HISTORY: Into Thin Air

With the date of May 10 just around the corner I feel it is important to take note of one of the most spectacular missteps of Himalayan mountaineering to date. I speak of the disaster on Mt. Everest which occurred May 10, 1996. It was on this day that a set of events unfolded that led to disaster and disarray all over Everest and eventually ended in the deaths of 8 climbers from three expeditions. Analysis has shown one common cause throughout the whole situation-Human error. The delays for the Adventure Consultants team (led by Rob Hall) and the Mountain Madness team (led by Scott Fischer) started shortly after their departure from camp IV on the South Col of Everest. Along certain steps of Everest it is typical to have fixed lines set for ascension by the Sherpas prior to the climbers reaching them. On this day the, as the guides and clients were reaching "the balcony", the Sherpas were still working on fixing the lines. Again, at the "Hillary Step" the clients and guides found they would need to fix the ropes themselves. Now, these delays in and of themselves did not cause the disaster, they did however play an important and ultimately fatal role. Climbers of high peaks carry oxygen bottles, each carefully regulated to assure that a climber will not run out prior to reaching camp or the next cache of bottles. With all the delays encountered it is easy to see how the guides' carefully crafted formula for O2 consumption could go bad. With oxygen in short supply it is difficult to move at the speeds necessary to reach the summit of Everest and return to camp. Also, it is much more difficult for the body to retain heat at such altitudes with out supplemental O2. The teams did reach the summit, although it was much later than expected and accepted by climbers of the high peaks. All of these factors combined made a recipe for disaster, all that it needed was the spark to ignite it. That spark came in the form of a blizzard. High winds, freezing cold, lack of oxygen, whiteout conditions...all of these came together on that night and trapped many climbers above camp IV and deep within the death zone. There were many stories of struggle from that night from all sides of the mountain. Acts of heroism, acts questioned, and acts of heartbreaking consequence. When the storm yielded and climbers were again able to go up and search for the missing it was realized that there was little hope. One of the few who was able to ride out the night and survive until the next morning was Rob Hall. It is the story of Rob which has captured the true heartbreak of Mount Everest. He did all he could to get down. His oxygen mask was choked with ice, which he fixed. His hands and feet were terribly frostbitten, which he worked through as best he could. He finally found himself unable to manipulate the fixed lines and eventually was forced to sit and rest. This is when he radioed to base camp and requested that they get his wife, Jan Arnold, on the satellite phone. Rob helped pick a name for his yet unborn child and reassured his wife that all would be well, ending his final conversation with his wife by saying "Sleep well my sweetheart. Please don't worry too much." With that, Rob Hall passed away. As stated there are many books and accounts of that day, the most famous being Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" but there is also Beck Weather's book "Left for Dead" and Lene Gammelgaard's "the Climb". Some events are also mentioned in Ed Viestur's book "No Shortcuts to the Top".

In memory of May 10, 1996 and the lives lost that day:

Doug Hanson (United States)

Andrew Harris (New Zealand)

Yasuko Namba (Japan)

Rob Hall (New Zealand)

Scott Fischer (United States)

Subedar Tsewang Samanla (India)

Lance Naik Dorje Morup (India)

Tsewang Paljor (India)

1996 Everest Disaster. (n.d.) In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 29, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Everest_disaster#List_of_fatalities