Michael Dillon

In 1990 Macartney-Snape returned once again to Mt Everest with the idea of climbing the mountain from the sea to the summit. The idea had originally been floated by adventure cameraman Michael Dillon. With sponsorship provided by Australian Geographic amongst others, it would take Macartney-Snape three months to achieve this goal. This was the first time anyone had walked from sea level and reached the top of Mt Everest, as even the first expeditions started from Kathmandu, at 1400m above sea level. Although Macartney-Snape planned climbing Everest via the more difficult West Ridge, bad weather and strong avalanche risk changed his plans and he finally ascended via the South Col route.

Back in 1977, Dillon filmed Hillary and crew (including son Peter Hillary) as they jet boated from the mouth of the Ganges to the base of the Himalayas, then set out to climb peak Akash Parbat. Dillon has remastered existing and unseen footage, and interviewed crew members about Hillary's last big expedition.

Deep in the wild Southern Ocean, halfway between Australia and Africa, a snowy volcano, almost 3,000 meters high, rears up from the sea like a Great White Whale. Five times that Great White Whale of a mountain tried to kill the first team that attempted it. Yet back they sailed, through the worst seas in the world to try again, this time with the legendary Bill Tilman as the skipper.

Five hundred miles from the North Pole, a scientific expedition is beset by the sea ice it has come to study. Three red kayaks, tiny specks in an austere wilderness, the team is in shock, its way forward blocked by a crumpled and pulverized wreckage of floes. Conditions are unrecognizable, no research can be done. With the Arctic Ocean collapsing all around them, they must escape the chaos by traversing Nares Strait, the most formidable passage of the polar North.