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This day sixty four years ago, man first set foot on the summit of Everest.

It had been and still is a story of exploration, high adventures, triumph of the human spirit and grim tragedies.

The narrative also has socio political, scientific and economic dimensions, and also stories of heroes and villains, brotherhood and betrayal, unhealthy competitions, greed and malice.

Dream Wanderlust presents
a
Special Feature

"BECAUSE IT'S THERE"

DID YOU KNOW?

FACTS

RECORDS

BASED ON CLIMBERS
BASED ON SHERPA

NOTABLE EXPEDITIONS TO MT. EVEREST SINCE THE FIRST ASCENT IN 1953

1953 - BRITISH MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION

In 1953, John Hunt led the seventh British expedition which returned to Nepal. This expedition was organized and financed by the Joint Himalayan Committee. After WilfridNoyce and Annullu had forced a passage to the South Col, two climbing pairs selected by Hunt attempted to reach the summit. On May 26, 1953, the first pair comprising of Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans set off for the south summit using closed-circuit oxygen equipment. At the south summit (8750 m) they realised that they would not be able to reach the summit due to oxygen equipment problems and lack of time.

Two days later, on May 28, the second assault party comprising the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, a Nepali, made their bid. Using conventional open-circuit oxygen, they departed at 6.30 a.m. They reached the summit at 11:30 a.m. local time on May 29, 1953 climbing through the South Col route. They spent some time at the summit to take photographs. They buried a few sweets and a small cross in the snow before descending.

Although they characterized it as a collaboration of team work by the whole expedition team, there was intense public speculation as to which of the pair had set foot on the summit first. A few years later, Tenzing disclosed that matter to end the speculation and said it was Hillary. Success news of the expedition reached London on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation ceremony. Times reporter James Morris sent a coded message by runner to Namche Bazaar and a wireless transmitter was used to transmit the message to London. The conquest of Everest was probably the last major news item to be delivered to the world by runner.

The pull of Everest was stronger for me than any force on Earth."
- Tenzing Norgay
Well, George, we knocked the bastard off."
- Edmund Hillary

1956 - SWISS EXPEDITION, ALSO THE FIRST ASCENT ON LHOTSE

The four climbers from Switzerland reached the top of Everest in 1956. The expedition was successful in completing the first ascent of Lhotse (fourth highest) when Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger reached the top of Lhotse on May 18. The expedition set up camp 6 on the South Col and camp 7 at 8,400 metres (27,600 ft). On May 23, Ernst Schmied and JuergMarmet reached the summit of Everest followed by Dolf Reist and Hans-Rudolf von Gunten on May 24.

1960 - THE NORTH RIDGE: FIRST CHINESE EXPEDITION

A Chinese team comprising of Wang Fuzhou, QuYinhua and a Tibetan, Gongbu (Konbu), claimed to have reached the summit on May 25 via the North Ridge. Owing to the lack of photographic evidence, the Chinese claim could not be substantiated and was not accepted in mountaineering circles. However, subsequent research and interviews have convinced many experts that the Chinese did indeed climb Everest from the north in 1960.

1963 - FIRST ASCENT BY AN AMERICAN, FIRST ASCENT OF THE WEST RIDGE, FIRST TRAVERSE OF EVEREST

Jim Whittaker and Nawang Gombu Sherpa have reached the top of the world highest peak on May 1, 1963. Jim Whittaker is the first American to stand atop of the world.

Americans, Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld were the first ones to ascend West ridge on May 22. Hornbein and Unsoeld descended via the South Col, making this ascent the first traverse of Everest.

1965 - FIRST INDIAN SUCCESSFUL EXPEDITION

On May 20, team of 21 Indian climbers, led by Lieutenant Commander M.S. Kohli, succeeded in putting nine men on the summit. Nawang Gombu became the first person to reach the summit twice, first with the American expedition in 1963.

1970 - FIRST SKIED DOWN FROM SOUTH COL, SUMMIT ROUTE ALONG SW FACE FAILED

On May 6, Yuichiro Miura skied down along the South Col. The documentary of his feat "The Man Who Skied Down Everest" was the first sports film to win an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

A separate Japanese team attempted on the same year but failed to establish a new summit route along the Southwest Face. Six Sherpa members of the team were killed in an avalanche; a porter was killed by a serac icefall, and climber Kiyoshi Narita died from a heart attack.

1973 - FIRST POST MONSOON SUCCESS

Michio Yuasa, led a large forty-eight men Japanese expedition attempted both the SW Face and South Col route. The SW Face party reached an altitude of 27,200 feet (8,300 meters) before giving up. Success was achieved on the South Col when Hisahi Ishiguro and Yasuo Kato reached the summit, the first post-monsoon success on the mountain.

1975 - FIRST ASCENT ALONG SW FACE

On September 24, a British expedition led by Chris Bonington achieved the first ascent of the Southwest Face. Summiteers Doug Scott and his ropemate Scotsman Dougal Haston made the first ascent by British citizens. The SW Face had defeated five previous expeditions between 1969 and 1973 due to a band of cliffs known as the Rock Band. On September 20, Nick Estcourt and Paul Braithwaite achieved the first ascent of the Rock Band. The summit was reached by two teams: the first team comprising of Scott and Haston. They reached the summit on 24th May. They survived the highest ever bivouac when they were benighted on the South Summit during their descent. On September 26 four more climbers attempted a second ascent. Peter Boardman and Sirdar Pertemba Sherpa were successful but BBC cameraman Mick Burke, climbing alone after Martin Boysen turned back, failed to return from the summit.

1978 - FIRST WITHOUT SUPPLEMENTARY OXYGEN VIA SE RIDGE

Reinhold Messner (Italy) and Peter Habeler (Austria) reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 8,1978 without the use of supplementary oxygen. They used the southeast ridge route.

1979 - YUGOSLAVIAN EXPEDITION: NEW ROUTE UP WEST RIDGE FROM LHO LA

This Yugoslav expedition has opened a new route (West ridge) to Everest via the Lho-La. Two separate team reached the summit of Everest. First team comprising of Andrej Štremfelj and Nejc Zaplotnik conquered the top of Everest at 13:51 on May 13, 1979, and then two days later, on 15th May 1979, second team comprising of Stipe Bozic, StaneBelak and Ang Phu reached the summit at 14:30. StaneBelak, AngPhu and Stipe Bozic bivouacked at 8300 meters. The next day, Ang Phu fell on the way down and died.

1980 - FIRST WINTER ASCENT

First winter ascent was made by Andrzej Zawada's team from Poland on Feb 17, 1980 Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki from the Polish team reached the summit at 2.25 pm on 17th Feb. It was also the first successful winter expedition to any of the peaks above 8000 m.

1980 - NEW ROUTE ON SOUTH FACE

May 19 - New climbing route on the south face discovered by Polish mountaineers Andrzej Czok and Jerzy Kukuczka.

1980 - FIRST SOLO WITHOUT SUPPLEMENTARY OXYGEN

August 20 - Reinhold Messner became the first to climb Everest solo and without supplementary oxygen. He pioneered a new route on the north col/face, roughly continuing Finch's climb in 1922. He travelled from the Northwest route for three days entirely alone from his base camp at 6,500 metres (21,300 ft).

1980 - FIRST FULL ASCENT ON THE NORTH FACE

Takashi Ozaki and Tsuneo Shigehiro become the first to make a full ascent of the North Face.

1982 - NEW ROUTE SW FACE

The first acknowledged Soviet expedition climbed Mount Everest via a new route on the Southwest Face to the left of the Central Gully. Eleven climbers reached the summit. The route was recognized as technically the hardest route yet climbed on Everest.

1983 - FIRST ASCENT ALONG EAST FACE AKA KANGSHUNG FACE

Lou Reichardt, Kim Momb, and Carlos Buhler became the first to summit the East Face of Mount Everest on 8th October. The next day Dan Reid, George Lowe and Jay Cassell reached the summit.

1988 - FIRST PARAGLIDER DESCENT

French alpinist and pilot Jean Marc Boivin was the first person to fly a paraglider from the top. Boivin's 11-12 minute, 2,948 metres (9,700 ft) descent to Camp II holds the altitude record for start of a paraglider flight.

1990 - FIRST PERSON TO WALK AND CLIMB FROM SEA LEVEL - FROM LOW TO HIGH

Tim Macartney-Snape became the first person to walk and climb all the way from sea level to the top of Mount Everest (his second ascent of the peak). Macartney-Snape began his approximate 1,200 km (750 mi) "Sea to Summit" expedition three months earlier, on foot, from Sagar Island in the Bay of Bengal.

1995 - FIRST TO SUMMIT ALONG FULL NE RIDGE

Nihon University climbers Kiyoshi Furuno and Shigeki Imoto became the first to summit along the full Northeast Ridge, and that was the last remaining unclimbed route.

1996 - DEADLIEST DISASTER 15 DIED

In 1996, fifteen people died trying to reach the summit, making it the deadliest year in Everest history. On May 10, a storm stranded several climbers between the summit and the safety of Camp IV, killing 15 people including Rob Hall, Scott Fischer, Yasuko Namba, Doug Hansen and guide Andy Harris on the south and the Indian (Ladakhi) climbers Tsewang Paljor, Dorje Morup, Tsewang Smanla on the north. Hall and Fischer were both highly experienced climbers who were leading paid expeditions to the summit.

Journalist Jon Krakauer, on assignment from Outside magazine, was in Hall's party. He wrote a best-selling book about the incident, "Into Thin Air" which was published in 1997.

In May 2004, Kent Moore, a physicist, and John L. Semple, a surgeon, both researchers from the University of Toronto, told New Scientist magazine that an analysis of weather conditions on that day and they suggested that freak weather caused oxygen levels to plunge approximately 14%.

The storm impacted climbers on the mountain's other side, the North Ridge, where several climbers also died. It was detailed in a first-hand account by British filmmaker and writer Matt Dickinson in his book, "The Other Side of Everest".

1999 - MALLORY AND IRVINE RESEARCH EXPEDITION

Eric Simonson and Jochen Hemmleb lead a team of high altitude mountaineers up the Mount Everest's North Ridge in search of evidence of English climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, who disappeared in 1924 just 900 feet below the summit. Conrad Anker of that team discovered the body of George Mallory at 8,165 m, roughly below the ice axe discovered on the North-East Ridge in 1933. No camera was found. Rope-jerk mottling around Mallory's waist suggest he was roped to Irvine during that-or a previous fall.

2000 - FIRST UNINTERRUPTED SKI DESCENT

Davo Karnicar, of Slovenia, became the first person ever to make an uninterrupted ski descent from the top of the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest (29,035 ft) on October 7, 2000. Karnicar reached speeds of 75 mph. He reached the summit with team-mate Franc Oderlap and Sherpas Ang Dorjee and Pasang Tenzing. Three of them would walk back down after Davo started on skis. After the descent, Karnicar said the most difficult section was south summit which was not only steep, but also avalanche-prone.

2001 - FIRST TO DESCENT ON A SNOWBOARD

Marco Siffredi (22) of France became the first person to descend on a snowboard on May 24, 2001.

2005 - FIRST HELICOPTER LANDED ON SUMMIT

The Eurocopter AS-350 B3 helicopter flew and landed on the summit for the first time on May 14, 2005.

2006 - FIRST SELF-PROPELLED SUMMIT

Pauline Sanderson became the first person to complete a self-propelled ascent of Mount Everest, the highest point on the earth's surface. She started her journey from the Dead Sea, at -423 metres (-1,388 ft) the lowest point on the earth's surface. Sanderson began her approximately 8,000 km (5,000 mi) "EverestMax" expedition six months earlier, by bicycle, from the shore of the Dead Sea in Jordan. (Sanderson's husband, Phil, joined her for the final ascent, making them the first married British couple to summit Everest together.).

2009 - NEW ROUTE SW FACE

Korean climbers Park Young-seok, Jin Jae-chang, Kang Ki-seok and Shin Dong-min reached the summit of Everest via a new route on the Southwest face on May 20, 2009 (Park's Korean Route).

2016 - EVEREST NO FILTER - EVEREST BROADCASTING LIVE SNAPCHAT

There are few athletic feats as audacious and inspiring as climbing Mt. Everest without supplementary oxygen. In 2016, climbers Adrian Ballinger from USA (mountain guide) and Cory Richards from Australia used Snap chat to tell the story of their attempt to climb Everest without oxygen. Cory made it to the top. Adrian had to stop just before the summit due to hypothermia.

A breakthrough project for expedition journalism, #EverestNoFilter marks the first time a guide or athlete team has given an exclusive, unfiltered view into the extraordinary experience of climbing the world's tallest mountain. The duo's Snap chat account grew a following of hundreds of thousands of views per day.

"This experience has been extraordinary," Richards said. "Emotion overwhelms me as I look at the path the last five years has led me down - or up, rather - and to be able to share that journey with the world, I'm humbled and very grateful. I owe immeasurable gratitude to Adrian without whom this journey would not have been possible."

2017 - EVEREST NO FILTER 2.0

Climbers Adrian Ballinger and Cory Richards, use Snapchat to tell the story of their attempt to climb Everest without oxygen. In 2016, Cory made it to the top while Adrian had to stop just before the summit due to hypothermia. In 2017 they returned with the Everest No Filter 2.0. They have reached the summit of Everest via North side May 27, 2017.Adrian completes it without the help of Oxygen and Cory has used Oxygen for last 3 hrs to support Adrian.
They have been Sharing their day-to-day experiences via Snapchat during their epic climb.

2017 - SUMMIT OF MY LIFE - KILIAN JORNET

Spanish alpinist Kilian Jornet reached the summit again on 27th May, 2017 from North Side without supplementary oxygen, fixed rope and Sherpa help. This time he took 17 hrs to reach the summit in a very windy condition.Previously on 22nd May (5 days back) he reached the summit within 26 hrs, in a single climb without the help of oxygen or fixed ropes.

2017 - SUMMIT BY ANSHU JAMSENPA

Anshu Jamsenpa (37) of Arunachal Pradesh, India with Furi Sherpa and Chong Karma Sherpa reached the summit of the Everest on May 21, 2017. It's the second time she has notched up an Everest double ascent. She made her first ascent on 16 May and attempted the feat again on 21 May. Her previous feat was in 2011, but those ascents came 10 days apart.

DEATH ON EVEREST

1921 - ALEXANDER KELLAS - DEATH

On his way from Sikkim to the first expedition to Everest, Alexander Mitchell Kellas, who was a Scottish chemist, died of a heart attack in 1921 near the village of Kampa Dzong, Tibet.

1922 - BRITISH MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION

1922 British Mount Everest expedition was the first Everest expedition. The expedition would attempt to climb Mount Everest from the north side of the mountain. After two unsuccessful summit attempts the expedition ended on the third attempt when several porters died as the result of avalanche. In the medical opinion of Longstaff they should not make a third try as all mountaineers were exhausted and ill. However, Somervell and Wakefield saw no big risks and a third try was undertaken.

On 3 June Mallory, Somervell, Finch, Wakefield and Crawford started with 14 porters at base camp. Finch had to quit in Camp I. The others arrived in Camp III on 5 June and spent one day there. Mallory had been impressed by the power of Finch. Finch climbed much higher in the direction of the summit in the second attempt and was nearer to the summit in horizontal distance.

On 7 June Mallory, Somervell and Crawford led the porters through the icy slopes of North Col. The 17 men were divided into four groups, each one roped together. The European mountaineers were in the first group and compacted the snow. Half way a piece of snow became loose. Mallory, Somervell and Crawford were partially buried under snow but managed to free themselves. The group behind them was hit by an avalanche of 30 m of heavy snow, and the other nine porters in two groups fell into a crevasse and were buried under huge masses of snow. Two porters were dug out of the snow, six other porters were dead, and one porter could not be retrieved dead or alive. This accident was the end of the climbing and marked the end of this expedition. Mallory had made a mistake attempting to go straight up on the icy slopes instead of trying lesser slopes in curves. As a result, the climbers triggered an avalanche.

Mallory blamed himself for the accident, and later wrote to his wife, Ruth, "There is no obligation I have so much wanted to honor as taking care of those men."

On 2 August all the European expedition members were back in Darjeeling.

Victims (7 Sherpas): Dorje, Lhakpa, Norbu, Pasang, Pema, Sange, Temba

1924 - BRITISH MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION

The 1924 Everest expedition seemed full of promise. It was George Mallory's third trip. he believed he'd deciphered much of the route; the summit was indeed within his grasp. He was determined and didn't want to come back again. What his climbing partner, Andrew "Sandy" Irvine, lacked in experience he made up for in raw athleticism and mechanical skill (he was an expert with the oxygen system). The pair was last seen on June 8, around 1 p.m., by Noel Odell, a teammate who had climbed partway up the North Face and during a break in the clouds, observed, "none other than Mallory and Irvine ... moving expeditiously" toward the summit before the clouds closed back in.

Mallory's body was found in 1999, broken bones indicated a lethal fall. Irvine has never been discovered. Although many experts seem to conclude that the chance of Mallory and Irvine reached the summit is slim, the mystery endures-as do periodic searches for the camera and the further clues it might contain.

Victims (2): Andrew Irvine, George Mallory

We had seen a whole mountain range, little by little, the lesser to the greater until, incredibly higher in the sky than imagination had ventured to dream the top of Everest itself appeared."
- George Mallory
The mighty summit...seemed to look down with cold indifference on me...and howl derision in wind-gusts at my petition to yield up its secret-this mystrey of my friends."
- Noel Odell on the disappearance of Mallory and Irvine

1934 - SOLO EXPEDITION BY MAURICE WILSON (USA)

Most of the Wilson's activities on the mountain come from his diary, which was recovered the following year and is now stored in the Alpine Club archives.

He was inexperienced in glacier travel. He found the trek route upto the Rongbuk Glacier extremely difficult and constantly lost his bearing and had to retrace his steps. He found a pair of crampons at an old camp which would have helped him to climb but he showed his lack of experience and threw them away. After five days, in worsening weather he was still two miles short of Ruttledge's Camp III below the North Col. He wrote in his diary "It's the weather that's beaten me - what damned bad luck" and began a gruelling four-day retreat down the glacier. He arrived back at the monastery. He was completely exhausted, snow blind and had a badly twisted ankle.

He took eighteen days to recover from his ordeal and after that he desired to climb again on 12 May. This time he took two Sherpas, Tewand and Rinzing with him. With the Sherpas' knowledge of the glacier they made quicker progress and in three days they reached Camp III near the base of the slopes below the North Col. They were trapped in that camp for several days due to bad weather. Wilson considered possible routes by which he could climb the ice slopes above, and made a telling comment in his diary - "Not taking short cut to Camp V as at first intended as should have to cut my own road up the ice and that's no good when there is already a hand rope and steps (if still there) to Camp IV".

on the 21 May, he finally made an abortive attempt to climb to the North Col, he was extremely disappointed to find no trace of the rope, or the steps. The next day he began a further attempt to reach the col. After four days of slow progress and camping on exposed ledges, he was defeated by a forty-foot ice wall at around 22,700 ft.

On his return the Sherpas requested him to return with them to the monastery, but he refused. He still believed that he could climb to the mountain. Writing in his diary "this will be a last effort, and I feel successful" he set out for the last time on 29 May, alone. Too weak to attempt the Col on that day, he camped at its base, a few hundred yards from where the Sherpas were camped. The next day he stayed in his bed. His last diary entry was dated 31 May, and read simply "Off again, gorgeous day". When he did not return from his last attempt, Tewand and Rinzing left the mountain. They reached Kalimpong in late July, and spread the news to the world of Wilson's death.

His body was found 1935 at East Rongbuk glacier, cause of death possibly exhaustion, exposure or starvation..

Victim: Maurice Wilson

1970 - JAPANESE SKIING EXPEDITION

The year 1970 was a busy one on the mountain. Several large expeditions were stationed on the south side of the mountain, including a Japanese ski expedition starring Yuichiro Miura. Six Nepalese Sherpas died due to an avalanche on Mount Everest on 5 April 1970 in the Khumbu Icefall. All of them were assisting the Japanese ski expedition.

Another death on that season came from another Japanese expedition team. The deceased name was Kyak Tsering, who was killed by a serac icefall.

Victims (8): Mima Norbu, Nima Dorje, Tshering Tarkey, Pasang, Kunga Norbu, Kami Tshering, Kyak Tshering (Porter) - Seracs fall, Kiyoshi Narita - Heart Attack

1972 - BRITISH SW FACE EXPEDITION

British SW Face Expedition led by Chris Bonington including climbers Mick Burke, Nick Estcourt, Dougal Haston, K. Kent, Hamish MacInnes, Tony Tighe, and Doug Scott. A post-monsoon expedition, it confronted terrible weather. They reached an elevation of 27,200 feet (8,300 meters) below the Rock Band before retreating. Tragically, Tony Tighe is killed in the icefall during the descent.

Victim: Tony Tighe

1974 - FRENCH WEST RIDGE EXPEDITION

In 1974, an ambitious French expedition led by Frenchman Gerard Devouassoux, a post- monsoon attempt to climb the West Ridge Direct starting from the Lho La. The first ascent credit on that route goes to Willie Unsoeld and Tom Hornbein for their 1963 climb, But they didn't climb the entire ridge to the summit. Devouassoux and 19 team members intended to "straighten the route out." The expedition eventually reaches the West Shoulder by September 9. A major lapse in monitoring weather reports prevents them from learning that an unexpected return of warm monsoon weather is about to occur. The tragic result is that Gerald Devouassoux and five Sherpa are swept away in an immense avalanche, after which the expedition is called off. Their bodies were never recovered from the debris. It was one of the worst single incidents ever recorded on the peak, and after that climbers avoided the West Ridge for the next five years.

Victims (6): Gérard Devouassoux, Pemba Dorje, Lhakpa, NawangLutuk, Nima Wangchu, Sanu Wongal

1975 - FIRST ASCENT ALONG SW FACE

After Chris Bonington's 1975 successful expedition, BBC cameraman Mick Burke, climbing alone after Martin Boysen failed to return from the summit.

Victim: Mick Burke

1979 - YUGOSLAVIAN EXPEDITION: NEW ROUTE UP WEST RIDGE FROM LHO LA

Yugoslav West Ridge expedition, new route up West Ridge from Lho La. Ang Phu fell on the way down and died.

Victim: Ang Phu

1979 - GERHARD SCHMATZ GERMAN EXPEDITION: FOURTH WOMAN TO REACH THE SUMMIT, FIRST WOMAN TO DIE ON EVEREST

Hannelore Schmatz of West Germany, age 39, dies on Everest descending from the Summit after becoming only the 4th woman to summit Everest. Schmatz died on October 2, 1979 while descending Mount Everest.

On the same expedition, an American climber Ray Genet, who also died while descending from the summit. Genet's body ultimately disappeared under the snow, but Schmatz's body was swept further down in the mountain.

Two Sherpa guides, Sungdare Sherpa and Ang Jangbo, had stayed with them in a bivouac at 28,000 feet, but Genet did not survive until morning. The group was running low on bottled oxygen, and Schmatz died trying to get down to the South Col with Sungdare later that day.

In 1984, a Sherpa (Ang Dorje) and a Nepalese police inspector (Yogendra Bahadur Thapa) attempted to recover the body of Hannelore Schmatz, but both fell to their death during that recovery effort.

Victims (2): Hannelore Schmatz, Ray Genet

1982 - BRITISH EXPEDITION, BOARDMAN & TASKER DISAPPEAR

In 1982, British duo Peter Boardman, a climbing instructor, and Joe Tasker, a former seminar student, died on the North East Ridge of the Mount Everest. They were two of the most promising alpinists world had ever seen. On May 17, the pair left their high camp on the Northeast Ridge and after 14 hours of climbing above 8,000 meters, were enveloped in darkness. At about 9 p.m. they disappeared. It was not clear what happened after that. In 1992, a team of Kazak climbers discovered Boardman's body, "sitting peacefully" near the base of the Second Pinnacle. Joe Tasker was never seen again.

Victims (2): Peter Boardman, Joe Tasker

Chomolungma has lit a light within me...the summit of Everest can deliver you from the prison of ambition"
- Peter Boardman

1982 - FIRST TO SUMMIT IN THREE DIFFERENT SEASONS

Yasuo Kato, a 33-year-old climber from Japan, made the second winter ascent on December 27. He became the first non-Nepalese climber to summit Everest in three different seasons. He climbed alone from the south summit. On his descent, he and his climbing companion Toshiaki Kobayashi bivouacked below the south summit. They failed to return in bad weather.

Victims (2): Yasuo Kato, Toshiaki Kobayashi

1984 - FIRST BULGARIAN SUMMIT - DEATH

Bulgarian Hristo Prodanov reached the summit of Everest on April 20 via west ridge. He summited alone and without the help of supplementary oxygen. He died on the way back.

Victim: Hristo Prodanov

1984 - OLDEST PERSON TO REACH THE SUMMIT - DEATH

Slovak climbers Zoltan DemjÁn and Jozef Psotka reached the summit of Mount Everest October 15, 1984. During the descent, they separated and Psotka accidentally fell 1,000 meters to his death at the age of 50.

Victim: Jozef Psotka

1989 - YUGOSLAV EXPEDITION

Dimitar Ilievski-Murato from Macedonia reached the summit of Everest on May 10, 1989. He was the first climber from Macedonia, who scaled Mount Everest. He died during the decent.

Victim: Dimitar Ilievski-Murato

1989 - POLISH-LED EXPEDITION THAT INCLUDED FOUR U.S. MOUNTAINEERS

Avalanche Kills 5 Polish Climbers on Mt. Everest.

Victims (5):Mirosław Dąsal, Mirosław Gardzielewski, Andrzej Heinrich, Wacław Otręba, Eugeniusz Chrobak

1993 - FIRST NEPALI WOMAN ASCENT - DEATH

Pasang Lhamu Sherpa from Nepal reached the summit of Everest on April 22, 1993 via Southeast ridge. She was the first Nepalese woman to climb Mount Everest. She died while descending.c

Victim: Pasang Lhamu Sherpa

1996 - DEADLIEST DISASTER 15 DIED

Ref: Notable Expeditions

GREEN BOOTS

A total of 15 people perished during the spring 1996 climbing season on Everest.

Eight climbers died on Mount Everest during a storm on May 10, 1996 including the famous Rob Hall, Scott Fischer and the ITBP team. Rob and Scott were expedition leaders of their respective team. Three of the members of the six-man summit team from the Indo-Tibetan border police expedition died on the same day on northeast ridge. Probably the most famous of the bodies on Mt Everest, "green boots" is thought to be the body of Tsewang Paljor. "Green boots" body has become a landmark on the North East Ridge route to the summit.

Seven others have also died on the same season but not related to the storm or the events of the 10-11 May.

1998 - FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN TO REACH THE SUMMIT WITHOUT SUPPLEMENTARY OXYGEN - DEATH [SLEEPING BEAUTY]

Francys Arsentiev from the United States has reached the summit of Mount Everest without the help of supplementary oxygen on May 22, 1998. She was accompanied by her husband Sergei Arcentiev. They were separated during the descent and never found each other again. Later, some climbers found Francys on their way to the summit. She was found where she had been left the evening before. Ice axe and rope of Sergei Arsentiev were identified nearby, but he was nowhere to be found. Ian Woodall (UK) and Cathy O'Dowd (South Africa), who found Francys, called off their own summit attempts and tried to help Francys for more than an hour. But they were forced to abandon her due to her poor condition, perilous location and freezing weather. She died during the descent. Her corpse had the nickname "Sleeping Beauty". Sergei tried to find her husband but failed to do so. He fallen off a cliff and died. His body was found a year later.

Woodall initiated and led an expedition in 2007, "The Tao of Everest". The purpose of that expedition was to bury the bodies of Francys Arsentiev and an unidentified climber ("Green Boots"), both of whom were plainly visible from the nearby climbing route. Francys Arsentiev's body was visible to climbers for nine years from her death, May 24, 1998 to May 23, 2007. On May 23, 2007, Woodall could locate her body and after a brief ritual, drop Arsentiev's body to a lower location on the face.

Since 2014, "Green Boots" has been missing, presumably removed or buried.

2000 - BABU CHIRI SHERPA - DEATH

The renowned Babu Chiri Sherpa died on April 29, 2001. Chiri had signed on for his eleventh Everest expedition. He was planning another summit attempt. On April 29 while taking photographs near Camp II (6500m), Chiri fell into a crevasse, and died. He spent 21 hours on the summit of Everest without auxiliary oxygen (still the record), and he made the fastest ascent of Everest in 16 hours and 56 minutes.

2002 - MARCO SIFFREDI - DEATH

Marco Siffredi, the first ever person to descend Mount Everest on a snowboard in 2001 via the Norton Couloir, has disappeared after completing his second successful Everest summit, while attempting to snowboard the Hornbein Couloir.(September 8, 2002).

2004 - A NEGLIGENT GUIDE

A 69-year-old pathologist from Alexandria, Virginia, reached the summit of Everest via the Southeast Ridge on May 2004. Nils Antezana had hired a guide named Gustavo Lisi to help him. But on the way down, Antezena became disoriented, perhaps due to the onset of cerebral edema. He collapsed near The Balcony, several hundred feet above the highest camp. Two sherpas attempted to revive him. Eventually they left the doctor in the snow and continued down to the camp. Lisi, who claimed he was "dead tired," failed to inform anyone else at Camp 4 of his client's condition. When climbers ascended the ridge in the next morning, Antezena had vanished. While the guide-client relationship on Everest has endured scrutiny and skepticism, this was one of the first instances where the accusations went beyond mere negligence to claim criminal behaviour. An investigation from the family finally dwindled away, Lisi's reputation was tarnished, and the story has shrouded a pall over commercial climbing on Everest ever since.

Victim: Nils Antezana

2006 - A LONE CLIMBER IS LEFT TO DIE

A lone British climber named David Sharp became the focus of one of the most intense controversies in the history of Everest in 2006. Early on the morning of May 14, Sharp was discovered in comatose in a small alcove high on the Northeast Ridge. He had been climbing solo. He was loosely affiliated to a low-budget expedition of independent mountaineers. Thus, no one reported him missing and it took several days before anyone could even figure out who the climber was. But his identity made no difference. Sharp could not survive, though estimated 40-plus climbers had passed him that day. Only a few of them had attempted to revive him.

A lot of questions resurfaced when a week later Australian climber Lincoln Hall was rescued under what appeared to be similar circumstances. Could more have been done to save Sharp? Should more have been done? Did other climbers have a moral obligation to help a stranger who was in the clutches of death? The media chaffed and roared, pointing fingers, levelling blame at the big-money expeditions that walked past the Briton. But like many things, the account was full of complicated details and deeper explanations. In the end, Sharp would become the fallen protagonist of one of Everest's most vivid and disturbing parables.

Victim: David Sharp

2011 - TAKASHI OZAKI - DEATH

Takashi Ozaki, who is known for having made the first ascent of Mount Everest's north face died on May 12, 2011 at the age of 58, due to altitude sickness.

2011 - SHAILENDRA KUMAR UPADHYAY - DEATH

In 2011, the former Nepalese foreign minister, Shailendra Kumar Upadhyay, set out to become the oldest man to make it to the top of Everest. He was 82 years old. He made it to Camp I when he fell ill. While descending to Base Camp for medical care, he collapsed and died. His body was airlifted to the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu. He was trying to break the record held by a 76-year-old Nepalese man.

2013 - NAMGYAL SHERPA - DEATH

Climbing in the Mount Everest has become such an obsession for thousands of people that the mountain is now littered with junk left behind by the hundreds of expeditions who have come and gone over the decades. The litter contains used oxygen cylinders, trash, as well as human bodies. By the 2000s the trash problem had become so bad that expeditions were formed to try to remove some of it (as well as the bodies). But it was not until 2010 that first such expedition was initiated. In 2010 an expedition "Extreme Everest Expedition" was organised and lead by mountaineer Namgyal Sherpa. The purpose of that expedition was to remove the bodies and trash from the higher elevations of the mountain where it is most difficult to reach. The expedition was composed of all Sherpas.

The expedition removed 2,000 kg (4,000 pounds) of waste and two dead bodies. One of the bodies they did not recover and bring down was that of climbing expedition leader Rob Hall who died on Everest during the infamous 1996 Everest disaster. Hall's widow requested that his body remain on the mountain.

Namgyal Sherpa was a legend among Sherpas and the clients and climbers he guided on Everest. He worked his way up from porter, to cook, to starting his own company Mountain Consult and leading Sherpa teams on some of the biggest Everest expeditions. He himself summited Everest an amazing ten times. But his tenth summit was his last. On May 16, 2013 at 8,000 meters, he collapsed. He had complained of feeling ill and then pointed to his chest before he passed away.

2014 - 16 KILLED IN AVALANCHE

2014 Mount Everest avalanche kills sixteen people, making it the worst Everest disaster in history. As a result, most expeditions from the Nepalese side for the year were cancelled.

2015 - EARTHQUAKE AND AVALANCHE KILLED AGAIN

April 2015 Nepal earthquake triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, killing at least 18 people at South Base Camp. An Indian Army mountaineering team reportedly recovered 18 bodies. 700 -1000 people were thought to be present on the mountain at the time. At least, 61 were injured and an unknown number were missing or trapped at camps at higher altitudes.

2017 - MIN BAHADUR SHERCHAN - DEATH

An 85 year old former British Gorkha died at the Everest base camp on May 3, 2017.Min Bahadur Sherchan first ascended Everest (8848 m) in 2008 at the age of 76, making him the oldest person in the world to successfully climb it. But in 2013, 80 year old Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura broke his record and claimed the title. Sherchan made further attempts in 2015 and 2016, but he missed both the attempts due to the Earthquake and some paperwork related issue.

2017 - VLADIMÍR ŠTRBA - DEATH

Slovak climber Vladimír Štrba died on May 21, 2011 at the age of 48, due to Altitude sickness.

2017 - UELI STECK - DEATH

'Swiss Machine' Ueli Steck no more. An accident took place on Nuptse slope on April 30 morning while he was ascending solo. Stops the legend in his prime. Many climbers including Sherpas around Camp-2 saw him falling from Nuptse face from an elevation of approximately 7000m. The reason of the fall is however still unknown.

The mountain is always stronger than you."
- Ueli Steck

Photo credit:
We have used some of the images taken from the following books:
[1] - The Call of Everest: The History, Science, and Future of the World's Tallest Peak by Conrad Anker
[2] - Everest: 50 Years On Top Of The World by George Band
[3] - Everest by Broughton Coburn
[4] - World Mountaineering by Mitchell Beazley
[5] - Everest: Summit of Achievement by Stephen Venables