Experience, not achievement! SPOILER

Wow - several posters expressed frustration that most of the kids could have reached the summit, but didn't. Personally I became more and more aggravated that the serious climbers in the group were obsessed with achievement, and "blind" to the idea of experience for its own sake. It's the stinking American sports mentality, where winning is the only option. If they could have proceeded more slowly, then maybe going forward would have made sense...but due to the coming storm that was out of the question.

The teens who were sent back, sadly, had been programmed to believe that not reaching the summit was a failure, and that's so ridiculous - the summit is just an arbitrary place on the mountain. They all participated in an amazing challenge and did a remarkable thing.

It seems to me that the teens have moved on to rewarding lives, and surely that is largely due to their "overprotective" teacher, enhanced by confidence built during their fantastic climb.