Everest movie true events 1996. Beck Withers - Survive at all costs
Based on the books: John Krakauer “In Thin Air”, 1996, M. and Bukreev A.N. and DeWalt “Ascension”, 2002, M. The tragedy on Chomolungma in May 1996 refers to the events that occurred on May 11, 1996 and led to the mass death of climbers on the southern slope of Everest. This year, over the entire season, 15 people died while climbing the mountain, which forever wrote this year in history as one of the most tragic in the history of the conquest of Everest. The May tragedy received wide publicity in the press, calling into question the moral aspects of the commercialization of Chomolungma. The opposite point of view was expressed by Soviet mountaineer Anatoly Boukreev in his book “The Climb,” co-written with Weston DeWalt. So, the characters and performers... Commercial expedition "Mountain Madness"Guides: Scott Fisher, expedition leader (USA) Clients: Martin Adams, Charlotte Fox (female), Lene Gammelgard (female), Dale Cruz (friend of Scott!...), Tim Madsen, Sandy Hill Pittman (female), Pete Schoening, Cleve Schöning.
Sherpas: Lopsang Jangbu (sirdar), Nawang Dorje, Tenjing, Tashi Tshering. Scott Fisher died.
Three clients almost died: Sandy Hill Pittman, Charlotte Fox and Tim Madsen. Commercial expedition "Adventure Consultants"
Guides: Rob Hall, expedition leader (New Zealand)
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Sherpas: Ang Dorje, Lhakpa Chhiri, Nawang Norbu, Kami. Taiwan expedition Gao Minghe (“Makalu”) led a team of 13 people along the South Slope of Everest. On May 9, a member of the Taiwanese expedition, Chen Yunan, died after falling into a cliff. As it turned out later, he went to the toilet, but did not put crampons on his shoes, which cost him his life.
Makalu Gao Minghe suffered severe frostbite.
Chronology of events
On this day, the start of the passage of the Khumbu glacier was scheduled, which ends at an altitude of 4,600 m. On April 13, the participants in the ascent reached an altitude of 6,492 m, where they organized the first high-altitude camp (“Camp 2”). On April 26, at the general meeting of expedition leaders - Fisher Scott (USA, “Mountain Madness”), Rob Hall (New Zealand, “Adventure Consultants”), Henry Todd Burleson (England, “Himalayan Guides”), Ian Woodall (South Africa, “ Sunday Times from Johannesburg) and Makalu Gao (Taiwan) decided to join forces on the climb and jointly set ropes from “Camp 3” to “Camp 4”. On April 28, when the climbers reached “Camp 3,” all participants noticed a sharp deterioration in Dale Cruz’s condition. He began to feel apathetic and was staggering. He was hastily taken down to “camp 2”. On April 30, all participants of the “Mountain Madness” expedition completed the acclimatization ascent. It was decided to begin climbing to the summit on May 5, but the date was later moved to May 6. Shortly after the start of the climb, Dale Cruz's condition worsened again, and Fisher decided to return and escort him down. According to Henry Todd of Himalayan Guides, he met Fisher while he was climbing the Khumbu Glacier. He was alarmed by the last words uttered by Fisher before continuing his journey: “I’m afraid for my people. I don't like the way things are going." On May 8, the Mountain Madness climbers were unable to leave for Camp 3 on time due to strong winds. However, A. Boukreev and S. Fischer managed to overtake the members of Rob Hall’s “Adventure Consultants” expedition. On May 9, the climbers went to “camp 4”. On the climb, they stretched out into a chain of 50 people, since in addition to the climbers of “Adventure Consultants” and “Mountain Madness”, another commercial expedition from the United States, led by Daniel Mazur and Jonathan Pratt, was also climbing. Having reached the South Col (South Col), the climbers encountered difficult weather conditions. As Bukreev later recalled, “it was truly a hellish place, if only hell can be so cold: an icy wind, the speed of which exceeded 100 km/h, raged on the open plateau, empty oxygen cylinders were scattered everywhere, abandoned here by participants of previous expeditions.” Clients of both expeditions discussed the possibility of delaying the summit, which was scheduled for the next morning. Hall and Fisher decided that the ascent would take place.Belated rise
Shortly after midnight on May 10, the Adventure Consultants expedition began their ascent up the southern slope from Camp 4, which was located at the top of the South Col (approximately 7,900 m). They were joined by 6 clients, 3 guides and Sherpas from Scott Fisher's Mountain Madness group, as well as a Taiwanese expedition sponsored by the Taiwanese government. Leaving “Camp 4” at midnight, the climbers, if everything went according to plan, could expect to be at the top in 10-11 hours. Unscheduled stops and delays soon began due to the fact that the Sherpas and guides did not have time to fix the ropes by the time the climbers reached the site. It cost them 1 hour. It is not possible to find out the reasons for what happened, since both leaders of the expedition died. However, there is evidence that several groups of climbers (approximately 34 people) were on the mountain that day, which undoubtedly could have affected the congestion of the route and caused delays. Reaching the Hillary Step Hillary Step , a vertical ledge on Everest's southeast ridge), climbers are again faced with the problem of loose gear, forcing them to waste another hour waiting for the problem to be fixed. Given that 34 climbers were climbing to the summit at the same time, Hall and Fisher asked expedition members to stay 150 m away from each other. According to Krakauer, he had to stop for a long time more than once. This was primarily due to the order of Rob Hall: in the first half of the walking day, before the ascent to the “Balcony” (at 8,230 m), the distance between the clients of his expedition should not exceed 100 m. Boukreev and Adams overtook all the climbers of their group and many of Hall's band members who came out earlier. Jon Krakauer and Ang Dorje climbed to a height of 8,500 m at 5:30 am and reached the “Balcony”. By 6:00 am Bukreev ascended to the “Balcony”. The “balcony” is part of the so-called “death zone” - a place where, due to cold and lack of oxygen, a person cannot stay for long, and any delay can be fatal. However, another delay arises. All climbers are forced to wait until the Sherpas tighten the railings again. Such railings must be laid to the South Summit (8748 m). If at hour X you have not yet reached altitude Y, then you need to turn back. By 10:00 Biddleman climbed to the South Summit, and Adams half an hour later. They had to wait an hour and a half, because there was only one railing, and there were a lot of climbers. Adventure Consultants expedition member Frank Fishbeck decides to turn back. The remaining clients of Rob Hall do not appear on the South Summit until 10:30. At 11:45 Lou Kozicki decides to begin the descent. Hutchinson and Taske also decide to turn back. At the same time, the South Summit is separated from the summit of Everest by only 100 m, and the weather was sunny and clear, although the wind was picking up. Climbing without the use of oxygen, Anatoly Boukreev reached the top first, at approximately 13:07. A few minutes later Jon Krakauer appeared at the top. After some time, Harris and Biddleman. Many of the remaining climbers did not manage to reach the summit before 14:00 - the critical time when it is necessary to begin the descent for a safe return to “Camp 4” and an overnight stay. Anatoly Bukreev began to descend to “camp 4” only at 14:30. By then, Martin Adams and Cleve Schoening had reached the summit, while Biddleman and the other members of the Mountain Madness expedition had not yet reached the summit. Soon, according to the observations of the climbers, the weather began to deteriorate; at approximately 15:00 it began to snow and it became dark. Makalu Go reached the summit at early 16:00 and immediately noticed worsening weather conditions. The senior Sherpa in Hall's group, Ang Dorje, and the other Sherpas remained to wait for the other climbers at the summit. After about 15:00 they began their descent. On the way down, Ang Dorje spotted one of the clients, Doug Hansen, in the Hillary Steps area. Dorje ordered him to come down, but Hansen did not answer him. When Hall arrived on scene, he sent Sherpas down to help other clients while he stayed behind to help Hansen, who had run out of supplemental oxygen. Scott Fisher did not reach the summit until 15:45, in poor physical condition, possibly due to altitude sickness, pulmonary edema and exhaustion from fatigue. It is unknown when Rob Hall and Doug Hansen reached the top.Descent during a storm
According to Bukreev, he reached “camp 4” by 17:00. Anatoly was sharply criticized for his decision to go down before his clients (!!!). Krakauer accused Boukreev of being “confused, not appreciating the situation, and showing irresponsibility.” In response to the accusations, Bukreev replied that he was going to help the clients coming down, preparing additional oxygen and hot drinks. Critics also claimed that, according to Boukreev himself, he went down with client Martin Adams, however, as it turned out later, Boukreev himself went down faster and left Adams far behind. Bad weather made it difficult for the expedition members to descend. By this time, due to a snowstorm on the southwestern slope of Everest, visibility had deteriorated significantly; the markers that had been installed during the ascent and indicated the path to “camp 4” had disappeared under the snow. Fischer, assisted by Sherpa Lopsang Jangbu, could not descend from the “Balcony” (at 8,230 m) into the snowstorm. As Go later said, his Sherpas left him at an altitude of 8,230 m along with Fischer and Lopsang, who also could no longer descend. In the end, Fischer convinced Lopsang to go down alone, leaving him and Go behind. Hall radioed for help, reporting that Hansen had lost consciousness but was still alive. Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris began the climb to the Hillary Steps at approximately 5:30 p.m., carrying a supply of water and oxygen. According to Krakauer, by this time the weather had worsened to a full-blown snowstorm. Several climbers got lost in the South Col area. Mountain Madness members guide Bidleman, Schoening, Fox, Madsen, Pittman and Gammelgard, along with Adventure Consultants members guide Groom, Beck Withers and Yasuko Namba, were lost in the snowstorm until midnight. When they could no longer continue their journey from fatigue, they huddled together just 20 meters from the abyss above the Kanchung Wall on the Chinese side ( Kangshung Face). Pittman soon began to experience symptoms of altitude sickness. Fox gave her dexamethasone. Around midnight, the storm subsided, and the climbers were able to see “camp 4,” which was located 200 m away. Biddleman, Groom, Schöning and Gammelgard went for help. Madsen and Fox remained with the group and called for help. Boukreev located the climbers and was able to bring out Pittman, Fox and Madsen. He was also criticized by other climbers because he gave preference to his clients Pittman, Fox and Madsen, while it was argued that Namba was already in a dying state. Boukreev didn’t notice Withers at all. In total, Boukreev made two trips to bring these three climbers to safety. As a result, neither he nor the other participants who were in “camp 4” had any strength left to go after Namba. On May 11, at approximately 4:43 a.m., Hall radioed and reported that he was on the South Slope. He also reported that Harris had reached the clients, but that Hansen, with whom Hall had stayed the previous day, had died. Hall said Harris later went missing. Hall himself claimed that he could not use his oxygen tank because the regulator was completely frozen over. By 9:00 am, Hall was able to control the oxygen mask, but by this time his numb legs and arms made it almost impossible for him to control the equipment. He later contacted Base Camp and asked to contact his wife, Jan Arnold, by satellite phone. Hall died shortly after this call; his body was discovered on May 23 by members of the expedition. IMAX, who filmed a documentary about the tragedy on Everest. At the same time, Stuart Hutchinson, who was part of Rob Hall's expedition and who had not completed the ascent, turned around near the summit, began to gather in search of Withers and Namba. He found both alive, but in a semi-conscious state, with numerous signs of frostbite, they could not continue their journey. Having made the difficult decision that it would not be possible to save them either in “Camp 4” or by evacuating them from the slope in time, he left them in place, letting things take their course. Krakauer wrote in his book “Into Thin Air” that later all participants in the ascent agreed that this was the only possible solution. However, Withers regained consciousness later that day and made it back to camp alone, much to the surprise of everyone in the camp as he suffered from hypothermia and severe frostbite. Withers was given oxygen and tried to warm him up, settling him in a tent for the night. Despite all this, Withers had to face the elements again when his tent was blown away by a gust of wind during the night, leaving him to spend the night in the cold. Once again he was mistaken for dead, but Krakauer discovered that Withers was conscious. On May 12, he was prepared for urgent evacuation from “Camp 4.” Over the next two days, Withers was lowered to "Camp 2", but he made part of the journey on his own. He was later evacuated by rescue helicopter. Withers underwent a long course of treatment, but due to severe frostbite, his nose, right hand and all the fingers of his left hand were amputated. In total, he underwent more than 15 operations, his thumb was reconstructed from his back muscles, and plastic surgeons reconstructed his nose. Scott Fisher and Makalu Go were discovered on May 11 by Sherpas. Fischer's condition was so serious that they had no choice but to make him comfortable and devote most of their efforts to saving Go. Anatoly Boukreev made another attempt to save Fischer, but only discovered his frozen body at approximately 19:00.Indo-Tibetan Border Guard
Less known, but no less tragic, are 3 more accidents that occurred on the same day with climbers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Service climbing the Northern Slope. The expedition was led by Lieutenant Colonel Mohinder Singh ( Commandant Mohinder Singh), who is considered to be the first Indian climber to conquer Everest from the North Face. 10 May Sergeant Tsewang Samanla ( Subedar Tsewang Samanla), Corporal Dorje Morup ( Lance Naik Dorje Morup) and Senior Constable Tsewang Palchor ( Head Constable Tsewang Paljor) climbed the North Face of Everest. This was an ordinary expedition, so Sherpas were not involved as ascent guides. This team was the first of the season to climb from the Northern Slope. The expedition members themselves had to fasten the ropes, as well as independently pave the way to the top, which in itself is a very difficult task. The participants were caught in a snowstorm while above “Camp 4.” Three of them decided to turn back, and Samanla, Morup and Palchzhor decided to continue climbing. Samanla was an experienced mountaineer, having summited Everest in 1984 and Kanchenjunga in 1991. At approximately 15:45, three climbers radioed the expedition leader and reported that they had reached the summit. Some of the expedition members who remained in the camp began to celebrate the conquest of Everest by the Indian expedition, but other climbers expressed concern about the timing of the ascent, since it was already quite late to conquer the peak. According to Krakauer, the climbers were at an altitude of approximately 8,700 m, i.e. approximately 150 m from the highest point. Due to poor visibility and low clouds surrounding the summit, the climbers probably thought they had reached the summit itself. This also explains the fact that they did not meet the team that was climbing from the South Slope. Climbers placed prayer flags at the summit. The leader of the group, Samanla, was known for his religiosity. Therefore, at the top, he decided to linger and perform several religious rituals, while he sent two of his colleagues to descend. He never made contact again. The expedition members who were in the camp saw a slowly sliding downward light from two headlamps (presumably these were Marup and Palchzhor) in the area of the second step - approximately at an altitude of 8,570 m. None of the three climbers descended to the intermediate camp at an altitude of 8,320 m.Controversy with the Japanese expedition
In his book Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer describes the events surrounding the deaths of the Indian climbers. In particular, the actions (or inactions) of Japanese climbers were subjected to careful analysis.Chronicle of events according to the Japanese expedition
May 11 06:15 – Hiroshi Hanada and Eisuke Shigekawa (First Fukuoka Group) departed from “Camp 6” (altitude approximately 8,300 m). Three Sherpas came out early. 08:45 – Radio message to base camp about approaching the mountain range. Not far from the top, they meet two climbers descending in a team. At the top they see another climber. They could not identify them because their heads were covered with hoods and their faces were covered with oxygen masks. The Fukuoka group had no information about the missing Indians; they decided that the climbers they met were from the Taiwanese expedition. 11:39 – Radio message to Base Camp about passing the second stage (altitude 8600 m). At a distance of about 15 m from the summit, they noticed two climbers descending. It was not possible to identify them again. 15:07 – Hanada, Shigekawa and three Sherpas ascend to the summit. 15:30 – Start of descent. After passing the triangle, they notice some unclear objects above the Second Stage. At the foot of the First Step, they notice a man on a fixed rope. Shigekawa stops and contacts Base Camp. As he began to descend, he passed another man who was also descending the railing. They exchanged greetings, although he was also unable to identify the climber. They only have enough oxygen to descend to Camp 6. 16:00 – (approximately) A member of the Indian expedition reported to Fukuoka Base Camp that three climbers were missing. The Japanese were going to send three Sherpas from Camp 6 to help the Indian climbers, but by that time it was getting dark, which prevented their actions. 12 May All groups located in “camp 6” were forced to wait for the end of the snow storm and wind. may 13 05:45 – The second group of Fukuoka began their ascent from “camp 6”. They promise their Indian colleagues that if they discover the missing climbers, they will help them descend. 09:00 – The group discovered one body before the First Stage and another one after overcoming the stage, but nothing could be done for them without risking their own lives. 11:26 – The group has reached the summit. 22:45 – The group returned to Base Camp. May 14 Several members of the Indian group descended to Base Camp, but did not tell the Fukuoka group anything about the missing climbers.Accusations from the Indian Expedition and Jon Krakauer
According to Krakauer, the lone climber whom the Japanese met on the ascent (8:45) was apparently Palchzhor, who was already suffering from frostbite and groaning in pain. The Japanese climbers ignored him and continued climbing. After they completed the "Second Stage", they encountered two other climbers (presumably Samanla and Morup). Krakauer claims that “Not a word was spoken, not a single drop of water, food or oxygen was transferred. The Japanese continued their ascent...". Initially, the indifference of the Japanese climbers stunned the Indians. According to the leader of the Indian expedition, “at first the Japanese offered to help in the search for the missing Indians. But a few hours later they continued to climb to the top, despite the deteriorating weather.” The Japanese team continued climbing until 11:45. By the time the Japanese climbers began their descent, one of the two Indians was already dead, and the second was on the verge of life and death. They lost sight of the traces of the third descending climber. However, Japanese climbers denied that they had ever seen any dying climbers on the climb. Captain Kohli, representative of the Indian Mountaineering Federation ( Indian Mountaineering Federation), who initially blamed the Japanese, later retracted his claim that the Japanese claimed to have met Indian climbers on 10 May. “The Indo-Tibetan Border Guard Service (ITBS) confirms the statement of members of the Fukuoka expedition that they did not leave Indian climbers without assistance and did not refuse to help in the search for the missing.” The managing director of ITPS said that “the misunderstanding occurred due to communication interference between the Indian climbers and their base camp.”Commercialization of Everest
The first commercial expeditions to Everest began to be organized in the early 1990s. Guides appear, ready to make any client’s dream come true. They take care of everything: delivering participants to the base camp, organizing the route and intermediate camps, accompanying the client and securing him all the way up and down. At the same time, conquering the summit was not guaranteed. In pursuit of profit, some guides take on clients who are not able to climb to the top at all. In particular, Henry Todd from the Himalayan Guides company argued that, “...without blinking an eye, these leaders appropriate a lot of money for themselves, knowing full well that their charges have no chance.”. Neil Biddleman, a guide for the Mountain Madness group, admitted to Anatoly Boukreev even before the ascent began that “...half of the clients have no chance of reaching the summit; for most of them, the ascent will end at the South Col (7,900 m)”. Todd spoke indignantly about one American: “This is business as usual for him. He hasn’t lifted a single person to Everest in the last two years!”. However, Todd reacted much more leniently to Scott's decision to take Cruise with him. “The thing is, you never know who will do well at the top and who won’t. The best climbers may not be able to cope, but the weakest and ill-prepared may not reach the top. On my expeditions this happened more than once or twice. There was a participant about whom I thought that if anyone could not rise, it would be him. This participant simply ran to the top. And with the other, it seemed to me that this was the right thing, I was ready to add him to the list of those who conquered the summit even before the start. But he couldn't. This happened on an expedition with Boukreev’s participation in 1995. The strongest of the clients could not rise, and the weakest reached the top before Tolya". “But,” Todd added, by inviting obviously weak clients, we risk ruining both them and everyone else. We simply have to take to the top only those who can really climb to the top. We have no room for error". In preparation for the Mountain Madness expedition, little oxygen equipment was purchased. By the time the climbers reached Camp IV, they had only 62 oxygen cylinders left: 9 four-liter and 53 three-liter. Another shortcoming can be considered the outdated, ten-channel radios that Scott Fisher purchased for the expedition. American climber and writer Galen Rovell, in an article for the Wall Street Journal, called the operation carried out by Boukreev to rescue the three climbers “unique.” On December 6, 1997, the American Alpine Club awarded Anatoly Boukreev the David Souls Prize, awarded to climbers who saved people in the mountains at risk to their own lives.|
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Despite all the difficulties and the small chance of survival, you either become history or write it. This list includes those who were able to cheat death, whether it was a happy accident or an incredible will to live.
This was not an easy feat, and certainly not an easy one for the time when pioneer settlers were looking for a better life. In May 1846, James F. Reed and George Donner led a wagon train heading to California. Hoping to reach their destination before the snowfall, they chose a new route called Hastings Cut, despite the objections of most. Although this should have been the easiest route, Donner-Reed's group was stuck in the snowy Sierra Nevada mountains for the entire winter. Their food was running out, which meant that some had to resort to cannibalism. In the end, only 48 of the 87 people lived to tell the tale.
This American colonist was distinguished by his enormous tolerance for pain. In 1823, Hugh Glass was fur trading with a dozen other men when they encountered a grizzly bear, and his journey of agony began. The bear was killed by those who came to the rescue; at the cost of multiple lacerations and a broken leg, Glass survived this fatal encounter, but became a burden and the remaining members of the expedition wrote him off. They promised him a funeral and left two people with him to take care of him after his death. But the volunteers fled taking all possible things. Having come to his senses and not finding anything useful at hand, Glass decided to go to the nearest fort, crawling. He managed to survive by eating pasture and preventing gangrene by using larvae that ate dead tissue.
Those who try to conquer Everest keep two thoughts in their heads - to reach the top and to stay alive. On May 10, 1996, 49-year-old Beck Weathers suffered from health problems during his climb. After he became almost blind, he began to wait for his guide when suddenly a snowstorm blew up. Falling unconscious in the snow, a group of climbers abandoned Weathers, believing him to be dead. After lying there for some time in sub-zero temperatures, he returned to camp a day and a half later. Despite the fact that 15 people died on that expedition, the lucky one did not escape with a slight fright. Weathers lost his nose, his entire right hand, and most of his left.
What started out as a simple sailing trip from Maine to Florida for a crew of 5 quickly turned into an absolute nightmare. After a shipwreck, in a storm in October 1982, the five found themselves in an inflatable boat and, due to lack of supplies and water, in the company of a wounded girl, their comrades began to go crazy. Two guys jumped off and were eaten by sharks, and the wounded girl died of blood poisoning. What are the chances of saving a couple of people on the high seas? But they were lucky; a Soviet cargo ship passed by and picked up their comrades.
On September 13, 1848, Gage was in charge of blasting rocks for the railroad. He was injured in the explosion by a metal rod that flew into his head. Having lost an eye and part of the frontal lobe of his brain, Gage was conscious. Despite the fact that Phineas Gage recovered from such an injury, friends argued that he had changed too much. Doctors confirmed that the damaged part of the brain affected changes in the psyche and emotional character.
In April 2003, Ralston went on a routine hike to one of the canyons of Utah. After an unexpected collapse crushed the climber’s hand with a boulder, he had to spend 5 days waiting for help, which never came. Eventually, after running out of food and water, he had to make the difficult decision to amputate his own arm with a pocketknife. However, this painful and excruciating act ultimately saved his life. Having managed to walk several kilometers under the scorching sun, he met tourists who helped him get to the hospital.
While Olympic runner and former World War II prisoner of war Louis Zamperini spent 47 days adrift at sea, this story is about a man who spent 13 months adrift in the Pacific Ocean. In November 2012, two fishermen, Jose Salvador Alvarenga and Ezekiel Cordoba, sailed off the coast of Mexico but were thrown off course by a storm. Losing the will to live, Cordova stopped eating and died, leaving Alvarenga to consider the alternative of suicide for many months. Surviving on urine, seabirds, turtles and fish, on the 438th day the sailor's boat washed up on one of the Marshall Islands, where he was helped.
On Friday 13th October 1972, the Uruguayan rugby team, along with their families and friends, were flying over the Andes for an upcoming match. Terrible weather conditions led to a plane crash on a peak called the Glacier of Tears. Some of the passengers died in the fall. Two months later, Nando Parrado and his friend Roberto Canessa made an 11-day trek without equipment or food. Exhausted, they met a shepherd who helped them get to the village and call rescuers to the plane.
Although built to maneuver in ice, the ship, known as the Endurance, became stuck in the ice of the Weddell Sea in December 1914. Having turned the stuck ship into a wintering camp, Shackleton intended to wait for a convenient opportunity to escape from the icy shackles, but over time, damage to the ship did not allow his plans to come true. The ship sank and all the animals had to be killed. Due to the lack of opportunity to move on the ice, the team had to take lifeboats. Thus, the crew was at sea for 497 days, but thanks to Shackleton's leadership, not a single crew member died.
Few people survive plane crashes, but nothing compares to Vulović's fall. In January 1972, flight attendant Vesna Vulović was on a plane in flight when a bomb exploded. Although Vulovich remained alive after falling from a height of 10 thousand meters, she does not remember anything about the landing. And this is not so scary, because she is the only survivor of the crash, she escaped with a fracture of the base of her skull, three vertebrae, both legs and pelvis. The first days she was in a coma. The treatment lasted 16 months, 10 of which she was paralyzed from the waist down. In 1985, her name was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the survivor of a fall from the greatest height.
Guides: Scott Fisher, expedition leader (USA) Clients: Martin Adams, Charlotte Fox (female), Lene Gammelgard (female), Dale Cruz (friend of Scott!...), Tim Madsen, Sandy Hill Pittman (female), Pete Schoening, Cleve Schöning.
Sherpas: Lopsang Jangbu (sirdar), Nawang Dorje, Tenjing, Tashi Tshering. Scott Fisher died.
Three clients almost died: Sandy Hill Pittman, Charlotte Fox and Tim Madsen. Commercial expedition "Adventure Consultants"
Guides: Rob Hall, expedition leader (New Zealand)
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Sherpas: Ang Dorje, Lhakpa Chhiri, Nawang Norbu, Kami. Taiwan expedition Gao Minghe (“Makalu”) led a team of 13 people along the South Slope of Everest. On May 9, a member of the Taiwanese expedition, Chen Yunan, died after falling into a cliff. As it turned out later, he went to the toilet, but did not put crampons on his shoes, which cost him his life.
Makalu Gao Minghe suffered severe frostbite.
Chronology of events
On this day, the start of the passage of the Khumbu glacier was scheduled, which ends at an altitude of 4,600 m. On April 13, the participants in the ascent reached an altitude of 6,492 m, where they organized the first high-altitude camp (“Camp 2”). On April 26, at the general meeting of expedition leaders - Fisher Scott (USA, “Mountain Madness”), Rob Hall (New Zealand, “Adventure Consultants”), Henry Todd Burleson (England, “Himalayan Guides”), Ian Woodall (South Africa, “ Sunday Times from Johannesburg) and Makalu Gao (Taiwan) decided to join forces on the climb and jointly set ropes from “Camp 3” to “Camp 4”. On April 28, when the climbers reached “Camp 3,” all participants noticed a sharp deterioration in Dale Cruz’s condition. He began to feel apathetic and was staggering. He was hastily taken down to “camp 2”. On April 30, all participants of the “Mountain Madness” expedition completed the acclimatization ascent. It was decided to begin climbing to the summit on May 5, but the date was later moved to May 6. Shortly after the start of the climb, Dale Cruz's condition worsened again, and Fisher decided to return and escort him down. According to Henry Todd of Himalayan Guides, he met Fisher while he was climbing the Khumbu Glacier. He was alarmed by the last words uttered by Fisher before continuing his journey: “I’m afraid for my people. I don't like the way things are going." On May 8, the Mountain Madness climbers were unable to leave for Camp 3 on time due to strong winds. However, A. Boukreev and S. Fischer managed to overtake the members of Rob Hall’s “Adventure Consultants” expedition. On May 9, the climbers went to “camp 4”. On the climb, they stretched out into a chain of 50 people, since in addition to the climbers of “Adventure Consultants” and “Mountain Madness”, another commercial expedition from the United States, led by Daniel Mazur and Jonathan Pratt, was also climbing. Having reached the South Col (South Col), the climbers encountered difficult weather conditions. As Bukreev later recalled, “it was truly a hellish place, if only hell can be so cold: an icy wind, the speed of which exceeded 100 km/h, raged on the open plateau, empty oxygen cylinders were scattered everywhere, abandoned here by participants of previous expeditions.” Clients of both expeditions discussed the possibility of delaying the summit, which was scheduled for the next morning. Hall and Fisher decided that the ascent would take place.Belated rise
Shortly after midnight on May 10, the Adventure Consultants expedition began their ascent up the southern slope from Camp 4, which was located at the top of the South Col (approximately 7,900 m). They were joined by 6 clients, 3 guides and Sherpas from Scott Fisher's Mountain Madness group, as well as a Taiwanese expedition sponsored by the Taiwanese government. Leaving “Camp 4” at midnight, the climbers, if everything went according to plan, could expect to be at the top in 10-11 hours. Unscheduled stops and delays soon began due to the fact that the Sherpas and guides did not have time to fix the ropes by the time the climbers reached the site. It cost them 1 hour. It is not possible to find out the reasons for what happened, since both leaders of the expedition died. However, there is evidence that several groups of climbers (approximately 34 people) were on the mountain that day, which undoubtedly could have affected the congestion of the route and caused delays. Reaching the Hillary Step Hillary Step , a vertical ledge on Everest's southeast ridge), climbers are again faced with the problem of loose gear, forcing them to waste another hour waiting for the problem to be fixed. Given that 34 climbers were climbing to the summit at the same time, Hall and Fisher asked expedition members to stay 150 m away from each other. According to Krakauer, he had to stop for a long time more than once. This was primarily due to the order of Rob Hall: in the first half of the walking day, before the ascent to the “Balcony” (at 8,230 m), the distance between the clients of his expedition should not exceed 100 m. Boukreev and Adams overtook all the climbers of their group and many of Hall's band members who came out earlier. Jon Krakauer and Ang Dorje climbed to a height of 8,500 m at 5:30 am and reached the “Balcony”. By 6:00 am Bukreev ascended to the “Balcony”. The “balcony” is part of the so-called “death zone” - a place where, due to cold and lack of oxygen, a person cannot stay for long, and any delay can be fatal. However, another delay arises. All climbers are forced to wait until the Sherpas tighten the railings again. Such railings must be laid to the South Summit (8748 m). If at hour X you have not yet reached altitude Y, then you need to turn back. By 10:00 Biddleman climbed to the South Summit, and Adams half an hour later. They had to wait an hour and a half, because there was only one railing, and there were a lot of climbers. Adventure Consultants expedition member Frank Fishbeck decides to turn back. The remaining clients of Rob Hall do not appear on the South Summit until 10:30. At 11:45 Lou Kozicki decides to begin the descent. Hutchinson and Taske also decide to turn back. At the same time, the South Summit is separated from the summit of Everest by only 100 m, and the weather was sunny and clear, although the wind was picking up. Climbing without the use of oxygen, Anatoly Boukreev reached the top first, at approximately 13:07. A few minutes later Jon Krakauer appeared at the top. After some time, Harris and Biddleman. Many of the remaining climbers did not manage to reach the summit before 14:00 - the critical time when it is necessary to begin the descent for a safe return to “Camp 4” and an overnight stay. Anatoly Bukreev began to descend to “camp 4” only at 14:30. By then, Martin Adams and Cleve Schoening had reached the summit, while Biddleman and the other members of the Mountain Madness expedition had not yet reached the summit. Soon, according to the observations of the climbers, the weather began to deteriorate; at approximately 15:00 it began to snow and it became dark. Makalu Go reached the summit at early 16:00 and immediately noticed worsening weather conditions. The senior Sherpa in Hall's group, Ang Dorje, and the other Sherpas remained to wait for the other climbers at the summit. After about 15:00 they began their descent. On the way down, Ang Dorje spotted one of the clients, Doug Hansen, in the Hillary Steps area. Dorje ordered him to come down, but Hansen did not answer him. When Hall arrived on scene, he sent Sherpas down to help other clients while he stayed behind to help Hansen, who had run out of supplemental oxygen. Scott Fisher did not reach the summit until 15:45, in poor physical condition, possibly due to altitude sickness, pulmonary edema and exhaustion from fatigue. It is unknown when Rob Hall and Doug Hansen reached the top.Descent during a storm
According to Bukreev, he reached “camp 4” by 17:00. Anatoly was sharply criticized for his decision to go down before his clients (!!!). Krakauer accused Boukreev of being “confused, not appreciating the situation, and showing irresponsibility.” In response to the accusations, Bukreev replied that he was going to help the clients coming down, preparing additional oxygen and hot drinks. Critics also claimed that, according to Boukreev himself, he went down with client Martin Adams, however, as it turned out later, Boukreev himself went down faster and left Adams far behind. Bad weather made it difficult for the expedition members to descend. By this time, due to a snowstorm on the southwestern slope of Everest, visibility had deteriorated significantly; the markers that had been installed during the ascent and indicated the path to “camp 4” had disappeared under the snow. Fischer, assisted by Sherpa Lopsang Jangbu, could not descend from the “Balcony” (at 8,230 m) into the snowstorm. As Go later said, his Sherpas left him at an altitude of 8,230 m along with Fischer and Lopsang, who also could no longer descend. In the end, Fischer convinced Lopsang to go down alone, leaving him and Go behind. Hall radioed for help, reporting that Hansen had lost consciousness but was still alive. Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris began the climb to the Hillary Steps at approximately 5:30 p.m., carrying a supply of water and oxygen. According to Krakauer, by this time the weather had worsened to a full-blown snowstorm. Several climbers got lost in the South Col area. Mountain Madness members guide Bidleman, Schoening, Fox, Madsen, Pittman and Gammelgard, along with Adventure Consultants members guide Groom, Beck Withers and Yasuko Namba, were lost in the snowstorm until midnight. When they could no longer continue their journey from fatigue, they huddled together just 20 meters from the abyss above the Kanchung Wall on the Chinese side ( Kangshung Face). Pittman soon began to experience symptoms of altitude sickness. Fox gave her dexamethasone. Around midnight, the storm subsided, and the climbers were able to see “camp 4,” which was located 200 m away. Biddleman, Groom, Schöning and Gammelgard went for help. Madsen and Fox remained with the group and called for help. Boukreev located the climbers and was able to bring out Pittman, Fox and Madsen. He was also criticized by other climbers because he gave preference to his clients Pittman, Fox and Madsen, while it was argued that Namba was already in a dying state. Boukreev didn’t notice Withers at all. In total, Boukreev made two trips to bring these three climbers to safety. As a result, neither he nor the other participants who were in “camp 4” had any strength left to go after Namba. On May 11, at approximately 4:43 a.m., Hall radioed and reported that he was on the South Slope. He also reported that Harris had reached the clients, but that Hansen, with whom Hall had stayed the previous day, had died. Hall said Harris later went missing. Hall himself claimed that he could not use his oxygen tank because the regulator was completely frozen over. By 9:00 am, Hall was able to control the oxygen mask, but by this time his numb legs and arms made it almost impossible for him to control the equipment. He later contacted Base Camp and asked to contact his wife, Jan Arnold, by satellite phone. Hall died shortly after this call; his body was discovered on May 23 by members of the expedition. IMAX, who filmed a documentary about the tragedy on Everest. At the same time, Stuart Hutchinson, who was part of Rob Hall's expedition and who had not completed the ascent, turned around near the summit, began to gather in search of Withers and Namba. He found both alive, but in a semi-conscious state, with numerous signs of frostbite, they could not continue their journey. Having made the difficult decision that it would not be possible to save them either in “Camp 4” or by evacuating them from the slope in time, he left them in place, letting things take their course. Krakauer wrote in his book “Into Thin Air” that later all participants in the ascent agreed that this was the only possible solution. However, Withers regained consciousness later that day and made it back to camp alone, much to the surprise of everyone in the camp as he suffered from hypothermia and severe frostbite. Withers was given oxygen and tried to warm him up, settling him in a tent for the night. Despite all this, Withers had to face the elements again when his tent was blown away by a gust of wind during the night, leaving him to spend the night in the cold. Once again he was mistaken for dead, but Krakauer discovered that Withers was conscious. On May 12, he was prepared for urgent evacuation from “Camp 4.” Over the next two days, Withers was lowered to "Camp 2", but he made part of the journey on his own. He was later evacuated by rescue helicopter. Withers underwent a long course of treatment, but due to severe frostbite, his nose, right hand and all the fingers of his left hand were amputated. In total, he underwent more than 15 operations, his thumb was reconstructed from his back muscles, and plastic surgeons reconstructed his nose. Scott Fisher and Makalu Go were discovered on May 11 by Sherpas. Fischer's condition was so serious that they had no choice but to make him comfortable and devote most of their efforts to saving Go. Anatoly Boukreev made another attempt to save Fischer, but only discovered his frozen body at approximately 19:00.Indo-Tibetan Border Guard
Less known, but no less tragic, are 3 more accidents that occurred on the same day with climbers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Service climbing the Northern Slope. The expedition was led by Lieutenant Colonel Mohinder Singh ( Commandant Mohinder Singh), who is considered to be the first Indian climber to conquer Everest from the North Face. 10 May Sergeant Tsewang Samanla ( Subedar Tsewang Samanla), Corporal Dorje Morup ( Lance Naik Dorje Morup) and Senior Constable Tsewang Palchor ( Head Constable Tsewang Paljor) climbed the North Face of Everest. This was an ordinary expedition, so Sherpas were not involved as ascent guides. This team was the first of the season to climb from the Northern Slope. The expedition members themselves had to fasten the ropes, as well as independently pave the way to the top, which in itself is a very difficult task. The participants were caught in a snowstorm while above “Camp 4.” Three of them decided to turn back, and Samanla, Morup and Palchzhor decided to continue climbing. Samanla was an experienced mountaineer, having summited Everest in 1984 and Kanchenjunga in 1991. At approximately 15:45, three climbers radioed the expedition leader and reported that they had reached the summit. Some of the expedition members who remained in the camp began to celebrate the conquest of Everest by the Indian expedition, but other climbers expressed concern about the timing of the ascent, since it was already quite late to conquer the peak. According to Krakauer, the climbers were at an altitude of approximately 8,700 m, i.e. approximately 150 m from the highest point. Due to poor visibility and low clouds surrounding the summit, the climbers probably thought they had reached the summit itself. This also explains the fact that they did not meet the team that was climbing from the South Slope. Climbers placed prayer flags at the summit. The leader of the group, Samanla, was known for his religiosity. Therefore, at the top, he decided to linger and perform several religious rituals, while he sent two of his colleagues to descend. He never made contact again. The expedition members who were in the camp saw a slowly sliding downward light from two headlamps (presumably these were Marup and Palchzhor) in the area of the second step - approximately at an altitude of 8,570 m. None of the three climbers descended to the intermediate camp at an altitude of 8,320 m.Controversy with the Japanese expedition
In his book Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer describes the events surrounding the deaths of the Indian climbers. In particular, the actions (or inactions) of Japanese climbers were subjected to careful analysis.Chronicle of events according to the Japanese expedition
May 11 06:15 – Hiroshi Hanada and Eisuke Shigekawa (First Fukuoka Group) departed from “Camp 6” (altitude approximately 8,300 m). Three Sherpas came out early. 08:45 – Radio message to base camp about approaching the mountain range. Not far from the top, they meet two climbers descending in a team. At the top they see another climber. They could not identify them because their heads were covered with hoods and their faces were covered with oxygen masks. The Fukuoka group had no information about the missing Indians; they decided that the climbers they met were from the Taiwanese expedition. 11:39 – Radio message to Base Camp about passing the second stage (altitude 8600 m). At a distance of about 15 m from the summit, they noticed two climbers descending. It was not possible to identify them again. 15:07 – Hanada, Shigekawa and three Sherpas ascend to the summit. 15:30 – Start of descent. After passing the triangle, they notice some unclear objects above the Second Stage. At the foot of the First Step, they notice a man on a fixed rope. Shigekawa stops and contacts Base Camp. As he began to descend, he passed another man who was also descending the railing. They exchanged greetings, although he was also unable to identify the climber. They only have enough oxygen to descend to Camp 6. 16:00 – (approximately) A member of the Indian expedition reported to Fukuoka Base Camp that three climbers were missing. The Japanese were going to send three Sherpas from Camp 6 to help the Indian climbers, but by that time it was getting dark, which prevented their actions. 12 May All groups located in “camp 6” were forced to wait for the end of the snow storm and wind. may 13 05:45 – The second group of Fukuoka began their ascent from “camp 6”. They promise their Indian colleagues that if they discover the missing climbers, they will help them descend. 09:00 – The group discovered one body before the First Stage and another one after overcoming the stage, but nothing could be done for them without risking their own lives. 11:26 – The group has reached the summit. 22:45 – The group returned to Base Camp. May 14 Several members of the Indian group descended to Base Camp, but did not tell the Fukuoka group anything about the missing climbers.Accusations from the Indian Expedition and Jon Krakauer
According to Krakauer, the lone climber whom the Japanese met on the ascent (8:45) was apparently Palchzhor, who was already suffering from frostbite and groaning in pain. The Japanese climbers ignored him and continued climbing. After they completed the "Second Stage", they encountered two other climbers (presumably Samanla and Morup). Krakauer claims that “Not a word was spoken, not a single drop of water, food or oxygen was transferred. The Japanese continued their ascent...". Initially, the indifference of the Japanese climbers stunned the Indians. According to the leader of the Indian expedition, “at first the Japanese offered to help in the search for the missing Indians. But a few hours later they continued to climb to the top, despite the deteriorating weather.” The Japanese team continued climbing until 11:45. By the time the Japanese climbers began their descent, one of the two Indians was already dead, and the second was on the verge of life and death. They lost sight of the traces of the third descending climber. However, Japanese climbers denied that they had ever seen any dying climbers on the climb. Captain Kohli, representative of the Indian Mountaineering Federation ( Indian Mountaineering Federation), who initially blamed the Japanese, later retracted his claim that the Japanese claimed to have met Indian climbers on 10 May. “The Indo-Tibetan Border Guard Service (ITBS) confirms the statement of members of the Fukuoka expedition that they did not leave Indian climbers without assistance and did not refuse to help in the search for the missing.” The managing director of ITPS said that “the misunderstanding occurred due to communication interference between the Indian climbers and their base camp.”Commercialization of Everest
The first commercial expeditions to Everest began to be organized in the early 1990s. Guides appear, ready to make any client’s dream come true. They take care of everything: delivering participants to the base camp, organizing the route and intermediate camps, accompanying the client and securing him all the way up and down. At the same time, conquering the summit was not guaranteed. In pursuit of profit, some guides take on clients who are not able to climb to the top at all. In particular, Henry Todd from the Himalayan Guides company argued that, “...without blinking an eye, these leaders appropriate a lot of money for themselves, knowing full well that their charges have no chance.”. Neil Biddleman, a guide for the Mountain Madness group, admitted to Anatoly Boukreev even before the ascent began that “...half of the clients have no chance of reaching the summit; for most of them, the ascent will end at the South Col (7,900 m)”. Todd spoke indignantly about one American: “This is business as usual for him. He hasn’t lifted a single person to Everest in the last two years!”. However, Todd reacted much more leniently to Scott's decision to take Cruise with him. “The thing is, you never know who will do well at the top and who won’t. The best climbers may not be able to cope, but the weakest and ill-prepared may not reach the top. On my expeditions this happened more than once or twice. There was a participant about whom I thought that if anyone could not rise, it would be him. This participant simply ran to the top. And with the other, it seemed to me that this was the right thing, I was ready to add him to the list of those who conquered the summit even before the start. But he couldn't. This happened on an expedition with Boukreev’s participation in 1995. The strongest of the clients could not rise, and the weakest reached the top before Tolya". “But,” Todd added, by inviting obviously weak clients, we risk ruining both them and everyone else. We simply have to take to the top only those who can really climb to the top. We have no room for error". In preparation for the Mountain Madness expedition, little oxygen equipment was purchased. By the time the climbers reached Camp IV, they had only 62 oxygen cylinders left: 9 four-liter and 53 three-liter. Another shortcoming can be considered the outdated, ten-channel radios that Scott Fisher purchased for the expedition. American climber and writer Galen Rovell, in an article for the Wall Street Journal, called the operation carried out by Boukreev to rescue the three climbers “unique.” On December 6, 1997, the American Alpine Club awarded Anatoly Boukreev the David Souls Prize, awarded to climbers who saved people in the mountains at risk to their own lives.
After I wrote an article about, I was stunned by the tragedy and began to study people’s behavior in emergency situations, looking at various incidents in the mountains. The well-known tragedy on Mount Everest in 1996 was also taken into account.
The film Everest, which premiered in 2015, tells the story of the 1996 attempt to conquer the world's highest peak. The film is based on real events. The tragedy received wide publicity in the media and caused controversy on a wide range of issues relating to both the organization of commercial ascents in general and specific issues of high-altitude mountaineering. Eight climbers died. One of the climb's clients, Dr. Beck Weathers, survived and underwent at least ten surgeries. In 2000, his book will be published entitled: “Left to Die: My Journey Home from Everest.” 
Interview with Beck Weathers
What are your impressions after watching the movie "Everest"?
“Almost the entire plot is easy to understand, because I know the people, I know the story, which in the film is actually very accurate. Some parts of the film are simply overwhelming with a wave of emotion, and there are moments that I find very difficult to watch. These are the moments when my wife, Peach, had to tell our two children that I was dead and not coming home. This is a very difficult experience for me. 
What prompted you to go to Everest?
“Before Everest, I had everything I could want, and life lost its meaning, which is why I was looking for new sensations and bought a ticket to Death Mountain. When I returned from Everest, another problem arose. I was terribly depressed. Every day I found something that could cause optimism, and that could give me pleasure that I would not have received if I had died on Everest.” 
How has your life changed since Everest?
“I have never had nightmares about Everest. I don't know why, but there is no feeling of post-traumatic stress or anything. I just accepted my reality. I accepted everything as it is. I destroyed all doubts like: “What if. But what if. Maybe so on and so forth. 
The amazing thing is that the last 20 years will be the best years of my life. I gave up some parts of my body, but I got my marriage back, I got my relationship back with my children, I had a granddaughter... Basically, if I had to go through it all again - every pain, every suffering, then I would do it again in an instant." 
By the way, Beck Withers' book has not been translated into Russian, but there are many scammers on the Internet who are trying to sell this book in translation. So be careful! 
Excerpt from Beck Weathers' "Left to Die"
On the evening of May 10, 1996, a deadly snowstorm began in the upper reaches of Everest, finding me and dozens of other climbers high in the death zone of the highest mountain on Earth.
The storm began as a low, distant growl and then quickly turned into a howling white fog riddled with icy pellets. It crashed down on Mount Everest to engulf us within minutes. We couldn't see anything beyond our noses. The person standing next to you simply disappeared into a white void. The wind speed that night exceeded 70 meters per second. The ambient temperature dropped to sixty below zero.
A snowstorm hit our group of climbers at that moment , When we carefully descended from most height known as the "Triangle over Camp Four", or"Upper Camp" on Yuzhno th saddle Everest, desert place rocks and ice.
Eighteen hours ago we set off from Yuzhny Saddles to the top, exhilarated as we trudged through the serene and cloudless night sky that beckoned us upward until dawn, when it gave way to a spectacular sunrise over the roof of the world.
Then came confusion and disaster.
Of the eight clients and three guides in our group of five of us, including me, never made it to the top. Of the six who reached the height, even faith died in about the time of the storm. Among them was our thirty-five-year-old expedition leader, Rob Hall, a gentle and humorous New Zealander with mythical mountaineering prowess. Before he froze to death in a snow hole at the top of Everest, Rob radioed a heartbreaking goodbye to his pregnant wife Jen Arnold, which was at home in Christchurch.
To others sad and l detailed outcome death became tiny oh forty-seven year old climber I Suko Namba, last human contact th was with me. M the two of us lay huddled close to each other and South Saddle , in total four hundred meters O T l campers where it was warm and safe.
Four other climbers also died in the storm, making 10 May 1996 the deadliest day on Everest in seventy-five years since intrepid British schoolteacher George Leigh Mallory first attempted the mountain.
May 10th started off favorably for me. I was shocked and overwhelmed by the enormous effort it took to get this far, but I was also as strong and clear-headed as any forty-nine-year-old amateur climber could hope to be under the arduous physical and mental demands of high altitude. I've already climbed eight other major mountains around the world, and I worked like an animal to get to this point, obsessed with testing myself against the toughest challenge.
I knew that less than half of Everest expeditions ever put one participant—client or guide—on the summit. But I wanted to join an even more select circle, the fifty or so people who had accomplished the so-called To West climbing the Seven Highest Summits peace. If I climbed Everest, I would only have one mountain left.
I also knew that about 150 people died on grief , most of them are in avalanches. Everest absorbed several dozen of these victims, burying them on its snowy slopes and glaciers. As if to emphasize his great indifference to the entire mountaineering enterprise, Everest ridicules his dead. Glaciers, slowly grinding icy rivers, carry the broken corpses of climbers down, like so much detritus that is deposited in pieces decades later, much lower.
Commonly known as sudden, dramatic death among climbers, no one actually expects to die at high altitude. I, of course, did not know and never thought about whether a middle-aged husband and young father should R search with your neck in this way. I really loved climbing: the camaraderie, the adventure and the danger, and—by mistake— bloat ego.
I fell into rock climbing, so to speak, as a willy-nilly response to a crushing bout of depression that began in my mid-thirties. This disorder reduced my chronic low self-esteem to a bottomless pit of despair and misery. I retreated from myself and my life and came very close to suicide.
Then salvation. While on a family vacation to Colorado, I discovered the challenges and rewards of mountaineering and gradually began to view the sport as my path to salvation. I found that the punitive training regimen delayed darkness for several hours each day. Blessed excess. I also gained solid muscles and greatly improved my endurance, two new sources of pride.
Once in the mountains (the barren and remote the better), I could concentrate on climbing without the distractions of convincing myself that conquering world-famous mountains was a testament to my fragility and courageous character. I drank in moments of genuine pleasure, satisfaction and friendliness in the wild with my fellow climbers.
But over time, the medicine began to kill me. Finally the black dog fell, but I continued to train and climb, train and climb. High altitude mountaineering and the recognition it brought me became an empty obsession. When my wife Peach warned that this cold passion of mine was destroying the center of my life and that I was systematically betraying the love and devotion of my family, I listened but did not hear her.
The pathology deepened. As I became increasingly self-absorbed, I convinced myself that I was adequately expressing my love for my wife, daughter, and son by freely attending to their material needs even as I abandoned them emotionally. I am eternally grateful that they, in turn, did not abandon me, although I could afford to hire a caregiver, since I had funds from the insurance company .
In fact, with each of my extended forays into the wild, it became clearer, at least to Peach's troubled mind, that I was probably going to kill myself, a recurring subtext of my life. After all, this is what it takes to break the spell. On May 10, 1996, the mountain began take away me,and I slowly gave up. The drift into unconsciousness was not unpleasant when I fell into a deep coma on the South Saddle , where my fellow climbers eventually left me for dead.
Peach received the news by phone at 7:30 a.m. Being in our home in Dallas. Then a miracle happened at an altitude of 8,000 meters. I opened my eyes.
My wife had barely managed to finish the agonizing task of telling our children that their father would not be coming home when the second phone call came, telling her that I was not as dead as I thought.
Somehow I came to consciousness on the South Col - I don't understand how - and was shocked by my senses, and also by my legs, which were strong enough to overcome my mind. I'm not a church person or a particularly spiritual person, but I can tell you that some force within me rejected the idea of death at the last moment and then sent me, blind and stumbling - literally a dead man walking - into camp and a shaky start my return to life.
07.03.2019 3086
"Everest": details of the exciting story that became the basis for the film
The opening film of the 72nd Venice Film Festival was "Everest". The Russian premiere of Baltasar Kormakur's adventure thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin and others will take place on September 24. In anticipation of the start of rental HELLO! tells the story that formed the basis of the film.
Josh Brolin, Baltasar Kormakur and Jake Gyllenhaal at the Everest photocall in Venice
"I'm standing on top of the world, one foot in China, the other in Nepal, scraping the ice off my oxygen mask, turning around and looking at the vastness of Tibet. For months I've been dreaming about this moment, but now that I'm actually on top Everest, I have absolutely no strength for emotions,” American journalist Jon Krakauer wrote at the beginning of his book “Into Thin Air.” It was noon on May 10, 1996. On Everest, the “top of the Earth”, the “goddess of the world” or Chomolungma - the mountain has many names - there was practically nothing to breathe. John's oxygen tank was running low and the barometric pressure was reaching a critical point. John - and with him three dozen other people, exhausted by the ascent, were in one of the most dangerous places on the planet.
Everest has always been a dead zone, but to this day it is the cherished dream of any climber. Every year, dozens of people set off to conquer a height of 8848 meters, and every year the “goddess of the world” allowed only a select few to ascend, and took everyone else without return. In the May 1996 expedition, it seemed that everyone was ready for this risk and danger. But no one expected that eight people would not return after the ascent.
Mountain Madness
That spring, several expeditions set out for Everest. The largest and most international were two: “Adventure Consultants” (which included Jon Krakauer) led by New Zealander Rob Hall and a group called “Mountain Madness” led by American Scott Fisher and Russian Anatoly Boukreev. All participants were crazy in some way. And experienced climbers, who again put their lives in danger, and Sherpas, their assistants from the local population, and - the weakest link - commercial participants with the least training. The practice of tickets to the top of the world (costing 65 thousand dollars) was just gaining popularity. In 1996, Doug Hansen, among others, climbed Everest, an ordinary postal worker who worked two jobs to save up for Chomolungma. A private client was also 47-year-old Japanese woman Yasuko Namba - at that time the oldest woman to ever climb Everest. Subsequently, both of them never returned back.
“I was often asked how we could have overlooked such a sharp deterioration in the weather. Why experienced instructors continued to climb, not paying attention to the approaching storm,” Jon Krakauer wrote a year after the tragedy. He himself admitted that he did not notice either the whitish haze on the horizon or the violations of the climbing rules that the guides committed. So, the climbers had to reach the summit early in the morning, and at 14.00 (the last safe time to begin the descent) set off on the way back. On that day, May 10, members of Hall and Fischer's teams began their descent only at 16.00, when the snow began to fall, and nothing could be fixed.
Still from the movie "Everest"
The storm overtook them - each at different stages of the descent to the camp - and scattered them along the slopes of the mountain. The leaders of both groups, Fisher and Hall, remained at the top; some of the people, lost in the snowstorm, lost their way a few meters from the abyss. When the storm subsided, for two days the survivors of the camp made forays in search of the missing. Some were transported to the camp, others had to be left right in the snow - to die. “Altitude 8000 is not a place where you can afford moral principles,” one Japanese climber once said about this dead zone, where the price of human life is measured by oxygen tanks.
New height
Documentaries have been made about the 1996 tragedy several times, and a couple of times the story formed the basis of action-packed dramas about rock climbing. The most popular was Jon Krakauer's book "In Thin Air", in which the author, getting confused in the details, repeatedly criticized the organizers of the expedition, and in particular the Russian climber and guide of one of the groups, Anatoly Boukreev. Boukreev, who led a record number of people out of the storm in 1996, repeatedly asked the journalist to remove the slander from the book, but he refused. In response, the Russian climber published his book “Climbing. Tragic Ambitions on Everest,” which gave rise to even more versions about the reasons for what happened.
"Everest" in 2015 is the first attempt to make a feature film about those events. “There is no single point of view in our film,” says project director Baltasar Kormakur. “I’m not going to tell people whether it’s good or bad to conquer Everest. I just want to tell them the story and let them make their own verdict.” 
An experienced traveler and former sailor, Kormakur measures the authenticity of his film in terms that are more familiar to him - scaling real heights and traveling to the real Everest. The film's cast - Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Jason Clarke and several dozen others - lived in Nepal in a base camp at an altitude of 3500 meters; rented - for 4000, slept in tents and ate camp food. “We had a real journey,” Kormakur smiles, “because only on a journey do you see the real you.”
Interesting Facts
In the entire history of the conquest of Everest (since 1953), 4,000 people have gone to the top of the world. More than 250 of them never returned. Until recently, the events of 1996 were considered the most notorious tragedy of Everest. But the earthquake in Nepal in April this year rewrote history.
Beck Withers gave himself a trip to Everest for his 50th birthday, but in the end he did not reach the summit: due to poor health, he was left waiting for the guides to descend on one of the slopes when a storm broke out. After the hurricane, he was found, but due to Beck’s serious condition, it was decided to leave him on the slope.
To the surprise of the climbers, despite severe frostbite on his hands and face, Withers woke up a few hours later and reached the camp on his own. And then he experienced the most terrible night of his life, when he was almost left on the slope again. After descending from the mountain, Beck's arm, nose and several fingers were amputated. In 2000, he wrote the book "Left to Die" and now gives motivational speeches across America.
Josh Brolin as Bec Withers
Boukreev was one of the most prepared guides from the 1996 expeditions. During his climbing career, he conquered 11 of the highest places on the planet (there are 14 eight-thousand-meter mountains in total), including Everest in 1995. The second time he climbed Chomolungma as part of the “Mountain Madness” group and was one of the first to descend back to the camp. Subsequently, journalist Jon Krakauer accused Bukreev of abandoning his comrades on the slope. However, when the summit was covered by a storm, it was Boukreev who was able to make several forays to save lost clients. What he did has no analogues in the history of world mountaineering,” wrote Wall Street Journal correspondent Galen Rowell in 1997. “Immediately after climbing without oxygen to the highest point of the planet, he saved freezing climbers for several hours in a row... It was a real feat.” That same year, on December 6, the American Alpine Club awarded Boukreev the David Souls Prize, awarded to climbers who rescued people at risk. 19 days after this, Bukreev died: during an expedition in the Himalayas at an altitude of 6000 meters, he was covered by an avalanche.
Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson as Anatoly Boukreev
New Zealander Rob Hall, who led the Adventure Consultants expedition, left his pregnant wife Jen (played by Keira Knightley in the film) far below on earth. It was to her that he first radioed about his conquest of the peak on May 10. After this, Hall was ready to begin the descent at 3 pm, but remained to wait for the guides with one of the clients. Soon his air tanks froze and failed, and Hall asked his colleagues to radio him to his wife. In his last message, he assured Jen that he was doing well: “Sleep well, dear, and don’t worry too much.” Three months after these events, Jen gave birth to Sarah, and a few years later she and her daughter climbed Everest to a height of 5364 meters.
Jason Clarke as Rob Hall
File photo: Jenn (played by Keira Knightley) and Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) on the Tibetan plateau
“Everyone portrayed Scott as a reckless, ambitious guy - I wanted to show just a person,” says Jake Gyllenhaal. Scott Fischer was indeed most often blamed for the failures of this expedition: in pursuit of fame, the American climber allegedly invited too many eminent and unprepared clients. Fischer was also reproached for the fact that he hid until the last from his colleagues that during the expedition he suffered from fever. A particularly acute attack, after which he was no longer able to rise, happened to him at the beginning of his descent. His friend, Sherpa Lopsang, tried to help the climber continue his journey, but Fischer sent him to help others, and he himself remained on the mountain forever.
Jake Gyllenhaal as Scott Fisher
