The list of victims of the ascent to Jomolungma

The satellite photo of Everest shows the usual climbing routes to its peak: northern (yellow) and southern (orange). This photo is not oriented northward, like geographic maps and aerial photographs

In the first reconnaissance expedition in 1921, two deaths were noted: the scientist Alexander Kellas , who died of a heart attack, and an unnamed porter. But both of these cases occurred on the way to Jomolungma, and it is difficult to say whether these people can be considered dead when trying to climb this mountain ^{[5] [6]} . The first reliably recorded case of death of people on the Jomolungma occurred on June 7, 1922: then seven Sherpas - porters of the second British expedition - died.

Due to the fact that the descent of corpses from such a height is associated with many difficulties and dangers, most of the bodies of climbers who died on the Chomolungma continue to lie where they died or where they fell; blows away some bodies by wind or ice to another place. So, two Nepalese climbers died on October 24, 1984 while trying to pull out the body of the German climber Hannelora Schmats , who had died five years earlier ^[7] .

Another famous incident occurred in 1998, when Francis Arsentieva and her husband Sergey Arsentiev were in different places and both died trying to find each other ^[8] . Francis’s frozen body lay for nine years near the main climbing route until mountaineer , who led the search expedition, discovered it ^{[8] [9]} .

In 1999, while searching for the remains of George Mallory and Andrew Irwin in a “catchment basin” near the summit, search engines found the remains of many people in the snow, including Mallory ^[10] .

Dangerous for beginners, this mountain sometimes does not spare the most experienced. Among them: , who several times ascended to the highest peak of the world, in 1999 spent more than 20 hours in a row at the top ^[11] . He set other world records: he reached the summit twice in two weeks and reached the base camp to the summit in a record short time at 16.56 ^[11] . But in 2001, Babu Sherpa died as a result of a fall near Camp II .

Among all the tragic cases that occurred at Chomolungma, there are several that claimed the greatest number of lives.

1922

The first reliably recorded case of death of people on the highest mountain was the death under the avalanche of seven porters of the British expedition , which occurred on June 7, 1922. George Mallory, who was present, blamed himself for what had happened.

1996

The infamous tragedy on the Jomolungma in May 1996 killed eight climbers at once, and 15 people died during the whole season - that year remained the most deadly in the history of climbing the Jomolungma until the spring of 2014 . The body of one of them - the Indian border guard - remained at an altitude of 8500 m on the northern ascent route; the place of his death was given the informal name “ Green Shoes ” ^[12] . In the same year, an experienced mountain guide, Rob Hall , died at the Jomolungma, shortly after he became the first Sherpa to conquer its summit five times.

That tragedy was widely publicized, books were even written about it: J. Krakauer and A. N. Bukreev . Both of these books were written by climbers who were during the events at Jomolungma, but express points of view that sharply contradict one another. But taking the relative death toll, strangely enough, 1996 turned out to be one of the safest for climbers on the Jomolungma: in previous years, on average, one out of four people who tried to climb to the top died, and in 1996 the number of people who wanted to get there was so increased that only one in seven did not return from Chomolungma ^[13] . The year 1956 can be considered more favorable, in which there was not a single person killed during the ascent to Homolungma - despite 39 expeditions and 4 successful ascents ^[12] .

2014

On April 18, 2014, 16 Sherpas died as a result of an avalanche near the Base Camp, and several others were injured. ^{[14] [15] [16]}

2015

On April 25, 2015, a powerful earthquake occurred that caused avalanches to descend on Jomolungma. An avalanche has covered part of the southern Base Camp ; at least 19 people died ^{[17] [18] [19] [20]} .

• Khumbu Icefall
• North saddle
• Serak