'Everest: Beyond The Limit'

Chandigarh, May 12 (UNI) In a television series 'Everest: Beyond The Limit,' Discovery channel will present for the first time ever an Everest summit expedition from start to finish and the intense challenges it places on human body and mind.

''Using cutting-edge filming techniques including high-altitude video technology and cameras mounted on helmets, Discovery channel will present every step of a gruelling April-May 2006 expedition by a group of people from different walks of life,'' Rajiv Bakshi, associate director (marketing and communications) of Discovery channel, said at a preview of the series organised here yesterday.

For the first time ever, he said, a television series would uncover the experience of an Everest summit attempt from start to finish and ''narrate the journey of the human mind - not only reflected in the glory and accomplishment of reaching the summit, but also in the intense limitations and difficulties that an expedition of this magnitude places on the human body and spirit.'' He said for 'Everest: Beyond The Limit,' a 17-member production team followed an expedition of 11 climbers with three professional mountain guides, organised and led by the experienced New Zealander Russel Brice.

In the programme, viewers would see and hear from climbers every step of the way as they deal with their own physical and mental struggles.

The climbers included an asthmatic man from Denmark who tries to summit without supplemental oxygen; a firefighter from Los Angeles making his second attempt to reach the summit, having previously mortgaged his home and sold his motorcycle to pay for the climb; a motorcycle designer having a considerable climbing disadvantage with metal plates and pins holding his spine, ankle and part of his skull together and an Oregon doctor on his first summit attempt.

Included in the series is Mark Inglis' historic summit, as he becomes the first-ever double amputee to scale Everest after losing his legs to frostbite while climbing Mount Cook 24 years ago.

The six-part premiere series begins from May 12 and will be aired on Discovery channel every Saturday at 2100 hrs with a repeat on the following Monday at 2100 hrs.

UNI