1996 Everest Disaster
Encyclopedia
The 1996 Mount Everest disaster refers to the events of 10-11 May 1996, when eight people died on Mount Everest
during summit attempts. In the entire season, fifteen people died trying to reach the summit, making it the deadliest single year in Mount Everest's history. The disaster gained wide publicity and raised questions about the commercialization of Everest.
Journalist Jon Krakauer
, on assignment from Outside
magazine, was in one of the affected parties, and afterwards published the bestseller Into Thin Air
which related his experience. Anatoli Boukreev
, a guide who felt impugned by Krakauer's book, co-authored a rebuttal book called The Climb
. Expedition members Beck Weathers
and Lene Gammelgaard
wrote about their experiences of the disaster in their respective books, Left For Dead and Climbing High. The storm's impact on climbers on the mountain's other side, the North Ridge, where several climbers also died, was detailed in a first-hand account by British filmmaker and writer Matt Dickinson
in his book The Death Zone (later republished as The Other Side of Everest).
, consisted of these individuals.
Guides:
Clients:
Sherpas:
None of the clients on Hall's team had ever summitted an 8000 m peak
, and with the exceptions of Fischbeck, Hansen and Hutchison, most had no high-altitude Himalayan experience.
Hall had brokered a deal with Outside magazine for advertising space in exchange for a story about the growing popularity of commercial expeditions to Everest. Krakauer was originally slated to climb with Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness team; but Hall landed him, at least in part, by agreeing to reduce Outsides fee for Krakauer's spot on the expedition to "less than cost". As a result, Hall was paying out-of-pocket to have Krakauer on his team.
was the lead climbing guide
for the Mountain Madness expedition. The team included eight clients.
Guides:
Clients:
Sherpas:
Pete Schoening had decided not to make the final push to the summit while still at Everest Base Camp (5,380 m/17,700 ft). The team began the assault on the summit on May 6, planning to bypass Camp I (6,065 m/19,900 ft) and stop at Camp II (6,500 m/21,300 ft) for the night. However, when the guides reached Camp I, they found Kruse suffering from altitude sickness and possible HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema) in one of the tents. Kruse returned to Base Camp with Fischer for treatment.
The previous day (May 9), Taiwanese team member Chen Yu-Nan had died following a fall on the Lhotse
Face.
(7,900 m/25,900 ft). They were joined by six client climbers, three guides and Sherpas from Scott Fischer
's Mountain Madness company, as well as an expedition sponsored by the government of Taiwan
.
The expeditions quickly encountered delays. The climbing Sherpas and guides had not set the fixed ropes by the time the team reached the Balcony (8,350 m/27,395 ft), and this cost the team almost an hour. There is some question as to the cause of this failure, which cannot now be resolved as the expedition leaders perished.
Upon reaching the Hillary Step (8,760 m/28,740 ft), the climbers again discovered that no fixed line had been placed, and they were forced to wait for an hour while the guides installed the ropes. Because some 33 climbers were attempting the summit on the same day, and Hall and Fischer had asked their climbers to stay within 150 m of each other, there were bottlenecks at the single fixed line at the Hillary Step.
Climbing without supplemental oxygen, Boukreev reached the summit (8,848 m/29,029 ft) first at 1:07 pm. Many of the climbers had not yet reached the summit by 2:00 pm, the last safe time to turn around to reach Camp IV before nightfall.
Boukreev began his descent to Camp IV at 2:30 pm. By that time, Martin Adams and Klev Schoening had reached the summit, but Beidleman and the remaining four Mountain Madness clients had not yet arrived. After this time, Jon Krakauer noted that the weather did not look so benign, and at 3:00 pm snow started to fall and the light was diminishing. Gau summitted about 3:00 pm and noticed incoming bad weather at 3:10.
Hall's Sirdar
, Ang Dorje Sherpa, and other climbing Sherpas waited at the summit for the clients. Near 3:00 pm, they began their descent. On the way down, Ang Dorje encountered client Doug Hansen above the Hillary Step, and ordered him to descend. Hansen did not respond. When Hall arrived at the scene, he sent the Sherpas down to assist the other clients, and stated that he would remain to help Hansen, who had run out of supplementary oxygen
.
Scott Fischer did not summit until 3:45 pm. He was ill, possibly suffering from either HACE or HAPE, and exhausted from the ascent. Rob Hall and Doug Hansen reached the summit even later.
) state that using bottled oxygen gives a false sense of security. Krakauer and his supporters point out that, without bottled oxygen, Boukreev was unable to directly help his clients descend. They state that Boukreev said that he was going down with client Martin Adams, but Boukreev later descended faster and left Adams behind.
The worsening weather began causing difficulties for the descending team members. By now, the blizzard on the Southwest Face of Everest was diminishing visibility, burying the fixed ropes and obliterating the trail back to Camp IV that the teams had broken on the ascent.
Fischer, helped by Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa, was unable to descend below the Balcony (8,350 m/27,395 ft) in the storm. Sherpas left Makalu Gau (at 8,230 m/27,000 ft by Gau's account) with Fischer and Lopsang when he too became unable to proceed. Eventually, Lopsang was persuaded by Fischer to descend and leave him and Gau.
Hall radioed for help, saying that Hansen had fallen unconscious, but was still alive. At 5:30 pm Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris, carrying supplementary oxygen and water, began climbing alone from the South Summit (8,749 m/28,700 ft) to Hansen and Hall at the top of Hillary Step.
Krakauer's account notes that by this time, the weather had deteriorated into a full-scale blizzard. "Snow pellets born on 70-mph winds stung my face." Boukreev gives 6:00 pm as "the onset of a blizzard".
Several climbers became lost on the South Col. Mountain Madness members Beidleman, Klev Schoening, Fox, Madsen, Pittman
, and Gammelgaard
, along with Adventure Consultants' Mike Groom
, Beck Weathers
, and Yasuko Namba
, wandered in the blizzard until midnight. When they could no longer walk, they huddled some 20 m from a dropoff of the Kangshung Face.
Near midnight, the blizzard cleared enough for the team to see Camp IV, some 200 m away. Beidleman, Groom, Schoening, and Gammelgaard set off to find help. Madsen and Fox remained with the group to shout for the rescuers. Boukreev located the climbers and brought Pittman, Fox, and Madsen to safety. Boukreev had prioritized Pittman, Fox and Madsen over Namba, who seemed close to death. Boukreev did not see Beck Weathers. Having made two forays to rescue these three climbers, Boukreev, in common with all other climbers then at Camp IV, was exhausted. Neither Boukreev nor any of the other climbers at Camp IV felt able to make another attempt to reach Namba and Weathers.
By 9:00 am, Hall had fixed his oxygen mask
, but indicated that his frostbitten hands and feet were making it difficult to traverse the fixed ropes. Later in the afternoon, he radioed to Base Camp, asking them to call his wife, Jan Arnold, on the satellite phone. During this last communication, he reassured her that he was reasonably comfortable and told her, "Sleep well my sweetheart. Please don't worry too much." Shortly thereafter, he died, and his body was found on May 23 by mountaineers from the IMAX expedition
. The bodies of Doug Hansen and Andy Harris were never found.
Meanwhile, Stuart Hutchison, a client on Hall's team who turned around before the summit on May 10, launched a second search for Weathers and Namba. He found both alive but barely responsive and severely frostbitten, and in no condition to move. Making a difficult decision that they could not be saved by the hypoxic survivors at Camp IV nor evacuated in time, he left them for nature to take its course, which the other survivors soon agreed was the only choice.
However, Weathers later in the day regained consciousness and walked alone by his own power to the camp, surprising everyone there, though he was still suffering severe hypothermia and frostbite. Despite oxygen and attempts to rewarm him, Weathers was almost abandoned again the next morning, May 12, after a storm had collapsed his tent overnight and the survivors once again thought he had died; Krakauer discovered he was still conscious as the survivors in Camp IV prepared to evacuate. Despite his worsening condition, Weathers found he could still move mostly under his own power and a rescue team was mobilizing, hopeful of getting Weathers down the mountain alive. Over the next two days, Weathers was ushered down to Camp II with the assistance of eight healthy climbers from various expeditions, and would be evacuated by a daunting helicopter rescue. He would eventually recover but lose his nose, right hand, and all the fingers on his left hand due to frostbite.
The climbing Sherpas located Fischer and Gau on May 11, but Fischer's condition had deteriorated so much that they were only able to give palliative care
before rescuing Gau. Boukreev made a subsequent rescue attempt, but found Fischer's frozen body at around 7 pm. Like Weathers, Gau was also evacuated by helicopter.
North Col
expedition from India. The expedition was led by Commandant (equiv to Lieutenant Colonel
) Mohinder Singh, and is credited as being the first Indian ascent of Everest from the North side.
On May 10, 1996, Subedar (eqv. to Sergeant
) Tsewang Samanla
, Lance Naik (equivalent to Lance Corporal
) Dorje Morup
and Head Constable Tsewang Paljor were part of a six man summit attempt from the North Side. Being a traditional type of expedition, the summit team did not have any Sherpas to guide them in their ascent. They were the first team of the season to go up the North Face. It would be their responsibility to fix the ropes during ascent and break the trail to the top, a task that has its own share of difficulties. The team was caught in the blizzard above Camp IV. While three of the six members turned down, Samanla, Paljor and Morup decided to go for the summit. Samanla was an accomplished mountaineer who had summitted Everest in 1984 and Kanchenjunga in 1991
At around 6:00 pm (3:45 pm Nepal Time), the three climbers radioed to their expedition leader that they had arrived at the summit. While the Indian camp was jubilant in their celebrations, some of the other mountaineers at base camp already expressed their reservations about the timing, which was quite late in the day to be on the summit. There is also a dispute whether the three had actually reached the summit. Krakauer claims that the climbers were at 8,700 m (28,550 ft), roughly 150 m (500 ft) short of the topmost point. This is based on the interview given by a later Japanese team to Richard Cowpens of the London Financial Express
. Due to bad visibility and thick clouds which obscured the summit, the climbers believed they had reached the top. This also explains why the climbers did not run into the teams that summitted from the South Side.
The three climbers left an offering of prayer flags, katas and pitons. Samanla, the summit team leader, decided to spend extra time for religious ceremonies and instructed the other two climbers to begin their descent. There was no radio contact after that. Back at the camps below, anxious team members saw two headlamps moving just above the second step (8,570 m/28,120 ft). None of the three managed to come back to high camp at 8,320 m (27,300 ft).
In Krakauer's account, the lone climber, (whom Krakauer believes to be Paljor) was still moaning and frostbitten from exposure over the night. The Japanese climbers ignored him and set out for the summit. After ascending the second step, they ran into the other two climbers, probably Samanla and Morup. Krakauer notes "No words were passed, No water, food or oxygen exchanged hands. The Japanese moved on ...".
Initially, the apparent indifference of the Japanese climbers was dumbfounding, as the Indian expedition leader told later, "The Japanese had initially pledged to help the search for the missing Indians. But hours later, they pressed on with their attempt to reach the summit, despite bad weather." The Japanese team reached the summit at 11:45 am (Nepal Time). By the time the Japanese climbers descended, one of the two Indians was already dead and the other near death. They could not find any trace of the third climber further down.
The Japanese team denied that they had ever encountered the dying climbers on the way up.
Captain Kohli, an official of the Indian Mountaineering Federation, who earlier had denounced the Japanese, later retracted his claim that the Japanese had reported meeting the Indians on May 10.
"The ITBP accepted the Fukuoka party statements that they neither abandoned nor refused to help the Indians." The ITBP's director general "commented that a misunderstanding arose from communication difficulties between Indian attack party members and their Base Camp."
Jon Krakauer has suggested that the use of bottled oxygen and commercial guides, who would personally accompany and take care of all pathmaking, equipment, and important decisions, allowed otherwise unqualified climbers to attempt to summit, leading to dangerous situations and more deaths. In addition, he wrote that the competition between Hall and Fischer's guiding companies may have led to Hall's decision not to turn back on May 10 after the pre-decided time for summiting of 2:00 pm; Krakauer also acknowledges that his own presence as a journalist for an important magazine for mountaineers may have added pressure to guide clients to the summit despite growing dangers. He proposed banning bottled oxygen except for emergency cases, arguing that this would both decrease the growing pollution on Everest—many bottles have accumulated on its slopes—and keep marginally qualified climbers off the mountain. He does point out, however, that climbing Everest has always been a highly dangerous expedition even before guided tours, with one fatality per four climbers attaining the summit; and that many of the poor decisions made on May 10 were under the conditions of lack of sleep and food for two or more days (due to the effects of entering the death zone above 8,000 m/26,000 ft), and constant hypoxia, and hence cannot be so easily judged by the general population, who have no experience of such circumstances.
In May 2004, Kent Moore, a physicist, and John L. Semple, a surgeon, both researchers from the University of Toronto
, told New Scientist
magazine that an analysis of weather conditions on May 11 suggested that freak weather caused oxygen levels to plunge by around 14%.
Krakauer also elaborated on the statistical curiosities of fatality rates on Everest and how 1996 was "business as usual". The record number of 12 fatalities in the spring climbing season that year was only 3 percent of the 398 climbers who had ascended above Base Camp—slightly below the historical average of 3.3 percent at that time. Additionally, 12 climbers had died that season and 84 had reached the summit. This is a ratio of 1 in 7—significantly less than the historical average prior to 1996 of 1 in 4. Since then the fatality rates on Everest have dropped considerably. At the time however, because of the increased number of climbers that year compared to the years prior, 1996 was statistically and paradoxically a safer than average year.
The following fatalities occurred on Everest during the fall 1996 climbing season.
Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
during summit attempts. In the entire season, fifteen people died trying to reach the summit, making it the deadliest single year in Mount Everest's history. The disaster gained wide publicity and raised questions about the commercialization of Everest.
Journalist Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer, primarily known for his writing about the outdoors and mountain-climbing...
, on assignment from Outside
Outside (magazine)
Outside is an American magazine focused on the outdoors. The first issue debuted in September 1977 with its mission statement declaring that the publication was "dedicated to covering the people, sports and activities, politics, art, literature, and hardware of the outdoors..."Its founders were...
magazine, was in one of the affected parties, and afterwards published the bestseller Into Thin Air
Into Thin Air
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster is a 1997 bestselling non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer. It details the author's presence at Mount Everest during the 1996 Mount Everest disaster when eight climbers were killed and several others were stranded by a 'rogue storm'...
which related his experience. Anatoli Boukreev
Anatoli Boukreev
Anatoli Nikoliavich Boukreev, , was a Kazakhstani climber who made ascents of seven of the 8,000 metre peaks without supplemental oxygen. In total he made 18 successful ascents on peaks above 8000 m . Boukreev was lost under an avalanche on Annapurna...
, a guide who felt impugned by Krakauer's book, co-authored a rebuttal book called The Climb
The Climb (book)
The Climb is an account by Russian mountaineer Anatoli Boukreev of the 1996 Everest Disaster, during which eight climbers lost their lives on Mount Everest. The co-author, G...
. Expedition members Beck Weathers
Beck Weathers
Seaborn Beck Weathers is an American pathologist from Texas. He is best known for his role in the 1996 Everest disaster that has been the subject of many books and films, most notably Into Thin Air and Everest.-Everest:...
and Lene Gammelgaard
Lene Gammelgaard
Lene Gammelgaard is the author of Climbing High, a bestselling book printed in 1998 about the 1996 Everest disaster, which took the lives of Scott Fischer and Rob Hall. She was the 35th woman, and the first Scandinavian woman, to climb Mount Everest via the South-East Ridge route...
wrote about their experiences of the disaster in their respective books, Left For Dead and Climbing High. The storm's impact on climbers on the mountain's other side, the North Ridge, where several climbers also died, was detailed in a first-hand account by British filmmaker and writer Matt Dickinson
Matt Dickinson
Matt Dickinson is a film-maker and writer who is best known for his best selling novels and his documentary work for National Geographic Television, Discovery Channel and the BBC...
in his book The Death Zone (later republished as The Other Side of Everest).
Climbers
The following is a list of climbers on route to the summit via the South Col and Southeast Ridge, organized by expedition and role.Adventure Consultants
The Adventure Consultants' 1996 Everest expedition, led by Rob HallRob Hall
Rob Hall , a native of New Zealand, was a mountaineer best known for being head guide of a 1996 Mount Everest expedition in which he, a fellow guide, and two clients perished. A best-selling account of the expedition was given in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air...
, consisted of these individuals.
Guides:
- Rob HallRob HallRob Hall , a native of New Zealand, was a mountaineer best known for being head guide of a 1996 Mount Everest expedition in which he, a fellow guide, and two clients perished. A best-selling account of the expedition was given in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air...
- Mike GroomMichael Groom (Climber)Michael Groom is an Australian mountain climber. In 1995, Groom became the fourth ever person to summit the four highest mountains in the world without the aid of bottled oxygen. He proceeded to climb the fifth highest, Makalu, in 1999...
- Andy Harris
Clients:
- Frank Fischbeck (53) - attempted Everest three times, reached the South Summit in '94
- Doug Hansen (46) - attempted Everest with Hall's team in '95
- Stuart Hutchison (34) - youngest client on Hall's team, previous 8000 m experience include K2K2K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest...
winter expedition 1988, Broad PeakBroad PeakBroad Peak , is the 12th highest mountain on Earth, with an elevation of 8,051 meters . The literal translation of "Broad Peak" to Faichan Kangri is not accepted among the Balti people.- Geography :...
west ridge 1992, and Everest north side 1994 - Lou Kasischke (53) - had climbed six of the Seven SummitsSeven SummitsThe Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first postulated as such and achieved on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass .-Definition:...
- Jon KrakauerJon KrakauerJon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer, primarily known for his writing about the outdoors and mountain-climbing...
(41) - journalist on assignment from Outside magazine, accomplished technical climber but no 8000 m experience - Yasuko NambaYasuko Nambawas famous in her native Japan for becoming the second Japanese woman to reach all of the Seven Summits including Everest, where she died. Namba worked as a businesswoman for Federal Express in Japan, but her hobby of mountaineering took her all over the world. She first summitted Kilimanjaro...
(47) - had climbed six of the Seven Summits - John Taske (56) - eldest climber on the Adventure Consultants team, no 8000 m experience
- Beck WeathersBeck WeathersSeaborn Beck Weathers is an American pathologist from Texas. He is best known for his role in the 1996 Everest disaster that has been the subject of many books and films, most notably Into Thin Air and Everest.-Everest:...
(49) - had been climbing for ten years and was also making a bid for the Seven Summits, no 8000 m experience
- a.All ages are as of 1996.
Sherpas:
- SirdarSardar (Sherpa)A Sardar or Sirdar is a Sherpa mountain guide who manages all the other Sherpas in a climbing expedition or trekking group. The Sirdar is typically the most experienced guide and can usually speak English fluently...
Ang Dorje Sherpa (29) - Lhakpa Chhiri Sherpa
- Kami Sherpa
- Tenzing Sherpa
- Arita Sherpa
- Ngawang Norbu Sherpa
- Chuldum Sherpa
- b.The Sherpas listed here were the climbing Sherpas hired by Rob Hall's Adventure Consultants. There were many other Sherpas working at lower elevations who performed duties vital to the Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness expeditions. Most climbing Sherpas' duties require them to ascend at least as high as Camp III or IV, but not all of them summit. The expedition leaders intend for only a select few of their climbing Sherpas to actually summit.
None of the clients on Hall's team had ever summitted an 8000 m peak
Eight-thousander
The eight-thousanders are the fourteen independent mountains on Earth that are more than high above sea level. They are all located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia....
, and with the exceptions of Fischbeck, Hansen and Hutchison, most had no high-altitude Himalayan experience.
Hall had brokered a deal with Outside magazine for advertising space in exchange for a story about the growing popularity of commercial expeditions to Everest. Krakauer was originally slated to climb with Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness team; but Hall landed him, at least in part, by agreeing to reduce Outsides fee for Krakauer's spot on the expedition to "less than cost". As a result, Hall was paying out-of-pocket to have Krakauer on his team.
Mountain Madness
Scott FischerScott Fischer
Scott E. Fischer was an American climber and guide, and the first American to summit 27,940-foot Lhotse, fourth highest mountain in the world.-Career:...
was the lead climbing guide
Guide
A guide is a person who leads anyone through unknown or unmapped country. This includes a guide of the real world , as well as a person who leads someone to more abstract places .-Guide - meanings related to travel and recreational pursuits:There are many variants of...
for the Mountain Madness expedition. The team included eight clients.
Guides:
- Scott FischerScott FischerScott E. Fischer was an American climber and guide, and the first American to summit 27,940-foot Lhotse, fourth highest mountain in the world.-Career:...
- Anatoli BoukreevAnatoli BoukreevAnatoli Nikoliavich Boukreev, , was a Kazakhstani climber who made ascents of seven of the 8,000 metre peaks without supplemental oxygen. In total he made 18 successful ascents on peaks above 8000 m . Boukreev was lost under an avalanche on Annapurna...
- Neal Beidleman
Clients:
- Martin Adams (47) - had climbed AconcaguaAconcaguaAconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas at . It is located in the Andes mountain range, in the Argentine province of Mendoza and it lies west by north of its capital, the city of Mendoza. The summit is also located about 5 kilometres from San Juan Province and 15 kilometres from the...
, Denali, and Kilimanjaro - Charlotte Fox (38) - had climbed all 53 of the 14,000 ft (4,267 m) peaks in ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
and two 8000 m peaksEight-thousanderThe eight-thousanders are the fourteen independent mountains on Earth that are more than high above sea level. They are all located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia....
, Gasherbrum IIGasherbrum IIGasherbrum II , also known as K4, is the 13th highest mountain on Earth, located on the border of Gilgit-Baltistan province, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China...
and Cho OyuCho OyuCho Oyu is the sixth highest mountain in the world at above sea level. Cho Oyu lies in the Himalayas and is 20 km west of Mount Everest, at the border between China and Nepal... - Lene GammelgaardLene GammelgaardLene Gammelgaard is the author of Climbing High, a bestselling book printed in 1998 about the 1996 Everest disaster, which took the lives of Scott Fischer and Rob Hall. She was the 35th woman, and the first Scandinavian woman, to climb Mount Everest via the South-East Ridge route...
(35) - accomplished mountaineer - Dale Kruse (45) - personal friend of Fischer for many years, first to sign up
- Tim Madsen (33) - climbed extensively in the Colorado and Canadian Rockies, no 8000 m experience
- Sandy Hill PittmanSandy Hill (mountaineer)Sandy Hill is a published author, a former New York fashion editor and contributing editor to Vogue, Allure and Conde Nast Traveler, and a mountaineer who became famous for being the fourth American woman to ascend the seven summits of the world. She is the 34th woman to ever climb and reach the...
(41) - had climbed six of the Seven SummitsSeven SummitsThe Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first postulated as such and achieved on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass .-Definition:... - Pete SchoeningPete SchoeningPeter K. Schoening was an American mountaineer. Schoening was one of two Americans to first successfully climb the Pakistani peak Gasherbrum I in 1958, and was one of the first to summit Mount Vinson in Antarctica in 1966. He was born July 30, 1927, in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in...
(68) - one of the first to climb Gasherbrum IGasherbrum IGasherbrum I , also known as Hidden Peak or K5, is the 11th highest peak on Earth, located on the Pakistan-China border in Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan and Xinjiang region of China. Gasherbrum I is part of the Gasherbrum massif, located in the Karakoram region of the Himalaya...
and Mount Vinson, arrested the fall of six climbers during "The Belay" on K2K2K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest...
, 1953 - Klev Schoening (38) - Pete's nephew; former USUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
national downhill ski racer, no 8000 m experience
- a.All ages are as of 1996.
Sherpas:
- SirdarSardar (Sherpa)A Sardar or Sirdar is a Sherpa mountain guide who manages all the other Sherpas in a climbing expedition or trekking group. The Sirdar is typically the most experienced guide and can usually speak English fluently...
Lopsang Jangbu SherpaLopsang Jangbu SherpaLopsang Jangbu Sherpa was a Sherpa mountaineering guide, climber and porter, perhaps best known for his work as the climbing Sirdar for Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness expedition to Everest in Spring 1996, when a freak storm led to the deaths of eight climbers from several expeditions, considered...
(23) - Ngawang Topche Sherpa
- Tashi Tshering Sherpa
- Ngawang Dorje Sherpa
- Ngawang Sya Kya Sherpa
- Ngawang Tendi Sherpa
- Tendi Sherpa
- "Big" Pemba Sherpa
- c.The Sherpas listed here were the climbing Sherpas hired by Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness expedition. Ngawang Topche was hospitalized in April. He had developed HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) while ferrying supplies above Base Camp. He was not on the mountain during the summit attempt of May 10. Topche would later die from his illness in June.
Pete Schoening had decided not to make the final push to the summit while still at Everest Base Camp (5,380 m/17,700 ft). The team began the assault on the summit on May 6, planning to bypass Camp I (6,065 m/19,900 ft) and stop at Camp II (6,500 m/21,300 ft) for the night. However, when the guides reached Camp I, they found Kruse suffering from altitude sickness and possible HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema) in one of the tents. Kruse returned to Base Camp with Fischer for treatment.
Taiwanese expedition
"Makalu" Gau Ming-Ho led a 13-member team to Everest and was climbing with Kami Dorje Sherpa(sirdar), Ngima Gombu Sherpa, and Mingma Tshering Sherpa that day.The previous day (May 9), Taiwanese team member Chen Yu-Nan had died following a fall on the Lhotse
Lhotse
Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain on Earth and is connected to Everest via the South Col. In addition to the main summit at 8,516 metres above sea level, Lhotse Middle is and Lhotse Shar is...
Face.
Delays reaching the summit
Shortly after midnight on May 10, 1996, the Adventure Consultants expedition began a summit attempt from Camp IV, atop the South ColSouth Col
The South Col usually refers to the southern col between Mount Everest and Lhotse, the first and fourth highest mountains in the world. When climbers attempt to climb Everest from the southeast ridge in Nepal, their final camp is situated on the South Col...
(7,900 m/25,900 ft). They were joined by six client climbers, three guides and Sherpas from Scott Fischer
Scott Fischer
Scott E. Fischer was an American climber and guide, and the first American to summit 27,940-foot Lhotse, fourth highest mountain in the world.-Career:...
's Mountain Madness company, as well as an expedition sponsored by the government of Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
The expeditions quickly encountered delays. The climbing Sherpas and guides had not set the fixed ropes by the time the team reached the Balcony (8,350 m/27,395 ft), and this cost the team almost an hour. There is some question as to the cause of this failure, which cannot now be resolved as the expedition leaders perished.
Upon reaching the Hillary Step (8,760 m/28,740 ft), the climbers again discovered that no fixed line had been placed, and they were forced to wait for an hour while the guides installed the ropes. Because some 33 climbers were attempting the summit on the same day, and Hall and Fischer had asked their climbers to stay within 150 m of each other, there were bottlenecks at the single fixed line at the Hillary Step.
Climbing without supplemental oxygen, Boukreev reached the summit (8,848 m/29,029 ft) first at 1:07 pm. Many of the climbers had not yet reached the summit by 2:00 pm, the last safe time to turn around to reach Camp IV before nightfall.
Boukreev began his descent to Camp IV at 2:30 pm. By that time, Martin Adams and Klev Schoening had reached the summit, but Beidleman and the remaining four Mountain Madness clients had not yet arrived. After this time, Jon Krakauer noted that the weather did not look so benign, and at 3:00 pm snow started to fall and the light was diminishing. Gau summitted about 3:00 pm and noticed incoming bad weather at 3:10.
Hall's Sirdar
Sardar (Sherpa)
A Sardar or Sirdar is a Sherpa mountain guide who manages all the other Sherpas in a climbing expedition or trekking group. The Sirdar is typically the most experienced guide and can usually speak English fluently...
, Ang Dorje Sherpa, and other climbing Sherpas waited at the summit for the clients. Near 3:00 pm, they began their descent. On the way down, Ang Dorje encountered client Doug Hansen above the Hillary Step, and ordered him to descend. Hansen did not respond. When Hall arrived at the scene, he sent the Sherpas down to assist the other clients, and stated that he would remain to help Hansen, who had run out of supplementary oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
.
Scott Fischer did not summit until 3:45 pm. He was ill, possibly suffering from either HACE or HAPE, and exhausted from the ascent. Rob Hall and Doug Hansen reached the summit even later.
Descent in a blizzard
Boukreev recorded that he reached Camp IV by 5:00 pm. The reasons for Boukreev's decision to descend ahead of his clients are disputed. Boukreev maintained that he wanted to be ready to assist struggling clients farther down the slope, and to retrieve hot tea and extra oxygen if necessary. Boukreev's decision not to use bottled oxygen was sharply criticized by Jon Krakauer. Boukreev's supporters (who include G. Weston DeWalt, who co-wrote The ClimbThe Climb (book)
The Climb is an account by Russian mountaineer Anatoli Boukreev of the 1996 Everest Disaster, during which eight climbers lost their lives on Mount Everest. The co-author, G...
) state that using bottled oxygen gives a false sense of security. Krakauer and his supporters point out that, without bottled oxygen, Boukreev was unable to directly help his clients descend. They state that Boukreev said that he was going down with client Martin Adams, but Boukreev later descended faster and left Adams behind.
The worsening weather began causing difficulties for the descending team members. By now, the blizzard on the Southwest Face of Everest was diminishing visibility, burying the fixed ropes and obliterating the trail back to Camp IV that the teams had broken on the ascent.
Fischer, helped by Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa, was unable to descend below the Balcony (8,350 m/27,395 ft) in the storm. Sherpas left Makalu Gau (at 8,230 m/27,000 ft by Gau's account) with Fischer and Lopsang when he too became unable to proceed. Eventually, Lopsang was persuaded by Fischer to descend and leave him and Gau.
Hall radioed for help, saying that Hansen had fallen unconscious, but was still alive. At 5:30 pm Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris, carrying supplementary oxygen and water, began climbing alone from the South Summit (8,749 m/28,700 ft) to Hansen and Hall at the top of Hillary Step.
Krakauer's account notes that by this time, the weather had deteriorated into a full-scale blizzard. "Snow pellets born on 70-mph winds stung my face." Boukreev gives 6:00 pm as "the onset of a blizzard".
Several climbers became lost on the South Col. Mountain Madness members Beidleman, Klev Schoening, Fox, Madsen, Pittman
Sandy Hill (mountaineer)
Sandy Hill is a published author, a former New York fashion editor and contributing editor to Vogue, Allure and Conde Nast Traveler, and a mountaineer who became famous for being the fourth American woman to ascend the seven summits of the world. She is the 34th woman to ever climb and reach the...
, and Gammelgaard
Lene Gammelgaard
Lene Gammelgaard is the author of Climbing High, a bestselling book printed in 1998 about the 1996 Everest disaster, which took the lives of Scott Fischer and Rob Hall. She was the 35th woman, and the first Scandinavian woman, to climb Mount Everest via the South-East Ridge route...
, along with Adventure Consultants' Mike Groom
Michael Groom (Climber)
Michael Groom is an Australian mountain climber. In 1995, Groom became the fourth ever person to summit the four highest mountains in the world without the aid of bottled oxygen. He proceeded to climb the fifth highest, Makalu, in 1999...
, Beck Weathers
Beck Weathers
Seaborn Beck Weathers is an American pathologist from Texas. He is best known for his role in the 1996 Everest disaster that has been the subject of many books and films, most notably Into Thin Air and Everest.-Everest:...
, and Yasuko Namba
Yasuko Namba
was famous in her native Japan for becoming the second Japanese woman to reach all of the Seven Summits including Everest, where she died. Namba worked as a businesswoman for Federal Express in Japan, but her hobby of mountaineering took her all over the world. She first summitted Kilimanjaro...
, wandered in the blizzard until midnight. When they could no longer walk, they huddled some 20 m from a dropoff of the Kangshung Face.
Near midnight, the blizzard cleared enough for the team to see Camp IV, some 200 m away. Beidleman, Groom, Schoening, and Gammelgaard set off to find help. Madsen and Fox remained with the group to shout for the rescuers. Boukreev located the climbers and brought Pittman, Fox, and Madsen to safety. Boukreev had prioritized Pittman, Fox and Madsen over Namba, who seemed close to death. Boukreev did not see Beck Weathers. Having made two forays to rescue these three climbers, Boukreev, in common with all other climbers then at Camp IV, was exhausted. Neither Boukreev nor any of the other climbers at Camp IV felt able to make another attempt to reach Namba and Weathers.
May 11
On May 11, at 4:43 am Hall radioed down and said that he was on the South Summit (8,749 m/28,700 ft). He reported that Harris had reached the two men, but that Hansen, who had been with him since the previous afternoon, was now 'gone'. In addition, he said that Harris was missing as well. Hall was not breathing bottled oxygen because his regulator was too choked with ice.By 9:00 am, Hall had fixed his oxygen mask
Oxygen mask
An oxygen mask provides a method to transfer breathing oxygen gas from a storage tank to the lungs. Oxygen masks may cover the nose and mouth or the entire face...
, but indicated that his frostbitten hands and feet were making it difficult to traverse the fixed ropes. Later in the afternoon, he radioed to Base Camp, asking them to call his wife, Jan Arnold, on the satellite phone. During this last communication, he reassured her that he was reasonably comfortable and told her, "Sleep well my sweetheart. Please don't worry too much." Shortly thereafter, he died, and his body was found on May 23 by mountaineers from the IMAX expedition
Everest (film)
Everest is a 70mm American documentary film from MacGillivray Freeman Films about the struggles involved in climbing Mount Everest, the highest mountain peak on Earth located in Himalayan region of Nepal. It was released to IMAX theaters in 1998....
. The bodies of Doug Hansen and Andy Harris were never found.
Meanwhile, Stuart Hutchison, a client on Hall's team who turned around before the summit on May 10, launched a second search for Weathers and Namba. He found both alive but barely responsive and severely frostbitten, and in no condition to move. Making a difficult decision that they could not be saved by the hypoxic survivors at Camp IV nor evacuated in time, he left them for nature to take its course, which the other survivors soon agreed was the only choice.
However, Weathers later in the day regained consciousness and walked alone by his own power to the camp, surprising everyone there, though he was still suffering severe hypothermia and frostbite. Despite oxygen and attempts to rewarm him, Weathers was almost abandoned again the next morning, May 12, after a storm had collapsed his tent overnight and the survivors once again thought he had died; Krakauer discovered he was still conscious as the survivors in Camp IV prepared to evacuate. Despite his worsening condition, Weathers found he could still move mostly under his own power and a rescue team was mobilizing, hopeful of getting Weathers down the mountain alive. Over the next two days, Weathers was ushered down to Camp II with the assistance of eight healthy climbers from various expeditions, and would be evacuated by a daunting helicopter rescue. He would eventually recover but lose his nose, right hand, and all the fingers on his left hand due to frostbite.
The climbing Sherpas located Fischer and Gau on May 11, but Fischer's condition had deteriorated so much that they were only able to give palliative care
Palliative care
Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients...
before rescuing Gau. Boukreev made a subsequent rescue attempt, but found Fischer's frozen body at around 7 pm. Like Weathers, Gau was also evacuated by helicopter.
Indo-Tibetan Border Police
Less well known are the other three fatalities of the day, who were the climbers from the Indo-Tibetan Border PoliceIndo-Tibetan Border Police
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police is an Indian force conceived on October 24, 1962 for security along the India's border with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, border covering 2115 kilometres...
North Col
North Col
The North Col refers to a sharp-edged pass or col carved by glaciers connecting Mount Everest and Changtse in Tibet. It forms the head of the East Rongbuk Glacier....
expedition from India. The expedition was led by Commandant (equiv to Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
) Mohinder Singh, and is credited as being the first Indian ascent of Everest from the North side.
On May 10, 1996, Subedar (eqv. to Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
) Tsewang Samanla
Tsewang Samanla
T.Samanla was one among three Indians who died on Mount Everest in 1996 Mount Everest disaster. He was born on 14 Sept 1957 in village Tia , District Khalsi in Leh . He joined ITBP as a constable in 1969. Climed Mt. Everest from North Col on 10 May 1996 to become member of the First Indian team to...
, Lance Naik (equivalent to Lance Corporal
Lance Corporal
Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organizations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer, usually equivalent to the NATO Rank Grade OR-3.- Etymology :The presumed...
) Dorje Morup
Dorje Morup
Dorje Morup was one among three Indians who died on Mount Everest in 1996 Mount Everest disaster.He was born on 01 Oct 1948 in village Skurbuchan in district Leh . He joined ITBP as a constable in 1969. Climed Mt. Everest from North Col on 10 May 1996 to become member of the First Indian team to...
and Head Constable Tsewang Paljor were part of a six man summit attempt from the North Side. Being a traditional type of expedition, the summit team did not have any Sherpas to guide them in their ascent. They were the first team of the season to go up the North Face. It would be their responsibility to fix the ropes during ascent and break the trail to the top, a task that has its own share of difficulties. The team was caught in the blizzard above Camp IV. While three of the six members turned down, Samanla, Paljor and Morup decided to go for the summit. Samanla was an accomplished mountaineer who had summitted Everest in 1984 and Kanchenjunga in 1991
At around 6:00 pm (3:45 pm Nepal Time), the three climbers radioed to their expedition leader that they had arrived at the summit. While the Indian camp was jubilant in their celebrations, some of the other mountaineers at base camp already expressed their reservations about the timing, which was quite late in the day to be on the summit. There is also a dispute whether the three had actually reached the summit. Krakauer claims that the climbers were at 8,700 m (28,550 ft), roughly 150 m (500 ft) short of the topmost point. This is based on the interview given by a later Japanese team to Richard Cowpens of the London Financial Express
Financial Express
The Financial Express is an Indian English-language business newspaper. It is published by the Indian Express group since 1961. The FE specialises in India and international business and financial news....
. Due to bad visibility and thick clouds which obscured the summit, the climbers believed they had reached the top. This also explains why the climbers did not run into the teams that summitted from the South Side.
The three climbers left an offering of prayer flags, katas and pitons. Samanla, the summit team leader, decided to spend extra time for religious ceremonies and instructed the other two climbers to begin their descent. There was no radio contact after that. Back at the camps below, anxious team members saw two headlamps moving just above the second step (8,570 m/28,120 ft). None of the three managed to come back to high camp at 8,320 m (27,300 ft).
Possible sightings by Japanese climbers
(All Times Beijing Time)- 06:15 Hiroshi Hanada and Eisuke Shigekawa (Fukuoka first attack party) departed Camp 6 (8,300 m/27,230 ft). Three Sherpas had left in advance.
- 08.45 Radio call to BC to report nearing the ridge. Just below the ridge they met two climbers coming down a fixed rope. On the ridge another climber appeared before the first snowfield. They could not be identified because all were wearing goggles and oxygen masks under hoods. The Fukuoka party, having no knowledge of missing Indians, thought they were Taiwan party members.
In Krakauer's account, the lone climber, (whom Krakauer believes to be Paljor) was still moaning and frostbitten from exposure over the night. The Japanese climbers ignored him and set out for the summit. After ascending the second step, they ran into the other two climbers, probably Samanla and Morup. Krakauer notes "No words were passed, No water, food or oxygen exchanged hands. The Japanese moved on ...".
- 11:39 Radio call to BC to report passing the Second Step (8,600 m/28,220 ft). They then saw two climbers at a distance of about 15 m from the ridge. Again, identification was impossible.
- 15:07 Hanada, Shigekawa and three Sherpas reached the summit.
- 15:30 Start descent. After passing the triangle snowfield they saw some unidentifiable object above the Second Step. Below the First Step, they saw one person on the fixed rope. Shigekawa therefore stopped and radioed BC. As he started moving again he met someone, who had possibly been on the fixed rope, standing nearby. They exchanged greetings, but he was still unable to identify him. Their oxygen was just enough to return to C6.
- 16:00 (approx) An Indian party member told the Fukuoka ABC that three men were missing. The Fukuoka party attempted to dispatch three Sherpas from C6 to rescue the Indians but disappearing daylight prevented their departure. Their request to Indian party members at C6 to join a rescue was refused. Also their offer of a radio so that the Indian party could talk to their leader in ABC was declined.
Initially, the apparent indifference of the Japanese climbers was dumbfounding, as the Indian expedition leader told later, "The Japanese had initially pledged to help the search for the missing Indians. But hours later, they pressed on with their attempt to reach the summit, despite bad weather." The Japanese team reached the summit at 11:45 am (Nepal Time). By the time the Japanese climbers descended, one of the two Indians was already dead and the other near death. They could not find any trace of the third climber further down.
The Japanese team denied that they had ever encountered the dying climbers on the way up.
Captain Kohli, an official of the Indian Mountaineering Federation, who earlier had denounced the Japanese, later retracted his claim that the Japanese had reported meeting the Indians on May 10.
"The ITBP accepted the Fukuoka party statements that they neither abandoned nor refused to help the Indians." The ITBP's director general "commented that a misunderstanding arose from communication difficulties between Indian attack party members and their Base Camp."
Analysis
The disaster was partially caused by the sheer number of climbers (34 on that day) attempting to ascend, causing bottlenecks at the Hillary Step and delaying many climbers, most of whom summitted after the usual 2:00 pm turnaround time.Jon Krakauer has suggested that the use of bottled oxygen and commercial guides, who would personally accompany and take care of all pathmaking, equipment, and important decisions, allowed otherwise unqualified climbers to attempt to summit, leading to dangerous situations and more deaths. In addition, he wrote that the competition between Hall and Fischer's guiding companies may have led to Hall's decision not to turn back on May 10 after the pre-decided time for summiting of 2:00 pm; Krakauer also acknowledges that his own presence as a journalist for an important magazine for mountaineers may have added pressure to guide clients to the summit despite growing dangers. He proposed banning bottled oxygen except for emergency cases, arguing that this would both decrease the growing pollution on Everest—many bottles have accumulated on its slopes—and keep marginally qualified climbers off the mountain. He does point out, however, that climbing Everest has always been a highly dangerous expedition even before guided tours, with one fatality per four climbers attaining the summit; and that many of the poor decisions made on May 10 were under the conditions of lack of sleep and food for two or more days (due to the effects of entering the death zone above 8,000 m/26,000 ft), and constant hypoxia, and hence cannot be so easily judged by the general population, who have no experience of such circumstances.
In May 2004, Kent Moore, a physicist, and John L. Semple, a surgeon, both researchers from the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, told New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
magazine that an analysis of weather conditions on May 11 suggested that freak weather caused oxygen levels to plunge by around 14%.
Krakauer also elaborated on the statistical curiosities of fatality rates on Everest and how 1996 was "business as usual". The record number of 12 fatalities in the spring climbing season that year was only 3 percent of the 398 climbers who had ascended above Base Camp—slightly below the historical average of 3.3 percent at that time. Additionally, 12 climbers had died that season and 84 had reached the summit. This is a ratio of 1 in 7—significantly less than the historical average prior to 1996 of 1 in 4. Since then the fatality rates on Everest have dropped considerably. At the time however, because of the increased number of climbers that year compared to the years prior, 1996 was statistically and paradoxically a safer than average year.
List of fatalities
| Name | Nationality | Expedition | Location of death | Cause of Death |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Harris (Guide) | Adventure Consultants | Southeast Ridge, 8700 m | Unknown; hypothesized as falling during descent near summit | |
| Doug Hansen (Client) | South Summit | |||
| Rob Hall Rob Hall Rob Hall , a native of New Zealand, was a mountaineer best known for being head guide of a 1996 Mount Everest expedition in which he, a fellow guide, and two clients perished. A best-selling account of the expedition was given in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air... (Guide) |
Exposure | |||
| Yasuko Namba Yasuko Namba was famous in her native Japan for becoming the second Japanese woman to reach all of the Seven Summits including Everest, where she died. Namba worked as a businesswoman for Federal Express in Japan, but her hobby of mountaineering took her all over the world. She first summitted Kilimanjaro... (Client) |
South Col | |||
| Scott Fischer Scott Fischer Scott E. Fischer was an American climber and guide, and the first American to summit 27,940-foot Lhotse, fourth highest mountain in the world.-Career:... (Guide) |
Mountain Madness | Southeast Ridge, 8300 m | ||
| Subedar Tsewang Samanla Tsewang Samanla T.Samanla was one among three Indians who died on Mount Everest in 1996 Mount Everest disaster. He was born on 14 Sept 1957 in village Tia , District Khalsi in Leh . He joined ITBP as a constable in 1969. Climed Mt. Everest from North Col on 10 May 1996 to become member of the First Indian team to... |
Indo-Tibetan Border Police | Northeast Ridge, 8600 m | ||
| Lance Naik Dorje Morup Dorje Morup Dorje Morup was one among three Indians who died on Mount Everest in 1996 Mount Everest disaster.He was born on 01 Oct 1948 in village Skurbuchan in district Leh . He joined ITBP as a constable in 1969. Climed Mt. Everest from North Col on 10 May 1996 to become member of the First Indian team to... |
||||
| Head Constable Tsewang Paljor Green Boots In Everest climbing parlance, Green Boots is the name given to the corpse of Indian climber Tsewang Paljor on the Northeast ridge route of Mount Everest. There is little doubt that the body is that of Paljor, who was wearing green Koflach boots on the day he and two others apparently summited... |
Other fatalities in 1996
The following is a list of the other fatalities during the spring 1996 climbing season on Everest. These deaths were not directly related to the storm or the events of the May 10-11, 1996 Everest disaster.- May 9 - Chen Yu-Nan - from the Taiwanese National Expedition, died from a fall down the LhotseLhotseLhotse is the fourth highest mountain on Earth and is connected to Everest via the South Col. In addition to the main summit at 8,516 metres above sea level, Lhotse Middle is and Lhotse Shar is...
Face - May 19 - Reinhard Wlasich - Austrian climber, died from a combination of HAPE and HACE at 8300 m (27,231 ft) on the Northeast Ridge
- May 25 - Bruce Herrod - South African team, was on the South Col during the May 10-11 storm, reached the summit two weeks later, but died descending the Southeast Ridge
- June 6 - Ngawang Topche Sherpa - Nepalese Sherpa for Mountain Madness, developed a severe case of HAPE on April 22 while working above Base Camp, died later in a Kathmandu hospital
The following fatalities occurred on Everest during the fall 1996 climbing season.
- September 25 - Yves Bouchon - French climber, died in an avalanche at 7800 m (25,590.6 ft) on the southeast route below Camp IV along with the two Sherpas listed below
- September 25 - Lopsang Jangbu SherpaLopsang Jangbu SherpaLopsang Jangbu Sherpa was a Sherpa mountaineering guide, climber and porter, perhaps best known for his work as the climbing Sirdar for Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness expedition to Everest in Spring 1996, when a freak storm led to the deaths of eight climbers from several expeditions, considered...
- Nepalese Sherpa, the same climbing SirdarSardar (Sherpa)A Sardar or Sirdar is a Sherpa mountain guide who manages all the other Sherpas in a climbing expedition or trekking group. The Sirdar is typically the most experienced guide and can usually speak English fluently...
on the Mountain Madness expedition involved in the May 1996 Everest disaster, died in avalanche - September 25 - Dawa Sherpa - Nepalese Sherpa, died in avalanche
See also
- Everest (film)Everest (film)Everest is a 70mm American documentary film from MacGillivray Freeman Films about the struggles involved in climbing Mount Everest, the highest mountain peak on Earth located in Himalayan region of Nepal. It was released to IMAX theaters in 1998....
IMAXIMAXIMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
movie - List of deaths on eight-thousanders