just started to fall in love with it. 24 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:01,380 It also scared me a few times and 25 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:04,920 helped me understand my limits, that you're not indestructible. 26 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:12,380 When I graduated, I went to the Everest region in Nepal. 27 00:01:12,380 --> 00:01:13,800 Just wanted to backpack around there. 28 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:15,440 No interest in climbing anything. 29 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:17,800 But when I saw the peaks in the Himalayas I was like, 30 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:18,660 "Whoa!" 31 00:01:19,060 --> 00:01:20,060 It's intoxicating. 32 00:01:20,220 --> 00:01:25,520 It was in my heart. It was in my gut. My intuition said you should come back and 33 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:29,840 climb this mountain for something greater than just like a personal conquest. 34 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:34,060 Let's create an American military mountaineering team. 35 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,940 We'll do something that no other team has ever even attempted, 36 00:01:37,940 --> 00:01:40,340 which would be to climb the highest point in every continent. 37 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:41,880 [news opening music] 38 00:01:45,820 --> 00:01:49,260 (Newscaster) A team of six seasoned Air Force mountaineers plan to summit Mount 39 00:01:49,260 --> 00:01:54,000 Everest on a 50-day journey. They will be the first American military team to 40 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:58,590 attempt Everest, and if successful, the first military team to have climbed each 41 00:01:58,590 --> 00:02:00,100 continent's highest mountain. 42 00:02:00,220 --> 00:02:01,180 [tense music] 43 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,980 (Marshall) On the summit day, there was already a line of headlamps going up the mountain. 44 00:02:05,980 --> 00:02:10,060 So we knew that worst-case scenario in terms of crowding was happening. 45 00:02:10,060 --> 00:02:14,580 But we as a team agreed we have the skill and we have the confidence, we have the 46 00:02:14,580 --> 00:02:20,550 safety analysis, that we'll unclip from our rope - the one safety rope up there - 47 00:02:20,550 --> 00:02:23,760 and we'll free-climb around these people. It was definitely the most physically 48 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:26,960 demanding thing I've ever done in my life, and the timing was perfect. 49 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,680 The sun was rising. It's just cresting over the, over the 50 00:02:30,690 --> 00:02:36,450 horizon. And it was surreal. It was a vision that I had as a second 51 00:02:36,450 --> 00:02:42,180 lieutenant standing at the base of Everest in 2001, and it's now 2013 and 52 00:02:42,180 --> 00:02:46,320 I'm walking to the summit. Got a little emotional, all teared up. Now, I was 53 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:52,350 probably a little hypoxic at 29,000 feet, but it just showed that when you have a 54 00:02:52,350 --> 00:02:55,860 vision and you have a dream and you put your heart into it 55 00:02:55,860 --> 00:02:57,440 that you can overcome any challenge. 56 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,040 Hey, everybody. 57 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:01,560 It's Major Rob Marshall with the United States Air Force, 58 00:03:02,060 --> 00:03:03,700 and the Air Force 7 Summits Challenge. 59 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:05,520 We're on top of Mount Everest. 60 00:03:06,060 --> 00:03:09,420 I had so much energy when I got to the top of Everest I wanted to keep going 61 00:03:09,420 --> 00:03:13,380 higher. I couldn't, so it only made sense to do the push-ups. 62 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:19,580 Whoo! 63 00:03:20,540 --> 00:03:22,180 I don't want to do any more and pass out. 64 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:24,260 God bless America, 65 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:25,600 Go Air Force!