At noon on 13th May 1999, 22-year-old Michael Matthews became the youngest Briton to climb Everest. Four hours later, he was alone, lost in the most dangerous place on Earth. Bewildered and running out of oxygen, Michael would have known he was soon to die. His body has never been found. For decades Everest has been the ultimate challenge for mountaineers. Statistically, one in every seven who climb the mountain dies. Since the mid-1980's commercial expeditions have been offering guided services to take amateur climbers to the top of the world for large fees. In 1999 Michael Matthews, a high-flying financial trader from London, paid $40,000 for his shot at the summit. But the organisation of the expedition Michael joined fell into disarray and he found himself alone, above 8000 metres in Everest's notorious 'Death Zone', separated from his team and fighting a vicious storm. Michael became the 162nd person to die on Everest. To some he was another inexperienced climber caught out of his depth. But the other climbers in Michael's team tell a different story. They feel the expedition was a shambles and his death could easily have been avoided. They talk about the serious oxygen problems they encountered during the climb, they talk about their professional guide's violent temper and they claim the expedition was an accident waiting to happen. High quality film shot during the 1999 expedition makes the viewer feel they too are witnesses to what happened. A combination of dramatic reconstructions, actual expedition footage and interviews with those who were there make a dramatic, powerful, and compelling story of how a young man came to be alone in Everest's Death Zone.
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