Tragedy on Everest. "Everest": details of the exciting story that became the basis for the film Tragedy 1996

Climbing participants

Commercial expedition “Mountain Madness”

For the necessary acclimatization in the mountains, members of the Mountain Madness expedition were supposed to fly from Los Angeles on March 23 to Kathmandu, and fly to Lukla (2850 m) on March 28. On April 8, the entire group was already in Base Camp. Unexpectedly for everyone, the group's guide, Neil Bidleman, developed a so-called “high altitude cough”. After Biddleman, other members of the expedition began to have health problems. Nevertheless, everyone carefully followed the “acclimatization schedule.” However, as it turned out later, Scott Fisher was in poor physical shape and was taking 125 mg of Diamox (Acetazolamide) daily.

Commercial expedition "Adventure Consultants"

Chronology of events

Belated rise

Climbing without the use of oxygen, Anatoly Boukreev reached the top first, at approximately 13:07. A few minutes later Jon Krakauer appeared at the top. After some time, Harris and Biddleman. Many of the remaining climbers did not reach the summit before 14:00 - the critical time when they must begin their descent to safely return to Camp IV and spend the night.

Anatoly Boukreev began to descend to Camp IV only at 14:30. By then, Martin Adams and Cleve Schoening had reached the summit, while Biddleman and the other members of the Mountain Madness expedition had not yet reached the summit. Soon, according to the observations of the climbers, the weather began to deteriorate; at approximately 15:00 it began to snow and it became dark. Makalu Go reached the summit at early 16:00 and immediately noticed worsening weather conditions.

The senior Sherpa in Hall's group, Ang Dorje, and the other Sherpas remained to wait for the other climbers at the summit. After about 15:00 they began their descent. On the way down, Ang Dorje spotted one of the clients, Doug Hansen, in the Hillary Steps area. Dorje ordered him to come down, but Hansen did not answer him. When Hall arrived on scene, he sent Sherpas down to help other clients while he stayed behind to help Hansen, who had run out of supplemental oxygen.

Scott Fisher did not reach the summit until 15:45, being in poor physical condition: possibly due to altitude sickness, pulmonary edema and exhaustion from fatigue. It is unknown when Rob Hall and Doug Hansen reached the top.

Descent during a storm

According to Boukreev, he reached Camp IV by 17:00. Anatoly was heavily criticized for his decision to go down before his clients. Krakauer accused Boukreev of being “confused, unable to assess the situation, and showing irresponsibility.” He responded to the accusations by saying that he was going to help the descending clients with further descent, preparing additional oxygen and hot drinks. Critics also claimed that, according to Boukreev himself, he descended with client Martin Adams, however, as it turned out later, Boukreev himself descended faster and left Adams far behind.

Bad weather made it difficult for the expedition members to descend. By this time, due to a snowstorm on the southwestern slope of Everest, visibility had deteriorated significantly, and the markers that had been installed during the ascent and indicated the path to Camp IV disappeared under the snow.

Fischer, who was helped by Sherpa Lopsang Jangbu, could not descend from the Balcony (at 8230 m) in a snowstorm. As Go later said, his Sherpas left him at an altitude of 8230 m along with Fischer and Lopsang, who also could no longer descend. In the end, Fischer convinced Lopsang to go down alone, leaving him and Go behind.

Hall radioed for help, reporting that Hansen had lost consciousness but was still alive. Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris began the climb to the Hillary Steps at approximately 5:30 p.m., carrying a supply of water and oxygen.

Several climbers got lost in the South Col area. Mountain Madness members guide Biddleman, Schoening, Fox, Madsen, Pittman and Gammelgard, along with Adventure Consultants members guide Groom, Beck Withers and Yasuko Namba, were lost in the snowstorm until midnight. When they could no longer continue their journey from fatigue, they huddled together just 20 meters from the abyss at the Kanshung wall. Kangshung Face). Pittman soon began to experience symptoms of altitude sickness. Fox gave her dexamethasone.

Around midnight, the storm subsided, and the climbers were able to see Camp IV, which was located 200 m away. Biddleman, Groom, Schöning and Gammelgard went for help. Madsen and Fox remained with the group and called for help. Boukreev located the climbers and was able to bring out Pittman, Fox and Madsen. He was also criticized by other climbers because he gave preference to his clients Pittman, Fox and Madsen, while it was argued that Namba was already in a dying state. Boukreev didn’t notice Withers at all. In total, Boukreev made two trips to bring these three climbers to safety. As a result, neither he nor the other participants who were in Camp IV had any strength left to go after Namba.

However, Withers regained consciousness later that day and made it back to camp alone, much to the surprise of everyone in the camp as he suffered from hypothermia and severe frostbite. Withers was given oxygen and tried to warm him up, settling him in a tent for the night. Despite all this, Withers had to face the elements again when a gust of wind blew his tent away one night and he had to spend the night in the cold. Once again he was mistaken for dead, but Krakauer discovered that Withers was conscious and on May 12 he was prepared for emergency evacuation from Camp IV. Over the next two days, Withers was lowered to Camp II, part of the journey, however, he made on his own, and was later evacuated by rescue helicopter. Withers underwent a long course of treatment, but due to severe frostbite, his nose, right hand and all the fingers of his left hand were amputated. In total, he underwent more than 15 operations, his thumb was reconstructed from his back muscles, and plastic surgeons reconstructed his nose.

Scott Fisher and Makalu Go were discovered on May 11 by Sherpas. Fischer's condition was so serious that they had no choice but to make him comfortable and devote most of their efforts to saving Go. Anatoly Boukreev made another attempt to save Fischer, but only discovered his frozen body at approximately 19:00.

North slope of Everest

Indo-Tibetan Border Guard

Less known, but no less tragic, are 3 more accidents that occurred on the same day with climbers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Service climbing the Northern Slope. The expedition was led by Lieutenant Colonel Mohinder Singh. Commandant Mohinder Singh, who is considered to be the first Indian climber to conquer Everest from the North Face.

Initially, the indifference of the Japanese climbers stunned the Indians. According to the leader of the Indian expedition, “at first the Japanese offered to help in the search for the missing Indians. But a few hours later they continued to climb to the top, despite the deteriorating weather." The Japanese team continued climbing until 11:45. By the time the Japanese climbers began their descent, one of the two Indians was already dead, and the second was on the verge of life and death. They lost sight of the traces of the third descending climber. However, Japanese climbers denied that they had ever seen any dying climbers on the climb.

Captain Kohli, representative of the Indian Mountaineering Federation Indian Mountaineering Federation ), who initially blamed the Japanese, later retracted his claim that the Japanese had claimed to have met Indian climbers on May 10.

“The Indo-Tibetan Border Guard Service (ITBS) confirms the statement of members of the Fukuoka expedition that they did not leave Indian climbers without assistance and did not refuse to help in the search for the missing.” The managing director of ITPS stated that “the misunderstanding occurred due to communication interference between the Indian climbers and their base camp.”

Shortly after the incident, the twisted and frozen body of Tsewang Poljor was discovered near a small limestone cave at an altitude of 8500 m. Due to technical difficulties in evacuating the bodies of the dead, the body of the Indian climber still lies where it was first discovered. Climbers climbing the North Face can see the outline of the body and the bright green boots the climber wore. The term "Green Shoes" Green Boots ) soon became firmly established in the vocabulary of Everest conquerors. This is how the 8500 m mark on the North Slope of Everest is designated.

I was lucky to survive the storm of 1996 and lucky to move on with my life. The Indian climber was unlucky. But it could have been different. If this happened, I would want a fellow climber to work hard remove my body from the sight of other climbers, and protect me from birds... Original text(English) "I survived the big storm of 1996 and was fortunate enough to be able to get on with the rest of my life," the British climber told TNN. "The Indian climber was not. The roles could have so easily been reversed. If that had happened I would like to think that a fellow climber would take it upon themselves to move me away from the sight of passing climbers and to protect me from the birds."

Victims of the tragedy

Name	Citizenship	Expedition	A place of death	Cause of death
Doug Hansen (Client)	USA	Adventure Consultants	Southern slope
Andrew Harris (Tour Guide)	New Zealand		Southeast ridge, 8800 m	Unknown; presumably a fall on the descent
Yasuko Nambo (Client)	Japan		South Col	External influences (hypothermia, radiation, frostbite)
Rob Hall (Tour Guide)	New Zealand		Southern slope
Scott Fisher (Tour Guide)	USA	Mountain Madness	Southeast Ridge
Sergeant Tsewang Samanla		Indo-Tibetan Border Guard Force	Northeast Ridge
Corporal Dorje Morup
Senior Constable Tsewang Paljor

Event Analysis

Commercialization of Everest

The first commercial expeditions to Everest began to be organized in the early 1990s. Guides appear, ready to make any client’s dream come true. They take care of everything: delivering participants to the base camp, organizing the route and intermediate camps, accompanying the client and securing him all the way up and down. At the same time, conquering the summit was not guaranteed. In pursuit of profit, some guides take on clients who are not able to climb to the top at all. In particular, Henry Todd from the Himalayan Guides company argued that, “... without blinking an eye, these leaders pocket a lot of money, knowing full well that their charges have no chance.” Neil Biddleman, a guide for the Mountain Madness group, admitted to Anatoly Boukreev even before the ascent began that “...half of the clients have no chance of reaching the summit; for most of them the ascent will end at the South Col (7900 m)."

The famous New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary had an extremely negative attitude towards commercial expeditions. In his opinion, the commercialization of Everest "offended the dignity of the mountains."

• American climber and writer Galen Rovell, in an article for the Wall Street Journal, called the operation carried out by Boukreev to rescue the three climbers “unique”:

On December 6, 1997, the American Alpine Club awarded Anatoly Boukreev the David Souls Prize, awarded to climbers who saved people in the mountains at risk to their own lives.

Literature

• Jon Krakauer In thin air = Into thin air. - M: Sofia, 2004. - 320 p. - 5000 copies.
• - ISBN 5-9550-0457-2 Bukreev A.N., G. Weston De Walt
• Climbing. Tragic ambitions on Everest = The Climb: Tragic ambitions on Everest. - M: MTsNMO, 2002. - 376 p. - 3000 copies.- ISBN 5-94057-039-9
• David Breashears"High Exposure, Epilogue". - Simon & Schuster, 1999.

Humanity tends to experience the illusion of its own omnipotence. The planet has been developed, there is a huge space station in Earth’s orbit, which you can go to as a tourist. It seems that things called extreme are not really so - all this is nothing more than an advertising ploy by travel companies.

The process of losing such illusions is always extremely painful. And along with illusions, you can lose your life.

By the beginning of the 1990s, conquering the highest mountains on the planet from being a matter for the most trained professionals gradually began to turn into a form of tourism for wealthy gentlemen and ladies seeking thrills.

By paying $65,000, you could go to the Himalayas with an experienced guide, climb Everest, and then amaze your friends with unique photographs and feel like the chosen one.

Few of the wealthy mountaineering enthusiasts took seriously the paper they signed before the start of the expedition. In it, the tourist confirmed that he was aware of the mortal risk of this enterprise. It seemed like this was just part of an exciting game. But the terrible tragedy that took place on the approaches to the summit of Everest in May 1996 reminded us that mountains do not forgive disrespect.

Anatoly Bukreev. Photo: Frame youtube.com

Guide with the Order "For Personal Courage"

American climber Scott Fisher, who was the first to conquer the fourth highest peak in the world, Lhotse, founded the Mountain Madness company back in the 1980s, which offered its clients climbs to the highest mountains in the world. In the 1990s, Fischer’s company began offering tourists the conquest of the world’s highest peak, Everest.

Among the high-altitude guides who worked with Fischer was his friend, a Soviet mountaineer

A native of the Chelyabinsk region, Bukreev became interested in conquering mountains in his youth. During his student years, he exchanged the low mountains of the Urals for the “four thousand meters” of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

After graduating from the Chelyabinsk Pedagogical University, Bukreev, for whom mountaineering becomes his life’s work, moved closer to the mountains, settling on the “Mountain Gardener” state farm near Alma-Ata.

In 1987, 29-year-old Anatoly Boukreev made a high-speed solo ascent to Lenin Peak and was one of the most promising young Soviet climbers.

In 1989, he successfully passed the selection for the Second Soviet Himalayan Expedition. April 15, 1989 in the group Valery Khrishchaty Bukreev conquers his first eight-thousander - Kanchedzhanga Middle. A few days later, for the first time in the world, he makes a traverse of the four peaks of the eight-thousander Kanchenjunga in a group. After this expedition, Anatoly Bukreev was awarded the Order “For Personal Courage”.

Anatoly Bukreev. At the mountain camp. Photo: Frame youtube.com

Climber accompanying the President

From 1989 to 1997, Boukreev made 21 successful ascents of the eight-thousanders of the Himalayas, conquering 11 of the 14 mountains existing on the planet with a height of over 8000 meters. He will climb to the top of Everest three times.

After the collapse of the USSR, a native of the Urals took citizenship of Kazakhstan - not for political reasons, but out of the same desire to be closer to the mountains.

His professional authority is growing rapidly. In 1995, a mass ascent to the 4010-meter Abai peak took place in Kazakhstan. The President of Kazakhstan was among the participants in the ascent. Nursultan Nazarbaev. Bukreev became the personal guide of the head of state - only a professional of the highest level could be entrusted with the life of the president.

Anatoly Boukreev belonged to the elite club of eight-thousander climbers who climbed without the use of oxygen cylinders.

When Scott Fisher invited Boukreev to work at Mountain Madness, he knew he could rely on this man.

Bukreev's only drawback was that he did not speak English well. However, this did not frighten Fischer - he believed that he could cope with all the conversations himself.

Journey to the “roof of the world”

In addition to Fischer and Boukreev, the “Mountain Madness” expedition that set off to conquer Everest in 1996 also included a less experienced high-altitude guide Neil Bidleman, a group of Sherpas who acted as porters and guides, and eight clients ranging in age from 33 to 68 years.

At the same time as Mountain Madness, an expedition from the Adventure Consultants company, led by a New Zealand climber, was preparing to conquer Everest Rob Hall. His group included two guides, Sherpas, and eight clients, including an American journalist Jon Krakauer, who is destined to play a rather unsightly role in this story.

In both groups, among the clients there were those who had fairly serious mountaineering training, and those whose experience was minimal.

On April 8, the Mountain Madness expedition arrived at the base camp at the foot of Everest. Many members of the group developed various ailments, including Fischer himself and guide Nick Bidleman. Nevertheless, preparations for the ascent continued.

Anatoly Bukreev. Photo: Frame youtube.com

“I don’t like the way things are going.”

On April 13, members of the expedition set up the first high-altitude camp at an altitude of 6100 meters. Preparations for further advancement went on as usual, but on April 19, members of the expedition discovered the remains of a deceased climber on the mountainside. Experienced professionals are accustomed to such a spectacle, but the clients of Mountain Madness were very embarrassed by this.

On April 26, the leaders of several expeditions at once - Scott Fisher("Mountain Madness") Rob Hall("Adventure Consultants") Todd Burleson(“Alpine Climbing”), Ian Woodall(Sunday Times expeditions from Johannesburg) and Makalu Go(Taiwan Expedition) - decided to combine their climbing efforts and jointly hang ropes from “Camp 3” to “Camp 4”.

On the way to Camp 3, Mountain Madness suffered its first loss in its lineup. 45 year old Dale Cruz, a friend of Scott Fisher, who had no experience in high-altitude climbing, felt ill and was sent back. Cruz made another attempt to continue the ascent, but after another deterioration in his health, he was finally sent down.

Fischer was alarmed - the preparation and well-being of his clients turned out to be worse than he had expected, moving from camp to camp took too much time. The date of the proposed assault on the summit had to be postponed several times.

To my colleague Henry Todd From the Himalayan Guides company, Fisher, leading his group up, said: “I am afraid for my people. I don't like the way things are going."

Ascension time cannot be changed

On May 9, Fischer and Boukreev took clients to “Camp 4,” located at an altitude of about 7,900 meters. Members of the “Adventure Consultants” expedition also went there, as well as several other groups - the total number of people heading to the high-altitude camp reached 50 people.

In the area of ​​Camp 4 they were met with bad weather. “It was truly a hellish place, if only hell can be so cold: an icy wind, the speed of which exceeded 100 km/h, raged on the open plateau, empty oxygen cylinders, abandoned here by participants of previous expeditions, were lying everywhere,” Anatoly Boukreev later said.

This situation confused many expedition members who wanted to postpone the ascent again. However, Scott Fisher and Rob Hall, after consulting, announced that the assault on the summit would begin on the morning of May 10.

Shortly after midnight, the Adventure Consultants, Mountain Madness, and Taiwan Expedition teams began their ascent to the summit.

According to the plan of the expedition leaders, the climb to the top should have taken from 10 to 11 hours.

Anatoly Bukreev. In a tent. Photo: Frame youtube.com

Deadly lateness

On this day, more than three dozen people climbed to the top of Everest at once, which made the route too busy. In addition, the ropes on the route were not fixed in time, which took the climbers several extra hours.

At about 6 am, the first participants in the ascent reached the so-called “Balcony” - an area at an altitude of over 8500 meters, where, due to extreme cold and lack of sufficient oxygen, a person can only stay for a strictly limited time. At the same time, the chain of climbers was seriously stretched - those lagging behind were simply not ready for such loads.

In addition, it turned out that the rope railings going to the southern peak of Everest (8748 meters) were not ready, and another hour was spent fixing this problem.

There were only 100 meters left to the main peak of Everest, the weather was sunny and clear, but many of the climbers decide to turn back. This is what the clients of Adventure Consultants did. Frank Fishbeck, Lou Kozicki, Stuart Hutchinson And John Taske.

At 13:07, Anatoly Bukreev was the first to reach the main peak of Everest that day. A few minutes later the journalist also went up there. Jon Krakauer.

According to the strict rules of climbing Everest, the climb must stop at 14:00, regardless of how far the participants are from the summit. The later start of the descent makes it extremely unsafe.

In reality, members of both groups continued to rise to the top, which put them in a difficult situation.

Anatoly Bukreev. In airplane. Photo: Frame youtube.com

Lost in a snowstorm

At 14:30 Anatoly Boukreev began his descent to Camp 4. The experienced climber understood that the return from the summit would be difficult for the climbers. In this situation, he decided to get to the camp, prepare additional oxygen cylinders and go out to meet those descending. Their experienced leaders remained in the groups, so clients were not left to their own devices.

By 15:00 the weather began to deteriorate and snow began to fall. However, even in the approaching darkness, exhausted people, in violation of all safety rules, continued to try to get to the top.

The last of those about whom there is reliable information to rise to the top is the head of Mountain Madness, Scott Fisher. This happened at 15:45, that is, almost two hours after the deadline for returning.

A snow storm blocked the way down for the returning climbers. The markers indicating the way to the life-saving “Camp 4” were swept away.

Adventure Consultants director Rob Hall remained in the area of ​​the so-called Hillary Steps (8,790 meters) where one of his clients collapsed. Doug Hansen. Hall radioed the camp, from where he came to his aid. Andy Harris.

Anatoly Bukreev. Climbing. Photo: Frame youtube.com

One for all

More than a dozen participants in the ascent, having never reached “Camp 4,” wandered around in a snowstorm, no longer counting on rescue. They huddled together, hoping to wait out the bad weather. As it turned out later, just 20 meters away from them there was an abyss that they had not noticed, so the climbers were on the verge of death, literally and figuratively.

At this time, another drama was playing out at Camp 4. Anatoly Bukreev, moving from tent to tent, persuaded the climbers to come out to help people in trouble. The answer to him was silence - no one wanted to go to certain death.

And then the Russian climber went alone with a supply of oxygen for the dying.

Over the next few hours, he managed to discover and lead to “Camp 4” three completely exhausted, barely alive people - Charlotte Fox, Sandy Pittman And Tim Madsen.

Several more people from two groups managed to independently reach the camp when the snow storm subsided a little.

Last call

At about five in the morning Rob Hall contacted the camp. He said Harris, who came out to help them, reached them but later disappeared. Doug Hansen has died. Hall himself could not cope with the iced-up oxygen tank regulator.

A few hours later, Hall made contact for the last time. He called his wife via satellite phone from base camp to say goodbye. Frostbitten hands and feet left him no chance of salvation. Shortly after this call, he died - his body was found 12 days later.

Sherpas who went out on May 11 to search for other missing climbers found Scott Fischer and Makalu Go, leader of the Taiwan expedition. Fischer was in serious condition and it was not possible to evacuate him, so the Sherpas took out only the Taiwanese, leaving the head of Mountain Madness in place.

The last attempt to save his friend was made by Anatoly Boukreev, who managed to reach Fischer at approximately 19:00 on May 11, but by this time the climber was already dead.

“It’s all the Russians’ fault”

American Beck Withers managed to independently get to the camp at a time when everyone already considered him dead. The man survived, but due to severe frostbite he suffered amputation of his nose, right hand and all the fingers of his left hand, as well as more than a dozen other operations.

In total, five people became victims of the tragedy: Adventure Consultants guides Rob Hall and Andrew Harris, their clients Doug Hansen And Yasuko Nambo, as well as Mountain Madness guide Scott Fisher.

The Everest tragedy has shocked the mountaineering community. The already mentioned Jon Krakauer added fuel to the fire, writing a series of articles about what happened, and then an entire book called “Into Thin Air.” Krakauer named Anatoly Bukreev as perhaps the main culprit of the tragedy. According to the journalist, he “was confused, failed to assess the situation, and showed irresponsibility” by leaving his clients alone. Bukreev was even blamed for the fact that he walked without an oxygen cylinder and was “lightly dressed.”

Book by Jon Krakauer. Photo: Frame youtube.com

Award from professionals

The climber himself denied all accusations. The fact that he does not use oxygen when climbing was known to the entire mountaineering community, as well as the fact that he is a specialist in high-speed ascents, during which there is no need for additional insulation. Having assisted the clients with the ascent, Boukreev went to the camp to meet the returning wards in accordance with the plan previously agreed upon by him and Scott Fischer.

Many professional climbers also disagreed with the accusations against Boukreev. American mountain climber Galen Rovell in his article he spoke about Boukreev’s rescue of three people: “What he did has no analogues in the history of world mountaineering.
The man many call the "tiger of the Himalayas" immediately after his ascent
without oxygen to the highest point of the planet without any help for several hours in a row
saved freezing climbers... To say that he was lucky means to underestimate what he accomplished. It was a real feat."

On December 6, 1997, the American Alpine Club awarded Anatoly Boukreev the David Souls awarded to climbers who saved people in the mountains at risk to their own lives.

The mountains took him away

The awarding of the prize took place just 19 days before the death of the climber. December 25, 1997, while climbing Mount Annapurna with an Italian Simone Moro and Kazakh operator Dmitry Sobolev Anatoly Bukreev was caught in an avalanche. Of the three, only Simone Moro managed to survive.

Anatoly Boukreev, cameraman Dmitry Sobolev and Simone Moro celebrate Dmitry Sobolev’s birthday 2 weeks before the tragedy. Photo: Frame youtube.com

In 1997, shortly before his death, when Hollywood was preparing the first film about the 1996 tragedy on Everest, Anatoly Bukreev said: “In the West, after last year’s tragedy, I don’t like a lot, because people make big, crazy money on it, presenting the events like this , as America wants, and not as it really was. Now Hollywood is making a film, I don’t know what they will make of me - with some kind of red star, with a flag in my hands - and how they will present it to American society - it is clear that it will be completely different ... "

The climber's words turned out to be prophetic. And 18 years later, in the Hollywood blockbuster “Everest,” Anatoly Boukreev, who saved three human lives in unimaginable conditions, remained for American filmmakers a strange eccentric, a minor character.

How it all happened

Two commercial groups - "Mountain Madness" and "Adventure Consultants" consisting of 30 people, including 6 high-quality guides, 8 Sherpas and 16 commercial clients, led by their leaders - American Scott Fisher and New Zealander Rob Hall - went on the assault Everest summit before dawn on May 10th. By the evening of May 11, five of them were already dead, including Fischer and Hall.
Almost immediately after the start of the assault on the summit, unplanned delays began due to the fact that the Sherpas did not have time to attach rope railings along the route of the groups. Before the Hillary Step - the most important and difficult part of the climb - the climbers lost almost an hour due to lack of insurance and a queue of climbers. By 5:30 am, when the first climbers reached the Balcony (8350 m), there was a new delay for the same reason.
This height is already part of the “death zone”, dooming a person to death. At altitudes above 8000 meters, the human body completely loses its ability to recover and, in fact, enters a stage of slow dying.

By 10:00 the first member of the Adventure Consultants expedition, 53-year-old Frank Fischbeck, decides to turn back. At 11:45 a.m., before the South Summit, another of Hall's clients, Lou Kazischke, decides to abandon his attempt. Stuart Hutchinson and John Taske also decide to turn back. And just 100 meters from the summit of Everest in wonderful weather - a difficult decision to make, but in the end it may have saved the lives of all four.

“I took off my glove and saw that all my fingers were frostbitten. Then he took off another one - the same thing. I suddenly felt how tired I was. Besides this, unlike most of my comrades, I did not need to climb at any cost. Of course, I wanted to reach the top. But... I live in Detroit. I would go back to Detroit and say, “I climbed Everest.” They would answer me: “Everest, right? Great. By the way, did you hear how our team played with the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday?”

Lou Kazischke

Anatoly Bukreev was the first to reach the top of Everest at about one o'clock in the afternoon, having climbed without the use of additional oxygen. Hall's client Jon Krakauer followed him to the summit, followed by Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris. At twenty-five minutes past one, Mountain Madness guide Neil Beidleman and Fisher's client Martin Adams showed up. But all the subsequent climbers were greatly delayed. By 14:00, when the descent had to begin in any case, not all clients had reached the top, and having reached it, they spent an unacceptably long time taking photographs and rejoicing.

At 15:45, Fischer reported to base camp that all clients had summited the mountain. “God, I’m so tired,” he added, and indeed, according to eyewitnesses, he was in an extremely exhausted physical condition. The time to return was critically missed.

Boukreev, who was the first to reach the summit, could not stay there for long without a supply of oxygen and began the descent first in order to return to Camp IV, take a break and go back up again to help the descending clients with additional oxygen and hot tea. He reached camp by 17:00, when the weather had already deteriorated greatly. Krakauer later in his book “In Thin Air” would baselessly accuse Boukreev of fleeing and leaving his clients in danger. In reality this was not the case at all.

After some time, following Boukreev, some of the clients begin to descend and at this moment the weather begins to deteriorate greatly.

Before descending to the Hillary Steps, I noticed that below, from the valleys, some kind of whitish haze was rising, and the wind was getting stronger at the top.”

Lyn Gammelgard

Scott Fisher. Death

Fischer began his descent together with Sherpa Lopsang and the leader of the Taiwanese expedition that was ascending the same day, Ming Ho Gau, but they experienced great difficulties due to their poor physical condition and slowed down at the Balcony (8230 m). Closer to night, Fischer forced Lopsang to go down alone and bring help. By this point, Scott began to develop severe cerebral swelling.

Lopsang successfully reached Camp IV and tried to find someone to help Fisher, but everyone in the camp was not ready to go out to the mountain again and carry out rescue work (Bukreev at that time was rescuing Sandy Pittman, Charlotte Fox and Tim Madsen). Only by lunchtime the next day, the Sherpas who had risen to help Fischer considered his condition hopeless and began to rescue Gau. At the camp, they told Boukreev that they had done everything possible to save Fischer, but he did not believe them and made another attempt to save his friend from the fourth camp after saving three other members of Mountain Madness in difficult conditions. By 19:00 on May 11, when Boukreev got to Fischer, he was already dead. The following year, while climbing Everest with an Indonesian expedition, Boukreev paid his last respects to his friend - he covered his body with stones and stuck an ice ax over his grave.

Yasuko Namba. Death

Meanwhile, the Mountain Madness group, led by guide Neil Beidleman (Cleve Schoening, Charlotte Fox, Timothy Madsen, Sandy Pittman and Lyn Gammelgard), along with members of the Adventure Consultants guide Mike Groom, Bec Withers and Japanese Yasuko Namba - in total 9 people - got lost in the area of ​​the South Summit and could not find the way to the camp in a snowstorm, which limited visibility literally to arm's length. They wandered in the white snowy mess until midnight, until they collapsed exhausted at the very edge of the cliff of the Kanshung wall. All of them suffered from altitude sickness, oxygen had long since run out, and in such conditions, inevitable death awaited them in the very near future. But fortunately for them, the storm soon subsided a little, and they were able to see the tents of Camp IV just some two hundred meters away. The most experienced Beidleman, along with three other climbers, went for help. Then Bukreev, waiting for them in the camp, learned about the scale of the unfolding tragedy and rushed to help.

Boukreev began to take turns going around the tents of Camp IV and, with threats and persuasion, tried to force the guides, Sherpas and clients to go up in search of the missing. None of them responded to his persistent calls and Boukreev walked alone towards the snow storm and the gathering darkness.

In this chaos, he managed to discover the freezing climbers and, in turn, lead Pittman, Fox and Madsen to the fourth camp, actually dragging them on his shoulders for these ill-fated 200 meters. The Japanese Namba was already dying, and it was impossible to help her; Boukreev did not notice Withers.

“He did a heroic thing. He did something that an ordinary person could not do.”

Neil Beidleman

On the morning of May 11, Stuart Hutchinson, who went in search of his comrades, found Withers and Nambu, severely frostbitten, already unconscious and decided that it would not be possible to save them. No matter how hard it was to make such a decision, he went back to camp. But a few hours later Withers reached the camp on his own. It was a pure miracle - they gave him oxygen and put him in a tent, not even hoping that he would survive. But even here his misadventures did not end - the next night, when some of the climbers had already left the camp and went lower, a strong gust of wind destroyed his tent, and he spent another night in the cold, trying to shout to the rest.

Only on May 14, in critical condition after a difficult descent to Camp II, he was sent by helicopter to Kathmandu, where doctors managed to save his life. Withers lost his right hand and all the fingers on his left, lost his nose, but remained alive.

Rob Hall, Doug Hansen, Andy Harris. Death

The last to descend from the summit were Rob Hall and his old client Doug Hansen. During the descent, Hall radioed his camp and asked for help, reporting that Hansen had lost consciousness at 8,780 meters but was still alive. Adventure Consultants guide Andy Harris comes out to meet them from the South Summit to deliver oxygen and help them on the descent.

On the morning of May 11, a tenacious Rob Hall was still fighting for his life. At 4:43 a.m. he contacted base camp and reported that he was near the South Summit. He said Harris managed to get to them, but Hansen was very unwell, and Hall himself had ice on his oxygen tank regulator and couldn't connect it to his mask.

At 5:31 Hall comes back on the line and says that "Doug is gone" and Harris is missing and still unable to control his mask. Rob Hall constantly wonders where his clients Withers and Namba are and why they aren't at camp yet.
By 9:00 a.m., Hall had been able to get his oxygen supply back up, but was already suffering from extreme frostbite. He got in touch again and asked to speak to his wife Jan Arnold in New Zealand. This was the last person he spoke to; Hall never contacted him again.

His body was found twelve days later by members of the IMAX expedition. But the bodies of Harris and Hansen could not be found. Their fate remained unknown.

In Scott Fisher's Mountain Madness expedition, everyone survived except Fisher himself, who suffered from severe stress during the expedition and died during the descent from the summit. Six clients, two instructors - Beidleman and Boukreev - and four Sherpas summited and returned alive.

Rob Hall's "Adventure Consultants" expedition suffered heavy losses: Hall himself and his old client Doug Hansen, who froze during the descent, died, instructor Andy Harris, who came to their aid from below, and Japanese Yasuko Namba, who got lost along with other climbers on the approach to the mountain. fourth camp. A year later, Boukreev found her body and apologized to her husband for failing to save her.
Stories like these make us remember that not everything can be bought, and in order to do things that are truly worthwhile, you need to prepare diligently and carefully think through all the little things. But even in this case, Mother Nature can easily disrupt your plans and in five minutes throw you from the top of the world into the abyss of oblivion.

Why did it happen

Conquering eight-thousanders is an incredibly difficult task, which certainly involves a certain degree of risk to life. It can be minimized through proper preparation and planning, but at such a height, even small mistakes and accidents, forming an orderly chain, growing like a snowball, lead to a big tragedy.

Failure to adhere to a strict ascent-descent schedule. “If you have not reached height Y at hour X, then you must immediately turn back.”

Mountain Madness and Adventure Consultants began their ascent at midnight on May 10th. According to the ascent plan, both groups should have reached the ridge by dawn, reached the South Summit by 10:00 or earlier, and reached the peak of Everest around noon. But the return time was never strictly agreed upon.

Even by one o'clock in the afternoon on May 10, not a single climber managed to reach the top. It was not until 16:00 that the last two people, including Rob Hall, the leader of the Adventure Consultants, who himself had set the maximum return time, reached their peak. The climbers violated their own plans, and this set off a chain of fatal events that ultimately led to tragedy.

Delays on the rise

It was planned that the two senior Sherpas (sirdars) Lapsang and Roba would go out for the assault two hours earlier than everyone else and hang rope railings at the base of the South Summit. But Lapsang showed signs of altitude sickness and could not recover. The guides Beidleman and Boukreev had to do the work. This caused a significant delay.

But even if the entire route had been properly prepared, this would not have saved the climbers from inevitable delays: that day, 34 climbers were rushing to the top of Everest at once, which caused real traffic jams on the climb. Climbing three large groups of climbers in one day is another mistake. You definitely wouldn't want to wait your turn to climb at an altitude of 8,500 meters, shivering from fatigue and the biting wind. But the group leaders decided that a large crowd of guides and Sherpas would make it easier for them to cope with the deep snow and difficult route.

Impact of altitude

At high altitudes, the human body experiences a powerful negative impact. Low atmospheric pressure, lack of oxygen, low temperatures, aggravated by incredible fatigue from a long climb - all this adversely affects the physical condition of climbers. The pulse and breathing quicken, hypothermia and hypoxia set in - the body is tested for strength by the mountain.

Common causes of death at such altitudes:

Brain swelling (paralysis, coma, death) due to lack of oxygen,
- pulmonary edema (inflammation, bronchitis, rib fractures) due to lack of oxygen and low temperatures,
-heart attacks due to lack of oxygen and high stress,
- snow blindness,
- frostbite. The temperature at such altitudes drops to -75,
- physical exhaustion from excessive stress with the body’s complete inability to recover.
But not only the body suffers, the thinking abilities also suffer. Short-term and long-term memory, the ability to correctly assess the situation, maintain clarity of mind and, as a result, make the right decisions - all this deteriorates at such high altitudes.

The only way to minimize the negative effects of altitude is proper acclimatization. But even in the case of the Hall and Fisher groups, the acclimatization schedule for clients could not be maintained due to delays in the installation of high-altitude camps and poor preparation of some clients who either saved their strength for the final assault or, on the contrary, thoughtlessly wasted it (for example, Sandy Pittman Instead of resting at the base camp on the eve of the ascent, I went to meet my friends in a village in the foothills of Everest).

Sudden weather change

When you climb to the planet's highest altitude, even if you have carefully prepared yourself and your equipment and thought out your ascent plan in great detail, you must bring on your side your most important ally: good weather. Everything should be in your favor - high temperatures, low winds, clear skies. Otherwise, you can forget about a successful ascent. But the problem is that the weather on Everest changes with amazing speed - a cloudless sky can be replaced by a real hurricane within an hour. This happened on May 10, 1996. Worse weather complicated the descent; due to a snowstorm on the southwestern slope of Everest, visibility dropped significantly; the snow hid the markers installed during the ascent and indicating the path to Camp IV.

Wind gusts of up to 130 km/h raged on the mountain, the temperature dropped to -40 °C, but in addition to the freezing cold and hurricane winds that threatened to sweep climbers into the abyss, the storm brought with it another important aspect that influenced the survival of people. During such a powerful storm, the atmospheric pressure dropped significantly, and, consequently, the partial oxygen content in the air (up to 14%), which further aggravated the situation. Such a low content is practically a critical point for people without oxygen reserves (and they have come to an end at this point), suffering from fatigue and hypoxia. All this leads to loss of consciousness, pulmonary edema and inevitable death after a very short period of time.

Lack of oxygen cylinders

Some clients in both groups did not tolerate altitude well and had to sleep with oxygen during acclimatization trips. The lion's share of oxygen was also consumed by the rescue of "Mountain Madness" Sherpa Ngawang Topshe, who urgently had to be evacuated from a height using a Gamow bag*. All this reduced oxygen reserves for the ascent to a critical minimum, which was not enough for clients and guides to descend from the summit as soon as things went wrong.

*Gamow's bag is a special chamber in which the victim is placed. The bag is then inflated, thereby increasing pressure and oxygen concentration, which creates the effect of lowering altitude.

Insufficient level of client training

In the early 1990s, the first commercial expeditions began to appear, focused solely on making a profit, and everyone could take part in them. Professional guides took on all the responsibilities: delivering clients to the base camp, organizing accommodation and meals, providing equipment, and accompanying them to the very top with insurance. Capitalism is a cruel thing, so in an effort to line their pockets, most organizers of such expeditions are not inclined to pay close attention to the physical condition and high-altitude experience of their clients. If you are willing to pay 65 thousand US dollars for a non-guaranteed attempt at climbing, then you automatically become broad-shouldered like Schwarzenegger, resilient like an Ethiopian marathon runner, and experienced like Edmund Hillary himself (First conquered Everest in 1953), at least in the eyes of the one to whom you pay money. Because of this approach, commercial expeditions often include people who are obviously incapable of reaching the summit.
Neil Beidleman, a guide for the Mountain Madness group, admitted to Anatoly Boukreev even before the ascent began that “...half of the clients have no chance of reaching the top; for most of them the ascent will end at the South Col (7,900 m).” This approach jeopardizes not only the lives of the clients themselves, but also the success of the entire expedition - at altitude there is no room for error, and the entire team will pay for it. This is partly what happened with Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness, when some of their clients used exorbitant amounts of oxygen, delayed others along the route, distracted guides from serious work, and ultimately were unable to organize their own rescue.

Harvest of Death

In addition to the tragedy with the Mountain Madness and Adventure Consultants groups, Everest gathered another harvest of death on May 10th. On the same day, an expedition of the Indo-Tibetan Border Service of 6 people under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Mohinder Sinha climbed the northern slope of the mountain. This group was the first to climb from the Northern slope of the season, so the climbers themselves had to attach rope railings to the top and trample the road in deep snow. The rather tired participants got caught in a snowstorm on May 10, being just above Camp IV (the last camp before the assault on the summit). Three of them decided to turn back, and Sergeant Tsewang Samanla, Corporal Dorje Morup and Senior Constable Tsewang Paljor decided to continue the climb. At about 15:45, three climbers radioed the expedition leader and reported that they had succeeded in conquering Everest (most likely this was a mistake). At the summit, the climbers set up prayer flags and Sergeant Samanla began religious rituals, sending two of his comrades down. He never made contact again.

The Indians who were in the fourth camp saw the lights of lanterns slowly descending down in the darkness (most likely, these were Morup and Paljor) - approximately at an altitude of 8570 m. But none of the three climbers descended to the intermediate camp at an altitude of 8320 m. Found later Tsewang Paljor's corpse was never removed from Everest and still marks the 8500 m altitude on the north slope of Everest. Climbers call him "Green Boots."

But these victims were not enough for May 1996 on Everest.

On the morning of May 9, one of the members of the Taiwanese expedition, which climbed with Fischer and Hall, climbed out of the tent to go to the toilet. A cool sunny morning, incredibly beautiful landscapes around, a slight jitters before the upcoming ascent - it’s not surprising that Chey Yunan forgot to put on boots with crampons. As soon as he squatted a little away from the tent, he immediately slipped and, tumbling, flew down the slope straight into a glacier crack. The Sherpas managed to save him and bring him to the tent. He experienced a deep shock, but his comrades did not notice any critical damage and left him alone in the tent, while they themselves went upstairs, following their schedule. When, a few hours later, the head of the Taiwanese expedition, Ming Ho Gau, was informed by radio that Chei Yunan had suddenly died, he only replies: “Thank you for the information” and, as if nothing had happened, continues to climb.

On September 24, 2015, the film “Everest” was released on Russian screens, telling the story of the 1996 tragedy. Now it will be easy for you to figure out where the truth is and where the fiction is in this story.

“And in the West, after last year’s tragedy, I don’t like a lot of things, because people are making big, crazy money on this, presenting events the way America wants, and not the way it really happened. Now Hollywood is making a film, I don’t know what they will make of me - with some kind of red star, with a flag in my hands - and how they will present it to American society. It is clear that it will be completely different..."

Anatoly Bukreev, died in 1997 in an avalanche during the conquest of Annapurna

A few weeks before Boukreev’s tragic death, the American Alpine Club awarded him the prestigious David Souls Award, given to climbers who save people in the mountains at risk to their own lives, and the US Senate invited him to accept American citizenship. Despite Jon Krakauer's attempts to cast him in a bad light in his articles and book, Anatoly Boukreev remained in people's memory as a true hero, a great climber, a man capable of sacrificing himself for the sake of others.

(source http://disgustingmen.com/)

In this article, the author examines the genre of adventure cinema, uncharacteristic for the Teach Good project, based on real events, using the example of two films “Death in the Mountains: Death on Everest” (“Into Thin Air”, 1997) and “Everest” ", 2015).

Tragedy on Chomolungma in May 1996

The films describe the story of one of the most dramatic ascents of Everest in May 1996, which ended in the mass death of climbers on the slopes of Qomolungma; Over the entire season, 15 people died while climbing the mountain, which will forever inscribe this year as one of the most tragic in the history of the conquest of Chomolungma.

The heads of the two expeditions, experienced climbers and guides Rob Hall (“Adventure Consultants”) and Scott Fisher (“Mountain Madness”) decided to team up to climb Everest, but made many mistakes. The clients reached the summit of Everest very late, and during the descent the climbers ran out of oxygen, and then they were caught in a severe storm. The storm lasted two days and killed expedition leaders Rob Hall, Scott Fisher and guide Andy Harris, as well as two Adventure Consultants clients. One of Adventure Consultants' clients, Beck Withers, was left on the mountain twice because his companions thought he was frozen, but he miraculously escaped and went on to endure numerous amputations.

The tragedy occurred as a result of unsatisfactory preparation of the expeditions, the inexperience of some members of the expeditions, a number of tactical errors made by their leaders, the queue that formed during the ascent, and bad weather conditions. Not everyone carefully followed the “acclimatization schedule.” As it turned out later, Scott Fisher (head of the Mountain Madness company, presumably died as a result of cerebral edema) took 125 mg of Diamox (acetazolamide) daily to speed up acclimatization. On May 9, a member of the Taiwanese expedition, Chen Yunan, died when he fell into a cliff because he did not put crampons on his shoes. In preparation for the expedition, Mountain Madness purchased little oxygen equipment. Another shortcoming can be considered the outdated, ten-channel radios that Scott Fisher purchased for the expedition. Moreover, during the final assault on the summit, the guides did not have walkie-talkies, as a result of which they could not contact either of the camps or the straggler Fischer.

The May tragedy received wide publicity in the press and the mountaineering community, calling into question the feasibility of commercializing Chomolungma.

Commercialization of Everest

The first commercial expeditions to Everest began to be organized in the early 1990s. Guides appeared. The package of their services included: delivery of participants to Base Camp (South Camp is located at an altitude of 5364 meters), organization of the route and intermediate camps, accompanying the client and his insurance all the way up and down. At the same time, conquering the peak (8848 m above sea level) was not guaranteed. In pursuit of profit, some guides took on clients who were unable to reach the summit at all. In particular, Henry Todd from the Himalayan Guides company argued that “... without blinking an eye, these leaders pocket a lot of money, knowing full well that their charges have no chance.” Neil Biddleman, a guide for the Mountain Madness group, admitted to the Russian guide Anatoly Boukreev even before the ascent began that “... half the clients have no chance of reaching the top; for most of them, the ascent will end at the South Col (7900 m).”

The famous New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary, who became one of the two first climbers to Everest (May 29, 1953), had an extremely negative attitude towards commercial expeditions. In his opinion, the commercialization of Everest "offended the dignity of the mountains."

Documentary films dedicated to the 1996 tragedy:

Everest is a 1998 American documentary film. Narrated by Liam Neeson.

“In the Dead Zone” (Seconds From Disaster: Into the Death Zone) is an American documentary film from 2012 from the documentary series “Seconds to Disaster” (season 6, episode 5).

Feature films dedicated to the 1996 tragedy:

"Death on the Mountain: Death on Everest", 1997 (Into Thin Air: Death on Everest) is a 1997 American feature film. Director: Robert Markowitz.

"Everest", 2015 - film directed by Baltasar Kormakur. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightley, Jason Clarke, Robin Wright and Josh Brolin. The film premiered at the opening of the 72nd Venice Film Festival on September 2, 2015.

The films are based on real events that occurred in the Himalayas in May 1996. Then two commercial expeditions, which included both experienced climbers and tourists who had no experience in conquering eight-thousanders, climbed the highest mountain in the world. However, during the descent, several clients were caught in a severe snowstorm, in which five people died.

"Death in the Mountains: Death on Everest", 1997	Everest, 2015
Based on the book “Into Thin Air” by the miraculously surviving American writer, journalist and mountaineer Jon Krakauer, who, on instructions from Outside magazine, became a member of the expedition to Everest in May 1996 (the New Zealand company Adventure Consultants led by Rob Hall).	The film, unlike the 1997 film, is based not on Krakauer’s book, but on interviews with surviving members of the expedition, and is more objective.
In the book, Jon Krakauer condemns the commercialization of Everest, and also cites the facts of the death of the expedition of the Indo-Tibetan border service, which climbed on the same day from Tibet.	The commercialization of Everest is also condemned. Clients of the 1996 expedition paid $65,000 each (so you understand how much we are talking about).
One of those responsible for the tragedy Jon Krakauer counted guide Anatoly Boukreev, who went down to the camp before all the clients (he walked without an oxygen tank and, according to the journalist, was lightly dressed). In the film, Anatoly is presented as irresponsible, stupid and arrogant. From the beginning of the film, a biased attitude towards the Russian climber is clearly shown. Scott Fisher tells him that he will no longer work with him, since Anatoly does not think about work and does not worry about clients. In other words, Fischer accuses Bukreev of unprofessionalism. Please note that almost the same phrase that the client himself must realistically assess his own strengths, and that no one will babysit him/her on the mountain, belongs to Anatoly in the 1997 film, while in the 2015 film - Scott Fisher.	In 1997, Anatoly Boukreev, in collaboration with the writer Weston DeWalt, wrote the book “Ascension. Tragic ambitions on Everest" (The Climb, in Russian editions - "Ascension" and "Everest. Deadly Climb"), where he gave his opinion about the complete unpreparedness of both expeditions and the recklessness of their dead leaders, who for a lot of money took poorly prepared and already middle-aged people who are not very suitable for mountaineering (on this Krakauer and Boukreev agree with each other), and also responded to Krakauer’s accusations that he was well dressed and did not use oxygen, so as not to die in the mountains from weakness if the oxygen ran out (he did not use oxygen for most of the ascents), which is what happened to the rest of the expedition members, but went down to the camp on the instructions of expedition leader Scott Fisher to take a supply of oxygen and go out to meet the descending clients.
Jon Krakauer's book became a bestseller in the United States and then throughout the world. It was named Book of the Year by Time magazine and topped the New York Times bestseller list. The book Into Thin Air was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2016, the book was republished in Russian under the title “Everest. To whom and for what does the mountain take revenge? Boukreev was criticized for saving “his” clients, leaving to the mercy of fate, in particular, the Japanese Yasuko Namba, who was in greater need of help than the rest.	DeWalt noted that Anatoly Bukreev single-handedly saved three clients his company during a snowstorm and darkness, while Krakauer himself, Sherpas (local residents who help expeditions) and other clients refused to help him (subsequently, on December 6, 1997, the American Alpine Club awarded Boukreev the David Soules Award, given to climbers who saved people in the mountains at the risk of their own lives, and the US Senate invited him to accept American citizenship). The scene of the rescue of climbers by Anatoly Boukreev is shown in the film.
It should be noted that Krakauer’s point of view on the tragedy was negatively perceived by the world professional community, since all the clients who were on Boukreev’s expedition and were under his responsibility survived, while the main losses were suffered by the group in which Jon Krakauer was walking. Thus, the 1997 film was received ambiguously by the public.	American climber and writer Galen Rovell, in an article for The Wall Street Journal, called the operation carried out by Boukreev to rescue three climbers “unique”: what he did has no analogues in the history of world mountaineering. The man, whom many call the “tiger of the Himalayas,” immediately after climbing without oxygen to the highest point of the planet without any help, saved freezing climbers for several hours in a row... To say that he was lucky means to underestimate what he accomplished. It was a real feat.
Jon Krakauer mentioned in his books Into the Wild and Into Thin Air that he smokes marijuana.	In the spring of 1997, Anatoly Boukreev returned to Everest as the lead guide of the Indonesian expedition. At the top he left a flag given to him by Scott Fisher's wife and children. And then, during the descent, he buried the bodies of Fischer and Yasuko Namba (one of those who died in the 1996 expedition) under snow and stones, leaving ice axes found along the route as identification marks.
The actor playing the role of Anatoly in the film is not at all like him in life, unlike the rest of the selected cast.	The actor who plays Scott Fisher in the film is nothing like him in real life, unlike the rest of the cast. Perhaps this was done intentionally to shift the emphasis from Boukreev to Fischer, as one of the culprits of the tragedy.
The film is nothing more than an attempt to denigrate Russia and Russians in the person of high-altitude climber, guide, photographer and writer Anatoly Nikolaevich Bukreev, holder of the title “Snow Leopard” (1985), Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1989). Conqueror of eleven eight-thousanders on the planet, who made a total of 18 ascents on them, holder of the Order “For Personal Courage” (1989), Kazakhstan Medal “For Courage” (1998, posthumously), laureate of the David Souls American Alpine Club Award, awarded to climbers who saved mountains of people at risk to their own lives (1997).	In the film, Anatoly Boukreev is rehabilitated in the eyes of the world community of television viewers, and responsibility for the unfavorable outcome of both expeditions is rightly assigned to their leaders, who showed irresponsibility in the pursuit of future profits, following the lead of their clients, who entrusted them with their health and lives. The second edition of the Russian translation of Boukreev’s book “The Climb” is timed to coincide with the release of the film.

Thus, having analyzed these two films, based on real events, while radically different from each other in matters of objectivity and propaganda, the author gives preference to the 2015 film “Everest”. Most people tend to consider old films to be of higher quality (and this is usually true in view of the increasing bias of modern cinema towards a purely entertainment level), however, in relation to the two films discussed above, we see an exception to this rule. The author calls for analyzing such, let’s say, near-documentary films and not falling for the tricks of propagandists, or watching documentaries, which are often closer to the truth.

Some facts and statistics about climbing Everest

Everest, being the highest peak on Earth, attracts a lot of attention from climbers; climbing attempts are regular. The climb to the top takes about 2 months - with acclimatization and setting up camps. Countries on whose territory the approaches to the peak are located (Nepal, China) charge a lot of money for climbing to the top. Also, money is charged for the possibility of lifting. The order of ascent of the expeditions is established.

A significant part of ascents are organized by specialized companies and performed as part of commercial groups. Clients of these companies pay for the services of guides who provide the necessary training, provide equipment and, as far as possible, ensure safety along the entire route. The cost of climbing is up to 85 thousand US dollars, and the climbing permit alone, issued by the Nepalese government, costs 10 thousand dollars.

Climbing Everest to reach the highest point of the mountain is characterized by exceptional difficulty and sometimes ends in the death of both the climbers and the Sherpa porters accompanying them. This difficulty is due to the particularly unfavorable climatic conditions of the apical zone of the mountain due to its significant altitude. Among the climatic factors unfavorable for the human body are: high rarefaction of the atmosphere and, as a consequence, extremely low oxygen content in it, bordering on a fatally low value; low temperatures down to minus 50-60 degrees, which, in combination with periodic hurricane winds, is subjectively felt by the human body as a temperature down to minus 100-120 degrees and can lead to extremely quickly occurring thermal injury; Intense solar radiation at such altitudes is of considerable importance. These features are complemented by the “standard” dangers of mountaineering, which are also inherent in much lower peaks: avalanches, cliffs from steep slopes, falling into relief crevices.

From the first ascent to the peak (1953) until 2015, more than 260 people died on its slopes. Even the most expensive and modern equipment does not guarantee a successful ascent to Chomolungma. However, every year about 500 people try to conquer Everest. As of December 2016, 7,646 climbers managed to reach the summit, 3,177 of them climbed Everest more than once.

The author considers it necessary to mention the high degree of participation of the local people - the Sherpas - in the organization of absolutely all expeditions. They are the ones who organize the base camp, supply everything necessary (water, oxygen, supplies, equipment), stretch ropes and ladders. In fact, without the support of the Sherpas, climbers would never have been able to reach the highest peak of Chomolungma. They are the nameless heroes of expeditions, doing work for pennies compared to the profits of the organizing companies. It is no secret that the Sherpas are the ones who die the most in the Himalayan mountains. TV presenter Dmitry Komarov talks about this beautifully in his series of programs “The World Inside Out” (Expedition to Everest, starting with episode 5 of season 8).

Three versions of one terrible tragedy, told by its participants and researchers

Everest 1996

Three versions of one terrible tragedy,
told by its participants
and researchers

In cinemas around the world, the film “Everest” is in full swing, dedicated to the terrible events of 1996 that unfolded on the “roof of the world” due to massive commercial expeditions, inconsistency in the actions of guides and unpredictable weather. A dry summary of the tragedy is as follows: on May 10-11, 1996, after a series of ascents, 8 climbers were left forever on the mountain: a storm that suddenly caught them on a late descent disorientated the travelers, forcing them to wander in complete darkness and a snowstorm in the death zone without oxygen. Thanks to several night trips by one of the guides, three climbers were rescued; another, recognized as dead, later came to the camp himself, half dead and frostbitten. At least 4 books, dozens of articles were written about the tragedy on Everest in 1996, and several films were made, 2 of them feature films. But for almost 20 years, no one has been able to put an end to the discussion - except, perhaps, the new film by Baltasar Kormakur mentioned above. Today we will return to this terrible drama and present three main points of view on the events of May 1996.

The main controversy was between Adventure Consultants expedition member Jon Krakauer (now living), who went to Everest as a guest journalist from Outside, and Mountain Madness expedition guide Anatoly Boukreev, one of the most outstanding climbers of the Soviet school, who conquered 11 eight-thousanders of 14 and those who died on Annapurna in 1997. Today we will try to understand this avalanche of mutual accusations and understand why, despite the total popularity of the views of the Outside journalist, the award for courage in the United States was given to Bukreev, and in the film “Everest” the Russian’s role is one of the leading ones. So, meet: theses from the books “Into Thin Air” (Jon Krakauer, USA, 1997) and “The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest” (Anatoly Boukreev, Weston de Walt, USA, 1997), as well as

Statistics on those killed on May 10, 1996:
• "Adventure Consultants": 4 dead (2 guides, 2 clients)
• "Mountain Madness": 1 dead (guide)
• Indian expedition: 3 dead (military)

a reconciling version from the film “Everest” (Baltasar Kormakur, USA, 2015). And although the outcome of the tragedy and the lists of those killed are described in detail on Wikipedia and various portals, we still warn you: Beware, spoilers!

Version No. 1: accusation

Jon Krakauer is one of the most prominent outdoor journalists in the United States of the last 20 years. It was he who wrote the investigative book about Alex the Supertramp, a traveler who traveled alone across America to Alaska and met his death there. This book was used to make the cult film “Into the wild,” which fans of free travel consider the most important movie of the 2000s. But long before this, Krakauer’s important literary achievement was an attempt to understand the tragedy on Everest in 1996, of which he was a direct participant. He belonged to Rob Hall's ill-fated Adventure Consultants expedition, which buried most of its members that fateful day. It was he who was the first to speak out publicly and announce his version of what happened - first with an article in Outside magazine, then with the documentary novel “In Thin Air.”

Krakauer focuses on the mistakes of guides: unhealthy competition, lack of proper organization, inattention to client illnesses and lack of a plan in case of disaster.

Krakauer's main focus is on the mistakes of the guides: their desire to compete with each other in the quality of the service provided in order to attract new participants for the next year, the lack of the proper level of organization, inattention to the needs and illnesses of clients and, finally, the lack of a plan in case of disaster. The bottom line is that all his claims are true: Rob Hall, the head of Consultants, at that time really had a monopoly on commercial ascents on Everest, but the experienced and adventurous Scott Fisher (Mountain Madness), who was preparing for the expedition, suddenly began to step on his heels Almost at the last moment, he recruited the strongest climber of the Soviet school, Anatoly Bukreev, as a guide. Hall brought in best-selling Outside magazine writer Jon Krakauer, giving him a good discount and literally snatching him from Fischer's grasp. Fisher, in turn, took Manhattan star, socialite Sandy Pittman, to the mountain, who promised NBC to broadcast live from the mountain. Naturally, behind all these debates and attempts to please elite clients, real organizational issues were left far away.

Still from the movie "Everest". Photo: independent.co.uk

Hall, Fisher and other guides on the mountain, in the general pursuit of glory, did not keep track of a huge number of things: the safety ropes (railings) were not hung along the entire route, which greatly slowed down the ascent; many clients were frankly unprepared for the climb (poorly physically prepared or insufficiently acclimatized), and the control time for returning from the mountain was never precisely stated, which is why many climbers stood on the summit for an unforgivably long time, losing precious minutes. Finally, Fischer's team didn't even have proper walkie-talkies, which prevented the team from coordinating their actions when disaster struck. But for some reason, Anatoly Boukreev suffered the most from Krakauer - the only one who was able to get his bearings and go out into the night to help his clients. It was Bukreev, during night outings in a terrible snowstorm, who discovered a group of 5 people lost 400 meters from the camp and saved those three who were still able to walk. However, Krakauer writes in his book that the Russian climber was taciturn and did not help clients, followed his own climbing and acclimatization schedule, which he alone understood, did not use oxygen on the climb, and in a difficult situation abandoned all those who died higher on the mountain . Oddly enough, the fact that Krakauer blames Bukreeva saved the lives of three people: the cylinders he saved were useful to those who were dying of frostbite in the disaster zone, and the early return to the camp from the mountain allowed the climber to make two night searches in absolute solitude lost. Perhaps it was Bukreev’s closed, non-contact nature and his poor English that prevented Krakauer from understanding the situation, but he did not abandon the written words even after the death of Anatoly in 1997 on Annapurna, although he agreed to review other points in his book.

Scott Fisher (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) in the movie Everest. Photo: wordandfilm.com

For some reason, Anatoly Boukreev suffered the most from Krakauer - the only one who was able to get his bearings and go out into the night to help his clients

The fact that the world completely trusted Krakauer and his point of view seems very strange, if not suspicious. A journalist who at the last moment switched from one team to another because of the price; an unprofessional (albeit strong) climber who was unable not only to reach the tents on his own, but also to come to the aid of a group of 5 people in distress, and who made a number of serious factual errors (he confused client Martin Adams with the “Consultants” guide Andy Harris, who died higher on the mountain, thereby giving vain hope to his relatives) - could Krakauer give an objective assessment of what was happening on the mountain, just a few weeks after the event? As in the case of the later book “Into the Wild,” all the relatives of the victims, without exception, were offended by Krakauer: Rob Hall’s wife for making public the last conversation with her husband on a satellite phone, Fischer’s friends for reproaches of unprofessionalism, the husband of the deceased Japanese climber Yasuko Namba - because, like the others, he considered a still breathing woman unworthy of salvation. Be that as it may, many of his arguments are fair, and the book “Into Thin Air” was and remains an absolute bestseller among all the literature about the tragedy on Everest in 1996.

Rob Hall speaks to his wife on a satellite phone. Still from the film “Everest”, kinopoisk.ru

Version No. 2: feat

Stunned by Krakauer’s accusations, Boukreev responded to the journalist with the book “Ascension,” the main work on which was done by the interviewer Weston de Walt. Oddly enough, in many ways his explanations do not contradict Krakauer’s theses, but confirm them: Boukreev talks in detail about the devastation that reigned during the preparation of Fischer’s expedition and how desperately they tried to hide from clients the fact that there was barely enough oxygen to rise and the descent of all participants, and the money remaining with Fischer is not enough for rescue operations in case of emergency. Boukreev was also surprised by the fact that the most experienced climber Fischer did not follow the acclimatization schedule, ran back and forth on the mountain according to the needs of his clients, without sparing himself, thereby signing his own death warrant. In addition, Boukreev assessed the abilities of his team members much more soberly: several times he asked Fischer to “unfold” several members, but he was adamant and wanted to bring as many clients as possible to the top. These actions put the lives of other climbers at risk: for example, senior Sherpa Lobsang Jambu, instead of hanging ropes on a dangerous section of the route, actually dragged the overworked Sandy Pittman up.

Boukreev never saw the partial apology that Krakauer included in the 1999 reissue of his book: in December 1997 he died on Annapurna

Boukreev also made two important mistakes: during the night outings, he decided that it was no longer possible to save Yasuko Nambu and Beck Withers, who were frostbitten and showed no signs of life, and returned to the camp with the climbers who could walk. The next day, the expedition members again returned to their frozen comrades and considered their condition hopeless, although they were still breathing. Beck Withers returned to camp against all laws of life and physics. Yasuko Namba died alone among the ice and stones. Subsequently, during an Indonesian expedition in April 1997, Boukreev found her body and built an arch of stones over it to prevent highland birds from feeding on it. He repeatedly apologized to Namba's widower for failing to save her. Boukreev also failed to help his boss: in the book, he says that, unlike the Sherpas, he understood perfectly well that Fischer had no chance of surviving a night in a snowstorm at a great height. However, on May 11 at about 19:00 in the evening, he went upstairs to ascertain the death of his comrade.

Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson as Boukreev. Still from the movie "Everest". Photo: lenta.ru

Weston de Walt devotes several chapters of the book to what preceded the ascent: Anatoly’s high-altitude work (he was plotting the route with Sherpas when he realized that he didn’t have enough hands), his acclimatization process, working with clients and conversations with Fischer. If he and Hall had followed Bukreev’s advice, the victims could have been avoided altogether, but history does not know the subjunctive mood, just as the mountains do not know the feeling of compassion. Boukreev never saw the partial apology that Krakauer included in the 1999 reissue of his book: in December 1997, an avalanche overtook him and high-altitude cameraman Dmitry Sobolev on Annapurna. The bodies were never found. Bukreev was 39 years old.

Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson as Boukreev. Photo: letmedownload.in

Version No. 3: elements

Baltasar Kormakur, who made the difficult decision to make a blockbuster based on the tragedy, which next year will be 20 years old, decided not to put an end to the endless debate between the parties, but to take a different path. The creator of the film “Everest” was much more interested in the elements and the challenge that the death zone threw at each of the travelers in exchange for conquering the roof of the world. Neither profession, nor family, nor venerable age can stop someone who once caught mountain fever - the film pays special attention to how each of the climbers hides their illness and weakness in order to reach the top at any cost. To create a reliable story, the film team did not turn to the texts of “professionals” at all - the works of Krakauer and Boukreev were left aside. The greatest attention was paid to the book by Beck Withers - the same client who himself crawled to the camp on frostbitten hands and feet. It’s not for nothing that it’s called “Left to Die”: Withers experienced first-hand that not only a mountain, but also people in extreme conditions can be cruel. Left for dead three times (first by Rob Hall on the climb when he was struck by snow blindness, the second time on the South Col, and the third time in a camp tent at night during a new storm), he was nevertheless able to save not only his life , but also a sympathetic attitude towards other participants in the tragedy.

The creators of "Everest" did not take sides: they sought to show the personal drama of everyone who was destined to be on the mountain that day, and the struggle for life despite all obstacles

Another source of information for the film crew was transcripts of conversations between the Adventure Consultants leader and his wife, Jen Arnold. In these dialogues, Rob Hall reports on the situation, freezing alone on Hillary's steps, and tells the details of what happened at the very top in the midst of the storm, and says goodbye to his pregnant wife. The scene of the personal drama in the film is reproduced in as much detail as possible: Hall died saving one of his clients, Doug Hansen, whom he did not manage to lift up the mountain once and took with him a second time with an eye to victory. His demonstrated humanity cost him his life: having started the descent too late and having wasted oxygen, both remained forever on the mountain.

Still from the film “Everest”, kinopoisk.ru

Also, Kormakur, unlike many researchers of the situation, thought to communicate not only with the expedition members, whose memories were clouded by oxygen starvation, cold and horror from the death of their comrades, but also with those who observed the disaster from the sidelines and participated in rescue operations. David Breashers, a member of the IMAX expedition that filmed a documentary about Everest that same spring, donated his oxygen to the victims and helped them in their descent, and also told the creators of the new film many interesting details. The creators of Everest did not take sides: they sought to show the personal drama of everyone who was destined to be on the mountain that day, and the struggle for life in spite of all obstacles.

However, we still know something about which of the climbers the creators of the new film sympathized with: in “Everest,” Krakauer has only a couple of lines - the strange question “why are you all here” at the base camp, addressed to the expedition members, and the phrase “I won’t go with you,” thrown at Bukreev before the start of his rescue operation. But the team took the selection of an actor for the role of the Russian climber as seriously as possible (he is played by the Icelandic film star Ingvar Sigurdsson, who has already played Russians), and Bukreev himself is shown in detail in the scene of the rescue of the climbers.

If you believe the Sherpas - the indigenous inhabitants of these places - every action has its consequences and every sown seed of karma will sprout sooner or later. Since that tragedy, much more terrible events have occurred on Everest. And now, 20 years later, through the cameras of Kormakur’s cameramen, the tragedy on Everest in 1996 is gradually losing its heroic flair and becoming what it really was - a fatal coincidence of circumstances, mistakes and omissions of many people. All this would not have led to anything serious if not for a terrible unforeseen storm that collected a bloody toll on the mountain. Despite the horror of the situation, the drama at the peak taught those who advocated commercial climbs a lot, forcing them to be more careful and prudent, and reminding clients of the costs of great ambition. And if, despite everything, the eight-thousanders still attract you, we advise you to dive as seriously as possible into the Everest 1996 case and decide for yourself whether you are willing to pay such a price to have your name written in history.