Jon Krakauer Instagram – This photo of the summit ridge on Everest was shot by Nimsdai on May 22, 2019. Every year when May arrives and swarms of guided climbers queue-up like this to ascend the mountain, it triggers painful memories of my own guided ascent 28 years ago.
2nd shot: On May 10, 1996, as I descended from the top of Everest, I took this photo from the crest of the Hillary Step looking down at the South Summit. (This is the same part of the summit ridge shown in Nimsdai’s photo but viewed from above instead of below.) Although I saw the cumulonimbus clouds boiling upward as they engulfed the nearby summit of Lhotse, my hypoxic brain failed to recognize that a storm was headed our way. It swept over Everest with horrific force, leading to the deaths of my guides Rob Hall and Andy Harris and my teammates Doug Hansen and Yasuko Namba. Rob’s body was found at the South Summit. Doug’s ice axe was found on the narrow ridge of snow imprinted with boot tracks in my photo. Andy’s axe was found near Rob. The bodies of Doug and Andy were never located. Yasuko’s body was recovered on the South Col where she succumbed to the storm.
3rd shot: Our team at Basecamp before the calamity.
4th and 5th shots: A stone chorten for Yasuko, Rob, Andy, and Doug we built under the guidance of my good friend Chhongba-Dai when I returned to Everest in 1998 with Andy’s parents, Doug’s sister, and my wife to hold an intimate memorial service.
6th shot: The trail to Everest Basecamp crosses a hillside studded with dozens of chortens. The majority of them memorialize Sherpas killed on Everest—a sad reminder that Sherpas do all the heavy lifting, are exposed to the greatest danger, and play an utterly crucial role on every guided Everest expedition. 125 Sherpas have been killed while working on the mountain.
When “Into Thin Air” was published in 1997, I thought my book would deter novice climbers from attempting Everest but it had the opposite effect instead. The alarming, increasingly common queues like the one in the first photo are therefore partly my fault. Hit the link in my bio for more about the 1996 disaster. | Posted on 10/May/2024 21:26:17
