Produced by Halcyon Days and sponsored by the Prudential Insurance Co. of America, the program won an Emmy in 1990 for overall achievement in special programming. It is just now reaching the home-video market through distributor Video Treasures, a budget label commonly found in discount chains such as Kmart and Wal-Mart. Not only is the tape very affordable, but Video Treasures is contributing $3 of the sale price to the Special Olympics fund.
No one can watch this tape and not be moved by this group's determination and spirit. The team members range in age from 19 to 30 and have conditions such as cerebral palsy. Assisting them is a corps of coaches and climbing experts, as well as narrator James Brown, a former athlete who is a commentator for CBS Sports.
Brown, who knows something about the physical demands on athletes, expresses misgivings at the outset of the eight-day ascent, but as he introduces the viewer to the climbers, their seriousness of purpose becomes evident. They know they are there to prove something to others and to themselves.
Some, such as Diane Hall, 19 and the only woman in the group, share simple yet powerful thoughts with the camera. Hall keeps a journal, and she comments after meeting Masai tribesmen who pose for snapshots that the Masai know, as she does, what it's like to be stared at for being different.
David Heffernan, at 30 the oldest, insists that the mentally disabled just want the chance to show what they can do. According to Brown, Heffernan's parents were told when he was young that he would never be able to walk or talk.
