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EXT.  CAMP IV - THE NEXT MORNING
ODELL stirs from his sleeping bag and looks briefly around.  He sees he is still alone in his tent.  With a grave expression and with some urgency, he unfastens the tent flap and peers outside into the early morning.  The mountain is snowy and still.
EXT.  ABOVE CAMP IV - AN HOUR LATER
ODELL makes his way, as hastily as he can, with no oxygen set, to the higher camps where he is hoping that GEORGE and SANDY have returned late the previous day.  Although perfectly in control, he is breathless, climbing with urgency and intention.
EXT.  CAMP V - AN HOUR LATER
ODELL nears the empty Camp V.
ODELL
I SAY! MALLORY! GEORGE MALLORY! SANDY, ARE YOU THERE?
There is only the wind and the flapping of the tent canvas.
ODELL
(under his breath)
Damnation.
He looks determined, and hastens on up the North Ridge to Camp VI, breathing heavily.
EXT.  CAMP VI - TWO HOURS LATER
ODELL approaches the empty Camp VI.
ODELL
HELLO! MALLORY! SANDY IRVINE! ARE YOU THERE?
There is silence from the abandoned camp.
ODELL tears open the tent flap and sees there is no-one there.  He slumps down, a glazed expression on his face.  He knows that now there is no hope.
EXT.  ADVANCE BASE CAMP - A FEW MOMENTS EARLIER
SOMERVELL has been watching ODELL through his field glasses.  He is talking to NORTON, SHEBBEARE and GEOFFREY BRUCE.
SOMERVELL
He's approaching the camp.  It looks terribly still there.
(beat)
He's stopping.  He's just below the camp.  Maybe he's talking to them.
(beat)
Now he's walking again.  He's at the tent door.  He's going in.
(beat)
Pray God that they are there.
(long beat)
Odell's coming out now.
SOMERVELL sees ODELL with two sleeping bags, laying them into a cross in the snow.  He starts to speak, but cannot.  Wordlessly, he hands NORTON the glasses and turns away.
NORTON almost snatches the glasses from SOMERVELL and raises them to his eyes.  He looks through them for several long moments. 
SHEBBEARE and GEOFFREY BRUCE exchange nervous glances, as SOMERVELL walks away from the group before stopping a few feet away, gazing into space through unfocused eyes.  Eventually NORTON lowers the glasses and looks down at his feet.  His voice is wavering a little.
NORTON
My friends: they are not there.
EXT.  BASE CAMP - LATER THAT AFTERNOON
NORTON, SOMERVELL, SHEBBEARE and GEOFFREY BRUCE arrive at Base Camp.  Their colleagues greet them, eager for the news.  They converse briefly.  The shock and dismay is visible on the faces of the Base Camp team.
INT.  THE ALPINE CLUB, LONDON - 19 JUNE, TEN DAYS LATER
There is a ring on the doorbell.  A Post Office messenger delivers a telegram.  A secretary receives the telegram and thanks the messenger with courtesy.  The secretary hurries into another room.  He knocks briefly and does not wait for the reply.
INT.  THE ALPINE CLUB, LONDON, HINKS' OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
SECRETARY
A telegram, sir.  From Darjeeling.
HINKS
Well, don't just stand there, man! Open it.
The secretary, slightly flustered, opens the telegram, scans it, and looks blankly at HINKS.
HINKS
Go on, then!
SECRETARY
I'm sorry, sir, I don't understand it.
HINKS
What does it say?
SECRETARY
(reading with deliberation)
It says, "MALLORY IRVINE NOVE REMAINDER ALCEDO".
He looks up at HINKS expectantly.  But HINKS is looking thunderstruck.  At last HINKS looks up.
HINKS
(quietly)
Thank you, my good man.
(beat)
Mallory and Irvine have been taken by the mountain.  The rest of the men are coming home.
MONTAGE
1) RUTH is at her friends WILL and KA ARNOLD-FORSTER's house in Cornwall.  A local newspaper reporter comes to the door, and asks RUTH for a response to GEORGE's death.  This is the first she had heard of it.
2) RUTH walks in the garden after the reporter leaves, with WILL and KA.
3) INSERT: 1924 Newspaper headlines: "Tragedy on Everest" "Mallory and Irvine vanish into the clouds" "Did they reach the top?"
4) Hillary and Tensing return to Base Camp from their successful 1953 climb.  "Well, we knocked the bastard off", says Hillary.
5) INSERT: 1953 Newspaper Headlines: "Coronation Day and Everest, too!" "Everest climbed at long last"
6) 1999: climbers in modern, brightly coloured suits sweep search the North Face and discover GEORGE's body.
7) INSERT: 1999 newspaper headlines: "George Mallory found after 75 years." "Where is Sandy Irvine? Could they have climbed Everest after all?"
8) The great Everest North Face shines in the moonlight.  We zoom in until a tiny speck, which is not snow or rock, becomes visible in a crevice:  it is a body, with its knees drawn up tightly to its chest.  Then we zoom in further - until we can eventually see the little camera... still safely clasped in Sandy's frozen hands.


THE END