9. Hannelore Schmatz
German-born mountaineer Hannelore Schmatz became the fourth woman to
reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1979. The expedition was led by her 50-year-old husband,
Gerhard Schmatz, who was the oldest man to reach the top of the mountain. They embarked
on the journey with six other experienced climbers and five sherpas, or local guides.
Gerhard made the ascent first with some of the other group members.
Hannelore’s group’s turn was next, but the weather was rapidly deteriorating,
and Gerhard tried to talk them out of going. They didn’t listen and went anyway,
and he soon received word that Hannelore had reached the summit.
During her group’s descent, Hannelore and fellow climber Ray Genet became too exhausted
to continue. They wanted to set up camp at 28,000 feet (8,534 meters), but their guides cautioned
against it because they were in the so-called “death zone,” where climbers are most likely
to die. Genet stayed and died of hypothermia, and Hannelore tried to make it down to the base camp.
Not long after they continued the descent, Hannelore sat down, said “water, water,” and died.
Her body remained on the mountain for years to come. Mummified by the extreme cold,
she haunted passersby with her eyes wide open
and her hair blowing in the wind, as if to warn them of the dangers that lie ahead.
A gust of wind eventually blew her body off the side of the mountain and out of view.
8. George Mallory
George Mallory and fellow mountaineer Sandy Irvine vanished from the Northeast Ridge of
Mount Everest during the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition. They were last seen about
800 feet (245 meters) from the summit before they disappeared from sight.
For the next 75 years, nobody knew what happened to Mallory. They just knew he was dead.
In 1999, climbers discovered his body laying face down while filming a BBC documentary on the topic.
His remains were remarkably well-preserved due to
the constant freezing temperatures on the mountain. Irvine’s body was never found.
There’s a severed rope around Mallory’s waist, indicating that he likely tumbled down the ridge,
breaking one of his legs on the way down. His uninjured leg was found crossed over
the broken limb, suggesting that he was alive for a brief period after the fall
and attempted to protect the injured leg.
Irvine’s pickax was found near Mallory’s remains. It’s unknown whether the two
men were tied together when Mallory fell and why Irvine’s body was not discovered nearby.
The team who discovered Mallory failed to find a camera that they believed he was carrying, leading
them to theorize that Irvine must have had it instead. If found, it’s possible that the camera’s
film could still be developed, perhaps offering a firsthand glimpse of the ill-fated expedition.
7. Lincoln Hall
The first Australian expedition to climb Mount Everest took place in 1984, with the group forging
a new path up the mountain along the way. Included among them was experienced climber Lincoln Hall.
He wasn’t one of the two group members to reach the summit, but he returned to Everest in 2006 to
try again. This time, he made it to the top, where he spent 20 minutes before beginning his descent.
Shortly into the trip down, while still in the so-called
“death zone,” Hall suffered from a form of altitude sickness called cerebral edema,
which caused him to hallucinate and become confused. He began threatening to jump off cliffs
and climb back up the mountain, and then collapsed in the snow.
Sherpas tried for hours to revive Hall, but the expedition leader eventually instructed
them to leave him behind and save themselves. A statement was released announcing Hall’s death,
and his family was notified.
Twelve hours later, another group discovered the man alive while climbing the mountain.
To their shock, he wasn’t only alive, but was sitting up with his jacket unzipped.
He was weak, delusional, and frostbitten, but had miraculously survived the night
at an altitude of over 28,200 feet (8,595 meters) without any oxygen. Hall calmly greeted the group,
saying “I imagine you are surprised to see me here.”
He lost the tips of his fingers and a toe, but otherwise emerged in relatively good health.
Sadly, Hall died in 2012 from mesothelioma.
His climbing boots are on display at the National Museum of Australia.
6. Francys Arsentiev
Nicknamed the “Sleeping Beauty” of Mount Everest, Francys Arsentiev became the first American woman
to summit the peak without supplemental oxygen in 1998. She accomplished the feat with her husband,
Sergei. But without the supplemental oxygen, it took the couple longer than
usual to complete the journey to the top. On their way back down, the weather turned,
and Sergei lost sight of Francys. When he reached the base camp and realized she wasn’t there,
he grabbed an oxygen tank and went out searching for her.
Not far from the summit, Francys had grown tired and sat down to rest.
A climbing team from Uzbekistan found her weak and suffering from frostbite.
She couldn’t stand, so the most they could do to help her was give her a bottle of oxygen.
The next day, climbers Cathy O’Dowd and Ian Woodall found Francys still alive,
but without oxygen and with some of her clothing removed due to the searing hot sensation that some
people feel when they get hypothermia. Francys was repeating the same three phrases out loud:
“Don’t leave me,” “Why are you doing this to me,” and “I’m an American.” But she wasn’t
responding to the couple’s questions, and she couldn’t move. Cathy and Ian tried to help,
but they had no other choice than to leave Francys where they found her.
Sergei’s body was found a year later. It appeared
as though he had taken a fall while he was out looking for his wife.
Ian Woodall returned to Everest in 2007 with a specific mission:
to give Francys a proper burial. With help from his team members, he moved her body out of sight,
covered her in an American flag, and placed a teddy bear next to her.
5. Tsewang Paljor
When people die on Mount Everest, their bodies are often left right where they took their last
breath. The 200 bodies scattered throughout the mountain serve as sobering reminders to
the climbers who walk past them of how easy it is to perish in the unforgiving Himalayan climate.
One of the most famous bodies on Mount Everest is thought to belong to a man named Tsewang Paljor.
Nicknamed “Green Boots,” the corpse rests on its side, with Paljor’s face concealed by his fleece
and his arms wrapped around his torso, as if to protect himself from the harsh cold.
It’s impossible not to notice his vibrant green footwear,
especially since they lay in the path, forcing climbers to step over the body.
Hailing from India, Paljor was one of eight people who died on the mountain
during a blizzard in 1996. Fellow team member Harbhajan Singh was the only one
to survive the expedition. He stayed alive by cautiously remaining behind when he realized
how dangerous the conditions were getting near the top. But the rest of the group pushed on,
consumed by the obsessive desire to reach the peak, known as “summit fever.”
Three of the climbers accomplished their goal,
but they paid for it with their lives when they died in the blizzard.
Have you heard the stories of Mount Everest climbers experiencing summit fever?
What about climbers using the bodies of previous hikers as way points on the climb?
Let me know in the comments, and make sure to like and subscribe while you’re there.
4. David Sharp
The obsession that many climbers have with reaching the top of Mount Everest,
known as “summit fever,” is one of numerous ethical issues that have
come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. Some people are so determined to
accomplish their goal that they ignore others who are in need of help along the way or fail
to pay attention to their own body’s warning signs that it’s time to quit or take a break.
David Sharp was an experienced British climber who made a solo attempt to summit Mount Everest
in 2006 – without any oxygen, minus a very small emergency supply. It was his third expedition up
the mountain, and he hoped to finally reach the peak this time. Before leaving for the trip, Sharp
reassured his mother that there would be plenty of other climbers around to help him if he needed it.
It’s unknown whether he reached the summit, but he definitely at least came
close. During the descent back toward base camp, Sharp was forced to camp out under a rock shelter
at an altitude of around 28,000 feet (8,500 meters). His emergency oxygen supply was depleted
and he may have been having equipment issues when he was overtaken by the elements.
Quite a bit of time passed before anyone noticed that Sharp was overdue for his return to the base
camp, and nobody panicked at first. Knowing he was an experienced mountaineer, other climbers assumed
that Sharp had the situation under control. But he couldn’t get up to resume his journey
and died near the famous “Green Boots” corpse that’s been resting on the mountain since 1996.
Dozens of climbers passed by Sharp in the hours leading up to his death.
At times, he was lucid and coherent; others, he appeared to be asleep or unconscious. Several
people stopped to give him oxygen and try to help him, but there was little anyone could do
when they were traveling with limited supplies and putting their own life at risk.
Sir Edmund Hillary – the first explorer to summit
Mount Everest in 1953 – criticized the 30 to 40 climbers who reportedly passed by Sharp
for not doing more to help him. Many others felt the same way,
believing that people were too preoccupied with reaching the summit to stop and help a dying man.
Surprisingly, Sharp’s mother feels differently.
She told reporters that a climber’s responsibility is to save themselves and nobody else.
What do you think? Do climbers have a moral obligation to stop
and help a stranded mountaineer, or is it every person for themselves?
3. Shriya Shah-Klorfine
Overcrowding is increasingly becoming an issue on Mount Everest, where more and more people
have died in recent years due to congestion slowing down their journey. Deaths also seem to
be on the rise as climbing packages are offered to almost anyone willing to pay for a journey
that was once reserved for only the most experienced climbers.
Shriya Shah-Klorfine was born in Nepal but lived in Canada. Climbing to the
top of Mount Everest was her lifelong dream. In 2012, she booked her spot on
an expedition with a new company. Neither Shriya nor the company had much experience.
During her training, it became apparent that Shriya would lag behind the group. She had to
be taught even the most basic things. One of the Sherpas forewarned her against climbing Everest,
telling her that she could end up killing herself if she tried.
But Shriya was determined to accomplish her goal, and she went anyway.
To top it all off, the mountain was overcrowded with climbers on the day
her group ascended to the summit. Shriya started running low on oxygen on the way up.
In addition to the long wait time to get up and down the mountain,
she spent 25 minutes at the summit, using even more oxygen while she took pictures and videos.
During the climb down, Shriya became weak from exhaustion and altitude sickness, and needed to be
held up by the Sherpas. Anytime she tried taking a step, she fell. At some point, Shriya stopped
moving. She passed away at over 26,000 feet (8,000 meters), after uttering the final words “Save me”
to one of the Sherpas. Her body was draped with a Canadian flag and was retrieved 10 days later.
Veteran climbing guide Russell Brice told reporters that Shriya used her oxygen earlier
than most climbers, and that she kept it flowing at a higher rate. She was given a big enough
supply to get up the mountain, but not to make it back down. Brice also pointed out that people tend
to get the wrong impression that Everest is easy to climb, because so many people do it nowadays.
2. Scott Fischer
Scott Fischer was a highly experienced mountaineer and guide
who preferred to climb without using supplemental oxygen. He first climbed Mount Everest in 1994
as part of a team that removed 5,000 pounds (2,268 kg) of trash from the mountain. Two years later,
Fischer, two other guides, and eight Sherpas led an expedition of eight climbers up Everest.
Slowed down by the high number of climbers on the mountain,
Fischer reached the summit later in the day than recommended for a safe turnaround.
On his way back down, he grew increasingly sick, weak, and tired. When a blizzard set in,
Fischer sent his Sherpa along without him, asking him to return later on with help.
By the time help arrived two days later, Fischer was unresponsive.
Rescuers put an oxygen mask on his face and went to help others, hoping he’d regain consciousness
at some point. But when they returned, it was clear that Fischer was dead. He was
partially undressed, which is known to sometimes happen when someone suffers from hypothermia
or altitude-related delirium. The rest of the expedition members survived the ordeal.
Fischer’s legacy lives on in Mountain Madness, the mountain
climbing company he founded that helps curious adventurers reach the peak of their dreams.
1. Marco Siffredi
French snowboarder Marco Siffredi was just 23 years old when he climbed Mount Everest in 2002
in search of the “holy grail” of snowboarding routes. With the help of three sherpas,
he reached the summit without any issues. He spent several hours resting and preparing for
his unconventional descent while dreary weather set in. The sherpas urged Siffredi to set up
camp and wait until the next day to snowboard down the mountain, but he ignored their advice.
The guides hurried to beat the storm that was coming. Once they broke the cloud cover,
they saw a lone figure off in the distance below. But there were no
marks in the snow once the sherpas reached the area where they had seen the figure.
Siffredi was never seen or heard from again, and he’s presumed dead. His sister believes
that he survived the descent and decided to start a new life living with yak herders, but it’s more
likely that he succumbed to exhaustion and fell into a ravine or was swallowed by an avalanche.
Thanks for watching! If you’d like to learn about more mountain climbing disasters,
let me know in the comments below and be sure to subscribe. I’ll see you next time!