On May 10 and 11, 1996, Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth at 29,029 feet, became the scene of one of the deadliest disasters in its history when a fierce blizzard swept across the peak, claiming eight lives and leaving others forever marked by the ordeal. Known as the 1996 Everest disaster, the tragedy has been recounted in Jon Krakauer’s bestselling book Into Thin Air and dramatized in the 2015 film Everest, both of which captured the terrifying reality of climbing in the Death Zone, where oxygen is so scarce that survival itself becomes a gamble.
By the mid-1990s, commercial expeditions had made Everest more accessible, attracting climbers of varying experience levels who paid large sums to join professional guides. Two of these outfits, Adventure Consultants led by New Zealander Rob Hall and Mountain Madness led by American Scott Fischer, were central to the events of that fateful season, alongside a Taiwanese team and an Indo-Tibetan Border Police group. On May 10, 33 climbers began their summit push from Camp IV at nearly 26,000 feet, planning to reach the peak by 2:00 p.m. to allow time for a safe descent.
But logistical errors, poor timing, and the unpredictable mountain created a cascade of missteps. Fixed ropes that should have been placed ahead of time were not ready, especially at the Hillary Step, a nearly 40-foot rock face just below the summit. This caused hours of delay as climbers waited in the thin air, wasting precious oxygen. Many reached the top far later than planned, some as late as 5:00 p.m., leaving them exposed when a sudden and violent storm hit. The blizzard descended around 5:30 p.m., reducing visibility to nothing, bringing brutal winds, and burying the ropes that marked the descent.
Temperatures plummeted, and climbers trapped in the Death Zone began a desperate fight for their lives. Among the dead was Rob Hall, who refused to abandon client Doug Hansen after Hansen collapsed near the South Summit. Hall radioed for help as guide Andy Harris tried to bring oxygen, but both men were overcome by the storm. Hall’s final radio call to his wife, Jan Arnold, was devastatingly tender: “Sleep well, my sweetheart. Please don’t worry too much.” Hansen’s body was never found. Harris also vanished in the blizzard. Scott Fischer, suffering from altitude sickness and exhaustion, collapsed near 27,500 feet and was discovered frozen the next day. Yasuko Namba, a 47-year-old Japanese climber who had just become the oldest woman to reach the summit, succumbed to hypothermia near the South Col, her body recovered a year later.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police team lost three men—Tsewang Samanla, Dorje Morup, and Tsewang Paljor—on the Northeast Ridge, deaths that drew less publicity but were no less tragic. Yet amid the horror, there were stories of astonishing survival. Beck Weathers, a Texan doctor blinded by altitude-induced damage, was left for dead twice in the snow. Against all odds, he somehow staggered back into camp, frostbitten and half-blind, and was later evacuated by helicopter. His account, Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest, described how thoughts of his wife and children fueled his determination.
Jon Krakauer, who had reached the summit earlier, made it back to camp but later expressed deep regret, writing that climbing Everest was the biggest mistake of his life. Guides like Anatoli Boukreev of Mountain Madness drew both criticism and praise—he descended ahead of his clients but later heroically went back into the storm to save Sandy Hill, Tim Madsen, and Charlotte Fox. Other survivors included Adventure Consultants guide Michael Groom, Mountain Madness guide Neal Beidleman, and client Lene Gammelgaard, who became the first Scandinavian woman to summit Everest.
The tragedy sparked enormous controversy. Krakauer’s Into Thin Air placed blame on decisions made by team leaders and on Boukreev’s strategy, while Boukreev defended himself in The Climb. Survivors such as Lou Kasischke and Gammelgaard wrote their own memoirs, offering conflicting perspectives. The 2015 movie Everest introduced the story to wider audiences, though it dramatized some details, such as Hansen’s fall. While many assume overcrowding caused the tragedy, the truth is that only 29 climbers were near the summit that day, far fewer than in later years when hundreds climbed on a single day.
Instead, it was the mix of late summit attempts, inadequate rope preparation, dwindling oxygen, and the blizzard’s ferocity that combined into catastrophe. The disaster underscored the lethal unpredictability of Everest’s Death Zone, where even a small error can become fatal. Today, the 1996 Everest disaster is remembered as a turning point in mountaineering. It highlighted the dangers of commercial expeditions that bring less experienced climbers into extreme environments, yet it did little to diminish Everest’s allure. Hundreds still attempt the summit each year, undeterred by the risks.
For those who survived, the scars never truly healed, and for those who perished, their stories remain frozen in Everest’s icy slopes, stark reminders of the thin line between triumph and tragedy at the top of the world.
