The Disastrous 1996 Mount Everest Expedition | PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE

Mount Everest, or Sagarmatha, stands 29,000 feet above sea level, and its summit is the highest point on Earth. It was created 50 to 60 million years ago when the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. The forces that pushed the rocks together all those years ago are still going strong, and every year, Everest's summit rises by a quarter of an inch. 

On May 29th 1953, New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Nepali-Indian Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people ever to reach the summit. At the time, that was a huge deal!

However, today over 5,000 people have successfully climbed Mount Everest, some multiple times. Nevertheless, it should always be remembered that ascending Mount Everest is an extremely challenging feat, even for the most experienced mountaineers. One of the most significant dangers is the high altitude. At 26,000ft, you enter what is known as the "death zone." the final stretch just before the summit where the oxygen levels become too low to support human life. Spending too much time in the death zone can cause altitude sickness and brain swelling and this is where the mountain claims most of its victims. 

In 1996, Everest had one of its most disastrous and catastrophic events... 

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Transcript

Mount Everest, or Sagarmatha, stands 29,000 feet above sea level, and its summit is the highest point on Earth. It was created 50 to 60 million years ago when the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. The forces that pushed the rocks together all those years ago are still going strong, and every year, Everest's summit rises by a quarter of an inch. 

On May 29th 1953, New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Nepali-Indian Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people ever to reach the summit. At the time, that was a huge deal!

However, today over 5,000 people have successfully climbed Mount Everest, some multiple times. Nevertheless, it should always be remembered that ascending Mount Everest is an extremely challenging feat, even for the most experienced mountaineers. One of the most significant dangers is the high altitude. At 26,000ft, you enter what is known as the "death zone." the final stretch just before the summit where the oxygen levels become too low to support human life. Spending too much time in the death zone can cause altitude sickness and brain swelling and this is where the mountain claims most of its victims. 

Over the last century, well over 200 climbers have lost their lives on the mountain, and most of their bodies are still up there. Many with their brightly coloured padded jackets and climbing gear still attached to their corpses; the macabre landmark just inside the death zone is known as Rainbow Valley and serves as a harsh reminder of just how treacherous and unforgiving the mountain can be. As climbers pass the death zone they know the end is in sight one way or another. 

Despite the obvious dangers, the allure of Everest and reaching its summit has never diminished and what was once only attempted by either the very experienced or very foolhardy has now been conquered by relatively inexperienced climbers aided by a battalion of sherpas and experienced guides.

In the 1990s, with the emergence of more sophisticated climbing gear and clothing, the tourism industry at mount Everest boomed.

Climbers of all abilities were lured to the mountain in what turned into a multi-million-dollar industry, with some companies claiming that even the most amateur climber could reach the top of the world, in fact some who were signed up had never been near a mountain before let alone climb one!

However, it wasn't cheap, and with climbers paying between $30,000 and $65,000 each, and many were enticed into a false sense of security that for that amount of money, they would be taken to the top and back safely. 

But with so many people willing to pay for the experience, Everest was getting a little crowded. This became very evident in the Spring of 1996, with several expeditions from Taiwan, India, America, New Zealand and South Africa all attempting the ascent simultaneously.

Most of the groups were approaching from the Nepalese South side of the mountain; although an expedition of experienced climbers from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police led by Commandant Mohinder Singh was ascending from the Tibetan Northside.

Two of the biggest guided groups, tackling the Nepalese side, were Adventure Consultants, led by Rob Hall, Mike Groom, and Andy Harris and Mountain Madness, led by Scott Fischer, Anatoli Boukreev, and Neal Beidleman; between them, they had 15 clients and 15 Sherpa's. Gau Ming-Ho led the five-member Taiwanese Expedition, and one of the other American groups was there to make an IMAX film with filmmaker and climber David Breashears.

Adventure consultants team

Before attempting to climb Everest, a requirement is to go through an acclimatization process; this started in Mid-April and involved spending longer and longer periods in high altitudes before returning to Base Camps. 

After this was completed, climbers from the various expeditions made their way up to Camp III, the last camp, before launching a serious bid for the summit.

Camp III is at around 24,000ft and is next to Lhotse Face, a wall of glacial ice that is a difficult section of the climb that leads to the Death Zone.

This is where the first climber lost his life.

On May 9th Chen Yu Nan, who was part of the Taiwanese expedition, left his tent without attaching climbing spikes to his boots; as a result, he lost his footing on the treacherous ice and fell down Lhotse Face into a crevasse. 

He was quickly rescued by a Sherpa and initially thought he was sore but not seriously injured; however, as the morning progressed, Nan felt more and more unwell, so he decided to rest and catch up with the group later, but instead of resting he made the decision to make his way back down the mountain. He was found later in a bad way by Sherpa's also on their way down; they carried him for 1000 feet before he passed out and died. 

Despite being informed of the death Gau Ming-Ho and his group decided to carry on with their climb and, along with the various other teams, pushed on to Camp IV, located at the beginning of the death zone. At this point, apart from the elite climbers everyone needed to use oxygen to keep going. 

As Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness made their way further up the mountain, they saw the IMAX team headed in the opposite direction; they had decided to turn around fearing the weather was not looking great, and headed back to the safety of Camp II to wait for better conditions. 

Throughout the day on May 9th, the groups started arriving at Camp IV(4) but by the afternoon, a storm hit that delayed the next part of the climb until the evening. 

At midnight on May 10th Mountain Madness, Adventure Consultants, and Gau's Taiwanese expedition set out for the summit.

Every climber was given two spare bottles of oxygen for their climb. However, they were all aware that the oxygen would run out by five in the afternoon, so the climbers had to descend as quickly as possible once they reached the summit.

Leaders Rob Hall and Scott Fischer decided to work together and reach the summit that day. The plan was that one Sherpa from each team would fix the ropes leading to the summit to help the inexperienced climbers negotiate the steep parts of the mountain; however, this didn't go to plan, and delays in fixing the ropes cost the climbers almost an hour and a bottleneck of climbers accumulated slowing everyone down. 

This was not the only delay, many of the inexperienced climbers were struggling and were very slow, and the clock was now ticking; Adventure Consultants leader Hall deemed that it was unwise to try and summit after 2 pm at the latest, and if the climbers had not reached the top by then they should turn around.

However, this deadline was not enforced, and only three of the climbers from Adventure Consultants heeded the advice and turned back.

By around 1 pm the first batch of climbers summited within the deadline. At this point, Mountain Madness guide Anatoli Boukreev, who was Climbing without supplemental oxygen, broke away from the main group and started his descent with a client Martin Adams, but he later left Adams behind and reached Camp IV by 17:00. It's not known why he did this although it is something he had done in the past.

Some of the other climbers were reaching the top well past 2 pm, and whether it was client pressure or not, Mountain Madness leader Fischer also didn't enforce a turnaround time and allowed his clients to stay on the summit well past 3 pm. The Taiwenese group also summited around 3 pm. 

The last to reach the top was Adventure Consultants leader Hall and his client Doug Hansen who arrived at 4 pm. It was noted that this was Hansen's second attempt to scale Everest, and it's possible that Hall was aware that Hansen had spent his life savings on his Everest expeditions, so he may have been unduly swayed not to stick to the 2 pm turnaround he himself had suggested.

Hall was also aware that Hansen had run out of supplementary oxygen but stuck with his client, sending his Sherpa's down to assist other climbers instructing them to stash oxygen canisters on the route. 

By that time, snow began to fall, and the clouds darkened; this added to the difficulty of descending as the snow covered the tracks they needed to guide them down. By 6 pm it was a full-fledged blizzard with gale-force winds, and Seventeen climbers were still in the death zone with decreased oxygen supplies.

The teams broke up in a desperate bid to reach camp. 

Leaders Fischer and Makalu Gau could not proceed, and Fischer urged the sherpas to leave him and Gau and aid other climbers down.

The situation had become desperate

Hall, who was the highest up the mountain, radioed for help reporting that Hansen was now unconscious but was still alive. In a brave attempt to rescue his colleague Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris began climbing alone carrying supplementary oxygen and water towards Hansen and Hall to try and help them.

Several other climbers got lost during the storm. 

Mountain Madness guide Beidleman and his clients, along with Adventure Consultant guide Mike Groom and his clients Yasuko Namba and Beck Weathers, battled through the blizzard until they could go no further and sheltered in a ridge.

When the blizzard cleared enough to see Beidleman, Groom and two others set off to get help.

The others remained on the mountain and shouted so rescuers could locate them. This was when Boukreev, who had previously ascended alone, aided in the rescue and located the climbers bringing three of the Mountain Madness clients to safety. However, he left Namba from Adventure Consultants as he felt she was close to death and he didn't see Beck Weathers.

Early the following day, Hall radioed base camp again; he had somehow survived the night but reported that Hansen was dead and Harris, who had reached the stricken pair, was missing. 

Later that afternoon, Hall radioed again, asking base camp  to call his pregnant wife, Jan Arnold, on the satellite phone. During their last heartbreaking communication, they chose a name for their unborn child; Hall reassured his wife that he was reasonably comfortable and told her, "Sleep well, my sweetheart. Please don't worry too much." 

Shortly after, he froze to death in his sleep. 

His body was located on 23 May by Ed Viesturs from the IMAX expedition but at the request of his wife it was left up there, although his wedding band was retrieved and handed back to his wife.

The bodies of Andy Harris and Doug Hansen have never been found. 

Stuart Hutchison, a client on Hall's team, was one of the climbers who turned around before the summit on 10 May; he decided to launch another search for Weathers and Namba. He found both of them alive but severely frostbitten and unable to move. After consulting with base camp he made the agonizing decision that leaving Weathers and Namba behind was the only option.

However, by some miracle, Weathers regained consciousness and walked into camp, much to the disbelief of everyone. But he was in a bad way  

suffering from frostbite and severe hypothermia. His fellow climbers did all they could to revive him, but after a storm collapsed his tent the next morning, they believed he had died and were set to leave camp and abandon him again. However, it was discovered he was still conscious and could move. Over the next two days, Weathers was carefully helped down to Camp II and was eventually evacuated by a dangerous high-altitude helicopter rescue. Somehow he survived and eventually recovered, but lost his nose, right hand, half his right forearm, and all the fingers on his left hand to frostbite.

On May 11, Sherpas located Fischer and Gau, but Fischer was beyond help, and they were only able to give palliative care, but they did rescue  Gau, and he was subsequently evacuated by helicopter.

Similar to Beck Weathers, Gau lost all his fingers of both hands, toes and his nose to frostbite. 

On the Tibetan side of the mountain, Tsewang Smanla, Tsewang Paljor, and Dorje Morup, all Indo-Tibetan Border Police, lost their lives during the storm. Their bodies are still on the mountain, and Paljor's corpse became known as Green Boots. For many years his body was a landmark on the main Northeast ridge route of Everest until it was moved to a less conspicuous location in 2014.

Tragically, eight climbers perished during their attempt to summit Mount Everest on May 10, 1996 not including Chen Yu-Nan who died the day before. 

The loss of life was one of the greatest on Everest since it was first scaled in May 1953

In hindsight, it was a tragedy that possibly could have been avoided; there were several factors that contributed to the disaster, including inexperienced climbers, human error and failure to adhere to the cut-off time for sumitting. However ultimately it was the weather that killed them, when the blizzard hit, no matter how experienced a climber you are it gets to a point where it is unsurvivable and you are at the mercy of the extraordinarily hostile and unpredictable environment of mount Everest.

In the aftermath of the disaster, some of the survivors and witnesses wrote books about their experiences that were turned into TV documentaries. The events also inspired the feature film Everest released in 2015.