Josh arrives the next day. Zopa is back when Peak wakes. He says that when the other Sherpas saw that Zopa had been arrested, down at a lower camp, they protested, holding a silent vigil and refusing to leave. Shek had no choice but to release him. They also managed to sneak Sun-jo to a different camp during the commotion. Zopa also says that Peak’s mother called, and Josh is annoyed that Peak told her, in his letters, that he was on Everest.

Peak confronts Josh about the letters to which he never responded. This leads to an argument, but they get nowhere with each other. At the next camp, Peak calls his mother on a satellite phone. She tells him that she stopped climbing because of him, not because of her injuries. Because she wanted to be there for him, always. She knows that he will probably attempt the summit, no matter what she says: Therefore, he needs to forget about them all and focus on the climb. He talks to the twins for a few minutes, and they all hang up.

Josh returns and tells Peak that Sun-jo is not his backup plan in case Peak can’t summit.