How it all happened

Two commercial groups - "Mountain Madness" and "Adventure Consultants" consisting of 30 people, including 6 high-quality guides, 8 Sherpas and 16 commercial clients, led by their leaders - American Scott Fisher and New Zealander Rob Hall - went on the assault Everest summit before dawn on May 10th. By the evening of May 11, five of them were already dead, including Fischer and Hall.
Almost immediately after the start of the assault on the summit, unplanned delays began due to the fact that the Sherpas did not have time to attach rope railings along the route of the groups. Before the Hillary Step - the most important and difficult part of the climb - the climbers lost almost an hour due to lack of insurance and a queue of climbers. By 5:30 am, when the first climbers reached the Balcony (8350 m), there was a new delay for the same reason.
This height is already part of the “death zone”, dooming a person to death. At altitudes above 8000 meters, the human body completely loses its ability to recover and, in fact, enters a stage of slow dying.

By 10:00 the first member of the Adventure Consultants expedition, 53-year-old Frank Fischbeck, decides to turn back. At 11:45 a.m., before the South Summit, another of Hall's clients, Lou Kazischke, decides to abandon his attempt. Stuart Hutchinson and John Taske also decide to turn back. And just 100 meters from the summit of Everest in wonderful weather - a difficult decision to make, but in the end it may have saved the lives of all four.

“I took off my glove and saw that all my fingers were frostbitten. Then he took off another one - the same thing. I suddenly felt how tired I was. Besides this, unlike most of my comrades, I did not need to climb at any cost. Of course, I wanted to reach the top. But... I live in Detroit. I would go back to Detroit and say, “I climbed Everest.” They would answer me: “Everest, right? Great. By the way, did you hear how our team played with the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday?”

Lou Kazischke

Anatoly Bukreev was the first to reach the summit of Everest at about one o'clock in the afternoon, having climbed without the use of additional oxygen. Hall's client Jon Krakauer followed him to the summit, followed by Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris. At twenty-five minutes past one, Mountain Madness guide Neil Beidleman and Fisher's client Martin Adams showed up. But all subsequent climbers were greatly delayed. By 14:00, when the descent had to begin in any case, not all clients had reached the top, and having reached it, they spent an unacceptably long time taking photographs and rejoicing.

At 15:45, Fischer reported to base camp that all clients had summited the mountain. “God, I’m so tired,” he added, and indeed, according to eyewitnesses, he was in an extremely exhausted physical condition. The time to return was critically missed.

Boukreev, who was the first to reach the summit, could not stay there for long without a supply of oxygen and began the descent first in order to return to Camp IV, take a break and go back up again to help the descending clients with additional oxygen and hot tea. He reached camp by 17:00, when the weather had already deteriorated greatly. Krakauer later in his book “In Thin Air” would baselessly accuse Boukreev of fleeing and leaving his clients in danger. In reality this was not the case at all.

After some time, following Boukreev, some of the clients begin to descend and at this moment the weather begins to deteriorate greatly.

Before descending to the Hillary Steps, I noticed that below, from the valleys, some kind of whitish haze was rising, and the wind was getting stronger at the top.”

Lyn Gammelgard

Scott Fisher. Death

Fischer began his descent together with Sherpa Lopsang and the leader of the Taiwanese expedition that was ascending the same day, Ming Ho Gau, but they experienced great difficulties due to their poor physical condition and slowed down at the Balcony (8230 m). Closer to night, Fischer forced Lopsang to go down alone and bring help. By this point, Scott began to develop severe cerebral swelling.

Lopsang successfully reached Camp IV and tried to find someone to help Fischer, but everyone in the camp was not ready to go out onto the mountain again and lead rescue work(Bukreev at that time was engaged in the rescue of Sandy Pittman, Charlotte Fox and Tim Madsen). Only by lunchtime next day The Sherpas who went to help Fischer considered his condition hopeless and began to rescue Gau. At the camp, they told Boukreev that they had done everything possible to save Fischer, but he did not believe them and made another attempt to save his friend from the fourth camp after saving three other members of Mountain Madness in difficult conditions. By 19:00 on May 11, when Boukreev got to Fischer, he was already dead. The following year, while climbing Everest with an Indonesian expedition, Boukreev paid his last respects to his friend - he covered his body with stones and stuck an ice ax over his grave.

Yasuko Namba. Death

Meanwhile, the Mountain Madness group, led by guide Neil Beidleman (Cleve Schoening, Charlotte Fox, Timothy Madsen, Sandy Pittman and Lyn Gammelgard), along with members of the Adventure Consultants guide Mike Groom, Bec Withers and Japanese Yasuko Namba - in total 9 people - got lost in the area of ​​the South Summit and could not find the way to the camp in a snowstorm, which limited visibility literally to arm's length. They wandered in the white snowy mess until midnight, until they collapsed exhausted at the very edge of the cliff of the Kanshung wall. All of them suffered from altitude sickness, oxygen had long since run out, and in such conditions, inevitable death awaited them in the very near future. But fortunately for them, the storm soon subsided a little, and they were able to see the tents of Camp IV just some two hundred meters away. The most experienced Beidleman, along with three other climbers, went for help. Then Bukreev, waiting for them in the camp, learned about the scale of the unfolding tragedy and rushed to help.

Boukreev began to take turns going around the tents of Camp IV and, with threats and persuasion, tried to force the guides, Sherpas and clients to go up in search of the missing. None of them responded to his persistent calls and Boukreev walked alone towards the snow storm and the gathering darkness.

In this chaos, he managed to discover the freezing climbers and, in turn, lead Pittman, Fox and Madsen to the fourth camp, actually dragging them on his shoulders for these ill-fated 200 meters. The Japanese woman Namba was already dying, and it was impossible to help her; Boukreev did not notice Withers.

“He did a heroic thing. He did something that an ordinary person could not do.”

Neil Beidleman

On the morning of May 11, Stuart Hutchinson, who went in search of his comrades, found Withers and Nambu severely frostbitten and already unconscious and decided that it would not be possible to save them. No matter how hard it was to make such a decision, he went back to camp. But a few hours later Withers reached the camp on his own. It was a pure miracle - they gave him oxygen and put him in a tent, not even hoping that he would survive. But even here his misadventures did not end - the next night, when some of the climbers had already left the camp and went lower, a strong gust of wind destroyed his tent, and he spent another night in the cold, trying to shout to the rest.

Only on May 14, in critical condition after a difficult descent to Camp II, he was sent by helicopter to Kathmandu, where doctors managed to save his life. Withers lost right hand and all the fingers on his left, lost his nose, but remained alive.

Rob Hall, Doug Hansen, Andy Harris. Death

The last to descend from the summit were Rob Hall and his old client Doug Hansen. During the descent, Hall radioed his camp and asked for help, reporting that Hansen had lost consciousness at 8,780 meters but was still alive. Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris comes out to meet them from the South Summit to deliver oxygen and help them on the descent.

On the morning of May 11, a tenacious Rob Hall was still fighting for his life. At 4:43 a.m. he contacted base camp and reported that he was near the South Summit. He said Harris managed to get to them, but Hansen was very unwell, and Hall himself had ice on his oxygen tank regulator and couldn't connect it to his mask.

At 5:31 Hall comes back on the line and says that "Doug is gone" and Harris is missing and still unable to control his mask. Rob Hall constantly wonders where his clients Withers and Namba are and why they aren't at camp yet.
By 9:00 a.m., Hall had been able to get his oxygen supply back up, but was already suffering from extreme frostbite. He got in touch again and asked to speak to his wife Jan Arnold in New Zealand. This was the last person he spoke to; Hall never contacted him again.

His body was found twelve days later by members of the IMAX expedition. But the bodies of Harris and Hansen could not be found. Their fate remained unknown.

In Scott Fisher's Mountain Madness expedition, everyone survived except Fisher himself, who suffered from severe stress during the expedition and died during the descent from the summit. Six clients, two instructors - Beidleman and Boukreev - and four Sherpas summited and returned alive.

Rob Hall's Adventure Consultants expedition suffered big losses: Hall himself and his old client Doug Hansen, who froze during the descent, died, instructor Andy Harris, who came to their aid from below, and Japanese Yasuko Namba, who got lost along with other climbers on the approach to the fourth camp. A year later, Boukreev found her body and apologized to her husband for failing to save her.
Stories like these make us remember that not everything can be bought, and in order to do things that are truly worthwhile, you need to prepare diligently and carefully think through all the little things. But even in this case, Mother Nature can easily disrupt your plans and in five minutes throw you from the top of the world into the abyss of oblivion.

Why did this happen

Conquering eight-thousanders - incredible difficult task, which certainly implies a certain degree of risk to life. It can be minimized by proper preparation and planning, but at such a height even small mistakes and accidents, forming an orderly chain, growing like a snowball, lead to a big tragedy.

Failure to adhere to a strict ascent-descent schedule. “If you have not reached height Y at hour X, then you must immediately turn back.”

Mountain Madness and Adventure Consultants began their ascent at midnight on May 10th. According to the ascent plan, both groups should have reached the ridge by dawn, reached the South Summit by 10:00 or earlier, and reached the peak of Everest around noon. But the return time was never strictly agreed upon.

Even by one o'clock in the afternoon on May 10, not a single climber managed to reach the top. It was not until 16:00 that the last two people, including Rob Hall, the leader of the Adventure Consultants, who himself had set the maximum return time, reached their peak. The climbers violated their own plans, and this set off a chain of fatal events that ultimately led to tragedy.

Delays on the rise

It was planned that the two senior Sherpas (sirdars) Lapsang and Roba would go out for the assault two hours earlier than everyone else and hang rope railings at the base of the South Summit. But Lapsang showed signs of altitude sickness and could not recover. The guides Beidleman and Boukreev had to do the work. This caused a significant delay.

But even if the entire route had been properly prepared, this would not have saved the climbers from inevitable delays: that day, 34 climbers were rushing to the top of Everest at once, which caused real traffic jams on the climb. Climbing three large groups of climbers in one day is another mistake. You definitely wouldn't want to wait your turn to climb at an altitude of 8,500 meters, shivering from fatigue and the biting wind. But the group leaders decided that a large crowd of guides and Sherpas would make it easier for them to cope with the deep snow and difficult route.

Impact of altitude

At high altitudes, the human body experiences a powerful negative impact. Low atmospheric pressure, lack of oxygen, low temperatures, aggravated by incredible fatigue from a long climb - all this adversely affects the physical condition of climbers. The pulse and breathing quicken, hypothermia and hypoxia set in - the body is tested for strength by the mountain.

Common causes of death at such altitudes:

Brain swelling (paralysis, coma, death) due to lack of oxygen,
- pulmonary edema (inflammation, bronchitis, rib fractures) due to lack of oxygen and low temperatures,
-heart attacks due to lack of oxygen and high stress,
-snow blindness
- frostbite. The temperature at such altitudes drops to -75,
- physical exhaustion from excessive stress with the body’s complete inability to recover.
But not only the body suffers, the thinking abilities also suffer. Short-term and long-term memory, the ability to correctly assess the situation, maintain clarity of mind and, as a result, make the right decisions - all this deteriorates at such high altitudes.

The only way to minimize the negative effects of altitude is proper acclimatization. But even in the case of the Hall and Fisher groups, the acclimatization schedule for clients could not be maintained due to delays in the installation of high-altitude camps and poor preparation of some clients who either saved their strength for the final assault or, on the contrary, thoughtlessly wasted it (for example, Sandy Pittman Instead of resting at the base camp on the eve of the ascent, I went to meet my friends in a village in the foothills of Everest).

Sudden weather change

When you climb to the highest pole of the planet, even if you have carefully prepared yourself and your equipment and thought out your ascent plan in great detail, you must bring on your side your most important ally: good weather. Everything should be in your favor - high temperatures, low winds, clear skies. Otherwise, you can forget about a successful ascent. But the problem is that the weather on Everest changes with amazing speed - a cloudless sky can be replaced by a real hurricane within an hour. This happened on May 10, 1996. Worse weather complicated the descent; due to a snowstorm on the southwestern slope of Everest, visibility dropped significantly; the snow hid the markers installed during the ascent and indicating the path to Camp IV.

Wind gusts of up to 130 km/h raged on the mountain, the temperature dropped to -40 °C, but in addition to the freezing cold and hurricane winds that threatened to sweep climbers into the abyss, the storm brought with it another important aspect that influenced the survival of people. During such a powerful storm, the atmospheric pressure dropped significantly, and, consequently, the partial oxygen content in the air (up to 14%), which further aggravated the situation. Such a low content is practically a critical point for people without oxygen reserves (and they have come to an end at this point), suffering from fatigue and hypoxia. All this leads to loss of consciousness, pulmonary edema and inevitable death after a very short period of time.

Lack of oxygen cylinders

Some clients in both groups did not tolerate altitude well and had to sleep with oxygen during acclimatization trips. The lion's share of oxygen was also consumed by the rescue of "Mountain Madness" Sherpa Ngawang Topshe, who urgently had to be evacuated from a height using a Gamow bag*. All this reduced oxygen reserves for the ascent to a critical minimum, which was not enough for clients and guides to descend from the summit as soon as things went wrong.

*Gamow's bag is a special chamber in which the victim is placed. The bag is then inflated, thereby increasing pressure and oxygen concentration, which creates the effect of lowering altitude.

Insufficient level of client training

In the early 1990s, the first commercial expeditions began to appear, focused solely on making a profit, and everyone could take part in them. Professional guides took on all the responsibilities: delivering clients to the base camp, organizing accommodation and meals, providing equipment, and accompanying them to the very top with insurance. Capitalism – cruel thing Therefore, in an effort to fill their pockets, most organizers of such expeditions are not inclined to pay close attention to the physical condition and high-altitude experience of their clients. If you are willing to pay 65 thousand US dollars for a non-guaranteed attempt at climbing, then you automatically become broad-shouldered like Schwarzenegger, resilient like an Ethiopian marathon runner, and experienced like Edmund Hillary himself (First conquered Everest in 1953), at least in the eyes of the one to whom you pay money. Because of this approach, commercial expeditions often include people who are obviously incapable of reaching the summit.
Neil Beidleman, a guide for the Mountain Madness group, admitted to Anatoly Boukreev even before the ascent began that “... half the clients have no chance of reaching the top; for most of them the ascent will end at the South Col (7,900 m).” This approach jeopardizes not only the lives of the clients themselves, but also the success of the entire expedition - at altitude there is no room for error, and the entire team will pay for it. This is partly what happened with Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness, when some of their clients used exorbitant amounts of oxygen, delayed others along the route, distracted guides from serious work, and ultimately were unable to organize their own rescue.

Harvest of Death

In addition to the tragedy with the Mountain Madness and Adventure Consultants groups, Everest gathered another harvest of death on May 10th. On the same day, an expedition of the Indo-Tibetan Border Service of 6 people under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Mohinder Sinha climbed the northern slope of the mountain. This group was the first to climb from the Northern slope of the season, so the climbers themselves had to attach rope railings to the top and trample the road in deep snow. The rather tired participants got caught in a snowstorm on May 10, being just above Camp IV (the last camp before the assault on the summit). Three of them decided to turn back, and Sergeant Tsewang Samanla, Corporal Dorje Morup and Senior Constable Tsewang Paljor decided to continue the climb. At about 15:45, three climbers radioed the expedition leader and reported that they had succeeded in conquering Everest (most likely this was a mistake). At the summit, the climbers set up prayer flags and Sergeant Samanla began religious rituals, sending two of his comrades down. He never made contact again.

The Indians who were in the fourth camp saw the lights of lanterns slowly descending down in the darkness (most likely, these were Morup and Paljor) - approximately at an altitude of 8570 m. But none of the three climbers descended to the intermediate camp at an altitude of 8320 m. Found later Tsewang Paljor's corpse was never removed from Everest and still marks the 8500 m altitude on the north slope of Everest. Climbers call him "Green Boots."

But these victims were not enough for May 1996 on Everest.

On the morning of May 9, one of the members of the Taiwanese expedition, which climbed with Fischer and Hall, climbed out of the tent to go to the toilet. A cool sunny morning, incredibly beautiful landscapes around, a slight jitters before the upcoming ascent - it’s not surprising that Chey Yunan forgot to put on boots with crampons. As soon as he squatted a little away from the tent, he immediately slipped and, tumbling, flew down the slope straight into a glacier crack. The Sherpas managed to save him and bring him to the tent. He experienced a deep shock, but his comrades did not notice any critical damage and left him alone in the tent, while they themselves went upstairs, following their schedule. When, a few hours later, the head of the Taiwanese expedition, Ming Ho Gau, was informed by radio that Chei Yunan had suddenly died, he only replies: “Thank you for the information” and, as if nothing had happened, continues to climb.

On September 24, 2015, the film “Everest” was released on Russian screens, telling the story of the 1996 tragedy. Now it will be easy for you to figure out where the truth is and where the fiction is in this story.

“And in the West, after last year’s tragedy, I don’t like a lot of things, because people are making big, crazy money on this, presenting events the way America wants, and not the way it really happened. Now Hollywood is making a film, I don’t know what they will make of me - with some kind of red star, with a flag in my hands - and how they will present it to American society. It is clear that it will be completely different..."

Anatoly Bukreev, died in 1997 in an avalanche during the conquest of Annapurna

A few weeks before tragic death Boukreev The American Alpine Club awarded him the prestigious David Souls Award, given to climbers who save people in the mountains at risk to their own lives, and the US Senate invited him to accept American citizenship. Despite Jon Krakauer's attempts to cast him in a bad light in his articles and book, Anatoly Boukreev remained in people's memory as a true hero, a great climber, a man capable of sacrificing himself for the sake of others.

(source http://disgustingmen.com/)

You probably noticed the information that Everest is, in in every sense words, mountain of death. Storming this height, the climber knows that he has a chance not to return. Death can be caused by lack of oxygen, heart failure, frostbite or injury. Fatal accidents, such as a frozen oxygen cylinder valve, also lead to death. Moreover: the path to the top is so difficult that, as one of the participants in the Russian Himalayan expedition, Alexander Abramov, said, “at an altitude of more than 8,000 meters you cannot afford the luxury of morality. Above 8,000 meters you are completely occupied with yourself, and in such extreme conditions you do not have extra strength to help your comrade.” There will be a video on this topic at the end of the post.

The tragedy that happened on Everest in May 2006 shocked the whole world: 42 climbers passed by the slowly freezing Englishman David Sharp indifferently, but no one helped him. One of them were television crews from the Discovery Channel, who tried to interview the dying man and, after photographing him, left him alone...

And now to readers with STRONG NERVES You can see what the cemetery looks like on top of the world.

On Everest, groups of climbers pass by unburied corpses scattered here and there; these are the same climbers, only they were unlucky. Some of them fell and broke their bones, others froze or were simply weak and still froze.

What morality can exist at an altitude of 8000 meters above sea level? Here it’s every man for himself, just to survive.

If you really want to prove to yourself that you are mortal, then you should try to visit Everest.

Most likely, all these people who remained lying there thought that this was not about them. And now they are like a reminder that not everything is in the hands of man.

No one keeps statistics on defectors there, because they climb mainly as savages and in small groups of three to five people. And the price of such an ascent ranges from $25t to $60t. Sometimes they pay extra with their lives if they save on small things. So, about 150 people, and maybe 200, remained there on eternal guard. And many who visited there say that they feel the gaze of a black climber resting on their back, because right on the northern route there are eight openly lying bodies. Among them are two Russians. From the south there are about ten. But climbers are already afraid to deviate from the paved path; they may not get out of there, and no one will try to save them.

Terrible tales circulate among climbers who have been to that peak, because it does not forgive mistakes and human indifference. In 1996, a group of climbers from the Japanese University of Fukuoka climbed Everest. Very close to their route were three climbers from India in distress - exhausted, frozen people asking for help, they survived a high-altitude storm. The Japanese passed by. When the Japanese group descended, there was no one to save; the Indians were frozen.

It is believed that Mallory was the first to reach the summit and died on the descent. In 1924, Mallory and his partner Irving began the climb. Last time they were seen through binoculars in a break in the clouds only 150 meters from the summit. Then the clouds moved in and the climbers disappeared.

They did not return back, only in 1999, at an altitude of 8290 m, the next conquerors of the peak came across many bodies that had died over the past 5-10 years. Mallory was found among them. He lay on his stomach, as if trying to hug the mountain, his head and arms frozen into the slope.

Irving's partner was never found, although the bandage on Mallory's body suggests that the pair were with each other until the very end. The rope was cut with a knife and, perhaps, Irving could move and, leaving his comrade, died somewhere lower down the slope.

Wind and snow do their job; those places on the body that are not covered by clothing are gnawed down to the bones by the snowy wind, and the older the corpse, the less flesh remains on it. No one is going to evacuate dead climbers, a helicopter cannot rise to such a height, and there are no altruists to carry a carcass of 50 to 100 kilograms. So unburied climbers lie on the slopes.

Well, not all climbers are such egoists, but they still save and do not abandon their own in trouble. Only many who died are themselves to blame.

In order to set a personal record for oxygen-free ascent, American Frances Arsentieva, already on the descent, lay exhausted for two days on the southern slope of Everest. Climbers from different countries. Some offered her oxygen (which she refused at first, not wanting to spoil her record), others poured a few sips of hot tea, there was even a married couple who tried to gather people to drag her to the camp, but they soon left because put their own lives at risk.

The American woman’s husband, Russian climber Sergei Arsentiev, with whom she got lost on the descent, did not wait for her at the camp, and went in search of her, during which he also died.

In the spring of 2006, eleven people died on Everest - nothing new, it would seem, if one of them, Briton David Sharp, was not left in a state of agony by a passing group of about 40 climbers. Sharpe was not a rich man and made the ascent without guides or Sherpas. The drama is that if he had enough money, his salvation would be possible. He would still be alive today.

Every spring, on the slopes of Everest, on both the Nepalese and Tibetan sides, countless tents grow up, in which the same dream is cherished - to climb to the roof of the world. Perhaps due to the colorful variety of tents resembling giant tents, or due to the fact that anomalous phenomena have been occurring on this mountain for some time, the scene has been dubbed the “Circus on Everest.”

Society with wise calm looked at this house of clowns, as a place of entertainment, a little magical, a little absurd, but harmless. Everest became the arena for circus performances, absurd and funny things happen here: children come hunting for early records, old people make ascents without outside help, eccentric millionaires appear who have not even seen a cat in a photograph, helicopters land on the top... The list is endless and has nothing to do with mountaineering, but it has a lot in common with money, which, if it doesn’t move mountains, then makes them lower. However, in the spring of 2006, the “circus” turned into a theater of horrors, forever erasing the image of innocence that was usually associated with the pilgrimage to the roof of the world.

On Everest in the spring of 2006, about forty climbers left Englishman David Sharpe alone to die in the middle of the northern slope; Faced with the choice of providing assistance or continuing to climb to the top, they chose the second, since reaching the highest peak in the world for them meant accomplishing a feat.

On the very day that David Sharp died, surrounded by this pretty company and in utter disdain, media around the world sang the praises of Mark Inglis, the New Zealand guide who, without legs amputated after a professional injury, climbed to the top of Everest using hydrocarbon prosthetics. artificial fiber with cats attached to them.

The news, presented by the media as a super-deed, as proof that dreams can change reality, hid tons of garbage and dirt, so Inglis himself began to say: no one helped the British David Sharp in his suffering. The American web page mounteverest.net picked up the news and started pulling the string. At the end of it is a story of human degradation that is difficult to understand, a horror that would have been hidden if not for the media that undertook to investigate what happened.

David Sharp, who was climbing the mountain on his own as part of a climb organized by Asia Trekking, died when his oxygen tank failed at an altitude of 8,500 metres. This happened on May 16th. Sharpe was no stranger to the mountains. At the age of 34, he had already climbed the eight-thousander Cho Oyu, passing the most difficult sections without the use of fixed ropes, which may not be a heroic act, but at least shows his character. Suddenly left without oxygen, Sharpe immediately felt ill and immediately collapsed on the rocks at an altitude of 8500 meters in the middle of the northern ridge. Some of those who preceded him claim that they thought he was resting. Several Sherpas inquired about his condition, asking who he was and who he was traveling with. He replied: “My name is David Sharp, I’m here with Asia Trekking and I just want to sleep.”

North ridge of Everest.

New Zealander Mark Inglis, a double-leg amputee, stepped with his hydrocarbon prosthetics over the body of David Sharp to reach the top; he was one of the few to admit that Sharpe had indeed been left for dead. “At least our expedition was the only one that did something for him: our Sherpas gave him oxygen. About 40 climbers passed by him that day and no one did anything,” he said.

Climbing Everest.

The first person to be alarmed by Sharpe's death was the Brazilian Vitor Negrete, who, in addition, stated that he had been robbed in a high-altitude camp. Vitor was unable to provide any further details, because he died two days later. Negrete reached the summit from the north ridge without the aid of artificial oxygen, but during the descent he began to feel ill and radioed for help from his Sherpa, who helped him reach Camp No. 3. He died in his tent, possibly due to swelling caused by staying at altitude.

Contrary to popular belief, most people die on Everest during good weather, not when the mountain is covered in clouds. A cloudless sky inspires anyone, regardless of their technical equipment and physical abilities, but this is where swelling and typical collapses caused by altitude lie in wait. This spring, the roof of the world experienced a period of good weather, lasting for two weeks without wind or clouds, enough to break the record for ascents at this very time of year: 500.

Camp after the storm.

Under worse conditions, many would not have risen and would not have died...

David Sharp was still alive after spending a terrible night at 8,500 meters. During this time he had the phantasmagoric company of "Mr. Yellow Boots", the corpse of an Indian climber, dressed in old yellow plastic Koflach boots, there for years, lying on a ridge in the middle of the road and still in the fetal position.

The grotto where David Sharp died. For ethical reasons, the body is painted white.

David Sharp shouldn't have died. It would be enough if the commercial and non-commercial expeditions that went to the summit agreed to save the Englishman. If this did not happen, it was only because there was no money, no equipment, no one at base camp who could offer the Sherpas doing this kind of work a good amount of dollars in exchange for their lives. And, since there was no economic incentive, they resorted to a false elementary expression: “at the height you need to be independent.” If this principle were true, the elders, the blind, people with various amputees, the completely ignorant, the sick and other representatives of the fauna who meet at the foot of the “icon” of the Himalayas would not have set foot on the top of Everest, knowing full well that what cannot Their competence and experience will allow their thick checkbook to do so.

Three days after the death of David Sharp, Peace Project director Jamie Mac Guinness and ten of his Sherpas rescued one of his clients who had gone into a tailspin shortly after reaching the summit. It took 36 hours, but he was evacuated from the top on a makeshift stretcher and carried to the base camp. Is it possible or impossible to save a dying person? He, of course, paid a lot, and it saved his life. David Sharp paid only to have a cook and a tent at base camp.

Rescue work on Everest.

A few days later, two members of one expedition from Castile-La Mancha were enough to evacuate one half-dead Canadian named Vince from the North Col (at an altitude of 7,000 meters) under the indifferent gaze of many of those who passed there.

Transportation.

A little later there was one episode that would finally resolve the debate about whether or not it is possible to provide assistance to a dying person on Everest. Guide Harry Kikstra was assigned to lead one group, in which among his clients was Thomas Weber, who had vision problems due to the removal of a brain tumor in the past. On the day of the ascent to the summit of Kikstra, Weber, five Sherpas and a second client, Lincoln Hall, left Camp Three together at night under good climatic conditions.

Gulping heavily on oxygen, a little more than two hours later they came across the body of David Sharp, walked around him with disgust and continued to the top. Despite his vision problems, which the altitude would have exacerbated, Weber climbed on his own using a handrail. Everything happened as planned. Lincoln Hall advanced with his two Sherpas, but at this time Weber's eyesight became seriously impaired. 50 meters from the summit, Kikstra decided to finish the climb and headed back with his Sherpa and Weber. Little by little, the group began to descend from the third stage, then from the second... until suddenly Weber, who seemed exhausted and lost coordination, cast a panicked glance at Kikstra and stunned him: “I’m dying.” And he died, falling into his arms in the middle of the ridge. Nobody could revive him.

Moreover, Lincoln Hall, returning from the top, began to feel ill. Warned by radio, Kikstra, still in a state of shock from Weber's death, sent one of his Sherpas to meet Hall, but the latter collapsed at 8,700 meters and, despite the help of the Sherpas who tried to revive him for nine hours, was unable to rise. At seven o'clock they reported that he was dead. The expedition leaders advised the Sherpas, worried about the onset of darkness, to leave Lincoln Hall and save their lives, which they did.

The slopes of Everest.

That same morning, seven hours later, guide Dan Mazur, who was walking with clients along the road to the top, came across Hall, who, surprisingly, was alive. After he was given tea, oxygen and medication, Hall was able to talk on the radio himself to his team at the base. Immediately, all the expeditions located on the northern side agreed among themselves and sent a detachment of ten Sherpas to help him. Together they removed him from the ridge and brought him back to life.

Frostbite.

He got frostbite on his hands - a minimal loss in this situation. The same should have been done with David Sharp, but unlike Hall (one of the most famous Himalayans from Australia, a member of the expedition that opened one of the paths on the northern side of Everest in 1984), the Englishman did not have a famous name and a support group .

The Sharp case is not news, no matter how scandalous it may seem. The Dutch expedition left one Indian climber to die on the South Col, leaving him only five meters from his tent, leaving him while he was still whispering something and waving his hand.

A well-known tragedy that shocked many occurred in May 1998. Then a married couple, Sergei Arsentiev and Francis Distefano, died.

Sergey Arsentiev and Francis Distefano-Arsentiev, having spent three nights at 8,200 m (!), set out to climb and reached the summit on 05/22/1998 at 18:15. The ascent was made without the use of oxygen. Thus, Frances became the first American woman and only the second woman in history to climb without oxygen.

During the descent, the couple lost each other. He went down to the camp. She doesn't.

The next day, five Uzbek climbers walked to the summit past Frances - she was still alive. The Uzbeks could help, but to do this they would have to give up the climb. Although one of their comrades has already ascended, and in this case the expedition is already considered successful.

On the descent we met Sergei. They said they saw Frances. He took the oxygen cylinders and left. But he disappeared. Probably blown by a strong wind into a two-kilometer abyss.

The next day, three other Uzbeks, three Sherpas and two of South Africa— 8 people! They approach her - she has already spent the second cold night, but she is still alive! Again everyone passes by - to the top.

“My heart sank when I realized that this man in the red and black suit was alive, but completely alone at an altitude of 8.5 km, just 350 meters from the summit,” recalls the British climber. “Katie and I, without thinking, turned off the route and tried to do everything possible to save the dying woman. Thus ended our expedition, which we had been preparing for years, begging money from sponsors... We did not immediately manage to get to it, although it was close. Moving at such a height is the same as running under water...

When we discovered her, we tried to dress the woman, but her muscles atrophied, she looked like a rag doll and kept muttering: “I’m an American.” Please don't leave me."...

We dressed her for two hours. “My concentration was lost due to the bone-piercing rattling sound that broke the ominous silence,” Woodhall continues his story. “I realized: Katie is about to freeze to death herself.” We had to get out of there as quickly as possible. I tried to pick Frances up and carry her, but it was no use. My futile attempts to save her put Katie at risk. There was nothing we could do."

Not a day went by that I didn't think about Frances. A year later, in 1999, Katie and I decided to try again to reach the top. We succeeded, but on the way back we were horrified to notice Frances' body, lying exactly as we had left her, perfectly preserved by the cold temperatures.

No one deserves such an end. Kathy and I promised each other that we would return to Everest again to bury Frances. To prepare new expedition 8 years have passed. I wrapped Frances in an American flag and included a note from my son. We pushed her body into the cliff, away from the eyes of other climbers. Now she rests in peace. Finally, I was able to do something for her." Ian Woodhall.

A year later, the body of Sergei Arsenyev was found: “I apologize for the delay with photographs of Sergei. We definitely saw it - I remember the purple puffer suit. He was in a kind of bowing position, lying immediately behind the Jochen Hemmleb (expedition historian - S.K.) “implicit edge” in the Mallory area at approximately 27,150 feet (8,254 m). I think it's him." Jake Norton, member of the 1999 expedition.

But in the same year there was a case when people remained people. On the Ukrainian expedition, the guy spent a cold night almost in the same place as the American woman. His team brought him down to the base camp, and then more than 40 people from other expeditions helped. Got off easy - four fingers were removed.

"In such extreme situations everyone has the right to decide: to save or not to save a partner... Above 8000 meters you are completely occupied with yourself and it is quite natural that you do not help another, since you have no extra strength.” Miko Imai.

On Everest, the Sherpas act like fine supporting actors in a film made to glorify unpaid actors who silently perform their roles.

Sherpas at work.

But the Sherpas, who provide their services for money, are the main ones in this matter. Without them, there are no fixed ropes, no many climbs, and, of course, no rescue. And in order for them to provide help, they need to be paid money: the Sherpas have been taught to sell themselves for money, and they use the tariff in any circumstances encountered. Just like a poor climber who cannot pay, the Sherpa himself may find himself in dire straits, so for the same reason he is cannon fodder.

The position of the Sherpas is very difficult, since they take upon themselves, first of all, the risk of organizing a “performance” so that even the least qualified can snatch a piece of what they paid for.

Frostbitten Sherpa.

“The corpses on the route are a good example and a reminder to be more careful on the mountain. But every year there are more and more climbers, and according to statistics, the number of corpses will increase every year. What is unacceptable in normal life is considered normal at high altitudes.” Alexander Abramov, Master of Sports of the USSR in mountaineering.

“You can’t continue to climb, maneuvering between corpses, and pretend that this is in the order of things.” Alexander Abramov.

“Why are you going to Everest?” asked George Mallory.

“Because he is!”

Mallory was the first to reach the summit and died on the descent. In 1924, the Mallory-Irving team launched an assault. They were last seen through binoculars in a break in the clouds just 150 meters from the summit. Then the clouds moved in and the climbers disappeared.

The mystery of their disappearance, the first Europeans remaining on Sagarmatha, worried many. But it took many years to find out what happened to the climber.

In 1975, one of the conquerors claimed that he saw some body off to the side of the main path, but did not approach so as not to lose strength. It took another twenty years until in 1999, while traversing the slope from high-altitude camp 6 (8290 m) to the west, the expedition came across many bodies that had died over the past 5-10 years. Mallory was found among them. He lay on his stomach, spread out, as if hugging a mountain, his head and arms frozen into the slope.

“They turned it over - the eyes were closed. This means that he did not die suddenly: when they break, many of them remain open. They didn’t let me down - they buried me there.”

Irving was never found, although the bandage on Mallory's body suggests that the couple were with each other until the very end. The rope was cut with a knife and, perhaps, Irving could move and, leaving his comrade, died somewhere lower down the slope.

Scary footage from the Discovery Channel in the series “Everest - Beyond the Possible.” When the group finds a freezing man, they film him, but are only interested in his name, leaving him to die alone in an ice cave:

The question immediately arises, how does this happen:

Francis Astentiev.

Cause of death: hypothermia and/or cerebral edema.
Evacuation of the bodies of dead climbers is very difficult, and often completely impossible, so in most cases their bodies remain on Everest forever. Passing climbers paid tribute to Frances by covering her body with an American flag.

Frances Arsentiev climbed Everest with her husband Sergei in 1998. At some point, they lost sight of each other, and were never able to reunite, dying in different parts of the mountain. Frances died from hypothermia and possible cerebral edema, and Sergei most likely died in a fall.

George Mallory.

Cause of death: head injury due to a fall.
British climber George Mallory may have been the first person to reach the summit of Everest, but we will never know for sure. Mallory and his teammate Andrew Irwin were last seen climbing Everest in 1924. In 1999, legendary climber Conrad Anker discovered Mallory's remains, but they do not answer the question of whether he managed to reach the summit.

Hannelore Schmatz.

In 1979, the first woman died on Everest, German climber Hannelore Schmatz. Her body froze in a half-sitting position, since initially she had a backpack under her back. Once upon a time, all the climbers climbing the southern slope passed by the body of Schmatz, which could be seen just above Camp IV, but one day strong winds scattered her remains over the Kangshung Wall.

Unknown climber.

The cause of death has not been established.
One of several bodies found at high altitudes that remain unidentified.

Tsewang Paljor.

Cause of death: hypothermia.
The corpse of climber Tsewang Paljor, one of the members of the first Indian team to attempt to climb Everest via the northeast route. Paljor died during the descent when a snowstorm began.

Tsewang Paljor's corpse is called "Green Boots" in mountaineering slang. It serves as a landmark for climbers climbing Everest.

David Sharp.

Cause of death: hypothermia and oxygen starvation.
British climber David Sharp stopped to rest near Green Shoes and was unable to continue. Other climbers passed by the slowly freezing, exhausted Sharpe, but were unable to help him without endangering their own lives.

Marko Lihteneker.

Cause of death: hypothermia and oxygen deprivation due to problems with oxygen equipment.
A Slovenian climber died while descending Everest in 2005. His body was found just 48 meters from the summit.

Open graves in thin air

After Everest was commercialized in the nineties, amateurs and amateurs flocked to its slopes. And if there are too many people in an extreme risk zone, then, alas, casualties cannot be avoided.

1. George Mallory and Andrew Irvine

New Zealander Edmund Hillary, who climbed to the top of the world in 1953, is officially considered the first conqueror of Everest. But attempts to climb the peak have been made before. In 1924, the British George Mallory and Andrew Irwin climbed to the top together, but we will never know whether they succeeded. They were last seen in a clearing of clouds at a distance of 350 meters from the peak. The climbers were waited at the base camp for several days, but they never returned. Mallory's body was found only in 1999. It still lies on one of the routes, frozen into the rock. According to one version, George and his partner finally reached the top and died on the descent. Irwin's body was never found.

2. Maurice Wilson

The story of Maurice Wilson is a good example of the fact that amateurs have no place on Everest. In 1934, a former British soldier decided that he would fly to Nepal by plane and then climb Everest. Both of these facts should have become records. The expedition was complicated by the fact that Maurice did not know how to fly an airplane and had no mountaineering experience. But these little things did not bother the proud warrior. Maurice bought a plane and took flying classes. By hook or by crook, he reached Nepal, and he had to travel the last part of the journey by land, because... his plane was seized. He tried to climb the mountain twice, but was forced to return to camp. The third attempt became fatal. Many believed that Maurice was so stubborn that he preferred death in the mountains to returning home with nothing. What little details we know about this ascent come from a diary that was found a year later next to his body. Wilson froze to death in a tent at an altitude of 7,400 meters.

3. Expedition of Pavel Datschnolyan

The very fact of the existence of the Soviet expedition led by Pavel Datschnolyan still remains in doubt. It is believed that the expedition was organized in 1952, when the Chinese authorities restricted access to Nepal for foreigners, while making an exception for an expedition from the USSR. According to some sources, the Chinese found the remains of Datschnolyan himself and five more of his comrades on the mountainside.

4. Expedition “Mountain Madness”

Four members of this commercial expedition became victims of a snowstorm, which claimed the lives of eight of the three people in total. different groups. The tragedy occurred on May 11, 1996. The “Mountain Madness” expedition encountered a severe storm on its way down from the summit. As a result, four died, including two guides from New Zealand and two tourists from Japan and the United States.

5. Expedition “Adventure Consultants”

This commercial expedition lost its leader, experienced mountaineer Rob Hall, in the same May 1996 snowstorm. Hall felt very unwell during the last days of the climb. He fell far behind and was the last of his group to reach the summit, although he should have given the command to return long ago. The most important thing when climbing at this altitude is to stick to your schedule. But on this day everything went wrong. “Adventure Consultants” and “Mountain Madness” were so close that they began to delay each other and, accordingly, get behind schedule. Climbers say: “If by time X you are not at point Y, then you need to turn back.” Having delayed the ascent for several hours, on the descent the group got into a snowstorm, where they lost their leader and several other people. The rest of the team managed to reach the camp.

6. Expedition of the Indo-Tibetan Border Guard Service

The Indian-Tibetan team was the third group to reach the summit of Everest that May day, but they were climbing the northern slope. Two days earlier, the expedition had already lost one guide. The man died very stupidly: he went to the toilet without putting crampons on his shoes, and simply slipped into the abyss. Of the three Indian climbers who climbed Everest that day, none returned to camp. Later, the body of one of them will be found in a small grotto, where he still lies. His green boots became a kind of toponym for climbers. They call the 8,500-meter mark “green boots.”

7. Sergey Arsentiev and Francis Distefano (Arsentieva)

The mountaineering couple climbed in May 1998, and Frances climbed the route without an oxygen tank, becoming the first American woman to conquer Everest without using oxygen. Due to bad weather conditions, the couple spent three days in a tent at an altitude of 8,200 meters. After that, they still climbed to the top, but on the descent the couple lost each other. Sergei returned to the camp without his wife and went in search of her. The freezing Frances was found the next day by climbers Ian Woodall and Katie O'Dowd. Despite attempts to help, the woman died. Ian and Katie were forced to leave the body, and for several years it lay in plain view of passing climbers. It was not until 2007 that Woodell was able to return, finding Frances in the same position in which he had left her nine years earlier. Woodall wrapped him in an American flag, enclosed a note from his son, and pushed Frances into the abyss. The body of Sergei Arsentyev was found in 1999. He froze trying to find his wife.

8. David Sharp

The story of David Sharp received serious publicity, revealing the terrible underbelly of the heroic conquest of Everest. In May 2006, Englishman David Sharp climbed the northern slope alone, not accompanied by Sherpa guides. At an altitude of 8500 meters, David ran out of oxygen, and he sat down in a grotto near the famous Indian in green boots. On this day, about forty people passed by the dying Englishman, but no one helped him. Among them was a film crew from the Discovery Channel. They turned on the camera and asked his name. “My name is David Sharp, I’m very sleepy,” the climber replied. The group moved on, leaving him an oxygen tank. This footage is available on YouTube via Dying for Everest.

Despite all the horrors that are happening on Everest, the biggest tragedy was the avalanche on April 18, 2014. It claimed the lives of sixteen Sherpas serving the route. Sherpas are a people inhabiting the foothills of Chomolungma in Southern Nepal. They are the ones who provide ascents for extreme sports enthusiasts from all over the world. Sherpas carry hundreds of kilograms of equipment and supplies, provide railings for climbers and insure them in case someone in the group becomes ill. On April 18, the Sherpas were doing their usual work - laying out the ropes for the ascent and delivering food, gas and oxygen cylinders to the intermediate camps. The avalanche came unexpectedly, completely filling a huge gorge, 16 people died on the spot. After the tragedy, the Sherpas refused to go to work. They demanded respect for their labor rights, decent pay and compensation for the families of the victims. Under pressure from the Sherpas, the Nepalese government was forced to cancel the 2014 Everest climbing season.

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Climbing participants

Commercial expedition “Mountain Madness”

For the necessary acclimatization in the mountains, members of the Mountain Madness expedition were supposed to fly from Los Angeles on March 23 to Kathmandu, and fly to Lukla (2850 m) on March 28. On April 8, the entire group was already in Base Camp. Unexpectedly for everyone, the group's guide, Neil Bidleman, developed a so-called “high altitude cough”. After Biddleman, other members of the expedition began to have health problems. Nevertheless, everyone carefully followed the “acclimatization schedule.” However, as it turned out later, Scott Fischer was in bad shape. physical fitness and took 125 mg of Diamox (Acetazolamide) daily.

Commercial expedition "Adventure Consultants"

Chronology of events

Belated rise

Climbing without the use of oxygen, Anatoly Boukreev reached the top first, at approximately 13:07. A few minutes later Jon Krakauer appeared at the top. After some time, Harris and Biddleman. Many of the remaining climbers did not reach the summit before 14:00 - the critical time when they must begin their descent to safely return to Camp IV and spend the night.

Anatoly Boukreev began to descend to Camp IV only at 14:30. By then, Martin Adams and Cleve Schoening had reached the summit, while Biddleman and the other members of the Mountain Madness expedition had not yet reached the summit. Soon, according to the observations of the climbers, the weather began to deteriorate; at approximately 15:00 it began to snow and it became dark. Makalu Go reached the summit at early 16:00 and immediately noticed worsening weather conditions.

The senior Sherpa in Hall's group, Ang Dorje, and the other Sherpas remained to wait for the other climbers at the summit. After about 15:00 they began their descent. On the way down, Ang Dorje spotted one of the clients, Doug Hansen, in the Hillary Steps area. Dorje ordered him to come down, but Hansen did not answer him. When Hall arrived on scene, he sent Sherpas down to help other clients while he stayed behind to help Hansen, who had run out of supplemental oxygen.

Scott Fisher did not reach the summit until 15:45, being in poor physical condition: possibly due to altitude sickness, pulmonary edema and exhaustion from fatigue. It is unknown when Rob Hall and Doug Hansen reached the top.

Descent during a storm

According to Boukreev, he reached Camp IV by 17:00. Anatoly was heavily criticized for his decision to go down before his clients. Krakauer accused Boukreev of being “confused, unable to assess the situation, and showing irresponsibility.” He responded to the accusations by saying that he was going to help the descending clients with further descent, preparing additional oxygen and hot drinks. Critics also claimed that, according to Boukreev himself, he descended with client Martin Adams, however, as it turned out later, Boukreev himself descended faster and left Adams far behind.

Bad weather made it difficult for the expedition members to descend. By this time, due to a snowstorm on the southwestern slope of Everest, visibility had deteriorated significantly, and the markers that had been installed during the ascent and indicated the path to Camp IV disappeared under the snow.

Fischer, who was helped by Sherpa Lopsang Jangbu, could not descend from the Balcony (at 8230 m) in a snowstorm. As Go later said, his Sherpas left him at an altitude of 8230 m along with Fischer and Lopsang, who also could no longer descend. In the end, Fischer convinced Lopsang to go down alone, leaving him and Go behind.

Hall radioed for help, reporting that Hansen had lost consciousness but was still alive. Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris began the climb to the Hillary Steps at approximately 5:30 p.m., carrying a supply of water and oxygen.

Several climbers got lost in the South Col area. Mountain Madness members guide Biddleman, Schoening, Fox, Madsen, Pittman and Gammelgard, along with Adventure Consultants members guide Groom, Beck Withers and Yasuko Namba, were lost in the snowstorm until midnight. When they could no longer continue their journey from fatigue, they huddled together just 20 meters from the abyss at the Kanshung wall. Kangshung Face). Pittman soon began to experience symptoms of altitude sickness. Fox gave her dexamethasone.

Around midnight, the storm subsided, and the climbers were able to see Camp IV, which was located 200 m away. Biddleman, Groom, Schöning and Gammelgard went for help. Madsen and Fox remained with the group and called for help. Boukreev located the climbers and was able to bring out Pittman, Fox and Madsen. He was also criticized by other climbers because he gave preference to his clients Pittman, Fox and Madsen, while it was argued that Namba was already in a dying state. Boukreev didn’t notice Withers at all. In total, Boukreev made two trips to bring these three climbers to safety. As a result, neither he nor the other participants who were in Camp IV had the strength left to go after Namba.

However, Withers regained consciousness later that day and made it back to camp alone, much to the surprise of everyone at the camp, as he was suffering from hypothermia and severe frostbite. Withers was given oxygen and tried to warm him up, settling him in a tent for the night. Despite all this, Withers had to face the elements again when a gust of wind blew his tent away one night and he had to spend the night in the cold. Once again he was mistaken for dead, but Krakauer discovered that Withers was conscious and on May 12 he was prepared for emergency evacuation from Camp IV. Over the next two days, Withers was lowered to Camp II, part of the journey, however, he made on his own, and was later evacuated by rescue helicopter. Withers underwent a long course of treatment, but due to severe frostbite, his nose, right hand and all the fingers of his left hand were amputated. In total, he underwent more than 15 operations, his back muscles were reconstructed thumb, and plastic surgeons restored the nose.

Scott Fisher and Makalu Go were discovered on May 11 by Sherpas. Fischer's condition was so serious that they had no choice but to make him comfortable and devote most of their efforts to saving Go. Anatoly Boukreev made another attempt to save Fischer, but only discovered his frozen body at approximately 19:00.

North slope of Everest

Indo-Tibetan Border Guard

Less known, but no less tragic, are 3 more accidents that occurred on the same day with climbers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Service climbing the Northern Slope. The expedition was led by Lieutenant Colonel Mohinder Singh. Commandant Mohinder Singh, who is considered to be the first Indian climber to conquer Everest from the North Face.

Initially, the indifference of the Japanese climbers stunned the Indians. According to the leader of the Indian expedition, “at first the Japanese offered to help in the search for the missing Indians. But a few hours later they continued to climb to the top, despite the deteriorating weather." The Japanese team continued climbing until 11:45. By the time the Japanese climbers began their descent, one of the two Indians was already dead, and the second was on the verge of life and death. They lost sight of the traces of the third descending climber. However, Japanese climbers denied that they had ever seen any dying climbers on the climb.

Captain Kohli, representative of the Indian Mountaineering Federation Indian Mountaineering Federation ), who initially blamed the Japanese, later retracted his claim that the Japanese had claimed to have met Indian climbers on May 10.

“The Indo-Tibetan Border Guard Service (ITBS) confirms the statement of members of the Fukuoka expedition that they did not leave Indian climbers without help and did not refuse to help in the search for the missing.” The managing director of ITPS stated that “the misunderstanding occurred due to communication interference between the Indian climbers and their base camp.”

Shortly after the incident, the twisted and frozen body of Tsewang Poljor was discovered near a small limestone cave at an altitude of 8500 m. Due to technical difficulties in evacuating the bodies of the dead, the body of the Indian climber still lies where it was first discovered. Climbers climbing the North Face can see the outline of the body and the bright green boots the climber wore. The term "Green Shoes" Green Boots ) soon became firmly established in the vocabulary of Everest conquerors. This is how the 8500 m mark on the North Slope of Everest is designated.

I was lucky to survive the storm of 1996 and lucky to move on with my life. The Indian climber was unlucky. But it could have been different. If this happened, I would want a fellow climber to work hard remove my body from the sight of other climbers, and protect me from birds... Original text(English) "I survived the big storm of 1996 and was fortunate enough to be able to get on with the rest of my life," the British climber told TNN. "The Indian climber was not. The roles could have so easily been reversed. If that had happened I would like to think that a fellow climber would take it upon themselves to move me away from the sight of passing climbers and to protect me from the birds."

Victims of the tragedy

Name	Citizenship	Expedition	Place of death	Cause of death
Doug Hansen (Client)	USA	Adventure Consultants	Southern slope
Andrew Harris (Tour Guide)	New Zealand		Southeast ridge, 8800 m	Unknown; presumably a fall on the descent
Yasuko Nambo (Client)	Japan		South Col	External influences (hypothermia, radiation, frostbite)
Rob Hall (Tour Guide)	New Zealand		Southern slope
Scott Fisher (Tour Guide)	USA	Mountain Madness	Southeast Ridge
Sergeant Tsewang Samanla		Indo-Tibetan Border Guard Force	Northeast Ridge
Corporal Dorje Morup
Senior Constable Tsewang Paljor

Event Analysis

Commercialization of Everest

The first commercial expeditions to Everest began to be organized in the early 1990s. Guides appear, ready to make any client’s dream come true. They take care of everything: delivering participants to the base camp, organizing the route and intermediate camps, accompanying the client and securing him all the way up and down. At the same time, conquering the summit was not guaranteed. In pursuit of profit, some guides take on clients who are not able to climb to the top at all. In particular, Henry Todd from the Himalayan Guides company argued that “...without blinking an eye, these leaders pocket a lot of money, knowing full well that their charges have no chance.” Neil Biddleman, a guide for the Mountain Madness group, admitted to Anatoly Boukreev even before the ascent began that “...half of the clients have no chance of reaching the summit; for most of them the ascent will end at the South Col (7900 m)."

The famous New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary had an extremely negative attitude towards commercial expeditions. In his opinion, the commercialization of Everest "offended the dignity of the mountains."

• American climber and writer Galen Rovell, in an article for the Wall Street Journal, called the operation carried out by Boukreev to rescue the three climbers “unique”:

On December 6, 1997, the American Alpine Club awarded Anatoly Boukreev the David Souls Prize, awarded to climbers who saved people in the mountains at risk to their own lives.

Literature

• Jon Krakauer In thin air = Into thin air. - M: Sofia, 2004. - 320 p. - 5000 copies. - ISBN 5-9550-0457-2
• Bukreev A.N., G. Weston De Walt Climbing. Tragic ambitions on Everest = The Climb: Tragic ambitions on Everest. - M: MTsNMO, 2002. - 376 p. - 3000 copies. - ISBN 5-94057-039-9
• David Breashears"High Exposure, Epilogue". - Simon & Schuster, 1999.
• Nick Heil„Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season“. - Holt Paperbacks, 2007. -

Every climber is well aware that mountain peaks whose height exceeds 8000 meters are fraught with mortal danger for their conquerors. Under conditions, the human body completely loses its ability to recover, which is often the reason. The tragedy on Everest in May 1996 was a clear confirmation of this.

Victims of the insidious peak

By a fateful coincidence, the entire year of 1996 became a sad page in the history of the conquest of Everest. During the season, fifteen people lost their lives storming this treacherous peak. Two commercial climbing groups, Mountain Madness and Adventure Consultants, were also affected by the disaster.

As evidenced by the chronicle of the 1996 Everest tragedy, they included six experienced, highly qualified guides, eight Sherpas - local residents hired as guides and porters, and sixteen clients who paid sixty-five thousand dollars for the opportunity to play with death on the icy slopes. For five, the ascent ended tragically.

How the 1996 Everest tragedy began

Early in the morning of May 10, when the sun's rays had not yet illuminated the peaks of the mountains, thirty daredevils began the assault on Everest, a peak rising 8848 meters above sea level. The groups were led by serious professionals Rob Hall and Scott Fisher. They knew that the entire area beyond 8,000 meters was called the “death zone”, and understood the need for careful preparation of climbers and strict adherence to established rules, especially when it comes to such treacherous peaks as Everest. The year 1996, the tragedy of which shocked sports fans, became a black page in the history of world mountaineering.

As those who were lucky enough to survive later testified, problems arose from the very beginning of the assault. The ascent schedule, which strictly regulated the time required to overcome each section of the slope, was immediately violated, as it turned out that the Sherpas had failed to install rope railings on the group’s path. When we finally got to the most critical area, which bears the name, we lost more than an hour of precious time there due to the accumulation of climbers from other groups.

Climbers have a rule that says: “If you're behind schedule, don't wait for trouble - come back!” Four commercial group clients, Stuart Hutchinson, John Tuske, Frank Fischbeck and Lou Kasischke, took this sage advice and survived. The rest of the climbers continued on their way. By five o'clock in the morning they reached the next important milestone, located at an altitude of 8350 meters and called the “Balcony”. There was again a delay, this time due to lack of insurance. But there were only a hundred meters left to the cherished peak. It beckoned, clearly silhouetted against the background of the perfect blue sky, and this proximity of the goal was intoxicating and dulled the sense of danger.

On top

Is one hundred meters a lot or a little? If you measure from home to the nearest cafe, then they are very close, but when we are talking about an almost vertical slope, thin air and a temperature of -40 ° C, then in this case they can stretch into icy infinity. Therefore, each climber overcame the last, most difficult section of the climb independently, choosing speed depending on his own well-being and strength.

At about one o'clock in the afternoon, Russian Anatoly Bukreev, an experienced climber and Honored Master of Sports, climbed Everest. He first set foot on this peak in 1991 and subsequently conquered eleven more eight-thousanders on the planet. Twice he was awarded for personal courage. He has saved many lives, including during the ascent of Everest (tragedy 1996). Anatoly died a year later in an avalanche in the Himalayas.

Somewhat behind Boukreev, two more appeared at the summit - commercial client Jon Brakauer and Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris. Half an hour later they were joined by Mountain Madness guide Neil Beidleman and their client Martin Adams. The rest of the climbers were far behind.

Belated Descent

According to the schedule, the deadline for the start of the descent was set at two o'clock in the afternoon, but by this time most of the participants in the ascent had not yet reached the top, and when they finally succeeded, people rejoiced and took photographs for too long. Thus, time was irretrievably lost. This was one of the reasons for the event now known as the 1996 Everest tragedy.

Only at about sixteen o'clock a message was received at the base camp that all the climbers were at the top. He was the first to begin the descent, since of all those present he had spent the longest at the maximum altitude and could no longer cope without additional oxygen. His task was to return to Camp IV - the last stopping place before the summit, rest and return to help the others, taking with him oxygen cylinders and a thermos of hot tea.

In mountain captivity

Survivors of the 1996 tragedy on Everest later said that by the beginning of the descent of Anatolia, the weather had sharply deteriorated, the wind had risen, and visibility had deteriorated. It became impossible to stay further at the peak, and the rest of the team also pulled down. went down with one of the Sherpas named Lopsang.

Having reached the “Balcony” and finding themselves at a level of 8230 meters, they were forced to delay due to the extremely poor health of Fischer, who by that time had developed severe cerebral edema - a common phenomenon at extreme altitudes. He sent Lopsang to continue the descent and, if possible, bring help.

When Sherpa reached Camp IV, the people in it were not ready to leave the tents and again find themselves on the mountain slope among the snowstorm that had risen by that time. The last hope rested on Bukreev, but at that time he was leading him out of snow captivity three people- Sandy Pittman, Charlotte Fox and Tim Madsen. Only in the middle of the next day did we manage to get to Fischer, but he was already dead. They couldn’t bring his body down, so they simply buried him with stones on the mountainside. Everest, which he conquered (1996), became a monument to Scott. The tragedy continued its dark harvest.

By this time, the wind had become even stronger, and the snow it raised limited visibility literally to arm's length. In this most difficult situation, a group of climbers from the Adventure Consultants squad got lost, completely losing their bearings. They tried to find the way to Camp IV and moved blindly until they fell exhausted at the very edge of the abyss, fortunately, not reaching it a few meters.

It was the same Bukreev who saved them from certain death. In the impenetrable snow mess, he managed to find the freezing climbers and drag them one by one to the camp. This episode was later described in detail by Neil Beidleman, one of those who was lucky enough to escape death while conquering Everest (1996).

Tragedy

Anatoly did everything in his power. He was unable to help only two people: the Japanese Yasuka Namba was already in a hopeless state by that time, and another member of the group, Withers, got lost in a snowstorm and could not be found. The next morning he himself reached the camp, but was so frostbitten that no one hoped for a successful outcome. He survived, but when he was taken by helicopter to the hospital, doctors had to amputate his right hand, all the fingers of his left and his nose. This is how the climb to Everest (1996) turned out to be such a misfortune for him.

The tragedy that unfolded on May 11 continued in full force the next day. When the last climbers left the summit, two people brought up the rear: Rob Hall and his friend Doug Hansen. After some time, an alarming message was received from Rob that Doug had lost consciousness. They urgently needed oxygen, and Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris headed towards them with a cylinder.

When he succeeded, Hansen was still alive, but in critical condition. The situation was complicated by the fact that Rob’s oxygen cylinder regulator had frozen over and could not be connected to the mask. After some time, Harris, who arrived to help, suddenly disappeared in the snowy darkness.

During the last radio communication session, Rob Hall reported that both climbers with him were dead, and he was practically hopeless due to severe frostbite. The man asked to speak to his pregnant wife, Jan Arnold, who remained in New Zealand. Having said a few words of consolation to her, Rob turned off the radio forever. The 1996 Everest tragedy ended this man's life. It was not possible to save him, and only twelve days later his body, petrified in the cold, was found by members of another expedition.

The 1996 Mount Everest tragedy had a sad outcome. The Mountain Madness group suffered fewer losses, but its leader Scott Fisher died during the descent from the summit. The second team - "Adventure Consultants" - immediately lost four people. These were: leader Rod Hall, his regular client Doug Hansen, climber-instructor Andy Harris and Japanese athlete Yasuko Namba, who did not reach Camp IV quite a bit.

Causes of the disaster

Today, after many years have passed since the sad events, analyzing the causes of this largest tragedy in the Himalayas, experts come to the conclusion that there were several of them. Conquering mountain heights exceeding eight thousand meters is always associated with risk, but its degree largely depends on how strictly the requirements for climbing participants are observed.

Among the reasons that resulted in the tragedy on Everest (May 1996), first of all, violations associated with the ascent schedule were noted. In accordance with the previously planned plan, both groups, starting their ascent at midnight on May 10, were supposed to reach the mountain ridge at dawn, and at 10 a.m. on May 11, be at the South Summit.

It was planned to climb to the final point of the ascent - Everest - at noon. This plan remained unfulfilled, and the ascent lasted up to 16 hours. The violations provoked a series of fatal events that resulted in the death of people. Rule “If you're behind schedule, don't wait for trouble - come back!” was ignored.

Researchers cite a number of delays during the ascent as one of the reasons why the tragedy occurred on Everest in May 1996. The plan for the climb was that Lapsang and Rob Sherpas would leave camp before the rest of the team and install rope railings near the South Summit for the safety of the climbers. They did not do this due to an attack of altitude sickness in one of them. This work had to be carried out by guides Boukreev and Beidleman, which resulted in additional delay.

Security violations

In addition, the organizers of the climb committed a gross violation of safety rules that day. The fact is that on May 11, three groups set out to storm Everest. The tragedy of 1996 occurred largely because there were an excessive number of climbers on the slope that day, and there was a traffic jam before the last, most difficult section of the climb.

As a result, at an altitude of 8500 meters, in thin air and severe frost, tired people were forced to wait their turn, standing in the piercing wind. Subsequently, analyzing the reasons that resulted in the tragedy on Everest in 1996, the organizers of the climb justified themselves with the hope that a large number of participants in the climb would help them more easily cope with deep snow and other difficulties of the route.

Impact of natural factors on climbers

Everyone who makes ascents, and especially those who organize them, should know that at extreme heights the human body is subject to a number of negative influences. Among them is a lack of oxygen caused by low air pressure, and frost, sometimes reaching -75 ° C.

Aggravated by extreme fatigue as a result of climbing a mountain slope, these factors lead to increased heart rate, respiration, and sometimes hypothermia and hypoxia. At such altitudes, the body completely loses its ability to recover, and increased physical activity lead to its extreme exhaustion. These are the dangers that Everest conceals. The tragedy of 1996, which took place on its slopes, became a clear and sad confirmation of this.

As practice shows, among the causes of death of climbers at high altitudes, the most common is cerebral edema. It occurs as a result of low oxygen content in the air and leads to paralysis, coma and death. Another cause of death in conditions of thin air and low temperatures is called pulmonary edema. It often ends in inflammation, bronchitis and rib fractures.

Lack of oxygen, aggravated by high exercise, often causes heart attacks, which can also lead to death in the absence of immediate medical attention. Blindness caused by the shine of snow in clear weather also poses a significant danger to a person who finds himself in the mountains. It leads to accidents that Everest witnessed. The tragedy (1996), photos of the participants of which illustrate this article, provided rich material for understanding its causes and developing safety measures.

And finally, frostbite. As noted above, on eight-thousanders the temperature often drops to -75 °C. If we consider that wind gusts here reach 130 kilometers per hour, it becomes clear what a danger such extreme weather conditions pose to people’s lives.

In addition to the extremely negative impact on physical condition of a person, all of these factors significantly worsen his mental abilities. This affects short-term and long-term memory, clarity of mind, the ability to adequately assess the situation and, as a result, makes it impossible to make the right decisions.

In order to stimulate the body's resistance to negative factors affecting it, acclimatization is practiced. However, in this case, her schedule was disrupted. The reason for this was the delay in the installation of high-altitude camps, as well as the poor preparation of the ascent participants themselves. As can be seen from their memories, many did not know how to properly distribute their strength and, wanting to save it, showed unreasonable slowness on the rise.

Weather factor and lack of oxygen

Experienced climbers know that even the most careful preparation expedition is not a guarantee of its success. A lot depends on whether you are lucky with the weather. Everest is an area where it changes with amazing speed. Within a short period of time, it is possible to transition from a clear sunny day to a snow hurricane, covering everything around with impenetrable darkness.

This is exactly what happened on that ill-fated day, May 11, 1996. The tragedy on Everest also erupted because when the climbers, who had barely survived the delight of conquering the peak, began their descent, the weather sharply worsened. Blizzards and blizzards severely limited visibility and obscured the markers indicating the path to Camp IV. As a result, a group of climbers got lost and lost their bearings.

Hurricane winds, the speed of which reached 130 kilometers per hour that day, and severe frost not only exposed people to the danger of being swept into the abyss, but also led to a decrease in atmospheric pressure. As a result, the oxygen content in the air dropped. It reached 14%, which greatly aggravated the situation. This concentration required the immediate use of oxygen cylinders, which by that time were completely used up. The result was a critical situation. There was a threat of loss of consciousness, pulmonary edema and imminent death.

The lack of cylinders is a mistake of the organizers of the ascent, which Everest has not forgiven them for. The tragedy of 1996 also occurred because some of its participants were unprepared people who could not tolerate rarefied air. During acclimatization trips, they had to sleep with oxygen cylinders, which significantly increased their consumption. In addition, they were required in large quantities to rescue Ngawang Sherpa, who was urgently evacuated from a height.

The dangers lurking in the commercial approach to mountaineering

And one more important factor, which caused the sad event on May 11, 1996. The tragedy on Everest was to some extent a consequence of the commercialization of mountaineering, which began in the nineties. Then structures appeared and quickly developed aimed solely at making a profit from the desire of clients to participate in conquering peaks. For them, neither the level of training of these people, nor their age, nor physical condition played a role.

The main thing was that the required amount was paid. In the case of Mountain Madness and Adventure Consultants, it was sixty-five thousand dollars. The price included the services of professional guides, expenses for food, equipment, delivery to the base camp and escort to the peak of the mountain.

Subsequently, one of the guides admitted that the clients who were part of the “Mountain Madness” were so unprepared for the climb that he was already sure of failure, and, nevertheless, led them to a height accessible only to experienced athletes. This endangered the lives of not only these tourists, but also everyone who went with them. At altitude, one person's mistake can lead to the death of the entire group. This is partly what happened. The Everest tragedy (1996), whose participants became victims of commercial interests, is a clear confirmation of this.