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New Zealand mountaineer Mark Inglis is the focus of a Discovery Channel documentary set to start screening in the United States.
The documentary, by film-maker Dick Colthurst, tells the story of Inglis' becoming the first double amputee to reach the summit of Everest, on carbon-fibre legs with spiked feet.
The TV series shows Inglis inching upwards on his spindly black prosthetics, blood from his raw-rubbed stumps staining the snow.
"It's hard to know whether to feel inspired by his guts or infuriated at his foolhardiness," said a report on the documentary in the Chicago Tribune.
A 17-member production team followed the 11 climbers with three professional mountain guides, an expedition organised by New Zealander Russell Brice, and led by him from further down the mountain at a base camp.
The series is set to begin a six-week run on November 14 on Discovery Channel, but does not show controversial footage of stranded British climber David Sharp freezing.
Members of Inglis' party who discovered Sharp were among dozens of climbers who passed him on their way to and from the summit. The incident made international headlines and brought widespread condemnation of climbers for not attempting a rescue.
A Sherpa's helmet-cam captured Sharp's last known words, but Discovery did not show the footage.
Mark Woodward, a guide for Himalayan Experience, was escorting a camera crew filming Inglis' ascent, before 1am on May 15, at 8412m, when the group reached a rock alcove. Woodward was shocked to find a second pair of boots protruding from the cave and found Sharp, a solo climber, with his arms around his knees. He had no oxygen, and ice crystals on his closed eyelashes.
A cameraman yelled at him to get moving, but there was no response. Believing he was in a hypothermic coma and beyond help, the group moved on.
Nearly 11 hours later, Phurba Tashi, Brice's chief Sherpa, heard Sharp say: "My name is David Sharp. I'm with Asian Trekking, and I just want to sleep." The Sherpas gave him oxygen but he kept collapsing.
- NZPA
