Meet Perry Noonan
"If God wanted me to get up that rock face, he would have installed stairs."

To Perry, it's not a joke. To him, there's something in a steep cliff or a rough crag that plainly says: "You don't belong here. Stay away."

Yet he climbs, suppressing his uneasiness by not looking down. He doesn't enjoy it. Who wants to be terrified all the time?

No, Perry climbs because he doesn't have the guts to say five simple words to his rich and powerful uncle:

"I don't want to go!"

He knows he's a coward, and that his cowardice has cost him thousands of hours of frustration, and fear. But with Everest the stakes are much higher.

This time it might cost him his life.