The Bodies of Mount Everest

Mount Everest – standing at 29,029 ft, is the world’s highest mountain and a particularly desirable peak for mountaineeers. Over 290 people have died trying to climb it. Most deaths have been attributed to avalanches, injury from fall, ice collapse, exposure, or health problems related to conditions on the mountain. Not all bodies have been located, so details on those fatalities are not available.

Since Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary became the first men to stand on its summit in 1953, the mountain has been summitted more than 7,000 times by more than 4,000 people, who have left a trail of garbage, human waste and bodies in their wake.

The upper reaches of the mountain are known as the ‘Death Zone‘. The death zone is a mountaineering term for altitudes above a certain point – 26,000 ft, or less than 356 millibars (5.16 psi) of atmospheric pressure – where the oxygen level is not sufficient to sustain human life. Many deaths in high-altitude mountaineering have been caused by the effects of the death zone, either directly (loss of vital functions) or indirectly (unwise decisions made under stress or physical weakening leading to accidents).

In the death zone, the human body cannot acclimatize, as it uses oxygen faster than it can be replenished. An extended stay in the zone without supplementary oxygen will result in deterioration of bodily functions, loss of consciousness and, ultimately, death. Until 2010, the death zone had never been cleared of the many bodies and trash littering it and making the path more treacherous for future climbers. It’s expensive and it’s risky, and incredibly dangerous for the Sherpas who must recover the bodies from the zone.

The price tag can reach upward of $30,000 to $70,000 and the quest to reclaim bodies has taken lives in the past. In 1984, 36-year-old Yogendra Bahadur Thapa and his 35-year-old guide Ang Dorjee died during an attempt to recover the corpse of 39-year-old German mountaineer Hannelore Schmatz.

And the job isn’t easy, either. It requires multiple (generally 6 to 10) Sherpas most of a day to bring a body down the mountain. Adding to the difficulty is the time crunch. One of the death zone’s more inhospitable features is its low oxygen levels, which are one-third those at sea level. Due to this, climbers aren’t supposed to spend more than 48 hours in the zone. Even picking up a candy wrapper high up on the mountain is a lot of effort, because it’s totally frozen and you have to dig around it. To actually remove a body, they typically use some type of a rigging. Sometimes it’s a sled but oftentimes it’s just a piece of fabric. They tie ropes around the body and rigging, and then they do a controlled slip of the body down to the next camp.

There’s not enough wood or stove fuel to cremate the bodies on the mountain, so they need to be brought low enough for helicopters to pick them up, which presents another hurdle. Between the base camp and the summit are four camps. Due to the thinness of the air further up the mountain, helicopters don’t normally land above Camp 2, which is 21,000 feet high. Any higher can cause an avalanche or landslide.

With all those concerns in mind, many bodies simply remain on the mountain. Most are concealed from view, but some are familiar fixtures on the route to Everest’s summit.

Perhaps most well-known of all are the remains of Tsewang Paljor, a young Indian climber who lost his life in the infamous 1996 blizzard. For nearly 20 years, Paljor’s body – popularly known as Green Boots, for the neon footwear he was wearing when he died – has rested near the summit of Everest’s north side. When snow cover is light, climbers have had to step over Paljor’s extended legs on their way to and from the peak.

The most popular routes to the peak are the South Col route from the Nepalese side and the North Col route from the Tibetan side.

The first recorded deaths on the mountain were the seven porters who perished in an avalanche in the 1922 British Mount Everest Expedition. George Mallory, who was present, blamed himself for the deaths. During the initial 1921 British Reconnaissance Expedition there were two deaths en route to the mountain – an unidentified porter as well as heart attack victim Dr. A. M. Kellas.

Babu Chiri Sherpa had climbed the mountain ten times, and in 1999 spent 20 hours on the summit of Everest, then a new record. He also climbed to the summit twice in two weeks and held the record climbing time from Base Camp to summit of 16 hours and 56 minutes. He died in 2001 from a fall near Camp II. Experienced guide Rob Hall died on Everest shortly after becoming the first non-Sherpa to have summitted five times.

One of the most infamous tragedies on the mountain was the 1996 Mount Everest disaster on May 11, 1996, during which eight people died while making summit attempts. In that entire season, 15 people died trying to reach the summit, making it the deadliest single year in the mountain’s history to that point. The disaster gained wide publicity and has been written about many times; both Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev were written by mountaineers who were on Mount Everest at the time, and they give conflicting accounts of the events.

Curiously, 1996 was statistically a safe year for Everest climbers. Before 1996, one in four climbers had died making the ascent; 1996 saw huge numbers of people attempting the climb and the statistics for 1996 reveal that only one in seven died.

Another notable incident occurred in 1998 when Francys Arsentiev and her husband, Sergei Arsentiev, became separated and then died while looking for each other.

Other climbers, Ian Woodall and Cathy O’Dowd came across Francys and attempted to help, but did not have many options. There was likely nothing they could do to save her by the time they encountered her.

Arsentiev was already severely frostbitten and had run out of oxygen when the couple reached her. Still, they abandoned their own summit and tried to lift Arsentiev into a sitting position. Due to the altitude, and the fact Francys had gone dead weight, those who moved her were left gasping for breath. It became clear that carrying her down the mountain was not an option or the rescuers wouldn’t survive either.

Arsentiev repeatedly said, “Don’t leave me,” as fellow climbers debated how to help her. When the climbers let her know they had to leave, they promised to come back with help. Arsentiev either misunderstood or was skeptical of the promise. In response, she asked, “Why are you doing this to me?” Her words would haunt them forever.

One of the British climbers who encountered Arsentiev on Everest returned with a team in an attempt to grant her some dignity by burying her body. In 2007, Ian Woodwall embarked on another journey up Everest with the goal of wrapping Arsentiev’s body in an American flag and then covering her in stones or boulders.

The team was unable to bury Arsentiev in rocks as the area was too covered in snow. However, they managed to wrap Arsentiev’s body in the flag and push her over the edge of the mountain so she was out of sight. They also said a few words to bid her farewell.

In the consecutive 2014 and 2015 seasons, tragedies that each killed more than a dozen people caused no one to ascend the mountain in those years. On April 18, 2014, 16 Sherpas were killed in an avalanche that struck Base Camp. Just over a year later, on April 25, 2015, 19 people were killed in an avalanche at Base Camp following a powerful 7.8 earthquake, which killed at least 9,000 people and injured at least 23,000. This is the worst single-day death toll ever in the history of Mount Everest, in modern incidents with accurate counts.

№

Name

Date

Cause of death

Location

1	Dorje	June 7, 1922	Avalanche	Below North Col
2	Lhakpa	June 7, 1922	Avalanche	Below North Col
3	Norbu	June 7, 1922	Avalanche	Below North Col
4	Pasang	June 7, 1922	Avalanche	Below North Col
5	Pema	June 7, 1922	Avalanche	Below North Col
6	Sange	June 7, 1922	Avalanche	Below North Col
7	Temba	June 7, 1922	Avalanche	Below North Col
8	Man Bahadur	May 13, 1924	Pneumonia	Above Rongbuk B.C.
9	Lance-Naik Shamsherpun	May 17, 1924	Brain hemorrhage	Above Rongbuk B.C.
10	Andrew Irvine	June 9, 1924	Disappeared; body never found; cause of death unknown	N.E. Ridge
11	George Mallory	June 9, 1924	Disappeared; body found in 1999; evidence suggests Mallory died from being accidentally struck by his ice axe following a fall.	N.E. Ridge
12	Maurice Wilson	May 31, 1934	Body found 1935; cause of death possibly exhaustion, exposure or starvation.	East Rongbuk glacier
13	Dorje Mingma	October 31, 1952	Falling ice	Lhotse Face
14	Wang Ji	April 11, 1960	Mountain sickness
15	Shao Shi-Ching	April 29, 1960		N.E. Ridge
16	Nawang Tshering	April 28, 1962		Lhotse face
17	Jake Breitenbach	March 23, 1963	Crushed under serac	Icefall
18	Ma Gao-shu	May 1, 1966	Fall	Icefall
19	Phu Dorje	October 18, 1969	Fall into a crevice	Icefall
20	Nima Dorje	April 5, 1970	Avalanche	Icefall
21	Kunga Norbu	April 5, 1970	Avalanche
22	Mima Norbu	April 5, 1970	Avalanche	Icefall
23	Pasang	April 5, 1970	Avalanche	Icefall
24	Kami Tshering	April 5, 1970	Avalanche	Icefall
25	Kyak Tsering	April 9, 1970	“by fall of seracs”	5525 m
26	Kiyoshi Narita	April 21, 1970	Heart attack	6150m
27	Harsh Vardhan	April 18, 1971	Succumbed after falling and being suspended above a crevice during a blizzard	6900m
28	Tony Tighe	November 16, 1972	Crushed under serac	Icefall
29	Jangbu	October 12, 1973	Avalanche	S.W. Face
30	Gérard Devouassoux	September 9, 1974	Avalanche	6400m
31	Pemba Dorje	September 9, 1974	Avalanche	6400m
32	Lhakpa	September 9, 1974	Avalanche	6400m
33	Nawang Lutuk	September 9, 1974	Avalanche	6400m
34	Nima Wangchu	September 9, 1974	Avalanche	6400m
35	Sanu Wongal	September 9, 1974	Avalanche	6400m
36	Wu Zhuong Yue	May 4, 1975	Exhaustion, fall	8500m
37	Mick Burke	September 26, 1975	Disappearance (likely accidental death during climb)	Near Summit
38	Terry Thompson	April 10, 1976	Fall into a crevasse	Camp II
39	Dawa Nuru	April 18, 1978	Fall into a crevasse	Icefall
40	Shi Ming-ji	April 18, 1978	Fall into a crevasse	Icefall
41	Ang Phu	May 16, 1979	Fall	Icefall
42	Ray Genet	October 2, 1979	Exposure, exhaustion	8400m S.E. Ridge
43	Hannelore Schmatz	October 2, 1979	Exposure, exhaustion	8400m S.E. Ridge
44	Wang Hong-bao	October 12, 1979	Avalanche	Below North Col
45	Lou Lan	October 12, 1979	Avalanche	Below North Col
46	Nima Thaxi	October 12, 1979	Avalanche	Below North Col
47	Akira Ube	May 2, 1980	Avalanche	7900m North Face (Hornbein Couloir)
48	Nawang Kersang	September 6, 1980	Fall	Icefall
49	Mario Piana	September 22, 1980	Crushed under serac	Lhotse Face
50	Noboru Takenaka	January 12, 1981	Fall	6900m W. Cwm
51	Marty Hoey	May 15, 1982	Fall	8000m
52	Peter Boardman	May 17, 1982	Disappearance (likely accidental death during climb)	North-East Ridge (approx. 8200m)
53	Joe Tasker	May 17, 1982	Disappearance (likely accidental death during climb)	North-East Ridge (approx. 8200m)
54	Ang Chuldim	August 31, 1982	Avalanche	Icefall
55	Dawa Dorje	August 31, 1982	Avalanche	Icefall
56	Pasang Sona	August 31, 1982	Avalanche	Icefall
57	Blair Griffiths	September 2, 1982	Crushed under serac	Icefall
58	Lhakpa Tshering	September 27, 1982	Internal hemorrhage	6770m
59	Nima Dorje	October 14, 1982	Fall	8300m W ridge
60	Yasuo Kato	December 28, 1982	Disappearance (likely accidental death during climb)	Near Summit
61	Toshiaki Kobayashi	December 28, 1982		Near Summit
62	Hironobu Kamuro	October 8, 1983	Fall	Near Summit
63	Pasang Temba	October 8, 1983	Fall	8600m SE Ridge
64	Hiroshi Yoshino	October 9, 1983	Fall	Near Summit
65	Ang Rinji	March 26, 1984	Avalanche	Icefall
66	Tony Swierzy	April 3, 1984	Avalanche	6238m
67	Hristo Ivanov Prodanov	April 21, 1984	Disappearance (likely accidental death during descent)	8500m West Ridge
68	Fred From	October 9, 1984	Fall	8000m
69	Craig Nottle	October 9, 1984	Fall	8000m
70	Jozef Psotka	October 16, 1984	Fall	Near Summit
71	Ang Dorje	October 24, 1984	Fall	8400m S.E. Ridge
72	Yogendra Bahadur Thapa	October 24, 1984	Fall	8400m S.E. Ridge
73	Juanjo Navarro	May 12, 1985	Fall	7300m
74	Shinichi Ishii	September 19, 1985	Avalanche	Below North Col
75	Kiran Inder Kumar	October 7, 1985	Fall	7986m
76	Jai Bahugana	October 11, 1985	Exposure	South Col
77	Ranjeet Singh Bakshi	October 11, 1985	Exposure	South Col
78	Vijay Pal Singh Negi	October 11, 1985	Exposure	South Col
79	M.U. Bhaskar Rao	October 11, 1985	Exposure	South Col
80	Víctor Hugo Trujillo	August 16, 1986	Avalanche	Below North Col
81	Simon Burkhardt	September 28, 1986	Avalanche	7315m
82	Gyalu	October 4, 1986	Crushed under serac	Icefall
83	Dawa Norbu	October 17, 1986	Avalanche	Below North Col
84	Tsuttin Dorje	January 30, 1987	Fall	7700m
85	Roger Marshall	May 21, 1987	Disappearance (likely accidental death during descent)	Hornbein Couloir, Near Summit
86	Masao Yokoyama	September 2, 1987	Drowned	E Rongbuk Glacier
87	Mangal Singh	October 20, 1987	Avalanche	Base camp
88	Hidetaka Mizukoshi	April 21, 1988	Heart attack (at Base camp)	Base camp
89	Michel Parmentier	September 20, 1988	Exposure	7700m
90	Narayan Shrestha	September 21, 1988	Avalanche	7200m
91	Lhakpa Sonam	October 13, 1988	Fall	8200m
92	Pasang Temba	October 13, 1988	Fall	8200m
93	Dušan Becík	October 17, 1988	Disappearance (likely accidental death during descent after reaching South Summit with Jozef Just rejoining group after he summited Everest solo)	8000m S.W. Ridge
94	Peter Božík	October 17, 1988		8000m S.W. Ridge
95	Jaroslav Jaško	October 17, 1988		8000m S.W. Ridge
96	Jozef Just	October 17, 1988		8000m S.W. Ridge
97	Ang Lhakpa	December 23, 1988	Cerebral thrombosis	South Col
98	Dimitar Ilievski-Murato	May 10, 1989	Fall	Descending South Col Route
99	Phu Dorje	May 16, 1989	Fall	Descending South Col Route
100	Mirosław Dąsal	May 27, 1989	Avalanche	7200m W ridge
101	Mirosław Gardzielewski	May 27, 1989	Avalanche	7200m W ridge
102	Andrzej Heinrich	May 27, 1989	Avalanche	7200m W ridge
103	Wacław Otręba	May 27, 1989	Avalanche	7200m W ridge
104	Eugeniusz Chrobak	May 28, 1989	Avalanche injuries	Lhola camp
105	Ang Pinjo	December 12, 1989	Altitude sickness
106	Rafael Gómez-Menor	September 14, 1990	Avalanche
107	Ang Sona	September 14, 1990	Avalanche
108	Badri Nath	September 14, 1990	Avalanche
109	Ham Sang-hun	October 7, 1990	Disappearance (likely accidental death during climb)
110	Rüdiger Lang	May 3, 1991	Exposure	7850m N.E. Ridge
111	Junichi Futagami	May 27, 1991	Fall	8700m NE
112	Deepak Kulkarni	May 2, 1992	Exposure
113	Raymond Jacob	May 2, 1992	Exposure
114	Subba Singh	May 11, 1992	Heart attack
115	Sher Singh	May 23, 1992	Fall	Icefall
116	Manabu Hoshi	May 23, 1992	Disappearance (likely accidental death during climb)	8350m NE
117	Ang Tshering	January 15, 1993	Fall
118	Pasang Lhamu Sherpa	April 23, 1993	Disappearance (likely accidental death during climb)	8750m S.E. Ridge
119	Sonam Tshering	April 23, 1993		8750m S.E. Ridge
120	Lobsang Tshering Bhutia	May 10, 1993	Fall	8750m S.E. Ridge
121	Nam Won-woo	May 16, 1993	Fall	8450m S.E. Ridge
122	A Jin-seob	May 17, 1993	Fall	8450m S.E. Ridge
123	Karl Henize	October 5, 1993	HAPE	6400m
124	Antonio Miranda	October 7, 1993	Fall
125	Prem Thapa	April 6, 1994	Cerebral Oedema
126	Shih Fang-Fang ‘Norman’	May 9, 1994	Exhaustion and/or exposure
127	Giuseppe Vigani-Fang	May 18, 1994	Fall
128	Mike Rheinberger	May 27, 1994	150m fall. He showed signs of Exhaustion, Dehydration, Cerebral Oedema, Retinal Hemorrhages and possible blood clots in his upper legs.	8500m NE
129	Mingma Norbu	September 12, 1994	Avalanche
130	Kami Rita	May 6, 1995	Fall
131	Lhakpa Nuru	September 10, 1995		6900m
132	Zangbu	October 14, 1995	Fall	Near Summit
133	Chen Yu-Nan	May 9, 1996	Injuries from a fall
135	Scott Fischer	May 11, 1996	Suspected HACE (High-altitude Cerebral Edema), exhaustion, frostbite and exposure.	8300m S.E. Ridge
136	Rob Hall	May 11, 1996	Exposure	South Summit
137	Doug Hansen	May 11, 1996	Exposure	South Summit
138	Andrew Harris	May 11, 1996	Disappearance (likely accidental death during climb)	8700m S.E. Ridge
139	Yasuko Namba	May 11, 1996	Exposure	South Col
140	Dorje Morup	May 11, 1996	Exposure	8600m N.E. Ridge
141	Tsewang Paljor	May 11, 1996	Exposure	8600m N.E. Ridge
142	Tsewang Samanla	May 11, 1996	Exposure	8600m N.E. Ridge
143	Reinhard Wlasich	May 19, 1996	Altitude sickness	8300m North Face, Great Couloir
144	Bruce Herrod	May 25, 1996	Rope accident	S.E. Ridge, Hillary Step
145	Ngawang Topche	June 6, 1996	Lapsed into Coma on 23 Apr 1996; later died in hospital	Camp II
146	Yves Bouchon	September 25, 1996	Avalanche	7400m Lhotse Face
147	Lopsang Jangbu	September 25, 1996	Avalanche	7400m Lhotse Face
148	Dawa	September 25, 1996	Avalanche	7400m Lhotse Face
149	Malcolm Duff	April 23, 1997	Heart attack (at Base camp)	Base Camp
150	Nima Rinzi	May 6, 1997	Fall	Lhotse Face
151	Aleksandr Torochin	May 7, 1997	Fall	8400m N.E. Ridge
152	Ivan Plotnikov	May 7, 1997	Exhaustion and/or exposure	8700m N.E. Ridge
153	Nikolai Shevtchenko	May 7, 1997	Exhaustion and/or exposure	8700m N.E. Ridge
154	Mingma	May 7, 1997	Fall	N.E. Ridge
155	Peter Kowalzik	May 8, 1997	Disappearance (likely accidental death during climb)	N.E. Ridge
156	Tenzing Nuru	September 8, 1997	Disappearance (likely accidental death during climb)	S.E. Ridge
157	Choi Byong-soo	September 8, 1997	Avalanche	North Col Flank
158	Sergei Arsentiev	May 24, 1998	100m Fall.	N.E. Ridge
159	Francys Arsentiev	May 24, 1998	Exposure and/or cerebral oedema	N.E. Ridge
160	Mark Jennings	May 25, 1998	Exhaustion	N.E. Ridge
161	Roger Buick	May 26, 1998	Exhaustion	N.E. Ridge
162	Vasyl Kopytko	May 8, 1999	Unknown cause	N.E. Ridge
163	Michael Matthews	May 13, 1999		S.E. Ridge
164	Tadeusz Kudelski	May 18, 1999	Fall	N.E. Ridge
165	Pascal Debrouwer	May 18, 1999	Fall	N.E. Ridge
166	Jeppe Stoltz	May 20, 2000	Fall	N.E. Ridge
167	Yan Gen-hua	May 21, 2000	Fall	N.E. Ridge
168	Babu Chiri Sherpa	April 29, 2001	Fall	N.E. Ridge
169	Peter Ganner	May 23, 2001	Fall	8500m S.E. Ridge
170	Mark Auricht	May 24, 2001	Cerebral Oedema	N.E. Ridge
171	Aleksei Nikiforov	May 24, 2001	Pre-existing illness exacerbated by freezing conditions, altitude	8500m N.E. Ridge
172	Sándor Gárdos	October 17, 2001	Fall	7800m N.E. Ridge
173	Peter Legate	April 30, 2002	Fall into a crevasse	Below Camp III
174	Zoran Miletić	May 19, 2002	Exact cause and date of death unknown	7800m N.E. Ridge
175	Marco Siffredi	September 8, 2002	Snowboarding accident	Hornbein Couloir
176	Bhim Bahadur Gurung	May 27, 2003	Fall into a crevasse	5900m Icefall
177	Jan Krzysztof Liszewski	May 25, 2003	Fall	7900m N.E. Ridge
178	Arnaud Saulnier	May 8, 2003	Sickness in tent	5500m S.E. Ridge
179	Karma Gyalzen Sherpa	May 24, 2003	Altitude Sickness	6000m S.E. Ridge
180	Joon-ho Baek	May 18, 2004	Exposure	8500m N.E. Ridge
181	Min Jang	May 18, 2004	Exposure	8500m N.E. Ridge
182	Mu-taek Park	May 18, 2004	Exposure	8500m N.E. Ridge
183	Nils Antezana	May 18, 2004	Exposure	8600m S.E. Ridge
184	Hristo Ganchev Hristov	May 20, 2004	Exposure	8600m N.E. Ridge
185	Shoko Ota	May 20, 2004	Exposure	8600m N.E. Ridge
186	Mariana Prodanova Maslarova	May 23, 2004	Exposure	8700m N.E. Ridge
187	Sean Egan	April 28, 2005	Heart attack	4600m S.E. Ridge
188	Michael Corey O’Brien	May 2, 2005	Fall into a crevasse	5800m Icefall South
189	Marko Lihteneker	May 21, 2005	Oxygen problems	8600m N.E. Ridge
190	Sirigereshiva Shankarappa Chaitanya	May 30, 2005	Exposure	8700m N.E. Ridge
191	Dieter Kramer	June 4, 2005	Exposure	8000m N.E.
192	Robert William Milne	June 5, 2005	Organ failure due to freezing conditions	8200m S.E. Ridge
193	Tuk Bahadur Thapa Magar Sherpa	April 7, 2006	Altitude	5500m N.E. Ridge
194	Ang Phinjo Sherpa	April 21, 2006	Avalanche	5900m Icefall
195	Lhakpa Tseri	April 21, 2006	Avalanche	5900m Icefall
196	Dawa Temba	April 21, 2006	Avalanche	5900m Icefall
197	Jacques-Hugues Letrange	May 6, 2006	Exhaustion	N.E. Ridge
198	Srikrishna	May 14, 2006	Fall	8600m N.E. Ridge
199	David Sharp	May 15, 2006	Exposure and/or exhaustion	8600m N.E. Ridge
200	Tomas Olsson	May 16, 2006	Fall	8700m Norton Couloir
201	Vitor Negrete	May 19, 2006	Exposure and/or exhaustion	Camp III, 8200m N.E. Ridge
202	Igor Plyushkin	May 22, 2006	Altitude sickness	7800m N.E. Ridge
203	Thomas Weber	May 25, 2006	Altitude sickness	8700m N.E. Ridge
204	Dawa Sherpa	April 26, 2007		7200m South Col
205	Shinichi Ishii	May 17, 2007		8650m
206	Libor Kozak	May 17, 2007		8300m
207	Yoshitomi Okura	May 16, 2007		N.E. Ridge
208	Maurizio Pierangelo	May 17, 2007		N.E. Ridge
209	Oh Hee-joon	May 17, 2007		S.W. Face
210	Lee Hyun-jo	May 17, 2007		S.W. Face
211	Uwe Gianni Goltz	May 21, 2008	Exhaustion	8000m South Col
212	Lhakpa Nuru	May 7, 2009	Avalanche	Icefall
213	Veslav Chrzaszcz	May 18, 2009	Heart attack
214	Wenhong Wu	May 19, 2009	Altitude sickness	8750m
215	Frank Ziebarth	May 21, 2009	hypothermia and lack of oxygen	8700m North Summit
216	László Várkonyi	April 26, 2010	Avalanche crevasse fall	North Col
217	Tom Jørgensen	May 19, 2010	HACE
218	Peter Kinloch	May 26, 2010	Exhaustion	8600m
219	Rick Hitch	May 1, 2011	Heart attack	7010m
220	Shailendra Kumar Upadhyaya	May 9, 2011	Altitude sickness	Base Camp
221	Takashi Ozaki	May 12, 2011	Altitude sickness	8400m The Balcony
222	John Delaney	May 21, 2011	Altitude sickness	8400m The Balcony
223	Hiroaki Kino	September 15, 2011	Cerebral apoplexy	Lower Icefall
224	Dawa Tenzing	April 5, 2012	Stroke (CVA)	Icefall
225	Karsang Namgyal Sherpa	April 19, 2012	Altitude sickness	Base Camp
226	Ramesh Gulve	April 20, 2012	Stroke	Base Camp
227	Namgyal Tshering Sherpa	April 21, 2012	Fall into a crevasse	Camp 1
228	Shriya Shah-Klorfine	May 19, 2012	Exhaustion	Below Balcony 8300m
229	Eberhard Schaaf	May 19, 2012	Cerebral Oedema	Hillary Step
230	Song Won-bin	May 19, 2012	Fall	Balcony
231	Ha Wenyi	May 20, 2012	Suspected altitude sickness	Balcony
232	Juan José Polo Carbayo	May 20, 2012	Exhaustion	8300m N.E. Ridge
233	Ralf D. Arnold	May 20, 2012	Exhaustion and related complications after breaking leg at Second Step	8300m N.E. Ridge
234	Piseth Lim	October 19, 2012	Encountered inclement weather	Around 4,000 meter high point
235	Mingma Sherpa	April 7, 2013	Falling into a crevasse	Between Camps 1 and 2 in the Western Cwm
236	DaRita Sherpa	May 5, 2013	Suspected cardiac arrest	Camp 3 on south side
237	Sergey Ponomarev	May 5, 2013	Suspected cardiac arrest	At 100m above ABC on north side (at about 6500m)
238	Lobsang Sherpa	May 7, 2013	Fall	Between Camp 2 and Camp 3 on descent from Camp 4 (on south side)
239	Alexey Bolotov	May 15, 2013	Fall	5600m Icefall
240	Namgyal Sherpa	May 17, 2013		8300m N.E. Ridge
241	Seo Sung-ho	May 21, 2013	Suspected Altitude Sickness	On descent (south side)
242	Sajal Khaled (Mohammed Khaled Hossain)	May 21, 2013	Suspected Altitude Sickness	South Col Camp
243	Unknown climber	May 22, 2013	Suspected Altitude Sickness	Camp 4 (south side) in tent
244	Mingma Tenzing Sherpa	April 2, 2014	HAPE	Everest Base Camp
245	Mingma Nuru Sherpa	April 18, 2014	Avalanche	Icefall
246	Dorji Sherpa	April 18, 2014	Avalanche	Icefall
247	Ang Tshiri Sherpa	April 18, 2014	Avalanche	Icefall
248	Nima Sherpa	April 18, 2014	Avalanche	Icefall
249	Phurba Ongyal Sherpa	April 18, 2014	Avalanche	Icefall
250	Lapka Tenjing Sherpa	April 18, 2014	Avalanche	Icefall
251	Chhiring Ongchu Sherpa	April 18, 2014	Avalanche	Icefall
252	Dorjee Khatri	April 18, 2014	Avalanche	Icefall
253	Then Dorjee Sherpa	April 18, 2014	Avalanche	Icefall
254	Phur Temba Sherpa	April 18, 2014	Avalanche	Icefall
255	Pasang Karma Sherpa	April 18, 2014	Avalanche	Icefall
256	Asman Tamang	April 18, 2014	Avalanche	Icefall
257	Tenzing Chottar Sherpa	April 18, 2014	Avalanche (missing)	Icefall
258	Ankaji Sherpa	April 18, 2014	Avalanche	Icefall
259	PemTenji Sherpa	April 18, 2014	Avalanche (missing)	Icefall
260	Aash Bahadur Gurung	April 18, 2014	Avalanche (missing)	Icefall
261	Daniel Paul Fredinburg	April 25, 2015	Base Camp avalanche following the April 2015 Nepal earthquake	Base Camp
262	Marisa Eve Girawong	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
263	Thomas Ely Taplin	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
264	Pemba Sherpa	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
265	Dawa Tsering Sherpa	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
266	Maila (Milan) Rai	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
267	Chhimi Dawa Sherpa	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
268	Pema Yishi (Hissi) Sherpa	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
269	Pasang Temba Sherpa	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
270	Krishna Kumar Rai	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
271	Zhenfang Ge	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
272	Renu Fotedar	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
273	Tenzing (Tengien) Bhote	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
274	Vinh B Truong	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
275	Lhakpa Chhiring Sherpa	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
276	Shiva Kumar Shrestha	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
277	Unknown climber	April 25, 2015		Base Camp
278	Yomagato Horoshi	April 27, 2015	Died in Kathmandu due to injuries sustained in the Base Camp avalanchefollowing the April 2015 Nepal earthquake	Base Camp
279	Jangbu Sherpa	May 1, 2015		Base Camp
280	Charles MacAdams	May 11, 2016	Cardiac event	Base Camp North Side
281	Phurba Sherpa	May 19, 2016	Fall	Near summit
282	Eric Arnold	May 21, 2016	Altitude sickness	South Col / Camp 4
283	Maria Elizabeth Strydom	May 22, 2016	Snow blindness, stroke	Near Camp IV
284	Subhash Pal	May 22, 2016	Altitude sickness	Around Camp 3
285	Paresh Chandra Nath	May 22, 2016	Exposure	The Balcony
286	Goutam Ghosh	May 22, 2016	Exposure	The Balcony
287	Ueli Steck	April 30, 2017	Fall	Base of West Nuptse (near Camp 2 trying to cover a new path to Everest Run)
288	Min Bahadur Sherchan	May 5, 2017	Heart Attack	Base Camp
289	Roland Yearwood	May 21, 2017	Altitude sickness	Balcony
290	Vladimír Štrba	May 21, 2017	Altitude sickness	Camp 4, in the tent
291	Francesco Enrico Marchetti	May 21, 2017	Altitude sickness	Camp 4
292	Ravi Kumar	May 21, 2017	Fall into a 200m crevasse	Balcony

Despite the risks, thousands swarm to Nepal every year in an effort to conquer the mountain. Overall, standard protocol is to simply let these figures, frozen in the final moments of death, become a permanent addition to the rocky terrain.

The unwritten code among climbers is to abandon their quests in order to help others in peril. On Everest, many believe that the standard code does not apply due to the difficulties involved in climbing the tallest mountain on earth. Many argue that it’s every man for himself and that Everest has become a moral “gray area.” This modern mentality has pushed the climbing world into civil war.

In 2006, an experienced climber froze to death near the summit of Mt. Everest. With nearly one out of every ten climbers perishing atop the mountain on average, frozen corpses have become almost run-of-the-mill.  Yet it was the death of David Sharp that nearly tore the entire climbing community apart.

British mountaineer David Sharp made his third trek to the top of Everest without the aid of oxygen, radios, Sherpas, or teammates. His first two attempts were aborted due to perilous conditions, including ravaging frostbite that took several of his toes.

He successfully summited Everest on the third try and, during his descent, stopped to rest inside Green Boots’s cave, mere feet from Green Boots himself. Being disoriented and suffering exhaustion, Sharp drew his legs to his chest, rested his head upon his knees, and never woke up.

However, David Sharp did not perish right away. Over 40 different climbers passed him on the mountain and noted he was still alive but in distress. Outrage poured from around the world at the knowledge that Sharp was left moaning and murmuring to climbers who refused to abandon their quest to the top in order to help him.

The sad truth is that it’s too hard to save yourself on Everest, let alone rescue others.

 

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CITE INFO:

https://mpora.com/mountaineering-expeditions/the-gruesome-truth-about-the-climbers-who-die-on-mount-everest#2u3QYvHF3E4VOtRg.97

http://allthatsinteresting.com/mount-everest-bodies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_died_climbing_Mount_Everest

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/05/27/the-extraordinary-cost-of-retrieving-dead-bodies-from-mount-everest/?utm_term=.f2046767f18c

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151008-the-graveyard-in-the-clouds-everests-200-dead-bodies

https://www.ranker.com/list/story-of-everest-sleeping-beauty-francys-arentieve/erin-wisti

https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-stories-about-deaths-and-dead-bodies-on-mount-everest/sabrina-ithal