Mount Everest in 2016 covers events about Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth located in Nepal and Chinese Tibet in Asia. It is a popular climbing destination for extreme high altitude climbers, with several hundred climbing each year despite various dangers.
The Nepal Department of Tourism said by June 2016 that about 456 people made it to the summit of Mount Everest, including 45 women. [1] They noted some good summit windows, and on one day, 19 May 2016, 209 climbers made it to the summit. [1] By 11 May 2016 the lines were fixed on the south side of Everest, after which several hundred climbers would make it up in the critical weather windows. [2] Alan Arnette published his Everest report by year end, based on results for the now 93-year-old Elizabeth Hawley, which were released in December 2016. [3] For 2016 her records indicate 641 made it to the summit early 2016. [3] [4]
| Year | Summiters | Reference(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 547 | [5] |
| 2013 | 658 | [6] |
| 2014 | 106 | [7] |
| 2015 | 0 | [8] |
| 2016 | 641 | [9] |
| 2017 | 648 | [10] |
| 2018 | 807 | [11] [12] |
| 2019 | approx. 891 | [13] |
2013 set a record for most summiters in a year, around 667, not surpassed until 2018 when around 800 summited the peak. [11] [12]
| Location | Altitude (km) | |
|---|---|---|
| Base camp 5400 m / 17700 ft. | 5.4 | |
| Camp 1 6100 m / 20000 ft. | 6.1 | |
| Camp 2 6400 m / 21000 ft. | 6.4 | |
| Camp 3 6800m / 22300 ft. | 6.8 | |
| Camp 4 8000 m / 26000 ft. | 8 | |
| Summit 8850 m / 29035 ft. | 8.8 | |
On 11 May 2016, nine Sherpas summited Mount Everest. The next day another six persons reached the top. [15] These were the first summitings since 2014, when 106 made it to the top. [16] By 13 May, 42 climbers had reached the summit [17] and by 22 May, good weather had allowed over 400 climbers to reach the summit. However, about 30 climbers developed frostbite or became sick, and two climbers died from what was reported as possible altitude sickness. [18] Among those that had to turn back was a science expedition attempting to study the link between hypoxia and cognitive decline. [19] Although it did not run its course, it did give some clues into the effects of high-altitude acclimatisation on human blood. [19]
Adrian Ballinger and Cory Richards were sponsored by Eddie Bauer to climb Everest, and they relayed information from the Everest climb using the smartphone software application and service Snapchat. [20] Mount Everest has had a 3G wireless data communication network since 2010. [21] One of the things that was reported by them, was that bottled oxygen was stolen from them and there was some bad behaviour up there. [22] The bottled oxygen was there for emergency back-up if they ran into trouble. [22] Cory Richards summited Mount Everest without oxygen and returned safely, and Adrian made it almost to the top also. [22] Another famous mountaineer, British climber Kenton Cool achieved his 12th Everest summit (the second-highest number of Everest summitings for a foreigner after Dave Hahn), [15] and US celebrity mountaineer Melissa Arnot, completed her sixth summit, and achieved her personal goal of climbing Everest without supplementary bottled oxygen. [23] This also turned out to be the most summits for a foreign female (not Nepali or Chinese), and one of the first US women to summit and survive without supplementary oxygen. [23]
In 1998, Francys Arsentiev had made it to the summit, but died during the descent; she went on to become a famous corpse as a landmark known as "Sleeping Beauty" until she was buried on Everest in 2007 by one of the people who had tried to help her. [24] Another woman from the Americas, the Ecuadorian woman Carla Perez also summited Mount Everest in 2016 without supplementary oxygen. [25] Perez and Arnot became the fifth and sixth women to summit Everest without supplementary oxygen. [25] There is an ongoing discussion about the use of extra bottled oxygen in mountaineering. [25] Also at issue is Dexamethasone (Dex), which is valuable as a lifesaver as it reduces swelling in the brain if someone comes down with high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE). When American Bill Burke was interviewed for his attempt, he noted how one of his team members had overdosed on Dex, prompting a medical evacuation even as in his more recent expedition, someone had 25 doses of Dex. [26] He also noted it was hard to argue against large supplies of Dex, due its life-saving properties against some types of altitude sickness, especially HACE. [26]
An example of a death in which Dex was implicated was Dr. Eberhard Schaaf in 2012 on Everest. Schaaf died on descent at the south summit from altitude sickness. [27] It has a good reputation as a life saver, and is commonly given to Everest climbers for its ability to intervene in last desperate moments when altitude sickness sets in. For example, in the 2016 season Robert Gropel said he gave Dex to his wife (as reported by the Daily Telegraph ) in attempt to save her as they tried to descend Everest. [28] Dex is not the only drug that is potentially a problem, with the UIAA noting the aforementioned dexamethasone, but also acetazolamide (aka Diamox), amphetamine, and alcohol use; [29] and another noted Diamox (acetazolamide) use among trekkers. [30] It is not really a matter of some authorities being for or against medications, but awareness, as misuse can cause drug interactions and various side effects. [30] In particular it was noted that supplementary oxygen significantly lowers death rate on ultra-high altitude mountain climbing, and is generally not regulated as a drug, whereas the safe use of medications is less understood or even acknowledged in many cases. [30] (see also: Effects of high altitude on humans)
"We estimate that during our informal survey on Everest spring 2012, at least two-thirds of climbers we contacted were prescribed several performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and had intended to use them not for rescue, but to increase their chances of summit success"
— Dr. L. Freer of Everest ER [30]
Mexican-American David Liaño Gonzalez (aka David Liano) summited for the sixth time, promoting a charity and also carrying a Seattle Seahawks flag with him to the Everest summit. [31] [32] Another sports team represented at the Everest summit was the Denver Broncos, with its flag unfurled by Kim Hess. [33] Rounding out US mountaineering was news that a group of soldiers and veterans summited, including some who had been wounded in combat. [34] A British wounded veteran (one-eyed) was also trying to summit but gave up his bid to help some Indian climbers. [35]
In 2016 the first climbers from Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Tunisia reached the summit of Mount Everest. [36] [37] [38] Only two other people from North Africa have summited Everest, one from Algeria and the other from Morocco. [38] The youngest Australian woman to summit Mount Everest was Alyssa Azar. [39] She returned to Australia safely, but a bittersweet victory for Australia after the loss of another Australian woman who was also trying to summit that May with her husband. [39] [40] The youngest Japanese woman also summited (and returned alive) at the age of 19. [2] Another woman record-breaker in 2016 was the first woman from Thailand to summit Mount Everest, Napassaporn Chumnarnsit, who was granted an audience with the Prime Minister of Thailand for her achievement. [41] [42] The first person with cystic fibrosis also summited Mount Everest on his third try. [43] Also, a 61-year-old summited with two artificial knees. [44] He had been trying for several years and had lost his Nepali friend Sherpa Nawang Tenzing in the 2015 earthquakes. [44] He was not alone in being grief-stricken, as many climbers connected with the Everest mountaineering community lost climbing buddies in two years of disasters. [45] One who narrowly survived the disasters himself climbed this year to bring attention to the disease Lewy body dementia (DLB), which had affected his father. [45]
| 2016 fatalities | |
|---|---|
| Fatalities | Nationality |
| Eric Arnold [18] |  Netherlands |
| Dr. Maria Strydom [18] |  Australia |
| Subhash Pal [46] |  India |
| *Phurba Sherpa [47] |  Nepal |
| Paresh Nath [48] | India |
| Goutam Ghosh [48] | India |
| Dr. Charles MacAdams [49] |  Canada |
| *Lhotse face fatality | |
On 11 May 2016 a Calgary physician died in Tibet, in the Chinese-side base camp. [50] A 25-year-old Nepali named Phurba Sherpa, fixing lines near the Lhotse summit, fell to his death. [51] A guide company, Arnold Coster Expeditions, suffered two fatalities, and a third client had to be airlifted out. [52] One was a man from the Netherlands, and another was a South African-born Australian woman. [52] Her husband had tried to save her, but he also ran into trouble and had to be airlifted out with medical complications. [52] These deaths were very widely reported in international news and triggered some public discussion about Everest mountaineering and tourism. [51] [52]
An Indian expedition from West Bengal suffered three fatalities and a fourth member, Sunita Hazra had to be rescued on her way down. [52] The team was led by a South Korean climber named Jinchol Cha, and had four Indian Bengalis: Subhash Pal, Goutam Ghosh, Paresh Nath and Sunita Hazra (female, 38) with Loben Sherpa accompanying them. The team, managed by Trekking Camp Nepal, had attempted to climb the peak on 21 May. [53] [52]
While climbing up, Paresh and Goutam became sick near Camp IV and could neither ascend nor descend from the higher camps near 8,000 metres. [53] Lakpa Sherpa and Subhash Pal, the Indian mountaineer, from Bankura, West Bengal continued climbing and reached the summit of Mount Everest on Saturday, 21 May 2016. [54] [40] [55] On 22 May 2016, Pal collapsed while descending the Hillary Step ice wall. He died in the region between Camp IV and Camp III, [56] due to frostbite which later led to hypothermia. [57] [53] While descending from the summit, Sherpa found both Paresh and Goutam dead near Camp IV. [53] After reaching near Camp III, Subhash was unable to speak or move due to altitude sickness. The team tried to save him but could not. [53]
A British climber Leslie Binns gave up his summit bid to help and rescue Sunita who had fallen and was ailing on her descent. [35] [58] The climber successfully rescued her and tried to save another from her expedition team. [35] With the help of four climbers, Sunita was rescued. Their stock of bottled oxygen was running out, so they quickly descended to Camp II, saving Sunita's life. She was airlifted from Camp II the next day by the Himalayan Rescue Association to Kathmandu with severe frostbite injuries. [59] Sunita was treated at Norvic International Hospital. [53] She lost two fingers due to frostbite.[ citation needed ]
Six Sherpas stayed in the region for five days to search for and rescue the missing climbers. They retrieved Subhash's body and returned. [53] Paresh's and Goutam's bodies remained on the mountain and could not be retrieved until the following climbing season, in late May 2017, due to bad weather. [60]
They were part of a larger eleven-member expedition from India. Eight had reached the summit, including the injured woman, Hazra. [59] However, according to a detailed report on the Indian expedition in the New York Times, the Nepalese government is not counting Hazra's climb as a successful summit due to a credible lack of evidence. [61]
The death toll for Everest climbers rose to five in most reports by late May 2016, and with a death of a high-altitude worker on Lhotse face during the season (Everest summiters sometimes need to climb Lhotse face depending on the route), gave a total of six known deaths from the Everest massif by the time the season drew to a close. [48] Although not widely reported during May, a climber in Tibet had died on 11 May 2016 which makes it possibly six for Mount Everest and seven for the Everest Massif. [50] The Nepal ministry of tourism said five people died (on the Nepali side). [1]
K2, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level, is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest at 8,849 metres (29,032 ft). It lies in the Karakoram range, partially in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-administered Kashmir and partially in the China-administered Trans-Karakoram Tract in the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang.
Mount Everest is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation of 8,848.86 m was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities.
The Sherpas are one of the Tibetan ethnic groups native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal and Tibetan Autonomous Region. The term sherpa or sherwa derives from the Tibetan-language words ཤར shar ('east') and པ pa ('people'), which refer to their geographical origin in eastern Tibet.
Lhotse is the fourth-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. At an elevation of 8,516 metres (27,940 ft) above sea level, the main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of China and the Khumbu region of Nepal.
The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognised by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) as being more than 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) in height above sea level, and sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no precise definition of the criteria used to assess independence, and at times, the UIAA has considered whether the list should be expanded to 20 mountain peaks by including the major satellite peaks of eight-thousanders. All of the eight-thousanders are located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia, and their summits lie in an altitude known as the death zone.
The South Col is a col between Mount Everest and Lhotse, the highest and fourth-highest mountains in the world, respectively. The South Col is typically swept by high winds, leaving it free of significant snow accumulation. Since 1950, most Everest expeditions have left from Nepal and gone via the southeast ridge and the South Col. When climbers attempt to climb Everest from the southeast ridge in Nepal, their final camp is situated on the South Col.
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,849 metres (29,031.7 ft) above sea level. It is situated in the Himalayan range of Solukhumbu district, Nepal.
Lincoln Ross Hall OAM was a veteran Australian mountain climber, adventurer and author. Lincoln was part of the first Australian expedition to climb Mount Everest in 1984, which successfully forged a new route. He reached the summit of the mountain on his second attempt in 2006, miraculously surviving the night at 8,700 m (28,543 ft) on descent, after his family was told he had died.
David Sharp was an English mountaineer who died near the summit of Mount Everest. His death caused controversy and debate because he was passed by several other climbers heading to and returning from the summit as he was dying, although several others tried to help him.
The 1996 Mount Everest disaster occurred on 10–11 May 1996 when eight climbers caught in a blizzard died on Mount Everest while attempting to descend from the summit. Over the entire season, 12 people died trying to reach the summit, making it the deadliest season on Mount Everest at the time and the third deadliest after the 23 fatalities resulting from avalanches caused by the April 2015 Nepal earthquake and the 16 fatalities of the 2014 Mount Everest avalanche. The 1996 disaster received widespread publicity and raised questions about the commercialization of Everest.
Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa was a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineering guide, climber and porter, best known for his work as the climbing Sirdar for Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness expedition to Everest in Spring 1996, when a freak storm led to the deaths of eight climbers from several expeditions, considered one of the worst disasters in the history of Everest mountaineering. Notwithstanding controversy over his actions during that expedition, Lopsang was well-regarded in the mountaineering community, having summited Everest four times. Lopsang was killed in an avalanche in September 1996, while again on an expedition to climb Everest for what would have been a fifth ascent.
Premlata Agrawal is the first Indian woman to scale the Seven Summits, the seven highest continental peaks of the world. She was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013 and Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in 2017 for her achievements in the field of mountaineering. On 17 May 2011, she became the oldest Indian woman to have scaled the world's tallest peak, Mount Everest (29,032 ft.); at the age of 48 years at that time while Sangeeta Sindhi Bahl hailing from Jammu and Kashmir broke Premlata's record on 19 May 2018 and became the oldest Indian woman to scale Mount Everest doing it at the age of 53.
On 18 April 2014, seracs on the western spur of Mount Everest failed, resulting in an ice avalanche that killed sixteen climbing Sherpas in the Khumbu Icefall. This was the same icefall where the 1970 Mount Everest disaster had taken place. Thirteen bodies were recovered within two days, while the remaining three were never recovered due to the great danger in attempting such an expedition. Many Sherpas were angered by what they saw as the Nepalese government's meager offer of compensation to victims' families, and threatened a protest or strike. On 22 April, the Sherpas announced they would not work on Everest for the remainder of 2014 as a mark of respect for the victims.
The Mount Everest climbing season of 2017 began in spring with the first climbers reaching the top on May 11, from the north side. The first team on the south side reached the top on May 15. By early June, reports from Nepal indicated that 445 people had made it to the summit from the Nepali side. Reports indicate 160–200 summits on the north side, with 600–660 summiters overall for early 2017. This year had a roughly 50% success rate on that side for visiting climbers, which was down from other years. By 2018, the figure for the number of summiters of Everest was refined to 648. This includes 449 which summited via Nepal and 120 from Chinese Tibet.
The Mount Everest climbing season of 2013 included 658 summits and 8 deaths. Due to avalanches in 2014 and 2015, this was the last big summiting year until 2016.
Mount Everest climbing season included 245 summits on May 19, 2012, a record number of summits on a single day. It would take seven more years to break this record. This added congestion resulted in the highest fatality total since 1996. 683 climbers from 34 countries attempted to climb the mountain, and 547 people summited. A record was set in May when 234 climbers summitted on a single day. There were 11 deaths, some of which were attributed to overcrowding near the peak.
Mount Everest in 2018 is about events in the year about the highest Earth mountain, Mount Everest, a popular mountaineering tourism and science destination in the 2010s. In 2018, 807 climbers summited Mount Everest, which is a popular mountaineering goal. This year is noted for an especially long weather window of 11 days straight of calm, which reduced crowding at the high base camps. With over 800 reaching the top, it was the highest amount ever to reach the top in recorded history, besting the previous year by over 150 summitings.
