Into the Death Zone’airs Friday, Sept. 14 at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT) on CBC-TV
It was May 19, 2012 and a young and determined Canadian was proudly standing on top of the world after an agonizingly slow climb up Mount Everest. Shriya Shah-Klorfine had made it. But in the hours that followed, things would go dreadfully wrong and she would perish, like hundreds before her, high up in Everest’s' Death Zone’.
Since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s first ascent of Everest almost 60 years ago, it has held an irresistible fascination for aspiring mountaineers. Hundreds make the attempt every year, and not all make it: over the years, an estimated 233 climbers have perished trying to reach its summit.
This year was no exception as hundreds made the attempt even as worrying signs pointed to trouble. Among them was Shriya Shah-Klorfine, the cheerful and energetic Torontonian of Nepali origin. She hadnever climbed a mountain before, and despite warnings from her friends, husband, and seasoned Everest guides, there she was climbing the world’s highest peak, utterly determined to succeed.
In the season premiere of the fifth estate, Friday, Sept. 14 at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT) on CBC Television, Bob McKeown travels to Nepal and pieces together what happenedwhen Shah-Klorfine entered Into the Death Zone. McKeown uncovers startling new information about Shah-Klorfine’s deadly descent in that icy oxygen-thin expanse of Everest.
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With exclusive, never-before-seen video of Shah-Klorfine on Everest, the episode also features her husband’s first interview since the tragedy. Also interviewed is another young Canadian woman who passed Shah-Klorfine twice in that critical 24-hour period, and who will never be able to chase the haunting images from her mind.
Is the quest for glory to the world’s highest peak overtaking common sense? Into the Death Zonechronicles Shriya Shah-Klorfine’s ill-fated quest to the top of the world.
**While watching the season premiere, use your tablet or mobile device to access www.cbc.ca/fifth/360/for live polling, tweets, interesting episode facts, and exclusive behind-the-scenes multimedia content.
In advance of the broadcast, watch Into the Death Zoneonline, for review purposes only, by contacting Melissa Prince (prince@veritascanada.com) for the link and password. CBC-TV rebroadcasts the fifth estateon Sundays at 11 p.m. (11:30 NT). CBC News Network rebroadcasts the fifth estateon Saturdays at 7 p.m. ET. For more information on the fifth estate, visit our website at www.cbc.ca/fifth, join us Facebook and follow us on twitter. Executive producer of the fifth estateis Jim Williamson.
Photos: Shriya Shah-Klorfine at the summit of Mount Everest, courtesy of the fifth estate.
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For further information and interviews with Bob McKeown, contact:
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prince@veritascanada.com
