Mountain

VHS cover

*Mountain* is the sixth episode of the third season of Eyewitness. The topic of the episode is about mountains, how they form, what lives on them, and how humans interact with them. The episode aired on 20th October 1997.

*Mountain* was not based on a book title, although in 2001 a book entitled Everest was published, which covered all the world's mountains.

## Episode

### Introductory sequence

Footage shows a real avalanche thundering down a mountain towards the camera; the snow flies up over the camera and leaves the screen white.

### Episode outline

Click here for the full transcript for Mountain.

Mountains are places of mystery and surprise. Venerated from afar, these forbidding places are home to unique plants and animals, and also the dwelling places of spirits and gods. The Inca people lived high in the mountains, performing human sacrifices to appease the mountain gods.

A mystery that has puzzled us throughout history is how mountains came to exist. Native American myths about the creation of mountains, and the ponderings of theologian Thomas Burnet about the forming of mountains are included here. But if mountains were made in a single event at the beginning of the Earth, how could fossils of sea creatures risen up to their summits?

The formation of mountains through plate tectonics is explored in detail. Other forces that shape mountains include rivers of ice called glaciers and erosion by wind and rain. These forces have created an amazing variety of shapes and forms in the world's mountains.

Quirks of nature can play on the human imagination, with strange columns produced by cooling lava thought to be the claw marks of a giant bear in Native American myth. While mountains may be home to mythical monsters, the real danger comes from the weather. The higher up a mountain you climb, the colder and windier it becomes.

Mountain animals must adapt to the climate and sheer slopes. Perhaps the most superbly-adapted mountain animals are the wild goats and sheep, including the chamois, mountain goat, ibex, markhor, tahr and blue sheep. The Marco Polo sheep is unique in that they remain at high altitude even during the winter blizzards.

Our early human ancestors sometimes travelled through the mountains, as evidenced by the preserved body of a Stone Age man. Later attempts to cross the mountains were no less perilous, including Hannibal taking elephants across the Alps to battle the Romans and American pioneers crossing the Rockies. Explorers in both America and Asia were establishing routes through the mountains. British army officers in the Himalayas realised one of the mountains they were mapping could be the tallest in the world.

By doing complex calculations, the surveyors eventually identified the tallest mountain and named it Mount Everest after the surveyor general at the time.

Mountains are just small irregularities when compared to the size of Earth. However, the change in altitude can have a huge effect on people. The causes and symptoms of altitude sickness are explained. People local to the mountains adapt to these difficult conditions.

Also adapted to the thin air at high altitudes are a variety of animals and plants. Guanacos and vicunas of the Andes have thick fleeces to keep out the cold, while the domestic yak is so adapted to life at altitude that it doesn't do well at sea level. Plant adaptations to altitude include growing shorter and hugging the ground, growing in dense mats and growing very slowly. Some mountain plants such as the Andean puya and Hawaiian silversword flower once and then die.

The history of human mountaineering over the last 200 years is then explored in detail. This includes the equipment that was used for climbing mountains, the 1865 climbing disaster on the Matterhorn, the evolution of climbing equipment and the more recent and thrilling technique of free climbing up sheer cliffs, as done by Catherine Destivelle. Mountains can still be dangerous no matter what precautions are taken, with avalanches always a potential threat. But the threats do not deter mountain thrill-seekers such as skiers and snowboarders.

The snowy slopes are home to small mammals such as pikas and marmots, which hibernate until the spring comes. Some marmots in Pakistan may have accidentally dug out gold when they were burrowing, and this links in to human gold rushes into the mountains. Another metal, copper, now makes more money than all the gold rushes ever did. Engineering has allowed whole mountains to be gutted in the search for copper, but also allows for the creation of transportation services such as cog railways.

The lack of oxygen prevented early climbers from reaching the summit of Everest, with an account of a 1924 attempt by George Mallory in which he went missing just before reaching the top of Everest. It wasn't until biplanes filmed the mountain from above that the world could see the view from the highest mountain. Able to fly at equally high altitudes is the Asian bar-headed goose.

We have learned more about creatures in the mountains, but mysteries remain. There are reports of a strange creature called the yeti in the Himalayas. High mountains can offer hiding places to rare and elusive creatures such as the mountain lion and the snow leopard, possibly the highest-living predator. However, there is an account of a four-month-old kitten following a climbing team right to the summit of the Matterhorn.

In the last fifty years, the highest peaks of the world have been climbed. To many, mountains are holy places that serve as a bridge to the heavens. Our reverence for mountains can take many forms – they are magnificent monuments to our geological heritage and a treasure store of unique forms of life. Mountains always have, and always will, dominate our world.

## Animal species filmed for the programme

### Studio footage

* Guanaco, *Lama guanicoe*
* Domestic goat, *Capra hircus*
* Brown bear, *Ursus arctos*
* Asian elephant, *Elephas maximus*
* Domestic cat, *Felis catus*

### Stock footage

* Long-tailed marmot, *Marmota caudata*
* American bison, *Bison bison*
* Alpine ibex, *Capra ibex*
* Northern chamois, *Rupicapra rupicapra*
* Mountain goat, *Oreamnos americanus*
* Markhor, *Capra falconeri*
* Himalayan bharal, *Pseudois nayaur*
* Himalayan tahr, *Hemitragus jemlahicus*
* Marco Polo sheep, *Ovis ammon polii*
* Domestic horse, *Equus ferus caballus*
* Domestic donkey, *Equus africanus asinus*
* Vicuna, *Lama vicugna*
* Domestic yak, *Bos grunniens*
* Andean condor, *Vultur gryphus*
* Andean hillstar, *Oreotrochilus estella*
* American pika, *Ochotona princeps*
* Alpine marmot, *Marmota marmota*
* Bar-headed goose, *Anser indicus*
* Cougar, *Puma concolor*
* Snow leopard, *Panthera uncia*

## Stock footage sources

The Gold Rush (1925) – Charlie Chaplin footage

Natural World: Search for the Yeti (1988) - Yeti recreation

Realms of the Russian Bear: The Celestial Mountains (1992) – Markhor, Marco Polo sheep, yaks, bar-headed goose, snow leopard, long-tailed marmot

## Credits

* Director and Writer - Mike Tomlinson
* Music - Guy Dagul
* Graphics Director - Morgan Almeida
* Graphic Design - Simon Clarke
* Camera - Nick Squires and Martin Bobbin
* Set Design and Visual Effects - Chris Reynolds and Colin Tilley
* Research - Lynn Barry
* Production Co-ordinator - Maryrose Upjohn
* Production Team - Louisa Bowman, Nikki Weston, Jackie Byrne, Sara Forfar and Sandra Brown
* Unit Manager - Jackie Williamson
* 3-D Animation - Andy McNamara
* Videotape Editor - Charlie Cope
* Dubbing Mixer - Steve Hudson and Kian Wong
* Music Engineer - Roger King

## Making this programme

The production of Mountain is only shown in The Making of Eyewitness 3 – Worlds. For this show, a huge fibreglass mountain was built outside the main studio, only being moved indoors during the week of shooting. Finishing touches were added before the director was happy for the ascent to begin. The slope was only modest, so the climber had more trouble with the heat of the studio lights. In the graphics suite, the final effect wasn’t as grand as hoped, so the graphic designer duplicated the same section of mountain before varying it in size to give perspective to the image. The climber now had a far more impressive mountain to climb. The other mountains shown in the episode were generated completely within the computer.

## Home media releases

*Mountain* has only ever been released on VHS. None of the three different DVD releases included this episode

**Writing staff**: Anne MacLeod • Ben Southwell • Ben Steiner • Brian Meehl • David Hanson • David Stafford • David Helton • George Bloom • Lynette Singer • Mike Tomlinson • Paul Thomas • Stan Cullimore
**Directors**: Gavin Maxwell • Justine Kershaw • David Hutt • Andrew Jackson • Justin Hardy • Ludo Graham • Jerry Foulkes • Derek Hall • Sanjida O'Connell • Caius Julyan • Bonni Cohen • Leanne Pooley • Edwina Vardey • Alexandra Beazley • Sam Hodgkin • Karen Walsh • Jack Weber • Richard Simkin • Alex Hearle • Brian Cummins • Ben Southwell
**Composers**: Guy Michelmore (season one) • Guy Dagul (seasons two and three)

**Season One**: Cat • Fish • Horse • Dog • Jungle • Bird • Amphibian • Insect • Shark • Elephant • Reptile • Dinosaur • Skeleton
**Season Two**: Desert • Tree • Ape • Mammal • Butterfly and Moth • Volcano • Rock and Mineral • Seashore • Pond and River • Weather • Arctic and Antarctic • Prehistoric Life • Shell
**Season Three**: Flight • Bear • Sight • Island • Survival • **Mountain** • Monster • Human Machine - Plant • Ocean • Planets • Life • Natural Disasters