Have you ever wanted something so bad you risk everything to get it? This is what happened to the people who lost their lives on Mt. Everest. The guides, Rob Hall and Scott Fisher each wanted a piece of the commercialization of the mountain. They wanted to be the best guides; the guides that could be counted on to get their clients to the top. They even combined forces so that they could compete against the guides from all the other countries. Rob Hall worried that one of the less competent teams might "blunder into a bad jam, " and his group would have to rescue them. Ironically, it was Rob and Scott's group that needed rescued.
The clients wanted to get to the summit. They each wanted to look down from the top of the world. Doug Hansen was Rob Hall's friend who failed to reach the summit. Rob ignored his own rule to turn back at 2:00 no matter what! Doug kept going. Rob made the fatal decision to follow Doug up to the top so Doug could get his dream. They got caught in the storm and died.
Scott Fisher wanted to be the best guide. He let the people who were suppose to be working for him helping him get clients up the mountain do their own thing. He ended up taking a sick client down the mountain, then he climbed back up the mountain. He was too exhausted to go on, but he ignored that. He said, "I'm invincible." But he wasn't.
One of the Sherpa's said, "Everest decides who reaches the top." That turned out to be true. Actually, reaching the top was only half the journey. It turned out that getting back down off the mountain was the biggest challenge.
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