The notorious Khumbu Icefall is the first and most dangerous section of the standard South Col route to the summit of Mount Everest. Here we discuss what the Icefall is, why it is so dangerous, and what happens to those caught within its crushing embrace. What is the Khumbu Icefall? The Khumbu Glacier is a … Read more
Rainbow Valley sounds delightful, doesn’t it? But on Mount Everest it is a name that has a macabre meaning. Rainbow Valley is also known as Rainbow Ridge, the Rainbow Trail, the Rainbow Road, or Rainbow Path, but they all refer to the same area. Rainbow Valley is a section of the route on the North … Read more
In 2006 I met David Sharp at Advanced Base Camp on Mount Everest and later listened on the radio to his discovery by members of my expedition. I was there filming a series for the Discovery channel about expedition leader Russell Brice’s commercial trips. The working title was a comment on the situation that has … Read more
George Mallory was an English mountaineer who became obsessed with becoming the first person to climb Mount Everest. He disappeared on the mountain in 1924. I decided to look for his body in 1969 and my Mallory and Irvine Research expedition found Mallory in 1999. George Mallory’s body was discovered on the North side of … Read more
Over three hundred climbers have died on Mount Everest, and in my nine expeditions to the mountain, I saw many dead bodies. What is surprising is the variety of ways in which they died. Analysing how they died is a valuable way of avoiding the same fate. 1. Avalanches and falling ice The most common … Read more
Whenever Mount Everest is in the news you’ll see images of dead bodies, or hear about tragic deaths. But how many people have died on the mountain so far? Around 310 people have died so far on Mount Everest. Most deaths have been accurately recorded since the first Everest expeditions in the 1920s. People dying … Read more
Perched on the summit of Mount Everest that morning in October 1993 I struggled to pull a glove off to take a photograph of the astounding view. A lenticular cloud bent over our heads, showing that we were standing in the jet stream. A huge flag of frozen spindrift tore downwind off the summit for … Read more
Whenever Mount Everest appears in the news the story eventually seems to come round to the subject of dead bodies on the mountain. There are now over 250 dead bodies on Mount Everest. There have been over three hundred deaths on the mountain, and many dead climbers are still there because few dead bodies get … Read more
When I climbed Mount Everest in 1993 I saw five dead bodies in the snow along the route. And on my descent, a fellow climber fell to his death. Dead bodies on the mountain are sadly nothing new. But whose was the oldest body on Everest? Norbu Sherpa was the first climber to be killed … Read more
