A Day to Die For: 1996: Everest's Worst Disaster - One Survivor's Personal Journey to Uncover the Truth (22 page)

Only after we arrived back at Camp 2 did the scale of the tragic events of the night of 10 May and the continuing struggle of the survivors become apparent to us. The following summary, gleaned from the various accounts published by the climbers and guides involved, is set out to help the reader broadly understand the events that took place and the decade of analysis that followed into what went wrong. For those more familiar with this tragic sequence, its purpose is to highlight the key factors.

In all, 34 people had left from Camp 4 at 26,000 feet on the South Col on the night of 9 May for their summit attempt.

From Rob’s team there was Rob as leader, guides Andy Harris and Michael Groom, clients Frank Fischbeck, Doug Hansen, Stuart Hutchison, Lou Kasischke, Jon Krakauer, Yasuko Namba, John Taske, Beck Weathers and four Sherpas. These climbers departed around 11.30 p.m.

From Scott’s team, leaving Camp 4 at midnight, were guides Anatoli Boukreev and Neal Beidleman, clients, Martin Adams, Charlotte Fox, Lene Gammelgaard, Tim Madsen, Sandy Hill Pittman, Klev Schoening and six Sherpas, which included Scott’s climbing Sirdar, Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa. Neither Dale Kruse nor Pete Schoening made a summit attempt, but had remained at Base Camp. Dale, only a week or so before, had fallen dangerously ill with high-altitude cerebral oedema and was evacuated back down the mountain. Pete Schoening, due to a potential heart problem being identified, had decided to climb no higher than Camp 3.

Makalu Gau plus three Sherpas from the Taiwanese expedition were almost the last to leave, except for Scott, who was to follow his group up an hour or so later.

Rob’s team left two other Sherpas in support on the South Col, and Scott’s team, one.

The original plan had been that four Sherpas, two from each of Rob’s and Scott’s teams, would leave the South Col an hour or two in advance of the clients. This would allow them time to fix ropes on the more exposed higher sections of the climb before clients arrived, which would prevent unnecessary hold-ups during the day. For various reasons, this had not happened, and in the case of both teams all the Sherpas left at the same time as the rest of their group.

About three hours into the climb, Frank Fischbeck, from Rob’s group, turned around and descended back to the South Col. His instincts told him something that day didn’t feel right. Shortly after, Doug Hansen stepped to one side of the ascending climbers. Feeling cold and unwell, he also decided to head down. However, Rob spoke with Doug, and after their short conversation Doug continued upwards. Presumably Rob had persuaded him to keep going for a while and see how the day went.

The progress of Rob’s group was slower than that of Scott’s, who caught and passed most of Rob’s team, which was being kept close together as they moved up towards the Balcony, effectively climbing at the rate of their slowest person. At the very back of this strung-out line of climbers was Scott, who was feeling tired and unwell.

Making steady progress upwards, Beck Weathers, from Rob’s team, began to encounter problems with his sight because of a type of eye surgery he’d undergone a year or two earlier, known as radial keratotomy. His vision, affected by the reduced air pressure at high altitude, left him unable to focus. By the time he reached the Balcony at 27,500 feet around 7.30 a.m, it became obvious to him that he would be unable to continue unless his sight returned. This gave him little option other than to suggest to Rob that he wait there in the hope it might when the sun got higher and his pupils contracted; if so, he would catch up. Rob’s initial thought had been to send Beck down to the South Col with one of the Sherpas. However, the agreement they came to was that if his sight became manageable within 30 minutes he could follow the rest up; if not, then he was to stay put until Rob returned. In the end, Beck’s eyes didn’t recover sufficiently, leaving him unable to move either up or down because of his solemn promise to Rob.

As the morning progressed, climbers higher up were being slowed significantly. The ropes they’d expected to be in place over the trickier sections had not been fixed. Bottlenecks of climbers waiting for these to be attached began to appear in the series of rock steps, at around 28,000 feet, slightly below the South Summit.

During the weeks prior to their attempt, there had been numerous conversations within their respective expeditions about a turnaround time on summit day that would leave a sufficient margin for them to return to their tents on the South Col before dark. Both 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. had been mentioned. However, the final decision was to be made by Rob and Scott on the day, depending on conditions – something that in the end never happened. It has been reported since that Rob had, over the preceding week, drilled into his clients ‘absolutely no later than two’. This had not been lost on Stuart Hutchison and John Taske, who by 11.30 a.m. were becoming increasingly concerned that they’d not have sufficient time to reach the summit before the safe turnaround time of 1 p.m. they’d set themselves. These doubts were confirmed when Rob told them that the summit was still three hours away.

After Stuart and John had had a brief conversation with Lou Kasischke about their reservations, the three of them decided to head back. Rob sent two Sherpas with them. This left Rob, guides Andy Harris and Michael Groom, clients Jon Krakauer, Yasuko Namba and Doug Hansen plus two Sherpas continuing up.

The rate of attrition on Rob’s team was becoming significant, whereas all those on Scott’s team who had left the South Col were still climbing towards the summit.

Having abandoned the climb, Stuart, John, Lou and the two Sherpas came across Beck Weathers while making their descent. He was still standing at the Balcony where Rob had left him. They offered to help Beck down with them to the South Col; however, he declined, saying he would wait for Rob as promised.

Stuart, John and Lou arrived back at the South Col during the course of the afternoon, joining Frank Fischbeck, who’d been there for quite some time, having turned around during the early hours of the morning.

Climbers from both groups began to congregate at the South Summit at 28,700 feet at or before 10 a.m. No ropes had yet been fixed above. The fact that the original plan of four Sherpas leaving the South Col ahead of the clients and guides, to fix the route higher up, had not been executed was now causing severe delays. Precious oxygen was being wasted as they sat around waiting for the ropes to be put in place, while the clock ticked remorselessly on. Around midday, the two guides from Scott’s team, Anatoli Boukreev and Neal Beidleman, set out from the South Summit to fix ropes on the heavily corniced ridge and Hillary Step. Unfortunately, neither Anatoli nor Neal had been given a radio and were having to use their own initiative. They were unable to communicate with either Scott, as leader, or Lopsang, as climbing Sirdar, both of whom had radios but were somewhere else on the mountain.

Slightly after 1 p.m., Anatoli Boukreev, Jon Krakauer and Andy Harris were standing on the summit of Everest at 29,035 feet, followed soon after by Neal Beidleman and Martin Adams.

Staying on the summit for only a short while, Krakauer, Boukreev, Adams and Harris began their descent. Three hundred feet lower down, they were held up by the bottleneck of climbers waiting to climb the Hillary Step. The clock was ticking. Beidleman had remained on the summit, waiting for the rest of Scott’s group to arrive. The first of these, Klev Schoening, reached the top just before 2 p.m.

It had always been assumed that both Rob and Scott would enforce the turnaround time on the day. The guides did not feel it was their place to deny clients who’d paid considerable sums of money for their one shot at the summit. It was not what they’d been paid for or instructed to do.

Shortly after 2 p.m., Charlotte Fox, Lene Gammelgaard, Tim Madsen, Sandy Hill Pittman and Lopsang from Scott’s group summited; from Rob’s team, guide Michael Groom, Rob Hall himself and client Yasuko Namba. Rob radioed news of their success back to Base Camp. This information was then passed on to the Adventure Consultants office in New Zealand.

In fact, the only climbers to reach the summit before 2 p.m., the latest turnaround time that had been discussed over the preceding week, were the guides Anatoli Boukreev, Neal Beidleman and Andy Harris, and clients Martin Adams, Jon Krakauer and Klev Schoening.

It wasn’t until around 2.45 p.m. that the jam finally cleared from the Hillary Step. Last in the line of the ascending climbers was a tired Scott Fischer, who spoke briefly with Adams then Boukreev as they passed him on their way down.

On his descent, Jon Krakauer’s oxygen bottle ran out of gas below the Hillary Step. Jon, distressed and struggling to continue without a fresh supply, was assisted by Michael Groom, who was coming down with Yasuko Namba. All were heading back to the South Summit, where the Sherpas had placed their cache of fresh cylinders. It was here they found Andy Harris in a rather confused state. He was convinced all the fresh cylinders were empty when they were in fact all full. In hindsight, it is thought he was having problems with his oxygen supply and that this was impairing his thought processes and judgement. The seriousness of this was not picked up at the time. Michael Groom distributed the fresh oxygen cylinders to Andy, Jon and Yasuko. He was aware that Andy was having problems, but once he saw Andy back on oxygen again his attention was taken up by seeing to Jon and Yasuko. Under different circumstances he would have monitored Andy much more closely, but this was not to be on the day.

On the oxygen flow rate the two teams were running it was expected that by approximately 5 p.m. they would all be out of oxygen. Their safety margin had all but slipped away.

Michael Groom, Jon Krakauer and Yasuko Namba departed from the South Summit around 3.30 p.m. Martin Adams and Anatoli Boukreev were about 30 minutes ahead of them. They descended into a thick blanket of clouds, which had previously gone unnoticed by them. These weather conditions were to worsen considerably by the hour during the course of the afternoon and early evening.

Neal Beidleman, waiting on the summit without a radio, had no way of knowing what was happening lower down. At 3.10 p.m., he left the summit, where he’d been for almost two hours. With him he had Charlotte Fox, Lene Gammelgaard, Tim Madsen and Sandy Hill Pittman.

Scott didn’t reach the summit until 3.40 p.m. Arriving around the same time, Makalu Gau and two Sherpas from the Taiwanese team reached the top. On the summit, Lopsang was waiting for Scott to arrive, and Rob Hall for Doug Hansen.

Scott radioed Base Camp to let them know that everyone had summited. He then quietly complained to Lopsang that he was extremely tired, felt unwell and needed medicine. Scott left the summit at 4 p.m., Makalu Gau with his two Sherpas a moment or two after, then Lopsang.

Standing alone, Rob Hall remained on the summit waiting for his last client, Doug Hansen, who wearily appeared over the final rise a short while later. They stood for a few minutes on the summit and then began their descent. By the time they reached the top of the Hillary Step, the oxygen supplies they were carrying had run out. The oxygen cache at the South Summit was a relatively short distance below them, but by now Rob was struggling to keep Doug moving. Around 4.30 p.m., Rob made the first of his radio calls saying that they were in trouble. He was unable to get Doug Hansen down the Hillary Step without fresh oxygen supplies. Andy Harris, who was still at the South Summit, heard Rob’s radio call and interrupted to tell Rob that the bottles at the cache were all empty. The conversation was overheard by Michael Groom, as both of Rob’s guides had been given a radio to carry. Michael tried to let Rob know that this information was incorrect, that two full bottles were waiting for him and Doug Hansen at the South Summit. Unfortunately, Michael’s radio was malfunctioning and working only intermittently.

By 5 p.m., Neal Beidleman, along with Charlotte Fox, Lene Gammelgaard, Tim Madsen and Sandy Hill Pittman were descending from the South Summit towards the Balcony, into the thick clouds and falling snow. Beidleman is quoted as saying, ‘Everyone was pretty messed up by that point, but Sandy looked especially shaky. I thought that if I didn’t keep real close tabs on her, there was a good chance she’d peel right off the ridge.’

Somewhere between Neal Beidleman’s group and that of Michael Groom was Klev Schoening making his own way down.

Michael Groom, on his descent with Yasuko Namba and Jon Krakauer, noticed Martin Adams, from Scott’s group, had strayed off the route towards the edge that plummeted into Tibet. Deciding to climb back up to correct this, Michael told Yasuko to follow Jon, who was just below them.

Eventually, some half an hour after Rob’s first radio call, Michael managed to get the information to Rob that the bottles at the South Summit were full: a fact that Andy Harris must have then comprehended. On realising his mistake, Andy must have picked up the two bottles and bravely climbed back up the ridge towards Rob and Doug. It was now nearing 5.30 p.m.