The 1996 Mount Everest Disaster, what really happened?

The 1996 Mount Everest accident happened on May 10th and 11th, 1996. Eight climbers were caught in a blizzard while trying to lower from the top of the mountain and died. 12 people died trying to reach the top of Mount Everest that season, making it the deadliest on the mountain at the time and the third deadliest overall, after the 14 fatalities in the 2014 Mount Everest avalanche and the 22 deaths caused by the April 2015 Nepal earthquake. The 1996 disaster got a lot of attention and made people wonder whether Everest should be used for business purposes.

• The 1996 Mount Everest Disaster resulted in the deaths of 12 climbers, making it one of the deadliest single seasons in Everest’s history.
•  The disaster was caused by a massive blizzard that trapped the climbers near the summit, burying the ropes and making escape nearly impossible.
•  Despite the tragedy, expeditions on Mount Everest have continued to grow, with climbers undeterred by the horrifying stories depicted in the film Everest.

A lot of hikers, like the Adventure Consultants team (led by Rob Hall) and the Mountain Madness team (led by Scott Fischer), were at a high level on Everest during the storm. People died on both the North Face and South Col routes, but more people heard about what happened on the South Col. Hall was one of the four people who died on the Adventure Consultants expedition. Fischer was the only person who died on the Mountain Madness mission. Also killed were three soldiers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.

After the accident, a number of people wrote autobiographies. Jon Krakauer, a reporter working for Outside magazine and the Adventure Consultants team, wrote the best-selling book Into Thin Air in 1997. The book made Anatoli Boukreev, a guide on the Mountain Madness team, feel bad, so he and another author wrote a response called The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest (1997). Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest (2000) by Beck Weathers and Climbing High: A Woman’s Account of Surviving the Everest Tragedy (2000) by Lene Gammelgaard both wrote about their experiences. In 2014, Lou Kasischke, also from Hall’s expedition, wrote his own account in After the Wind: 1996 Everest Tragedy, One Survivor’s Story.
Some of the scariest stories about terrible things that happened in the woods are told here. A lot of mountain climbers want to reach the top of Mount Everest, which is the world’s highest peak. It’s not always one of the hardest mountains to climb, but it can be one of the deadliest. As this story shows, the mountains can be very unfriendly.

1997 was one of the deadliest years for climbing Everest. Fifteen hikers died that year, and eight of them died on May 10. On this day, 33 hikers from three groups—Mountain Madness, a Taiwanese group funded by the government, and Adventure Consultants—were trying to reach the top.

Because the guides forgot to set up the fixed ropes ahead of time, the groups were behind schedule on their climb for more than two hours. As a result of these delays, there was a line of hikers at the Hilary Step, and many people reached the top very late, after the suggested time of 2pm for a safe descent back to camp.
After being the first person to reach the top that day, Anatoli Boukreev left the groups and went back to Camp IV by himself. Climber and journalist Jon Krakauer criticized the Russian after May 10 for not helping others on his way down, but since then he has been praised for saving lives that night.

Athletes were still trying to reach the top when Boukreev got to Camp IV at 5 p.m. Around 5:30 p.m., a storm hit, covering up the fixed ropes that had been put up and any tracks that the groups had made on their way up.

All hell was breaking loose for the riders at this point. Two, American Scott Fischer and Taiwanese Gau Ming-ho, got stuck and couldn’t go below the Balcony, a small rocky perch at 8,400m.

The Adventure Consultant guide Rob Hall and his client, Doug Hansen, who had passed out, were stuck on the Hilary Step. Hall called for help on the radio, and fellow guide Andy Harris bravely went back with water and air for the two of them.

As the storm got worse, some climbers from both groups got lost on the South Col. These included Neal Beidleman, Pete Schoening, Charlotte Fox, Tim Madsen, Sandy Pittman, Lene Gammelgaard, and Mike Groom, Beck Weathers, and Yasuko Namba from Mountain Madness. They had to set up camp just 20 meters from a huge drop on the Kangshung Face.

When the storm stopped for a while, Beidleman, Groom, Schoening, and Gammelgaard went to get help. When the group got to Camp IV, Boukreev went off to find the lost climbers. He brought Fox, Madsen, and Pittman to safety but left Namba and Weathers because they were very cold and close to dying.

The next day, Sherpas were sent to check on them. When they got there, they were covered in ice that had to be chipped off their faces. Once more, the two were left alone because they were thought to be dead. Shortly after that, Weathers woke up. He then did an amazing act of human endurance: he stumbled to Camp IV on his frostbitten feet, half-blind because his eye had frozen over.

Around 4:43 a.m. the next day, Hall sent a radio message from the Hilary Step saying that Hansen was gone and Harris was lost. He asked base camp to call his wife for him later that afternoon while he was still stuck on the mountain. As they talked, Hall told her in an emotional tone:

“Sleep well, romantic. He was discovered dead on May 23. Please don’t worry too much.

When the snow stopped, sherpas helped the frozen Gau, and Boukreev went up again to try to save Fischer. He discovered his dead body at 7 p.m. More people might have died that day if the Russian hadn’t been there. The next year, Boukreev himself died while trying to reach Annapurna.

Jon Krakauer, the author of “Into the Wild,” wrote a best-selling non-fiction book about his time in the woods after the tragedy. The events are described in Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster, but Krakauer’s story was heavily criticized by climbers for giving Anatoli Boukreev a bad name.

In the book, Krakauer questioned Boukreev’s judgment, including why he chose to descend before his clients, what gear he used, and how he talked to his customers. This was something Boukreev talked about in his own book, The Climb.

In 2015, the story of Everest 1996 was turned into a full-length movie starring Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Keira Knightley, Emily Watson, and Jake Gyllenhall.

The Movie Everest 2015

The movie Everest (2015) was based on the real Mount Everest Disaster of 1996. It showed how hard it was for the hikers who were stuck on that mountain almost thirty years ago. Eight mountain climbers, including the two experienced leaders of the expeditions, Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) and Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal), died on one of the deadliest days in the history of the world’s tallest peak. The movie tells the story of the expedition.

The deaths of the real-life people who inspired Everest were a sad reminder of how dangerous it is to try to climb something like Mount Everest, and the 2015 movie Everest shows both the beauty and horror of such a trip. The sad events of the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster were faithfully reenacted in the movie Everest, though some parts of the plot were changed for the big screen. Here is the real story behind Everest and how it fits into our lives. More about the Everest movie

Number of deaths

During the 1996 spring season, 12 hikers went missing on Everest. The movie shows five of them. With this many deaths, it was one of the deadliest seasons in Everest history. Eighteen of these people died during the Disaster, which happened on May 10 and 11. The Adventure Consultants mission lost four people, including Rob Hall, who was the team leader. Only their team boss, Scott Fischer, left the Mountain Madness team. Three hikers who tried to reach the top from the North face killed three members of an Indo-Tibetan Border Police mission that was going on at the same time.
On May 10, 33 climbers were spread out among four different trips. These included Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness, which was the main inspiration for the movie. It’s still not clear how Andy Harris and Doug Hansen died because their bodies were never found. Instead, their deaths were acted out in the movie Everest. Hansen falls off a cliff, and Harris gets too cold and dies.

More about the deaths on Mount Everest

How long did the May 1996 trip to Mount Everest last?

This year’s Mount Everest Expedition happened on May 10, 1996. The hike started at midnight and was supposed to end at 2:00 PM local time, which is when hikers are thought to be able to safely turn around and go back to Base Camp. But delays on the way up and worsening weather slowed the journey, and the expeditions got stuck on the mountain as the storm got worse. There were hikers who didn’t even get to the top of the mountain until after 5:00 p.m.

Many climbers had to stay out in the storm all night. Others, like Andy Harris and Doug Hansen, got lost in the storm. The other survivors had to leave Yasuko Namba, Rob Hall, and Scott Fischer behind because their health got so bad that they could not be saved. Fischer was the last known expedition member to die. His frozen body was found by his partner Anatoli Boukreev in the evening of May 11. The last survivors finally made it to Base Camp on May 14. Beck Weathers was badly hurt but amazingly still alive.

What led to the deaths on Mount Everest in May 1996?

A huge storm that hit the mountain during the trip in 1996 was the most clear cause of the Mount Everest Disaster. They were stuck close to the peak as the snow fully covered them because the storm brought more snow than any of them had expected earlier than they had planned. The lines that had been set up as a way to get back down the mountain were hidden, making it harder to get back through the storm.

Even for the more experienced hikers in each group, like Yasuko Namba, who died on May 11 from cold, this made it nearly impossible to get away. Several technology errors made things even more difficult. Others were not given fixed ropes by their guides, and some climbers’ health problems caused delays that let the trips get stuck in the full force of the blizzard. Also, there weren’t enough oxygen tanks, which made it harder for the hikers to stay healthy as they tried to go down.

What changed about climbing Mount Everest after the deaths in 1996

When it happened in 1996, the Everest Disaster was the worst thing that could happen to climbers on their way to the top of Mount Everest. It was topped by two avalanches in the 21st century, but it happened at a time when Everest treks were becoming more popular with tourists. The event served as a warning to the growing number of people who were going to climb the mountain. A lot of the survivors wrote books about what they went through, which sparked this movement.

People would reenact the event in many ways, such as on TV, in movies, and even as the basis for an opera. The Everest Disaster of 1996 is still seen as a big turning point in the history of one of the most famous physical tasks in the world. Since then, there have been more trips, and more people have died on the way. All of this hasn’t stopped hikers, though. They follow in the footsteps of those who came before them on their quest to see the world from the top, even if stories like those in Everest are scary.

Facts about the 1996 Everest Tragedy

In May of 1996, there was no instance of Everest being overcrowded. When individuals were killed on the Nepalese side of Everest on the day in question, there were only 29 people who were anywhere near the peak. Some climbers passed away as a consequence of exposure, a lack of oxygen (often referred to as HACE or HAPE), and one climber passed away as a result of a fall. Overcrowding did not result in any fatalities.

Important Occurrences That Occurred on May 10th and 11th, 1996:

Three teams, with a combined total of just 33 individuals, made their way out of Camp 4 on the Nepal side (7,950m) on the evening of May 9th, close to midnight, in order to make an attempt at scale the summit:

• One climber and two Sherpas make up the Taiwan Team.
• The team led by Rob Hall consists of eight climbers, 2 guides, 4 Sherpas, and 1 leader.
• The team led by Scott Fischer consists of one leader, two guides, six Sherpas, and six climbers.

One of the most significant errors in judgment was that, when they first went out, they were under the impression that a safety rope had been attached all the way to the peak. There is a greater likelihood that a person may experience adverse weather conditions or run out of oxygen the longer they remain above high camp. The discovery, which would create that deadly delay, would come about almost seven hours later, high up in the death zone, when it was discovered that the rope had stopped approximately 450 vertical meters short of the peak.

Above Camp 4, the Numbers and Terrain are as Follows:

Just a short time after beginning their ascent, a member of Hall’s crew decided to turn back. The climber who was part of Hall’s squad came to a stop and sat down at 8,400 meters. When they reached 8,500 meters, two Sherpas on Fischer’s team did a U-turn. Despite the wind, the conditions were favorable. There have only ever been 29 climbers who have climbed higher than 8,500 meters. This is a rather low number.

For the sake of facilitating comprehension of the topography and the possibility of overcrowding, I have included a photograph below that depicts the final vertical 75 meters to the summit on the Southeast Ridge of Everest in 2010. Those who have really large screens should be able to zoom in on the image. There are a total of 28 climbers depicted in the shot for a total of seventeen climbers that are visible in the photograph, ten climbers that are just out of view on the summit itself, and the photographer. The photograph makes it quite clear that there is no excessive crowding. There is a solitary climber who is wearing yellow pants and is linked to the fixed rope that is climbing the Hillary Step! The fact that this amount of people does not result in congestion on the Southeast Ridge is something that I can personally attest to. I am the person in the picture, and I am the black spec with the white backpack. I am located halfway between the Hillary Step and the summit.

Comparing Overcrowding to a Queue:

It is important to keep in mind that there is a clear distinction between congestion and a line.

On the 10th of May, the climbers were first separated from one another. In the beginning of the game, for instance, Jon Krakauer was more than an hour ahead of the leader of his organization. On the other hand, Hall had asked that the squad maintain a distance of no more than one hundred meters between each other, and those who were ahead of the pack halted and waited for those who were behind them to come up. Krakauer and a Sherpa waited for over two hours before reaching 8,400 meters; in essence, the team traveled at the speed of the one who was the slowest.

The progress of the climbers came to a standstill when they reached the un-roped areas, and all of the members of all three teams caught up to each other. Along with one of the climbers, the guides roped the final portions for close to two hours, even though the wind was getting stronger. Natural chokepoints, such as the steep slabs below the South Summit, the narrow corniced ridge, and the Hillary Step, all contributed to the formation of a logjam behind them. Because the Southeast Ridge is so narrow, even a single climber who is sluggish, fatigued, or hypoxic can cause all others who are behind them to fall behind.

In the death zone, a scenario that would be simple to settle at sea level may be exponentially more complicated than it would be at sea level. Making an effort to communicate with unknown individuals, in languages that are not one’s native tongue, with faces concealed, words garbled beneath gas masks, and hand gestures impaired in cumbersome mitts is not a solution that can be implemented quickly. A rising fear brought on by dwindling oxygen needles and fatigued minds further erodes the rational reasoning process in order to create room for quicker climbers, even though this is in everyone’s best interest.

The last three climbers and two Sherpas on Hall’s team turned back at 11:30 a.m., only 100 meters below the top, since they believed that it was now too late in the day for them to reach the summit securely. A total of only 24 individuals proceeded to the Hillary Step. The entire while, a storm was making its way toward the southern side, and it was about to claim the lives of five of those twenty-four people.

Also, on the northern side of the city:

While the events described above were taking place on the south side of Everest, a drama that was going place on the north side of Everest at the same time has received less attention than the events described above. The high camp on the Northeast Ridge had been abandoned by nine climbers who had pushed out. There were six of them who turned around and went back to their tents. The remaining three continued their ascent, but they were captured by the same storm that was affecting those on the south side. They all passed away. On an empty road, they passed away by themselves.

Was the 1996 summit push overcrowded?

To provide some background, the following are some numbers that were obtained during summit pushes on the south side of Everest:

• The 23rd of May, 2010: 122 summits with no fatalities
• The 19th of May, 2013: 139 summits with no fatalities
• 19th of May, 2012: 171 summits with four fatalities
• The 19th of May, 2016: 207 summits with no fatalities
• 21st of May, 2019: 219 summits with two fatalities
• 29th of May, 2019: 218 summits with two fatalities
• 24 summits with five fatalities on May 10, 1996

Concluding remarks:

Regarding the events that took place on May 10th and 11th, 1996, a great deal of information has been written, said, suggested, claimed, and counter-claimed. The public imagination has been responsible for the creation of both heroes and villains. Even if I am not as knowledgeable about these events as everyone else who was not present, it is evident from the figures that there was no problem with the crowds being too large.

climbing is a risky activity altogether, but climbing at high altitudes is even more so.

When you are standing on a ridge that is immersed in a snowstorm, subzero temperatures, and there is not enough oxygen to support life, in an extremely cold whiteout, at a location that is known as the death zone, things are not going to end well.

Thunderstorms in the Himalayas are ruthless. If the path leading to the peak of Everest had been packed on May 10, 1996, the number of fatalities would have been astonishing.

Who died during the 1996 Everest Disaster?

The 1996 Everest tragedy claimed the lives of 12 people. Here is the list of those who perished:

1. Rob Hall (Adventure Consultants)
2. Doug Hansen (Adventure Consultants)
3. Scott Fischer (Mountain Madness)
4. Yasuko Namba (Mountain Madness)
5. Andy Harris (Mountain Madness)
6. Tsewang Samanla (Indian Army)
7. Dorje Morup (Indian Army)
8. Tsewang Paljor (Indian Army)
9. Tsewang Smanla (Indian Army)
10. Tsewang Palden (Indian Army)
11. Subedar Tsewang Samanla (Indian Army)

These individuals lost their lives during the tragic events on Mount Everest in May 1996.

The 1996 Everest Climbers

The following is a list of climbers en route to the summit on 10 May 1996 via the South Col and Southeast Ridge, organized by expedition and role. All ages are as of 1996.

Adventure Consultants

The Adventure Consultants’ 1996 Everest expedition, led by Rob Hall, consisted of 19 people, including eight clients.

Guides

• Rob Hall (35) – expedition leader; died near the South Summit
• Michael Groom (37)
• Andy Harris (31) – disappeared near the South Summit while assisting Hall

Clients

• Frank Fischbeck (53) – had attempted Everest three times and reached the South Summit in 1994
• Doug Hansen (46) – had previously attempted Everest with Hall’s team in 1995; disappeared near the South Summit while descending with Hall
• Stuart Hutchison (34) – youngest client on Hall’s team; previous 8,000 m experiences included K2 winter expedition in 1988, Broad Peak west ridge in 1992, and Everest north side in 1994
• Lou Kasischke (53) – had climbed six of the Seven Summits
• Jon Krakauer (42) – journalist on assignment from Outside magazine; an accomplished technical climber, but had no experience in climbing peaks over 8,000 m
• Yasuko Namba (47) – had climbed six of the Seven Summits; became the oldest woman to summit Everest at the time; died on the South Col
• John Taske (56) – oldest climber on the Adventure Consultants team; no 8,000 m experience
• Beck Weathers (49) – had been climbing for 10 years and was also making a bid for the Seven Summits, but had no 8,000 m experience

Sherpas

• Sardar Ang Dorje (26)
• Arita
• Chuldum
• Kami
• Lhakpa Chhiri
• Ngawang Norbu
• Tenzing
• Lopsang

The Sherpas listed above were the climbing Sherpas hired by Rob Hall’s Adventure Consultants. Many other Sherpas were working at lower elevations and performed duties vital to the Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness expeditions. Most climbing Sherpas’ duties require them to ascend at least as high as Camp III or IV, but not all of them summit. The expedition leaders intend for only a select few of their climbing Sherpas to the summit. Legendary Sardar Apa Sherpa was scheduled to accompany the Adventure Consultants group but withdrew due to family commitments.

Except for Namba, none of the clients on Hall’s team had ever reached the summit of an 8,000-meter peak, and only Fischbeck, Hansen, and Hutchison had previous high-altitude Himalayan experience. Hall had also brokered a deal with Outside magazine for advertising space in exchange for a story about the growing popularity of commercial expeditions to Everest. Krakauer was originally slated to climb with Scott Fischer’s Mountain Madness team, but Hall landed him, at least in part, by agreeing to reduce Outside‘s fee for Krakauer’s spot on the expedition to less than cost. As a result, Hall was paying out-of-pocket to have Krakauer on his team.

Mountain Madness

The Mountain Madness 1996 Everest expedition, led by Scott Fischer, consisted of 19 people, including 8 clients.

Guides

• Scott Fischer (40) – lead climbing guide; died on the Southeast ridge balcony 350 m (1,150 ft) below the South Summit
• Neal Beidleman (36) – professional outdoorsman
• Anatoli Boukreev (38) – professional mountaineer, in 1997 was awarded the David A. Sowles Memorial Award by the American Alpine Club^[10]

Clients

• Martin Adams (47) – had climbed Aconcagua, Denali, and Kilimanjaro
• Charlotte Fox (38) – had climbed all 53 of the 14,000 ft (4,267 m) peaks in Colorado and two 8,000 m peaks, Gasherbrum II and Cho Oyu
• Lene Gammelgaard (35)
• Dale Kruse (45) – long-term personal friend of Fischer’s and the first to sign up for the 1996 expedition
• Tim Madsen (33) – had climbed extensively in the Colorado and Canadian Rockies, but had no 8,000 m experience
• Sandy Hill Pittman (41) – had climbed six of the Seven Summits
• Pete Schoening (68) – one of the first to climb Gasherbrum I and Mount Vinson; known for singlehandedly saving the lives of six team members during a mass fall in the American expedition on K2 in 1953
• Klev Schoening (38) – Pete’s nephew and a former US national downhill ski racer; no 8,000 m experience

Sherpas

• Sardar Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa (23)
• “Big” Pemba
• Nawang Dorje
• Ngawang Sya Kya
• Ngawang Tendi
• Ngawang Topche (died a few months later from HAPE he contracted during hauling duties to Camp II)
• Tashi Tshering
• Tendi ^c

The Sherpas listed above were the climbing Sherpas hired by Scott Fischer’s Mountain Madness expedition.^[7] Ngawang Topche was hospitalized in April; he had developed high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) while ferrying supplies above Base Camp. He was not on the mountain during the summit attempt of 10 May. Topche died from his illness in June 1996.^[11]

Pete Schoening had decided, while still at Base Camp (5,380 m or 17,650 ft), not to make the final push to the summit. The team began the assault on the summit on 6 May, bypassing Camp I (5,944 m or 19,501 ft) and stopping at Camp II (6,500 m or 21,300 ft) for two nights. However, Kruse suffered from altitude sickness and possible high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE), and stopped at Camp I. Fischer descended from Camp II and escorted Kruse back to Base Camp for treatment.^[12]

On 9 June 1996, three days after Sherpa Ngawang Topche died in hospital from high-altitude pulmonary edema,^[11] a private memorial service was held for Scott Fischer attended by the climbers and sherpas from Mountain Madness at Kiana Lodge, near Seattle Washington. The Sherpa chanted a Buddhist prayer, Beidleman gifted his late friend’s engraved expedition knife to Fischer’s two children, and Jeannie Price, Fischer’s wife, released a cloud of butterflies.^[13]

Taiwanese expedition

“Makalu” Gau Ming-Ho led a five-member team to Everest on 10 May 1996.^[14]

The previous day (9 May), Taiwanese team member Chen Yu-Nan had died following a fall on the Lhotse Face.

Indo-Tibetan Border Police

Half of the climbing team from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police North Col expedition from India (Subedar Tsewang Samanla, Lance Naik Dorje Morup, and Head Constable Tsewang Paljor) died on the Northeast Ridge.

Survivors of the 1996 Everest Disaster

Several climbers survived the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, including Beck Weathers, who miraculously survived being left for dead twice and was rescued by helicopter. Another survivor was Jon Krakauer, who documented the events in his book “Into Thin Air.” Anatoli Boukreev, a guide on Scott Fischer’s team, also survived and played a crucial role in rescue efforts. Other survivors include climbers who managed to descend safely from higher altitudes during the storm

Everyone who lived through the 1996 Mount Everest disaster and how they did it

Andrew Groom

A skilled mountain climber from Australia who was played by Thomas M. Wright in Everest. Before the disastrous trip in 1996, Groom had already climbed Mount Everest. Adventure Consultants guide Groom was the only one who made it through the trip alive. Groom went down the mountain on May 12 with the rest of the Adventure Consultants team, where he stayed alive.

Wenzel Fischbeck

Todd Boyce plays Frank Fischbeck in the movie Everest �. Fischbeck was an experienced climber who had tried to reach the top of the mountain before. After the disaster in 1996, Fischbeck and the other survivors made it through the night in the storm.

Hugh Stuart Hutchison

Before the 1996 disaster, Hutchinson was one of the few Adventure Consultants clients who had a lot of mountain hiking experience. Stuart made it through the storm by staying with the other Adventure Consultants survivors.

Ken Kasischke Lou

Kasischke had already reached the summit of six of the Seven Summits. He made the difficult decision to turn back from the Everest summit on May 11, and ultimately survived the ordeal by taking refuge with other survivors. His memoir, After the Wind, chronicles his experiences years later.

Jon Krakauer

Krakauer was a good climber and writer for Outside magazine. One of the last Expedition members to get out of the mountain was Krakauer. When it came out in 1997, Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster was a huge hit with readers.

John Taske

Taske was 56 years old when the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster happened and was the oldest hiker in the Adventure Consultants group. In the movie Everest, Tim Dantay played John Taske. Taske was one of the last people to safely return to Base Camp. He, Krakauer, Weathers, and Hutchinson were the others. They huddled together for warmth as they went down the mountain.

Beck Weathers

Weathers is a doctor from Texas. He was blinded by the climb’s high altitude and increased solar radiation. Weathers almost died because he was out in the cold and got very frostbitten. Weathers was able to walk through the cold to get down the mountain, even though his fellow climbers were scared. He was then taken to a hospital by chopper.

Neal Beidleman

Neal Beidleman, one of the mission leaders. Fischer died on the descent, and the real Beidleman helped keep most of the group together. Everyone made it back to Base Camp thanks to Beidleman.

Anatoli Boukreev

Russian climber Boukreev, who was a guide who finally led several people in the group safely down the mountain. Avalanche killed Boukreev the next year while he was climbing Annapurna.

Virginia Fox Charlotte

Fox was one of the mountain climbers who snuggled together to stay warm on May 10th night. Over the next few days, they would be going down the mountain. After the fact, Fox told PBS that Boukreev had helped her find her way back to Base Camp and down the mountain.

For Lene Gammelgaard

When Lene Gammelgaard joined the Everest Expedition, she was 35 years old. Also, she was the first woman from Scandinavia to reach the top. Beidleman and Boukreev helped her get to Base Camp before anyone else.

Timothy Madsen

Charlotte Fox trained with Madsen, who was an experienced climber but didn’t adjust well to the high air of Everest at first. During the descent, Tim stayed with the group and made it back to Base Camp in the end.

Andrew Woodall

The mountain climber, who was born in Britain, had already climbed Everest several times before his 1996 attempt. Actually, Woodall was in charge of his own mission at the same time.

Sandy Hill

After Hillary Clinton, Sandy Hill was the second American woman to climb all seven summits. When Hill got to the top of the mountain, he was one of the hikers who had to deal with the storm. Hill became a strong supporter of Boukreev’s work after she and the rest of her group made it through the climb down.

Pete Schoening

Pete Schoening, the oldest climber in either group, was already a bit of a climbing hero before he tried to reach the top of Everest. Schoening traveled to the mountain with his nephew Klev, but he did not climb it. He decided to stay at Camp Three instead because he had noticed that his heartbeat wasn’t beating normally. This meant Pete would be safe from the worst weather over the next few days.

Klev Schöning

Klev, a former U.S. national downhill skier, helped Beidleman finish the race and saved the lives of his group.

Sherpa Lopsang Jangbu

On the Mountain Madness trip, Lopsang was a Sherpa who was very important to the safety of a lot of the group. Sadly, he died later that same year while on another Everest-climbing trip.

Other Injured People

Some survivors and people who died in the 1996 Everest Disaster weren’t shown in the movie Everest. One of the survivors is Gau Ming-Ho, who was in charge of the Taiwanese mission and was on the mountain during the storm. He was hurt in the same way that Beck Weathers was. Scott Fischer was close friends with Dale Kruse. Kruse had just returned to camp when the disaster happened and wasn’t near the peak during the worst of it.

On the trip, there were also a lot of Sherpas. All of them made it through the disaster, though one would later die from problems caused by getting ready for it. In real life, one person was hit in the head with a rock while going down. News reports from PBS say that Beidleman and Klev were able to save this Sherpa.