Mt. Everest Disaster

Mallory, when asked, the reason for climbing Mt. Everest, retorted, “because it is there”.

I never fathomed the magnitude of hardship, determination, and discipline that one requires climbing a mountain and return home alive until I read “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer. The book is about the 1996 Everest disaster that claimed 9 lives. It is about two rival consulting companies — Madness Mountain and Adventure Consulting — and their race to win the market. It is also about those brave mountaineers, both guides and clients, whose lives were trapped or lost in that race. It is an eye-opening book and Jon’s writing is so evocative, it gave me almost first-hand experience. The book, like any other excellent book, whetted me to seek more about Everest climbing. I read another fantastic memoir, rather a rebuttal to Jon Krakauer’s allegations made in “Into Thin Air”, “The Climb” co-authored by Anatoly Boukreev, and watched few mountaineering documentary movies. Now, that I am can envision the passion that drives these brave men and women to mountains, the torments each of them go through in achieving their goals, and the joy they get in the reward when they reach the peak and view the world underneath them, my paradigm for mountaineering has shifted completely.

In March 1996, Jon Krakauer, the staff of the Outside magazine, lands in Kathmandu to climb Mt. Everest and write a report on Everest climbing and on private mountaineering consulting companies mushrooming in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal. He is one of the 8 clients that Adventure Consulting has secured for that season. After spending a few days in Kathmandu, he along with other members of the team leaves for Mt. Everest base camp. Once in the base camp, to acclimatize with the high altitude, they go through rigorous training, which includes trekking to camp I, camp II, and camp III in multiple iterations until they are certain of their acclimatization.

Later in the day on May 9th, they along with three other groups (Madness Mountain, Taiwanese, and South African) leave the camp IV with an aim to reach the summit by 1 pm. Only Jon and few climbers reach the summit by 1 pm. They stay at the summit for 5–10 minutes, try to feel/enjoy the moment and start to descent. Jon notices the other members of his team and the Madness Mountain team are behind the schedule. He sees climbers lining up at the Hillary steep and, because of an excessive number of climbers, the traffic delay. He notices guides helping their clients climb even when they would not be at the summit by or around 1 pm, the agreed-upon time. As a result, climbers reach the summit as late as 5 pm.

Later in the afternoon, the storm hits. Powerful wind effaces the track and blinds the descending climbers. Unable to see, move, and think, some climbers remain in the mountain and pray for the storm to die down. Some climbers, tumbling, and heaving, continue to descend. Some cringe together offering consolation and hope to each other. A group of 5–6 climbers get disoriented and stay out in the cold and dark for few hours only to discover later that they were only a few hundred meters away from their tents. Those few climbers who have descended safely to their camp are too exhausted to go out and look for missing climbers. Yet some brave hearts risk their lives and go out to look for missing climbers. They find a few and bring them one by one to the camp. The others remain in the cold mountain; only death comes to end their sufferings. On that night, 9 climbers, including guides, lose their life.

It was a deadly game played by Adventure Consulting and Madness Mountain with no rule and a referee. Adventure Consulting hasn’t had a successful climb for some time and, as Madness Mountain loomed it saw Madness Mountain as a rival. To gain publicity, Madness Mountain even took a socialite as its client. And, both groups pushed hard ignoring the basic rules of the game to take their every client to the summit as if reaching the top, not returning alive, was the goal. As a result, head guides of both companies along with a few other guides and clients died, and those who survived went through the deadly experience.

The author outlines some vital factors contributing to the accident, and I outline here some –

If any member of a group doesn’t follow the rules, the government should penalize the company, owning the group.

We have yet to learn and understand fully the psychology or the passion of climbers who leave all the luxury and throw themselves in the hands of nature. Perhaps it’s ego or a long rivalry with nature or the closeness to the death that attracts these men and women to the mountain. But, only if we learn and respect our nature, prepare ourselves better and, above all, play by the rules, there will be less tragic and more cheerful stories to share.

May 09, 2010.