- Do you know what's on top of this peak?
- I reach the first and the second rock.
The third one, never been there.
(dramatic music)
- [Steve] To reach this elusive third pinnacle,
we're relying on Leo's world class climbing skills.
- That looks incredibly loose.
I'm no archeologist, but it looks to me
like this bits eroded away quite significantly.
I would suggest we rope up now.
- This ascent is beyond most climber's limits,
so Achmed and the rest of the team are staying behind.
Every time I end up climbing anything with Leo,
at the end, I say to myself,
"I'm never doing that again,"
'cause I've been frightened silly,
and yet somehow here we are.
- We don't normally have 3000 year old ruins
at the end of the day though, do we, Steve?
- No, but there's an extra added element.
You've also gotta be careful
because what you're touching is history
and you could destroy something of absolute significance.
- Yeah, remind me of that if you see anything,
'cause I'm gonna be focused on getting us up there
as safely as possible.
- [Steve] We'll keep Achmed across everything we find
over the radio.
- Good luck, and thank you so much.
- And thank you for giving us the great privilege
of doing this.
- Let's do it.
All right, so just watch out.
I'm just gonna do a rock test to see how loose it is.
Yeah, that's loose.
- [Steve] Climbing alongside Leo and me
is ropes expert, Aldo Kane.
- [Aldo] First impressions?
- It's hollow.
(chuckling) Very hollow, and it's quite difficult to trust.
There's a lot of loose ones here.
- There's that tense moment
before you start anything like this of focusing your mind,
trying to think about all the simple tasks
of making sure that you've got everything in place
that you need, and having seen Leo,
one of the best climbers in the world,
going up that gingerly,
I'd be lying if I wasn't a little bit on edge already.
(sharply inhaling)
With Leo safely on the first ledge, it's my turn.
(tense music)
(heavy breathing)
Oh, wow!
That is amazing!
You wait till you see this!
- Is that all carved out above you and behind you?
- Yeah!
Yeah, the whole thing, the whole face!
Unraveling the mysteries of these rocks
will take archeologists years.
- This mountain is a sacred place for the Danites.
They have many secrets still hidden.
They don't want anyone to reach it.
- [Steve] 30 meters up,
we've reached the start of a long carved staircase.
- [Leo] (laughing) Oh!
- Wow!
- All right, come on, let's go, let's go!
(panting)
- That is one very, very excited Leo Houlding.
(laughing)
- On each step, there are chisel marks still visible.
We're walking in the footsteps of the ancients.
It's the stairway to heaven.
(atmospheric music)
Oh, this is the top of the first one!
From here, the route gets tougher.
We must cross the first stone bridge
to access the second pinnacle,
but the rocks have crumbled away.
(tribal music)
Leo crosses first to secure a safety rope.
(tribal music)
- Ready, Steve?
- Ready, mate.
- Okay.
(dramatic tribal music)
- Thanks, buddy.
From the bridge, we can see our next hurdle.
We've got a traverse here,
which is almost impossible to protect,
so the only thing to really do is just go for it
and just walk and try and not think of
quite how far down it is.
- [Leo] Look at that.
(nervous mumbling)
- Nice work.
With the traverse behind us,
we can now head to the top of the second pinnacle.
- Ooh, hello.
We've got an obstacle, boys.
Pretty serious one.