Mountaineering Disasters

Mountaineering Disasters: High mountains kill through avalanches, storms, falls and the slow damage of altitude, which impairs judgment and strength long before it ends a climb. The worst tragedies usually trace back to human decisions such as ignored turnaround times, crowding, summit fever and underestimated weather.

1996 Everest Disaster: On May 10 and 11, a sudden storm hit as commercial teams were still high on the mountain, and eight climbers died including guides Rob Hall and Scott Fischer. Many had passed the planned 2 PM turnaround time, and Hall made a final satellite phone call to his pregnant wife.

K2 2008: On August 1, a bottleneck below the summit delayed climbers into the evening. Then a collapsing serac swept away fixed ropes above the Bottleneck, and 11 climbers died in one of the deadliest days in the mountain's history.

Albert Mummery: In 1895 the British climber led the first attempt on an eight thousand meter peak, Nanga Parbat. He and two Gurkha companions vanished on the Diamir face and were never found.

Toni Kurz: In 1936, four climbers attempted the Eiger north face. After a storm and avalanches killed his partners, Kurz hung on a rope within a few meters of rescuers and died of exhaustion and cold.

Yungay: In May 1970, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake triggered a massive avalanche from Peru's Huascaran. It buried the town of Yungay and killed an estimated 20,000 people, including a Czechoslovak climbing team on the mountain.

Matterhorn 1865: Edward Whymper's party made the first ascent on July 14. During the descent, a rope broke and four of seven climbers fell to their deaths, shocking Victorian Britain.

Everest 1922: A British expedition was the first to use bottled oxygen. On June 7, an avalanche on the North Col swept away seven Sherpa porters in the first recorded deaths on Everest.

K2 1986: In what became known as the Black Summer, 13 climbers died on the mountain over a few weeks. Several deaths followed a storm that trapped teams near the summit for days.

Pik Lenin 1990: On July 13, an earthquake high on the peak triggered an avalanche that struck a climbers' camp. It killed 43 mountaineers in one of the deadliest single incidents in mountaineering.

Khumbu Icefall 2014: On April 18, a serac collapse killed 16 Nepali guides carrying loads through the icefall. Sherpa guides then refused to continue, and the climbing season was shut down.

Everest Base Camp 2015: A magnitude 7.8 earthquake on April 25 shook loose an avalanche from Pumori that crashed into base camp. It killed 22 people and ended another season.

Nirmal Purja: On May 22, 2019, his photograph of a long human queue near the summit of Everest went viral. That season 11 people died, and overcrowding, inexperience and waiting at extreme altitude were widely blamed.

Nanga Parbat 1937: A German expedition was camped at Camp IV when an avalanche buried the tents on the night of June 14 to 15. Sixteen men died, seven Germans and nine Sherpas, in one of the deadliest Himalayan accidents of that era.

George Mallory: He and Andrew Irvine vanished near the summit of Everest in June 1924. Mallory's body was found in 1999 at about 8,155 meters, but whether they reached the top remains unknown.

Mont Blanc 1870: A group of climbers and guides was caught by a storm near the summit in September. All eleven people died, the worst accident on the mountain up to that time.

Ingraham Glacier 1981: On June 21, an ice avalanche on Mount Rainier struck a roped party. Eleven people were killed, the deadliest accident in the mountain's history.

Wilcox Expedition: In July 1967, a 12 man party on Denali was struck by an extreme storm with winds estimated near 300 miles per hour. Seven men died, one of the worst disasters in North American mountaineering.

Elvira Shatayeva: In 1974, she led a Soviet women's team on Pik Lenin. A severe storm trapped them high on the mountain, and all eight women died despite radio contact with their rescuers.

Mount Hood 1986: On May 12, a school group from Oregon Episcopal School was caught in a whiteout while attempting the peak. Nine climbers died after they dug a snow cave, prompting debate over school outdoor programs.

Annapurna Circuit 2014: In October, a blizzard from the remnants of Cyclone Hudhud dumped heavy snow on a popular trekking route. More than 40 trekkers and guides died in avalanches and exposure.

Eduard Imhof: The Swiss cartographer popularized the term death zone for altitudes above about 8,000 meters. Above that line, the body cannot acclimatize and deteriorates, which is why decisions there can be fatal.

K2 1953: Charles Houston's American expedition was pinned by a storm when Art Gilkey developed a blood clot. During the evacuation, a fall nearly killed the team until Pete Schoening held five men with a single ice axe belay, and Gilkey was lost in an avalanche.

Siula Grande: In 1985, Simon Yates cut the rope holding Joe Simpson after Simpson broke his leg. Simpson fell into a crevasse, survived, and crawled back to camp over three days, a story told in Touching the Void.

Dhaulagiri 1969: An American expedition was struck by an avalanche that buried its camp and killed seven climbers. The accident ended the expedition and became one of the worst American losses in the Himalaya.