Summit

EXT.  BETWEEN CAMPS V AND VI - CONTINUOUS
ODELL, wearing his goggles but without any oxygen apparatus, climbs steadily upwards alone.  His gaze alternates between the rock at his feet and the skyline.  He is looking for fossils, and also for his comrades up on the ridge.  He stops periodically, examining pieces of rock.  Each time he looks upwards, he sees the ridge shrouded in cloud.
EXT.  BETWEEN CAMPS IV AND V - CONTINUOUS
NOEL is perched on a sheltered piece of elevated flat rock, where he has assembled his movie camera.  He has a couple of boxes at his feet.  His gaze, and the camera, are both trained on the ridge.  But nothing is visible through the cloud.
LHAKPA and two other porters are with him.  They look cold and are huddled together behind a makeshift windbreak, but wait patiently and dutifully.
NOEL
(to no-one in particular)
Not a sign.  Besides George and Sandy, God alone knows whether it's clear up there.
LHAKPA
Sahib?
NOEL says nothing, and continues to look through his viewfinder.
EXT.  BETWEEN THE SECOND AND THIRD STEPS - CONTINUOUS
The ground is now increasingly snowy.  The POV is SANDY's: the same POV as in the opening sequence.  SANDY places each foot carefully in GEORGE's steps.  The pair move slowly but steadily.  Every twenty paces they stop for a rest before continuing.  We hear the pounding heartbeat.
SANDY
I now doubt myself as never before.  I have to go on.  I cannot let George down.  The summit is so close now.  But I have never known such work.  Every fibre in my being is in pain.
SANDY
(beat)
I hope I can do this.  I hope I am man enough to do this.
EXT.  BETWEEN CAMPS V AND VI - A LITTLE LATER
ODELL, perched comfortably on a rock, gazes up at the ridge above, his eyes scanning the rocks high on the North face.  But the ridge itself is still obscured with cloud.  Suddenly, the cloud clears and the entire ridge is revealed.
ODELL gasps audibly, removes his goggles, and squints earnestly at what he can now see.  He spies two miniscule figures, mounting a distant step on the ridge, close to the bulk of the summit pyramid, moving swiftly.  One climbs to the crest of the step, and then the other moves up to join him.  Then the cloud closes in to obscure his view again.
ODELL
My goodness.
He is grinning to himself.
ODELL
My goodness.
There is a gleam in his eye as he continues to scrutinise the ridge, now shrouded again in mist.
EXT.  TOP OF THE THIRD STEP - CONTINUOUS
GEORGE takes off his mask.
GEORGE
I say...
He pants and catches his breath.
GEORGE
The clouds parted there for an instant.  I could see the North Col.
SANDY looks down, seeing only mist, and then up at GEORGE enquiringly.
GEORGE
Maybe it will be clear for our descent.
He replaces his mask and slowly turns towards the bulk of the final pyramid.
EXT.  BETWEEN CAMPS V AND VI - CONTINUOUS
ODELL continues to peer upwards.  He has a thought, looks at his watch, and notes the time in a small notebook. 
He then resumes his vigil.  We see his eyes: sharp, hopeful, waiting patiently.
EXT.  BETWEEN THIRD STEP AND SUMMIT SNOWSLOPE - A LITTLE LATER
The ground is now a little steeper, and is almost entirely a low-angled, but relentlessly steady, snow slope.  The pair now take ten paces each before resting.  GEORGE turns round and wordlessly hands his axe to SANDY, who hesitates for a moment before accepting it.  The two move on slowly, as if each step were now a labour.
EXT.  BETWEEN CAMPS IV AND V - CONTINUOUS
NOEL and the three porters are still stationed where they were.  NOEL looks up at the gathering clouds.  As the wind picks up, it suddenly begins to snow quite heavily.  NOEL buttons up his collar against the squall, puts his gloves on, and ducks behind the windbreak to join LHAKPA and the other two porters.  The three porters look at him expectantly.
LHAKPA
What shall we do, Sahib?
NOEL
We shall stay right here, Lhakpa.
EXT.  BETWEEN CAMPS V AND VI - CONTINUOUS
ODELL reaches the empty Camp IV.  He is in the same squall.  He ducks into the vacant tent for shelter, and looks around him.  He sees various items of equipment lying around, including some bits and pieces of the oxygen apparatus and a number of personal items belonging to various members of the expedition.
EXT.  SUMMIT SNOWSLOPE - CONTINUOUS
The going is now very hard and the snow is softer, shin deep.  The pair now stop every five steps.  SANDY rips off his mask and thumps GEORGE on the shoulder.  He tries to speak but can only gasp.  He takes off his frame, and GEORGE helps him balance it on the snow slope.  SANDY battles to change the bottles in his thick gabardine mittens, and then takes one mitt off to complete the job.  GEORGE helps him as best he can. 
Neither man speaks.  SANDY is gasping for breath.  Eventually, the new bottle is in place and SANDY clamps the mask to his face and breathes deeply.  He nods at GEORGE, then launches the empty bottle down the Kangshung Face, as he did earlier in the day.  The two turn upwards.  GEORGE resumes his trailbreaking in the deep snow, and SANDY follows.
MONTAGE [TO SOUND OF POUNDING HEARTBEAT]
1) Aerial view of the summit pyramid, swooping down over the two tiny figures low on the final slope.
2) It is now GEORGE's turn to be brought to a sudden halt, his second bottle exhausted.  The two men stop, and with SANDY's help the old bottle follows SANDY's to the foot of the face.
3) SANDY's POV again, following GEORGE's steps in deepening snow.
EXT.  NEAR THE SUMMIT - A LITTLE LATER
SANDY's POV, as before.
SANDY
(to the rhythm of his slow foot placements)
Stroke... Stroke... Must Go On... Must Go On... Must Go On...
FADE TO:
EXT.  BOAT RACE, HENLEY-ON-THAMES, 1923 - FLASHBACK
The POV is SANDY's.  The COX is shouting time.  We hear the pounding heartbeat, and the slow crunch of SANDY's boots in the snow.
FADE TO:
EXT.  SUMMIT - LATER
The pounding heartbeat continues.  The POV is SANDY's.  His vision blurs and dissolves between the sun in his eyes in the Boat Race and the dazzle of the snow of the summit pyramid.  As the COX calls time...
COX
STROKE! STROKE! STROKE! STROKE!
... the POV focuses on the blurred figure of a man standing before him, some dozen feet away and in a slightly elevated position.  SANDY stops, while we still hear the pounding heartbeat.  He removes his goggles for an instant and is met by the blinding glare of the snow of the very summit of Everest.
GEORGE is standing there, his mask and goggles removed.  His eyes burn intently and while he is standing stock still he is glowing with energy and vitality.  He has been in a world of his own, having a transcendental experience.
GEORGE
It is this for which I have lived, this for which I have climbed mountains; not for records, nor glories, but to be fully alive, at one with the soul of all Life.  And here, as no other place, I became what I most truly was.
GEORGE
Sandy.
(beat)
Welcome to the roof of the world.
He extends his hand.  Sandy plants his axe in the highest point and clasps GEORGE's hand with both of his.  He too removes his mask and gasps.
SANDY
We're here! Ye Gods, ye Gods, ye Gods.
GEORGE
Make that the Cathedral spire.
He reaches deep into an inner pocket and produces a camera.  Wordlessly, he hands it to SANDY.  SANDY removes his mitts and, gasping with the cold, takes two pictures in quick succession as GEORGE strikes a pose.
SANDY
And a special one for Ruth.
GEORGE gazes into the camera lens, his eyes aglow.  SANDY snaps a third, and hands the camera back to GEORGE.
GEORGE
Thank you for reminding me.
He reaches into a different breast pocket and produces a little sheaf of papers wrapped in a coloured silk handkerchief.  Removing a thick mitten with his teeth, he picks out a small photograph.
GEORGE
(to himself)
Darling girl.
With infinite care, he bands down on one knee, takes the axe, and carves a shallow scoop at the topmost point.  He touches the photo to his lips, places it in the scoop, and with a couple of strokes of the axe, buries it in the snow.  He puts down the axe and pats the snow around the photo with his mittened hand.  After a few seconds of smoothing, the snow appears again undisturbed.
GEORGE
It was what I promised.
SANDY is gazing out over hundreds of miles of mountains.
SANDY
Look.  Lhotse.  Nuptse.  And that must be Makalu.
GEORGE
And our friends on the North Ridge.
He points to SANDY.
GEORGE
I wonder if they can see us.
GEORGE picks up the axe and holds it aloft.  SANDY waves his arm.  Suddenly, GEORGE drops the axe and coughs, gasping.  He falls to his knees, holding his head with one hand.
SANDY
George?
GEORGE
(gasping)
I'm all right.  Just short of...
(gasping)
...Breath.
SANDY
We should go down.
He squints at the sun, low in the western sky over Makalu.  GEORGE is still on one knee, looking dazed.  SANDY puts his goggles back on.
SANDY
George, old man, do put your goggles back on.
GEORGE does not move.
SANDY
George!
GEORGE
Eh?
SANDY
Your goggles.  Best put them on, you know.
GEORGE
(slurring his voice a little)
Oh.  Yes.
GEORGE fishes for a while in his pocket and finds his goggles.  He fumbles with them hopelessly as he tries to place them over his lined leather helmet, eyes and ears.  SANDY takes off a mitten and helps him.
SANDY
That's it.
GEORGE
Thank.
(beat)
You.
SANDY
(now a little alarmed)
George, we should go down.  Please put your mask on.
GEORGE looks baffled for a moment.
SANDY
Your mask.
GEORGE
Mask.  Yes, my mask.
George fumbles for his mask, and SANDY helps him.  SANDY now puts his own back on, picks up the axe, and points downhill the way they came.
EXT.  BETWEEN CAMP IV AND V - CONTINUOUS
NOEL and the three porters are huddled together.  NOEL continues to peer through his viewfinder, but is shivering.
LHAKPA
Sahib?
NOEL
I know, Lhakpa.  It's too late.  We've missed them, wherever they are.
He looks dejected.
NOEL
Come, we have to get to camp.
NOEL gets up and, stiff with the late afternoon cold, starts to dismantle his equipment.
NOEL
They'll tell us tomorrow if they made it.