On 15 May, 2006, double amputee Mark Inglis reached the summit of Mt Everest. It was a remarkable achievement and Inglis was feted by the press and public alike. But only a few days later he was plunged into a storm of controversy when it was learned he and his team mates had passed an incapacitated climber, Englishman David Sharp, leaving him to a lonely death high in the Death Zone.

To the casual observer it appears brutally callous that fellow mountaineers would not stop to help a climber who had been caught out and subsequently collapsed after spending a night in the Death Zone. Speaking for a past generation of mountaineers, Sir Edmund was appalled that Sharp was apparently left to perish. The world's media latched onto these comments giving Mark Inglis and his fellow climbers little opportunity to defend themselves. But Inglis has his own story to tell. So too does his climbing companion, veteran Himalayan guide and cameraman Mark Whetu who lost his toes and nearly his life trying to rescue his friend Mike Rheinburger from the summit of Everest over a decade before. In 2006, facing a similar situation on Everest, Inglis and Whetu knew a rescue attempt so high on the mountain would endanger the lives of others and chose to leave the dying Sharp.

So who is right? In Dying for Everest we hear their stories and witness the strange effect Everest has on the rules of survival and finally, at the end, we are able to judge for ourselves the morality of climbing in the Death Zone.