Everest On The Box Last Night

Actually, if you're not chained to a desk this afternoon, you Channel 5 is also showing Into Thin Air: Death On Everest at 3.40. Fiction based on the Krakauer book of the same name.

'Drama based on the true story of two groups of amateur mountaineers who pursued their quest to scale the world's most challenging peak. When a violent storm overtakes the climbers on their perilous ascent, they face a terrifying ordeal.'

Well, seeing as it's Everest season again, we suppose it's vaguely appropriate that Channel Five is showing Death On Everest at 10.00 pm tonight, Wednesday.

According to the Channel Five web site it's a:

'Programme investigating the danger involved in scaling Mount Everest, a peak that has been conquered by over 1,000 climbers in the past 50 years - but has claimed 144 lives. Interviews and archive footage show how altitude sickness, obsession and selfishness can distort the decision-making process, sometimes with appalling consequences.'

Guaranteed to put you off climbing the world's highest peak, or then again maybe not given that the publication of Krakauer's 'Into Thin Air' actually created a fire storm of interest in the mountain according to Jagged Globe's Steve Bell, when we interviewed him a few years back.