Less than a month ago, Burton Albion's Championship survival bid looked a mountainous task.
Now Nigel Clough is asking his team for one final push up the second-tier slope as they look to reach the summit of their own personal Everest.
Clough's Brewers were written off by many outside the club following a 5-0 defeat at home to Hull City on April 10.
Even before that game - which left them seven points adrift of safety with only four games to go - they were 66/1 on to be playing League One football next season.
But victories over Derby County, Sunderland and Bolton Wanderers have left them within goal difference of 21st place ahead of Sunday's final-day trip to Preston North End.
While Albion's fate is technically still out of their own hands, a win over play-off-chasing Preston would give them a great shot at survival.
And having come this far in recent weeks, Clough is desperate to make sure his side do not fall agonisingly short of the peak they have been aiming for all season.
"Probably, yes - it will be, having got this close," said the Burton manager when asked if relegation would hurt even more given his side's upturn in form.
"But that is the incentive. Don't get this close without seeing it through.
"I suppose it's like if you were climbing Everest and you got 100 metres from the top and thought, 'well, the view is nice enough from here, I don't have to get to the top now.
"'It's going to be the same view when you get to the top, so I'm not going to go that extra 100 metres, it's too hard.'
"No. Get to the top, complete it.
"That's the only way we can compare it."
The Brewers have had a streaky season in terms of results.
They have won 10 of their 45 League games, with six of those victories coming in the months of December and April alone.
Despite all the highs and lows, though, Clough knows their fate rests entirely on what happens from 12.30pm on Sunday at Deepdale, as well as in games elsewhere in the league.
"The players had a couple of days off after the weekend, which they needed, mentally as much as anything," added Clough.
"Physically this time of the season, you can't do anything - it's mentally making sure the preparation is right now.
"So they had a bit of a break, got away, make sure they've digested the result against Bolton Wanderers and how well we did.
"And then just think, 'come on, it's one final hour-and-a-half'.
"That's what it comes down to.
"For all the work over this season, last season, it comes down to an hour-and-a-half on Sunday to try to stay in the league."
While Albion will be chasing a win against Preston to give themselves the best chance of survival, even a draw would be enough if Barnsley lose at Derby County and Bolton fail to beat Nottingham Forest.
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Defeat, though, would guarantee their return to League One - and the club's first relegation since 1977.
"I know what it feels like as a player, and I know it will feel far worse as a manager," said Clough, who has never been relegated as a boss.
"We'll do everything we can to avoid that feeling, everything we can."
