There is another story with Sir Edmond Hillary about an awesome Gurkha soldier. The party was crossing a crevasse over a fairly huge log, the distance was some 20 feet or so IIRC. When crossing snowy areas, people are connected via ropes in the event of getting lost in a whiteout or falling into a hidden crack in the glacier. As the story goes, the first man slipped and went over, pulling the next man connected to him, and another. The Gurkha, who was the last man, saw what was coming and jumped off the opposite side, he saved 6 I believe including himself by doing what most wouldn't.