LinkedIn presents.

It's 11.30 in the morning on May 10th, 1996, and Luke Asisky is within striking

distance of the summit of Mount Everest. When he gets to the top, he will capture the final

prize in a goal he's been chasing for years. He'll be able to say that he's climbed

the highest mountain on every continent. But there's a problem. Right now, Luke isn't moving.

He's stuck above 28,000 feet behind a group of climbers who are making excruciatingly slow progress.

There's a saying in mountain climbing, speed is safety. Stay still for too long,

and you're dead, literally. Luke is in what's known as the death zone,

an altitude where the air is too thin for anyone to stay alive for an extended period.

Supplemental oxygen can buy you time, but still, you've got to move fast. A lot faster than

Luke is moving right now, and time is running out.

When Luke left camp 13 hours ago, his expedition leader, a seasoned mountain near name Rob Hall,

told him that today's turnaround time is 1pm. That means, no matter where he is on the mountain,

when the clock strikes one, he has to head back down. Now, as he inches his way forward,

Luke starts doing the math in his oxygen-deprived brain.

And yet, the summit is so close. If he gives up, he thinks to himself,

he'll regret it for the rest of his life. So he takes another step forward.

My heart was beating so hard. I felt like it was going to jump right out of my chest.

I was almost shaking as I was struggling inside of myself with, what am I going to do?

Am I going to keep going because I'm so close, or am I going to turn around?

Luke isn't the only climber wrestling with that decision. The same thoughts are running through

the head of John Tasky. And I thought if I keep going now, I'll be out of oxygen.

...