The Team Leader Steps Down | Explorer

Hi. On a remote peak in Myanmar, a team of elite climbers is unraveling just as they are poised to attempt the summit.

"But what I'm hearing from you guys is that you don't trust me on the rope."

"We're just worried about the safety of the team. There'll be tons of ridge walking solo without a rope. It's a mile long. It's just very serious."

"I get it. Cory's probably stronger than me."

"What's the—"

"I think I'm strong enough. I've picked a path that puts me as a woman trying to, uh, tie on to the Brotherhood of the Rope, as Mark would say. At times it's been hard. I went through years where I, you know, felt like I had to prove myself. I felt like it was basically directly calling that into question and yeah, sucked."

"You don't think I can do this and be strong and fast on it?"

"That's not the fast enough to get us there."

"That's not what I'm saying."

"It is the point!"

"No, you're taking it personally."

"We're talking about—"

"Of course I am! Okay? We're talking about the three strongest members with the most experience to try to get to there and get back. That's what we're talking about, right?"

"I'm going to say one thing and it's not going to be nice, okay? And then I'm done. You, Mark, for the vote of confidence. I'll be the team leader. I'll step down and Coro goes."

"She took it very personally and you can attribute that to ego or you can attribute that to gender issues. I don't know. I don't know the inside of her mind. I mean, I can't even explain how dumb I thought I was. I had poured my heart and soul into this. But honestly, I'm 41 years old. I've been all over the world climbing. I've been on a million different teams. Like, I just don't need to prove myself anymore. I have done that. I've been there. I just let it go."

The youngest team member, Emily, will also stay behind.

"I understand why it might be the best option. I knew the climbing ahead was far more serious than the climbing that we had done and I wasn't ready to do anything more serious than what I had just done."

"For Hill, the wounds still run deep with Mark. I think in hindsight he just—he just never wanted to climb with me. He wanted to climb with the guys and he wanted it to be like this reenactment of he and his two friends, and I just was never a part of that picture."