How did it all happen

Two commercial groups - "Mountain Madness" and "Adventure Consultants" consisting of 30 people, among which were 6 high-class guides, 8 Sherpas and 16 commercial clients, led by their leaders - American Scott Fisher and New Zealander Rob Hall - went on the assault summits of Everest before dawn on May 10th. By the evening of May 11, five of them were already dead, including Fisher 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 hang the rope railing along the route of the groups. Before the Hillary Step - the most important and difficult part of the ascent - the climbers lost almost an hour due to the lack of insurance and a long line of climbers. By 5:30 am, when the first climbers reached the Balcony (8350 m) - another 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 the stage of slow dying.

By 10:00 am, the first member of the Adventure Consultants expedition, 53-year-old Frank Fishbeck, decides to turn back. At 11:45 in front of the South Summit, another client of the Hall, Lou Kazischke, decides to abandon the attempt. Stuart Hutchinson and John Taske also decide to turn back. And this is only 100 meters from the summit of Everest in wonderful weather - such a difficult decision, 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 another - the same thing. I suddenly felt how tired I was. Other than that, unlike most of my comrades, I didn't need to climb at any cost. Of course, I wanted to conquer the summit. But… I live in Detroit. I would go back to Detroit and say, "I've conquered Everest." They would answer me: “Everest, right? Great. By the way, did you hear how our guys played against the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday?”

Lou Kazishke

Anatoly Bukreev was the first to reach the summit of Everest at about 1 pm, climbing without the use of additional oxygen. Hall's client Jon Krakauer followed him to the top, followed by Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris. At twenty-five past one, Mountain Madness guide Neil Beidleman and Fisher's client Martin Adams showed up. But all the following climbers were strongly delayed. By 2:00 pm, when you need to start descending in any case, not all clients reached the summit, and having climbed it, they spent an unacceptably long time photographing and rejoicing.

At 15:45 Fisher reported to the base camp that all the clients had ascended the mountain. “God, how tired I am,” 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 a long time without a supply of oxygen and began the descent first in order to return to Camp IV, take a break and go up again to help descending clients with additional oxygen and hot tea. He reached the camp by 17:00, when the weather had already deteriorated badly. Krakauer would later, in his book Into Thin Air, falsely accuse Boukreev of running away and leaving his clients in danger. In reality, this was not the case at all.

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

Before descending to the Hillary Step, I noticed that from below, from the valleys, some kind of whitish haze was rising, and the wind was picking up at the top.

Lyn Gammelgard

Scott Fisher. Doom

Fischer began his descent together with Sherpa Lopsang and the head of the Taiwanese expedition climbing the same day, Min Ho Gau, but they experienced great difficulties due to their poor physical condition and braked on the Balcony (8230 m). Already closer to the night, Fischer forced Lopsang to go down alone and bring help. By this point, Scott had begun to develop severe cerebral edema.

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

Yasuko Namba. Doom

At this time, the Mountain Madness group, led by guide Neil Beidleman (Clev Schoening, Charlotte Fox, Timothy Madsen, Sandy Pittman and Lyn Gammelgard), along with members of the Adventure Consultants guide Mike Groom, Beck 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 to literally 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 come to an end, and in such conditions, imminent death awaited them in the very near future. But fortunately for them, the storm soon subsided a little, and they managed to make out the tents of Camp IV only some two hundred meters away. The most experienced Beidleman, along with three other climbers, went for help. Then Bukreev, who was waiting for them in the camp, learned about the scale of the unfolding tragedy and hurried to help.

Bukreev took turns going around the tents of Camp IV and tried to force guides, Sherpas and clients to rise in search of the missing with threats and persuasion. None of them responded to his insistent calls, and Bukreev went alone towards the snowstorm and the gathering darkness.

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

“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 Weathers and Nambu, severely frostbitten, already unconscious and decided that they could not be saved. As hard as it was to make such a decision, he went back to the 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 others.

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 the left, lost his nose, but remained alive.

Rob Hall, Doug Hansen, Andy Harris. Doom

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

On the morning of May 11, the stubborn Rob Hall was still fighting for his life. At 4:43 am, he contacted the base camp and reported that he was near the South Summit. He said that Harris managed to get to them, but Hansen was very sick, and Hall himself had an oxygen tank regulator iced up, and he could not connect it to the mask.

At 5:31, Hall calls back and says "Doug is gone" and Harris has gone missing and still can't get over his mask. Rob Hall is constantly wondering where his clients Weathers and Namba are, and why they are still not in the camp.
By 9:00 a.m., Hall was able to get his oxygen supply back on, but he was already suffering from severe frostbite. He got back in touch and asked to be connected to his wife Jan Arnold in New Zealand. This was the last person with whom he spoke, Hall did not get in touch 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 has remained unknown.

On Scott Fisher's "Mountain Madness" expedition, everyone survived except for Fisher himself, who collapsed due to heavy workload 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 died, freezing during the descent, instructor Andy Harris, who came to their aid from below, and Japanese Yasuko Namba, who got lost along with other climbers on the way 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 really worthwhile things, you need to prepare hard and carefully think through all the little things. But even in this case, mother nature can easily disrupt your plans and in five minutes overthrow you from the top of the world into the abyss of non-existence.

Why did it happen

Conquest of the eight-thousanders - incredible difficult task, which necessarily 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 into a harmonious chain, growing like a snowball, lead to a big tragedy.

Non-compliance with a rigid schedule of ascent and descent. “If you have not reached altitude 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 had to reach the ridge by dawn, be at the South Summit by 10:00 or earlier, and at the peak of Everest around noon. But the time of return was not strictly stipulated.

Even by 1 pm on May 10, none of the climbers managed to reach the summit. It wasn't until 4:00 pm that the last two people, among them Rob Hall, the leader of the Adventure Consultants, who himself set the maximum return time, reached the peak. The climbers violated their own plans, and this led to a chain of fatal events that eventually led to tragedy.

Ascent delays

It was planned that two senior Sherpas (sirdars) Lapsang and Roba would start the assault two hours ahead of everyone else and hang a rope railing at the base of the South Summit. But Lapsang showed signs of altitude sickness, and he could not recover. The guides Beidlman and Bukreev had to do the work. This caused a major delay.

But even if the whole path had been properly prepared, this would not have saved the climbers from inevitable delays: on that day, 34 climbers rushed to the top of Everest at once, which caused real traffic jams on the ascent. Climbing three large groups of climbers at once on the same day is another mistake. You definitely wouldn't want to wait your turn to climb at 8500 meters, shivering with fatigue and biting wind. But the group leaders decided that a large crowd of guides and Sherpas would make it easier for them to cope with deep snow and a difficult route.

Height impact

At high altitudes, the human body experiences a powerful negative impact. Reduced atmospheric pressure, lack of oxygen, low temperatures, aggravated by incredible fatigue from a long ascent - all this adversely affects the physical condition of climbers. The pulse and respiration become more frequent, hypothermia, hypoxia sets in - the body is tested by the mountain for strength.

Common causes of death at these altitudes:

Cerebral edema (paralysis, coma, death) due to lack of oxygen,
- pulmonary edema (inflammation, bronchitis, broken ribs) due to lack of oxygen and low temperatures,
- heart attacks due to lack of oxygen and high loads,
-blindness from snow
- frostbite. The temperature at such heights drops to -75,
- physical exhaustion from exorbitant loads with the body's complete inability to recover.
But not only the body suffers, mental 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 in the case of the Hall and Fisher groups, the acclimatization schedule for clients could not be maintained due to delays in setting up high-altitude camps and the poor preparation of some clients who either saved their strength for the final assault or, on the contrary, thoughtlessly squandered it (for example, Sandy Pittman instead of resting in the base camp on the eve of the ascent, she went to meet her friends in a village in the foothills of Everest).

Abrupt weather change

When you climb the high pole of the planet, even if you have carefully prepared yourself and your equipment and thought out the ascent plan to the smallest detail, you must attract your most important ally to your side - good weather. Everything should be favorable to you - high temperature, light wind, clear sky. Otherwise, you can forget about a successful ascent. But the problem is that the weather on Everest changes with amazing speed - a real hurricane can come to replace a cloudless sky within an hour. So it happened on May 10, 1996. The bad weather made the descent more difficult, because of a snowstorm on the southwestern slope of Everest, visibility dropped sharply, the snow hid the marks set during the ascent and indicating the path to Camp IV.

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

Lack of oxygen tanks

Some clients of both groups did not tolerate altitude well, they had to sleep with oxygen during acclimatization trips. The lion's share of oxygen was also eaten by the rescue of the Sherpa "Mountain Madness" Ngawang Topshe, who had to be urgently evacuated from a height using a Gamow bag *. All this reduced the oxygen supply 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. Then the bag is inflated, thereby increasing the pressure in it and increasing the concentration of oxygen, which creates the effect of lowering the height.

Insufficient level of customer training

In the early 1990s, the first commercial expeditions began to appear, focused solely on making a profit, 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, escorting to the very top with insurance. Capitalism - cruel thing, therefore, in an effort to line 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 $65,000 for a non-guaranteed climb attempt, then you automatically become broad-shouldered like Schwarzenegger, hardy like an Ethiopian marathon runner, and experienced like Edmund Hillary himself (first summited Everest in 1953), at least in the eyes of the one to whom you pay money. Because of this approach, commercial expeditions often accept people who are obviously unable to climb to the top.
Neil Beidleman, the guide of the group “Mountain Madness”, confessed to Anatoly Bukreev even before the start of the ascent that “…half of the clients have no chance of reaching the summit; for most of them, the ascent will end already at the South Col (7.900 m).” This approach endangers not only the lives of the clients themselves, but also the success of the entire expedition - there is no right to make a mistake at the height, and the whole team will pay for it. This is partly what happened to Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness, when some of their clients used up exorbitant amounts of oxygen, delayed others along the route, distracted guides from serious work, and, ultimately, could not organize their own rescue.

Harvest of death

In addition to the tragedy with the Mountain Madness and Adventure Consultants groups, on May 10, Everest reaped another harvest of death. On the same day, an expedition of the Indo-Tibetan Border Guard Service of 6 people led by Lieutenant Colonel Mohinder Singh climbed the northern slope of the mountain. This group was the first in the season to climb from the North Slope, so the climbers themselves had to fix the rope railing to the top and tread the road in deep snow. Quite tired participants got into a snowstorm on May 10, being just above Camp IV (the last camp before the summit assault). Three of them decided to turn back, and Sergeant Tsewang Samanla, Corporal Dorje Morup and Senior Constable Tsewang Paljor decided to continue climbing. Around 15:45, three climbers contacted the expedition leader by radio and reported that they had managed to conquer Everest (most likely this was a mistake). At the top, the climbers set up prayer flags, and Sergeant Samanla began the religious rites, sending two of his comrades down. He didn't get in touch anymore.

The Indians who were in the fourth camp saw the lights of lanterns slowly descending in the dark (most likely they were Morup and Paljor) - approximately at an altitude of 8570 m. But none of the three climbers ever descended to the intermediate camp at an altitude of 8320 m. Found later the corpse of Tsevang Paljor was never removed from Everest and still marks a height of 8500 m on the northern 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 that had climbed with Fischer and Hall climbed out of the tent to go to the bathroom. Cool sunny morning, landscapes of incredible beauty around, slight jitters before the upcoming ascent - it's not surprising that Chei Yunan forgot to put on his boots with crampons. As soon as he squatted a little further from the tent, he immediately slipped and, tumbling, flew down the slope right into a crack in the glacier. 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 answered: “Thanks for the information,” and, as if nothing had happened, continued climbing.

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

“And in the West, after last year’s tragedy, I don’t like a lot, because people make 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 during an avalanche during the conquest of Annapurna

A few weeks before tragic death Bukreev was awarded the prestigious David Souls Award by the American Alpine Club, given to climbers who saved people in the mountains at the risk of their own lives, and the US Senate offered him to take American citizenship. Despite John Krakauer's attempts to put him in a bad light in his articles and book, Anatoly Bukreev remained in people's memory as a real hero, a great climber, a man capable of sacrificing himself for others.

(source http://disgustingmen.com/)

You probably paid attention to such information that Everest is, in full sense words, mountain of death. Storming this height, the climber knows that he has a chance of not returning. Death can be caused by a lack of oxygen, heart failure, frostbite or injury. Fatal accidents also lead to death, such as a frozen valve of an oxygen cylinder. Moreover, the path to the summit is so difficult that, as Alexander Abramov, one of the participants in the Russian Himalayan expedition, said, “at an altitude of more than 8000 meters you cannot afford the luxury of morality. Above 8000 meters you are completely occupied with yourself, and in such extreme conditions you do not have extra strength to help a friend. At the end of the post there will be a video on this topic.

The tragedy that happened on Everest in May 2006 shocked the whole world: 42 climbers passed by the slowly freezing Englishman David Sharpe, but no one helped him. One of them was the television people of the Discovery channel, who tried to interview the dying man and, having photographed 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, they are the same climbers, only they were not lucky. Some of them fell off and broke their bones, some froze or simply weakened and still froze.

What morality can at an altitude of 8000 meters above sea level? 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 of defectors there, because they climb mostly as savages and in small groups of three to five people. And the price of such an ascent is from $25t to $60t. Sometimes they pay extra with their lives if they saved on little things. So, about 150 people remained on eternal guard, and maybe 200. And many who have been there say that they feel the gaze of a black climber resting on their backs, because there are eight openly lying bodies right on the northern route. Among them are two Russians. From the south is about ten. But climbers are already afraid to deviate from the paved path, they may not get out of there, and no one will climb to save them.

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

It is believed that Mallory was the first to conquer the summit and died already on the descent. In 1924, Mallory and his partner Irving began their ascent. They were last seen through binoculars in a break in the clouds just 150 meters from the summit. Then the clouds converged and the climbers disappeared.

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

Irving's partner was never found, although the harness 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 around and left his comrade, died somewhere down the slope.

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

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

For the sake of the personal record of an oxygen-free ascent, the American Francis 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, as put their own lives at risk.

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

In the spring of 2006, eleven people died on Everest - not news, it would seem, if one of them, Briton David Sharp, was not left in agony by a group of about 40 climbers passing by. Sharp was not a rich man and climbed without guides and Sherpas. The drama lies in the fact that if he had enough money, his salvation would be possible. He would still be alive today.

Every spring, on the slopes of Everest, both on 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 because of the motley variety of tents resembling giant tents, or because anomalous phenomena have been occurring on this mountain for some time, the scene was dubbed the “Circus on Everest”.

Society looked with wise calmness at this house of clowns as a place of entertainment, a little magical, a little absurd, but harmless. Everest has become an arena for circus performances, ridiculous and funny things happen here: children come to hunt for early records, old people climb without help, eccentric millionaires appear who have not seen cats even in a photograph, helicopters land on the top ... The list is endless and has nothing to do with mountaineering, but there is much in common with money, which, if not moving mountains, makes them lower. However, in the spring of 2006, the "circus" turned into a theater of horror, erasing forever the image of innocence that was usually associated with a pilgrimage to the roof of the world.

In the spring of 2006, on Everest, about forty climbers left the Englishman David Sharpe alone to die in the middle of the northern slope; faced with a choice, to help or continue climbing to the top, they chose the second, since reaching the highest peak in the world meant for them to accomplish a feat.

On the very day that David Sharp was dying surrounded by this pretty company and in utter contempt, the media around the world sang the praises of Mark Inglis, the New Zealand guide who, lacking legs to be amputated after an occupational injury, climbed to the top of Everest on prosthetics made of hydrocarbon artificial fiber with cats attached to them.

The news, presented by the media as a super act, as proof that dreams can change reality, hid tons of garbage and dirt, so that 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 began to pull the string. At the end of it is a story of human degradation, which is difficult to understand, a horror that would have been hidden if it were not for the media that undertook to investigate what happened.

David Sharp, who climbed the mountain on his own, participating in an ascent organized by Asia Trekking, died when his oxygen tank failed at an altitude of 8500 meters. It happened on May 16th. Sharpe was no stranger to the mountains. At the age of 34, he had already climbed the eight-thousand-meter Cho Oyu, passing the most difficult sections without the use of railings, which may not be a heroic deed, but at least shows his character. Suddenly left without oxygen, Sharp 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 with whom he traveled. 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 amputee, stepped his hydrocarbon prostheses over David Sharp's body to reach the summit; he was one of the few who admitted that Sharpe had indeed been left for dead. “At least our expedition was the only one that did anything for him: our Sherpas gave him oxygen. On that day, about 40 climbers passed by him, and no one did anything, ”he said.

Climbing Everest.

The first to be alarmed by Sharpe's death was the Brazilian Vitor Negrete, who, in addition, said that he had been robbed in a high-mountain camp. Vitor could not provide any more details, because he died two days later. Negrete made his way to the summit from the north ridge without the aid of artificial oxygen, but during the descent began to feel unwell and radioed for help from his Sherpa, who helped him get to Camp No. 3. He died in his tent, possibly due to swelling caused by being 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 his technical equipment and physical capabilities, and this is where the edema and typical collapses caused by altitude lie in wait for him. This spring, the roof of the world knew a period of good weather, lasting for two weeks without wind and clouds, enough to break the record of ascents at this very time of the year: 500.

Camp after the storm.

Under worse conditions, many would not rise and would not die ...

David Sharpe was still alive after a terrible night at 8500 meters. During this time, he had the phantasmagorical company of "Mr. Yellow Boots", the corpse of an Indian climber, dressed in old yellow plastic Koflach boots, lying there for years, lying on a ridge in the middle of the road and still in a fetal position.

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

David Sharp shouldn't have died. It would be enough for the commercial and non-commercial expeditions that went to the summit to agree to save the Englishman. If this did not happen, it was only because there was no money, no equipment, there was no one in the base camp who could offer the Sherpas doing such work a good amount of dollars in exchange for a life. And, since there was no economic incentive, they resorted to a false elementary expression: "you need to be independent at the height." If this principle were true, old people, the blind, people with various amputated limbs, completely ignorant, sick and other representatives of the fauna that meet at the foot of the "icon" of the Himalayas, knowing full well that something that cannot make their competence and experience, their thick checkbook will allow.

Three days after David Sharp's death, Peace Project leader Jamie McGuinness and ten of his Sherpas rescued one of his clients from a tailspin shortly after reaching the summit. It took 36 hours to do this, but he was evacuated from the summit on a makeshift stretcher, bringing him to the base camp. Can the dying person be saved or not? Of course, he paid a lot, and it saved his life. David Sharp only paid for having a cook and a tent at the base camp.

Rescue work on Everest.

A few days later, two members of the same expedition from Castile-La Mancha were enough to evacuate one half-dead Canadian named Vince from the North Col (at an altitude of 7000 meters), under the indifferent looks of many of those who passed there.

Transportation.

A little later there was one episode that will finally resolve the debate about whether or not to help a dying man on Everest. The tour guide Harry Kikstra was assigned to lead a group in which Thomas Weber, who had vision problems due to the removal of a brain tumor in the past, appeared among his clients. On the day of the summit of Kikstra, Weber, five Sherpas and a second client, Lincoln Hall, set out together from Camp Three at night under good weather conditions.

Abundantly swallowing oxygen, a little more than two hours later they stumbled upon the corpse of David Sharp, with disgust walked around him and continued on to the top. Despite the vision problems that height should have exacerbated, Weber climbed on his own using a railing. Everything happened as planned. Lincoln Hall with his two Sherpas moved forward, but at this time Weber's eyesight was seriously impaired. At 50 meters from the summit, Kikstra decided to finish the ascent and headed back with his Sherpa and Weber. Little by little, the group began to descend from the third step, then from the second ... until suddenly Weber, who seemed exhausted and uncoordinated, threw a panicked look at Kikstra and dumbfounded 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 bad. 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 8700 meters and, despite the help of the Sherpas, who had been trying to revive him for nine hours, could not 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.

Everest slopes.

That same morning, seven hours later, guide Dan Mazur, who was following the road to the summit with clients, stumbled upon Hall, who, surprisingly, was alive. After being given tea, oxygen, and medicine, Hall was able to talk on the radio himself with his group at the base. Immediately, all the expeditions that were on the north side agreed among themselves and sent a detachment of ten Sherpas to help him. Together they removed him from the crest and brought him back to life.

Frostbite.

He got frostbite on his hands - the minimum 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 north side of Everest in 1984), the Englishman did not have a famous name and support group .

Sharpe's 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 when he whispered something else and waved his hand.

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

Sergey Arsentiev and Francis Distefano-Arsentiev, having spent three nights (!) at 8,200 m, climbed and reached the summit on 05/22/1998 at 18:15. The ascent was made without the use of oxygen. Thus, Francis 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 is not.

The next day, five Uzbek climbers went to the top past Francis - she was still alive. The Uzbeks could help, but for this they refused to climb. Although one of their comrades has already ascended, in this case the expedition is already considered successful.

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

The next day, three other Uzbeks, three Sherpas and two from 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 a 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. Thus ended our expedition, which we had been preparing for years, begging for money from sponsors ... We did not immediately manage to get to it, although it lay close. Moving at such a height is the same as running under water ...

When we found her, we tried to dress the woman, but her muscles atrophied, she looked like a rag doll and muttered all the time: “I am an American. Please, do not leave me"…

We dressed her for two hours. My concentration was lost due to a bone-piercing rattling sound that broke the ominous silence, Woodhall continues his story. - I understood: Katie is about to freeze to death herself. We had to get out of there as soon as possible. I tried to lift Frances and carry her, but it was useless. My futile attempts to save her put Kathy at risk. We couldn't do anything."

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 get to the top. We succeeded, but on the way back, we were horrified to notice the body of Francis, she lay exactly as we left her, perfectly preserved under the influence of low temperatures.

Nobody deserves such an end. Cathy and I promised each other to return to Everest again to bury Frances. For preparation new expedition gone 8 years. I wrapped Francis in an American flag and included a note from my son. We pushed her body into a 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 Arseniev was found: “I apologize for the delay with the photographs of Sergei. We definitely saw him - I remember the purple down suit. He was in a kind of bow position, lying just behind Jochenovsky (Jochen Hemmleb - expedition historian - S.K.) "implicitly expressed rib" in the Mallory area at about 27150 feet (8254 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 almost the same place as the American, a cold night. His own people lowered him to the base camp, and then more than 40 people from other expeditions helped. He got off lightly - 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 excellent supporting actors in a film made to celebrate unpaid actors silently playing their part.

Sherpas at work.

But the Sherpas, who provide their services for money, are the main ones in this business. Without them, there are neither fixed ropes, nor many ascents, nor, of course, salvation. And in order for them to help, they need to be paid money: Sherpas have been taught to sell for money, and they use the tariff under any circumstances. Just like a poor climber who is unable to pay, a Sherpa can find himself in a difficult situation, so for the same reason he is cannon fodder.

The situation of the Sherpas is very difficult, because they first of all take the risk of organizing a "spectacle" so that even the least qualified can snatch a piece of what they paid for.

Frostbitten Sherp.

“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 the statistics of corpses, it will increase every year. What is unacceptable in normal life is regarded as the norm at high altitudes.” Alexander Abramov, Master of Sports of the USSR in mountaineering.

"You can't keep climbing between corpses and pretending it's okay." Alexander Abramov.

"Why are you going to Everest?" asked George Mallory.

"Because he is!"

Mallory was the first to conquer the summit and died already 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 converged and the climbers disappeared.

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

In 1975, one of the conquerors assured that he saw some body off the main path, but did not approach, so as not to lose strength. It took another twenty years for in 1999, when traversing the slope from the 6th high-altitude camp (8290 m) to the west, the expedition stumbled upon many bodies that had died over the past 5-10 years. Mallory was found among them. He was lying on his stomach, sprawled, as if hugging a mountain, his head and hands were frozen into the slope.

Turned over - eyes closed. This means that he did not die suddenly: when they break, for many they remain open. They didn’t lower it - they buried it there. ”

Irving was never found, although the harness 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 around and left his comrade, died somewhere down the slope.

Scary footage of the Discovery channel in the TV series Everest Beyond the Possible. When the group finds a person freezing, they film him, but only ask for his name, leaving him to die alone in an ice cave:

The question immediately arises, but how is it:

Francis Arsentiev.

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

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

George Mallory.

Cause of Death: Head injury from 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. The last time Mallory and his teammate Andrew Irwin were seen climbing Everest in 1924. In 1999, the legendary climber Konrad Anker discovered the remains of Mallory, however, they do not answer the question of whether he managed to reach the top.

Hannelore Schmatz.

In 1979, the first woman died on Everest - German climber Hannelore Schmatz. Her body was frozen in a half-sitting position, as she initially had a backpack under her back. Once upon a time, all climbers who climbed the southern slope passed by the body of Schmatz, which could be seen just above Camp IV, but one day strong winds dispelled 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 first Indian group to attempt the Northeast Everest climb. Paljor died during the descent when the blizzard began.

The corpse of Tsevang Paljor is called "Green Boots" in climbing slang. It serves as a guide for climbers climbing Mount Everest.

David Sharp.

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

Marko Lihteneker.

Cause of death: hypothermia and oxygen starvation 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 the climb to Everest was put on a commercial stream in the nineties, amateurs and amateurs rushed to its slopes. And if there are too many people in the zone of extreme risk, then victims, alas, cannot be avoided.

1. George Malory and Andrew Irwin

The first conqueror of Everest is officially considered the New Zealander Edmund Hillary, who ascended to the top of the world in 1953. But attempts to climb the peak have been made before. In 1924, the British George Malory and Andrew Irwin climbed the summit together, but whether they succeeded, we will never know. The last time they were seen in the gap of the clouds at a distance of 350 meters from the peak. At the base camp, the climbers were waited for several days, but they never returned. Malory's body was not found until 1999. It still lies on one of the routes, frozen into the rock. According to one version, George, along with his partner, nevertheless reached the summit and died already 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 there is no place for amateurs on Everest. In 1934, a former British soldier decided that he would fly to Nepal by plane and then climb Mount Everest. Both of these facts were to 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 embarrass the proud warrior. Maurice bought a plane and took flight courses. By hook or by crook, he got to Nepal, and he had to do the last part of the journey by land, because. his plane was arrested. He tried twice to climb the mountain, but was forced to return to the camp. The third attempt was fatal. Many believed that Maurice was so stubborn that he preferred death in the mountains to returning home with nothing. The little details we know about this ascent come from a diary found next to his body a year later. Wilson froze to death in a tent at an altitude of 7400 meters.

3. Expedition of Pavel Datschnolyan

The very fact of the existence of the Soviet expedition led by Pavel Datschnolian is still in doubt. It is believed that the campaign was organized in 1952, when the Chinese authorities restricted access to the territory of Nepal for foreigners, while making an exception for the 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 were victims of a snowstorm that claimed the lives of a total of eight people out of three. different groups. The tragedy occurred on May 11, 1996. Expedition "Mountain Madness" on the descent from the top got into a strong storm. As a result, four were killed, including two guides from New Zealand and two tourists from Japan and the United States.

5. Adventure Consultants Expedition

This commercial expedition lost its leader, the most experienced climber Rob Hall, in the same May 1996 snowstorm. Hall in the last days of the ascent felt very bad. He was far behind and climbed to the top of the last of his group, although he should have given the command to return long ago. The most important thing when climbing to such a height is to stick to the 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, fall behind the schedule. Climbers say: "If by the time X you are not at point Y, then you need to turn back." Delayed for several hours with the ascent, on the descent the group fell into a snowstorm, where they lost their leader and several other people. The rest of the team managed to get to the camp.

6. Expedition of the Indo-Tibetan Border Service

The Indian-Tibetan team was the third group to summit 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 on the “cats” on his shoes, and simply slipped into the abyss. Of the three Indian climbers who climbed Mount Everest that day, none returned to the camp. Later, the body of one of them will be found in a small grotto, where he still lies. His green boots have become a kind of toponym for climbers. They call the mark of 8500 meters - "green boots".

7. Sergey Arsentiev and Francis Distefano (Arsentiev)

A married couple of climbers climbed in May 1998, with Francis overcoming the path without an oxygen tank, becoming the first American to conquer Everest without the use of oxygen. Due to bad weather conditions, the couple spent three days in a tent at an altitude of 8200 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. Freezing Francis was found the next day by climbers Ian Woodall and Cathy O'Dowd. Despite attempts to help, the woman died. Jan and Cathy were forced to leave the body, and for several more years it lay in full view of passing climbers. It wasn't until 2007 that Woodall was able to return, finding Frances in the same position he'd left her in nine years earlier. Woodall wrapped in an American flag, put a note from his son and pushed Francis into the abyss. Sergei Arsentiev's body was found in 1999. He froze trying to find a wife.

8. David Sharp

The story of David Sharpe received serious publicity, exposing the terrible underside of the heroic conquest of Everest. In May 2006, Englishman David Sharp climbed the northern slope alone, without a Sherpa guide. At an altitude of 8500 meters, David ran out of oxygen, and he sat down in the grotto next to 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 the film crew of the Discovery TV channel. They turned on the camera and asked him his name. “My name is David Sharp, I really want to sleep,” the climber replied. The group moved on, leaving him an oxygen tank. This footage is available on YouTube at the request of Dying for Everest.

Despite all the horrors that are happening on Everest, the biggest tragedy was an avalanche on April 18, 2014. She claimed the lives of sixteen Sherpas serving the route. Sherpas are a people inhabiting the foothills of Chomolungma in southern Nepal. They provide climbing for extreme people from all over the world. Sherpas carry hundreds of kilograms of equipment and supplies, stretch out railings for climbers and insure them in case someone from the group becomes ill. On April 18, the Sherpas went about their usual work - stretching the railing 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 Everest climbing season in 2014.

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Climbing participants

Commercial Expedition "Mountain Madness"

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

Adventure Consultants Commercial Expedition

Chronology of events

belated rise

Making the ascent without the use of oxygen, Anatoly Bukreev reached the summit first, at about 13:07. A few minutes later, Jon Krakauer appeared at the top. Some time later, Harris and Biddleman. Many of the remaining climbers did not reach the summit until 2:00 pm, the critical time to begin their descent to safely return to Camp IV and spend the night.

Anatoly Bukreev started descending to Camp IV only at 14:30. By that time, Martin Adams and Clive Schoening had reached the summit, while Bidleman and the other members of the Mountain Madness expedition had not yet reached the summit. Soon, according to the observations of climbers, the weather began to deteriorate, at about 15:00 it began to snow and it got dark. Makalu Go reached the summit at the beginning of 16:00 and immediately noted the worsening weather conditions.

The senior Sherpa in Hall's group, Ang Dorje, and the other Sherpas stayed to wait for the rest of the 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 Step area. Dorje ordered him to descend, but Hansen did not answer him. When Hall arrived at the scene, he sent the Sherpas downstairs 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 3:45 pm, in poor physical condition, possibly due to altitude sickness, pulmonary edema, and exhaustion from fatigue. When Rob Hall and Doug Hansen reached the summit is unknown.

Descent during a storm

According to Bukreev, he reached Camp IV by 17:00. Anatoly was heavily criticized for his decision to descend before his clients. Krakauer accused Bukreev of being "confused, unable to assess the situation, showing irresponsibility". He responded to the accusations by saying that he was going to help descending clients with a further descent, preparing additional oxygen, a hot drink. 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.

The 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 marks that had been set during the ascent and indicated the path to Camp IV disappeared under the snow.

Fisher, who was assisted by Sherpa Lopsang Jangbu, could not descend in a snowstorm from the Balcony (at around 8230 m). As Goh later said, his Sherpas were left 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, and leave him and Goh.

Hall radioed for help, saying that Hansen was unconscious but still alive. Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris began the ascent to Hillary's Step at approximately 5:30 pm, carrying a supply of water and oxygen.

Several climbers got lost in the area of ​​the South Col. Mountain Madness members Guide Biddleman, Schoening, Fox, Madsen, Pittman, and Gammelgard, along with Adventure Consultants guide Groom, Beck Withers, and Yasuko Namba, wandered in the blizzard until midnight. When they could no longer continue their journey due to fatigue, they huddled together only 20 meters from the abyss at the Kanshung wall (Eng. Kangshung face). Pittman soon developed symptoms of altitude sickness. Fox injected her with dexamethasone.

Around midnight, the storm subsided, and the climbers were able to see Camp IV, which was 200 m away. Beadleman, Groom, Schoening and Gammelgard went for help. Madsen and Fox stayed with the group and called for help. Boukreev discovered the climbers and was able to get Pittman, Fox and Madsen out. He was also criticized by other climbers because he preferred his clients Pittman, Fox and Madsen, while it was claimed that Namba was already in a dying state. Withers Bukreev did not notice at all. In total, Bukreev made two walks 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, later that day, Withers came to his senses and made it to the camp alone, which surprised everyone in the camp, as he suffered from hypothermia and severe frostbite. Withers was given oxygen, they tried to warm him up, arranging him to spend the night in a tent. Despite all this, Withers had to face the elements again when a gust of wind blew away his tent at night and he had to spend the night in the cold. And again he was mistaken for dead, but Krakauer found that Withers was conscious and on May 12 he was prepared for urgent evacuation from Camp IV. Over the next two days, Withers was lowered to Camp II, part of the way, however, he made his own, and later he was evacuated by a rescue helicopter. Withers underwent a long course of treatment, but due to severe frostbite, his nose, right hand, and all fingers of his left hand were amputated. In total, he underwent more than 15 operations, he was reconstructed from the back muscles thumb, and plastic surgeons restored the nose.

Scott Fisher and Makalu Go were discovered on May 11 by Sherpas. Fisher's condition was so severe that they had no choice but to make him comfortable, and throw the main forces to save Go. Anatoly Boukreev made another attempt to save Fischer, but only discovered his frozen body at about 19:00.

North face of Everest

Indo-Tibetan Border Guard

Less well-known, but no less tragic, were 3 more accidents that happened on the same day with climbers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Guard who climbed the North Slope. The expedition was led by Lieutenant Colonel Mohinder Singh. Commandant Mohinder Singh, who is considered the first Indian climber to conquer Mount 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 their ascent to the summit, despite the bad 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 other was on the verge of life and death. They lost sight of the tracks of the third descending climber. However, Japanese climbers denied ever seeing dying climbers on the climb.

Captain Kolya, representative of the Indian Mountaineering Federation (Eng. Indian Mountaineering Federation ), who at first blamed the Japanese, later retracted his claim that the Japanese claimed to have met Indian climbers on 10 May.

"The Indian-Tibetan Border Guard (ITPS) confirms the statement of the members of the Fukuoka expedition that they did not leave the Indian climbers without the help and did not refuse to help in the search for the missing". The managing director of ITPS stated that "the misunderstanding was 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 corpse of the Indian climber still lies where it was first discovered. Climbers climbing the North Face can see the outline of a body and the bright green boots the climber was wearing. The term "Green Shoes" green boots ) soon firmly entered the lexicon of the conquerors of Everest. This is how the mark of 8500 m is indicated along the North slope of Everest.

I was lucky to survive the storm of 1996 and lucky to live on. The Indian climber was out of luck. And it could have been otherwise. If this happened, I would like a fellow climber to work hard get my body out of sight of other climbers, and shield 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."

Tragedy victims

Name	Citizenship	Expedition	A place of death	Cause of death
Doug Hansen (Client)	USA	adventure consultants	south slope
Andrew Harris (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 (Guide)	New Zealand		south slope
Scott Fisher (Guide)	USA	Mountain Madness	southeast ridge
Sergeant Tsewang Samanla		Indian-Tibetan Border Guard	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 fulfill any dream of the client. They take care of everything: transportation of participants to the base camp, organization of the path and intermediate camps, escort of the client and his safety net all the way up and down. At the same time, the conquest of the summit was not guaranteed. In the pursuit of profit, some guides take 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 appropriate a lot of money for themselves, knowing full well that their wards have no chance." Neil Biddleman, the guide of the Mountain Madness group, confessed to Anatoly Bukreev even before the start of the ascent that “...half of the clients have no chance of reaching the summit; for most of them, the ascent will end already on the South Saddle (7900 m) ” .

The famous New Zealand climber Edmund Hillary was extremely negative about 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 three climbers "unique":

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

Literature

• Jon Krakauer In rarefied 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 vivid confirmation of this.

Victims of the insidious peak

By a fatal coincidence, the whole of 1996 entered 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 in trouble.

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

How the 1996 Everest tragedy began

In the early morning of May 10, when the sun's rays had not yet illuminated the tops 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 8000 meters was called the "death zone", and they understood the need for careful preparation of the 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 not coped with the installation of rope railings on the group's path. When, finally, we got to the most important site, bearing 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: "I'm behind schedule, don't expect trouble - come back!" Four commercial group clients Stuart Hutchinson, John Taske, Frank Fishbeck and Lou Kazischke followed 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 again there was a delay, this time due to lack of insurance. But only a hundred meters remained to the cherished peak. She beckoned, clearly looming against the background of a perfect blue sky, and this closeness of the goal intoxicated and dulled the sense of danger.

On the top

One hundred meters - is it a lot or a little? If you measure from home to the nearest cafe, then it’s very close, but when it comes to an almost vertical slope, rarefied 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 ascent on his own, choosing the speed depending on his own well-being and reserve of strength.

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

A little behind Boukreev, two more appeared at the top - a commercial client, John Brakauer, and a guide from Adventure Consultants, 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 in the afternoon, but by this time most of the climbers had not yet climbed to the top, and when they finally succeeded, people rejoiced and took pictures for too long. Thus, time was irretrievably lost. This was one of the reasons for the event now known as the 1996 Everest tragedy.

It was only about sixteen hours that the base camp received a message that all the climbers were at the top. He was the first to descend, because of all those present, he spent the longest time at the maximum height and could no longer do without additional oxygen. His task was to return to Camp IV - the last stop before the summit, to rest and return to help the others, taking with him oxygen bottles 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 Anatoly, the weather had deteriorated sharply, the wind had risen, and visibility had deteriorated. It became impossible to stay further on 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 being at the level of 8230 meters, they were forced to linger due to the extremely poor health of Fischer, who by that time had developed a severe cerebral edema - a not uncommon phenomenon at extreme altitudes. He sent Lopsang to continue his descent and, if possible, bring help.

When the Sherpa reached Camp IV, the people who were 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 was placed on Bukreev, but at that time he was leading three people out of the snow captivity - Sandy Pittman, Charlotte Fox and Tim Madsen. Only in the middle of the next day did they manage to get up to Fischer, but he was already dead. His body could not be brought down, so they simply filled up with stones on the mountain slope. Everest conquered by him (1996) became a monument to Scott. Tragedy continued its grim harvest.

By this time, the wind had increased even more, and the snow raised by it limited visibility literally to arm's length. In this most difficult environment, a group of climbers from the Adventure Consultants team got lost, completely losing their bearings. They tried to find their 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.

The same Bukreev saved them from certain death. In the impenetrable snowy 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 were lucky enough to escape death by conquering Everest (1996).

Tragedy

Anatoly did everything in his power. He could not help only two: the Japanese Yasuka Namba was already in a hopeless state by that time, and another member of the group, Withers, was 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 to the hospital by helicopter, the doctors had to amputate his right hand, all the fingers of his left and his nose. It was such a misfortune for him to climb Everest (1996).

The tragedy that broke out on May 11 continued in full measure the next day. When the last climbers left the summit, the chain was closed by two: Rob Hall and his friend Doug Hansen. After some time, Rob received an alarming message that Doug had passed out. They urgently needed oxygen, and Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris headed towards them with a tank.

When he succeeded, Hansen was still alive, but in critical condition. The situation was complicated by the fact that Rob's own oxygen tank regulator was iced up, and he could not be connected to the mask. After some time, Harris, who came to the rescue, suddenly disappeared in the snowy haze.

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

The tragedy on Mount Everest in 1996 had a sad result. The group "Mountain Madness" suffered fewer losses, but during the descent from the summit, its leader Scott Fisher died. The second team - "Adventure Consultants" - lost immediately four people. They were: leader Rod Hall, his regular client Doug Hansen, climbing 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 since the day of sad events, analyzing the causes of this most large-scale 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, there are violations associated with the ascent schedule. In accordance with the plan outlined earlier, both groups, having started the ascent at midnight on May 10, were supposed to reach the mountain range at dawn, and at 10 am on May 11 to be at the South Summit.

At the end point of the ascent - Everest - it was supposed to rise at noon. This plan remained unfulfilled, and the ascent stretched out to 16 hours. Violations provoked a series of fatal events that led to the death of people. The rule "I'm out of schedule, don't expect trouble - come back!" was ignored.

One of the reasons why there was a tragedy on Everest in May 1996, researchers cite a number of delays during the ascent. The plan for the ascent was that Lapsang and Rob Sherpas would leave the camp before the rest of the team and set up a rope railing near the South Summit for the safety of the climbers. They didn't because one of them had a mountain sickness attack. This work had to be done by guides Boukreev and Beidleman, which caused an additional delay.

Security Violations

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

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

The impact of natural factors on climbers

Everyone making ascents, and even more so the one who organizes them, should know that at extreme heights the human body is subject to a number of negative effects. Among them is a lack of oxygen caused by low air pressure, and frost, sometimes reaching the mark of -75 ° C.

Aggravated by extreme fatigue as a result of climbing a mountain slope, these factors lead to an increase in heart rate, respiration, and sometimes hypothermia and hypoxia. At such heights, the body completely loses its ability to recover, and increased physical exercise lead to its ultimate exhaustion. These are the dangers of Everest. The tragedy of 1996, which played out on its slopes, was a vivid 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 is the result of low oxygen content in the air and leads to paralysis, coma and death. Another cause of death in conditions of rarefied air and low temperatures is called pulmonary edema. It often ends with inflammation, bronchitis and broken ribs.

The lack of oxygen, aggravated by high loads, often causes heart attacks, which, in the absence of immediate medical attention, can also lead to death. A considerable danger to a person who finds himself in the mountains is also blindness caused by the brilliance of snow in clear weather. It leads to accidents, witnessed by Everest. The tragedy (1996), the photos of the participants of which illustrate this article, provided rich material for understanding its causes and developing security measures.

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

In addition to the extremely negative impact on physical state of a person, all of these factors significantly worsen his mental abilities. This affects short-term and long-term memory, mental clarity, 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 low training of the climbers themselves. As can be seen from their recollections, many did not know how to correctly distribute their forces and, wanting to save them, showed unreasonable slowness on the ascent.

Weather factor and lack of oxygen

Experienced climbers know that even the most careful preparation expedition is no guarantee of its success. A lot depends on how lucky the weather is. Everest is an area where it changes with amazing speed. Within a short period of time, a transition from a clear sunny day to a snowy hurricane is possible, covering everything around with impenetrable haze.

This is exactly what happened on that ill-fated day, May 11, 1996. The tragedy on Everest broke out also because, when the climbers, who had barely survived the delight of conquering the summit, began their descent, the weather deteriorated sharply. A blizzard and snowstorm severely limited visibility and obscured the markers showing the way to Camp IV. As a result, a group of climbers got lost, losing their bearings.

A hurricane wind, which reached 130 kilometers per hour that day, and a severe frost not only put people in 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 exacerbated the situation. This concentration necessitated the immediate use of the oxygen tanks, which had by then been 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 balloons is a mistake of the climbing organizers, which Everest did not forgive them. The tragedy of 1996 also happened because some of its participants were unprepared people who could not tolerate rarefied air. During acclimatization trips they had to sleep with oxygen tanks, which significantly increased their consumption. In addition, they were required in large numbers to rescue Sherpa Ngawang, urgently evacuated from a height.

The danger 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 extracting profit from the desire of customers to participate in conquering the peaks. For them, neither the level of training of these people, nor their age, nor their 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, transportation 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" crept up so unprepared for the ascent that he was sure of failure in advance, and, nevertheless, led them to a height accessible only to experienced athletes. Thus, the lives of not only these tourists, but also all those who went with them, were endangered. At altitude, the mistake of one person can lead to the death of the entire group. In part, this is what happened. The tragedy on Everest (1996), whose participants became victims of commercial interests, is a vivid confirmation of this.