# The Deadliest Stretch of Ice on Mount Everest

An episode of [Scary Interesting Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1705969819), 21 Oct 2026, 26 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75888125/the_deadliest_stretch_of_ice_on_mount_everest.mp3

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## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: This is the Khumbu Icefall. It's probably the most famous,
[0:05] Speaker 1: or maybe infamous, stretch of glacier on Earth. And when
[0:09] Speaker 1: people think of glaciers, they usually picture these giant sheets
[0:13] Speaker 1: of ice frozen in place high in mountains or across
[0:15] Speaker 1: the poles. But interestingly, glaciers aren't really frozen in place
[0:19] Speaker 1: at all. Under their immense weight, they slowly flow downhill,
[0:23] Speaker 1: and this movement causes them to crack and break. Immense
[0:26] Speaker 1: crevasses open in the ice, some so deep that they
[0:29] Speaker 1: seem bottomless. Others narrow toward the bottom, meaning that instead
[0:34] Speaker 1: of falling all the way through, a person can become
[0:36] Speaker 1: wedged between two walls of ice. Then there are also seracs,
[0:41] Speaker 1: which are enormous towers and blocks of ice, sometimes the
[0:43] Speaker 1: size of buildings, that can be completely unstable. The result
[0:48] Speaker 1: of all of this is essentially a moving obstacle course
[0:50] Speaker 1: of crevasses, collapsing ice, and constantly shifting terrain. Of course,
[0:55] Speaker 1: that is, if you found yourself on one. And nowhere
[0:58] Speaker 1: is this more true than the Khumbu Icefall, because anyone
[1:02] Speaker 1: attempting to climb Mount Everest from the Nepalese side has
[1:05] Speaker 1: no other choice but to go right through it. So
[1:08] Speaker 1: in this video, we're gonna look at some of the
[1:10] Speaker 1: harrowing incidents that have occurred here, the icefall's inextricable link
[1:13] Speaker 1: to Everest, and the men who repeatedly risk their lives
[1:17] Speaker 1: crossing it so that others can reach the summit. As always,
[1:20] Speaker 1: viewer discretion is strongly advised. Across most of the world,
[1:34] Speaker 1: when snow falls, it lands on fresh ground, and it
[1:36] Speaker 1: usually doesn't stick around for too long. Maybe it's an
[1:39] Speaker 1: icy lake, temporarily frozen over in the winter, or that
[1:42] Speaker 1: long-awaited blanket of snow coating our lawns just before the
[1:44] Speaker 1: festive season, melting away almost as quickly as it arrives.
[1:48] Speaker 1: But on the mountain ranges like the Himalayas, something very
[1:51] Speaker 1: different is happening day to day. Here, the snowfall rarely stops,
[1:55] Speaker 1: regardless of the time of the year. Huge amounts of
[1:57] Speaker 1: snow fall directly on top of existing snowfall, left over
[2:00] Speaker 1: from days and weeks before. This rapid, near-constant precipitation, combined
[2:05] Speaker 1: with mountain temperatures, permanently below freezing, means it stays cold
[2:09] Speaker 1: and snow-topped all year round. The previous year's snowfall never
[2:12] Speaker 1: evaporates away, instead becoming hardened. Gradually, over many years, these
[2:17] Speaker 1: interweaving layers of snow and ice stack up on top
[2:19] Speaker 1: of each other like the layers of a pastry, eventually
[2:22] Speaker 1: forming glaciers. These can then become incredibly massive, and as
[2:26] Speaker 1: a result of their size, glaciers have some unique and
[2:28] Speaker 1: insane features. Like for example, because of their mass, glaciers
[2:33] Speaker 1: essentially function as gigantic rivers of ice, flowing slowly down
[2:36] Speaker 1: mountains as the ice crystals within them melt and gravity
[2:39] Speaker 1: naturally pulls them toward the ground. But this process is slow,
[2:43] Speaker 1: and for the most part, glaciers are fairly stable. They
[2:46] Speaker 1: steadily shift in the background over decades, centuries, or even millennia,
[2:49] Speaker 1: with the world's oldest glacier in Antarctica thought to be
[2:52] Speaker 1: a million years old. And so they serve an important
[2:55] Speaker 1: role as landmarks on routes across mountains for climbers navigating
[2:58] Speaker 1: the scenery, not to mention they're strikingly beautiful, but ideally
[3:01] Speaker 1: from a distance. If it's an abnormally warm summer that year,
[3:05] Speaker 1: if there's any sudden disruption or movement over a notably
[3:07] Speaker 1: fragile block of ice, if anything risks the structural integrity
[3:11] Speaker 1: of the glacier, then things can come crashing down. Suddenly,
[3:14] Speaker 1: the same previously peaceful glaciers can be a catalyst for
[3:17] Speaker 1: severe avalanches and mudslides, displacing rocks, debris, and even pushing
[3:21] Speaker 1: bodies out of crevasses, dragging them above ground to reveal
[3:24] Speaker 1: the long-dead victims of the mountains from decades past. And sometimes,
[3:29] Speaker 1: even undisturbed, this destruction and devastation is purely the result
[3:33] Speaker 1: of bad luck. One of the world's most famous glaciers
[3:36] Speaker 1: is the Khumbu Icefall. At an elevation of 5,486 meters,
[3:41] Speaker 1: or 18,000 feet, just above base camp and on the
[3:44] Speaker 1: south call route to Everest Summit, it is the highest
[3:47] Speaker 1: located glacier in the world, and undeniably one of the deadliest.
[3:52] Speaker 1: With a fast-moving flow that transports an estimated 0.9 to 1.2
[3:56] Speaker 1: meters of snow down the mountain every single day, it's
[3:59] Speaker 1: uncharacteristically fast, almost like a frozen conveyor belt. This intense
[4:04] Speaker 1: movement means the Khumbu Icefall is littered with enormous, fragmented
[4:07] Speaker 1: pillars of ice, also known as seracs. These are prone
[4:10] Speaker 1: to cracking and causing avalanches at all times. If you're
[4:14] Speaker 1: tempted to reach the summit on the Nepal side of
[4:16] Speaker 1: Mount Everest, you have to cross the Khumbu Icefall. There's
[4:18] Speaker 1: just no way to avoid it. Because it's so fragile
[4:22] Speaker 1: and prone to accidents, especially in the warmer daytime, climbers
[4:25] Speaker 1: attempting Everest typically try to cross in the dark, usually
[4:27] Speaker 1: overnight or in the early hours of the morning. Supposedly,
[4:31] Speaker 1: under no circumstances should you ever cross it in the
[4:33] Speaker 1: late afternoon when the sun is at its hottest and
[4:35] Speaker 1: the glacier is at its weakest. For years now, climbers
[4:39] Speaker 1: have followed these rules, with many seasons passing without incident.
[4:43] Speaker 1: But it wasn't always like this. After all, rules are
[4:45] Speaker 1: often written in blood. In February of 1970, the Japanese
[4:50] Speaker 1: Mount Everest ski expedition arrived in Kathmandu, attempting to do
[4:53] Speaker 1: something groundbreaking. The 1970s were somewhat of a golden age
[4:57] Speaker 1: for Everest, with mountaineers trying their hand at a number
[5:00] Speaker 1: of experimental ventures that advances in technical equipment and the
[5:03] Speaker 1: ease of travel were finally making possible. These included the
[5:06] Speaker 1: first woman to summit, Junko Tabe, in 1975, and the
[5:10] Speaker 1: first oxygen-free summit, completed in 1978 by Reinhold Messner and
[5:14] Speaker 1: Peter Habeler. This was something that was originally thought biologically impossible.
[5:19] Speaker 1: But in 1970 in particular, the focus for one man
[5:21] Speaker 1: was less on ascending the mountain and instead on reinventing
[5:24] Speaker 1: the descent in a completely novel way. Yuichiro Mayura from
[5:28] Speaker 1: Japan was not going to summit the mountain this year. Rather,
[5:31] Speaker 1: he would attempt a very different world record. He was
[5:33] Speaker 1: going to be the first man to ski down Everest.
[5:36] Speaker 1: The entire thing would be caught on film as part
[5:38] Speaker 1: of a documentary called, rather inventively, The Man Who Skied
[5:41] Speaker 1: Down Everest. The documentary would follow him through the entire expedition,
[5:45] Speaker 1: from initial idea generation, through planning and preparation, before finally
[5:48] Speaker 1: capturing the once-in-a-lifetime moment itself. As a result, it would
[5:52] Speaker 1: need a whole host of personnel to make this possible,
[5:54] Speaker 1: with mountaineers and skiers, as well as film crew, photographers, scientists,
[5:57] Speaker 1: and press. This, in turn, meant tons of equipment, including cameras, sets,
[6:01] Speaker 1: as well as the usual survival gear. Luckily for those
[6:05] Speaker 1: who try to climb Everest, though, it has a particular
[6:07] Speaker 1: tradition that worked out in Mayura and the crew's favour.
[6:11] Speaker 1: Nepal's native Sherpa population have for many years worked as
[6:14] Speaker 1: porters on Everest, ferrying each climber's equipment and belongings up
[6:17] Speaker 1: and down the mountain ahead of and alongside their journey,
[6:19] Speaker 1: as well as ensuring that the routes are adequately marked
[6:21] Speaker 1: and safe enough to climb. That year was no exception,
[6:25] Speaker 1: and with 27 tons of equipment to carry for the documentary,
[6:28] Speaker 1: the Japanese expedition relied on the kind help of hundreds
[6:31] Speaker 1: of Sherpas to seamlessly transport their things upwards and ensure
[6:34] Speaker 1: everything went to plan. And for the most part, the
[6:37] Speaker 1: expedition elapsed without incident, Setting off on March 6th, the
[6:40] Speaker 1: team spent some time acclimatizing to the thinner Arab base camp.
[6:44] Speaker 1: Mayura practiced his descent on several test runs and things
[6:46] Speaker 1: went entirely as planned. One month into the trip though,
[6:50] Speaker 1: on the approach to the Khumbu Icefall, everything would come
[6:52] Speaker 1: shattering down. On the morning of April 5th, 1970, a
[6:56] Speaker 1: group of Sherpas had left camp to prepare the ropes
[6:58] Speaker 1: for that day, ensuring that the climbers had a safe
[7:00] Speaker 1: route to follow. This took them to the Khumbu Icefall.
[7:04] Speaker 1: It had been a fairly stable climbing season up until then,
[7:07] Speaker 1: with nothing hugely untoward in the weather. But that morning,
[7:10] Speaker 1: while the Japanese crew were tucked up, cozy and asleep
[7:12] Speaker 1: in their beds, something shifted. Without warning, the blocks of
[7:15] Speaker 1: ice in the field were knocked, dislodged, and a massive
[7:18] Speaker 1: avalanche sprang loose, tragically sending the group of Sherpa porters
[7:21] Speaker 1: tumbling down the mountain. As a result, six would lose
[7:25] Speaker 1: their lives that day, with another one killed a few
[7:27] Speaker 1: days later by a falling Serac. In the aftermath, as
[7:30] Speaker 1: for Maiura, despite the shock of the incident, his dream
[7:33] Speaker 1: of skiing down Everest would become a reality. On May 6, 1970,
[7:37] Speaker 1: just one month later, he came down the mountain at
[7:39] Speaker 1: high speed, completing the section in 2 minutes and 20 seconds,
[7:42] Speaker 1: becoming the first person to ski down Everest. All of
[7:46] Speaker 1: it was also caught on film, and his efforts weren't
[7:48] Speaker 1: in vain, as the man who skied down Everest ultimately
[7:50] Speaker 1: won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. It was an
[7:53] Speaker 1: incredible once-in-a-lifetime achievement, obviously, but it had come at a
[7:56] Speaker 1: great cost. Maiura was able to continue his career, continuing
[8:00] Speaker 1: to ski down the world's major mountains and eventually summoning
[8:02] Speaker 1: Everest itself in 2003. But those who risked their lives
[8:06] Speaker 1: to help him would not enjoy the same success, nor
[8:08] Speaker 1: would they even reach their homes that evening. At the time,
[8:12] Speaker 1: it was the deadliest disaster in Nepalese history, though it
[8:14] Speaker 1: had transpired predominantly as a result of terrible luck that day,
[8:17] Speaker 1: with the brave workers bearing the brunt of it. And
[8:20] Speaker 1: for years, the 1970 incident was mentioned as a cautionary tale,
[8:23] Speaker 1: an accident that in most people's eyes would never happen again.
[8:26] Speaker 1: It wouldn't, however, stay that way, the incident would eventually
[8:29] Speaker 1: be surpassed by something far worse and infinitely more sinister.
[8:33] Speaker 1: While the 1970 avalanche was a tragic accident caused by
[8:36] Speaker 1: terrifying instability of the mountain's fragile ecosystem, what would go
[8:40] Speaker 1: on to happen in 2014 was far deeper and would
[8:42] Speaker 1: go on to have far more significant implications. By the
[8:46] Speaker 1: early 2010s, things were beginning to heat up on Everest.
[8:49] Speaker 1: The frozen pillars of the Khumbu Icefall had always been
[8:52] Speaker 1: fairly unstable, but a relatively warm span of summers had
[8:55] Speaker 1: made them especially vulnerable to breakage. By 2012, climbers across
[8:59] Speaker 1: Everest all reported one specific hazard. It was a massive serac,
[9:03] Speaker 1: and it had been increasing year by year until it
[9:05] Speaker 1: was hanging directly over the south call routes. Anxious climbers
[9:09] Speaker 1: informed their guides, who in turn relayed the information back
[9:11] Speaker 1: to the companies organizing the expeditions. In response, many of
[9:15] Speaker 1: them simply packed up for the season, afraid their reputation
[9:17] Speaker 1: would be tarnished if their clients got caught up in
[9:19] Speaker 1: this developing storm. These included, most infamously, the owner of
[9:23] Speaker 1: Hymex Hiking Company, Russell Bryce, who described this wreck as the, quote,
[9:27] Speaker 1: sword of Damocles looming over all those who traveled beneath it.
[9:31] Speaker 1: Others heeded this warning but continued on, hoping for the best. Most, however,
[9:35] Speaker 1: were back by the start of the 2014 season, assuming
[9:37] Speaker 1: the problem had been taken care of. 2013 too was
[9:41] Speaker 1: an interesting year, though for an entirely different reason. That
[9:44] Speaker 1: year had seen a number of fights erupt between the
[9:46] Speaker 1: native Sherpas and Western guides, who the Sherpas believed threatened
[9:49] Speaker 1: their livelihoods. In the years between 1970 and 2014, the
[9:52] Speaker 1: tourism industry in Everest had exploded, and in parallel, so
[9:57] Speaker 1: had job opportunities for the Sherpas, so much so that
[9:59] Speaker 1: the word Sherpa while technically being an ethnic group, had
[10:02] Speaker 1: become inextricably linked to the role of the mountain porters.
[10:06] Speaker 1: Working as a porter would earn these men the equivalent
[10:08] Speaker 1: of $ 125 a day, or $ 5, 000 a year, which, while
[10:11] Speaker 1: not sounding like much, was way above the Nepal national
[10:14] Speaker 1: average salary of $ 700. 00. Many had generations of relatives, fathers,
[10:19] Speaker 1: grandfathers who had performed the same roles, and wished to
[10:21] Speaker 1: carry on the family tradition. But even those who didn't
[10:24] Speaker 1: feel at home on the mountain often felt as though
[10:26] Speaker 1: they had no other choice when it came to their employment.
[10:29] Speaker 1: And this is why, in the early 2010s, when foreign
[10:31] Speaker 1: companies began hiring and bringing their own porters, it felt
[10:34] Speaker 1: like a personal attack on this indigenous community. Still though,
[10:38] Speaker 1: by the beginning of the 2014 season, the Sherpas resumed
[10:40] Speaker 1: their roles and were busy getting everything ready ahead of
[10:42] Speaker 1: what was supposed to be an exciting climate season. As
[10:45] Speaker 1: they did every year, they began by outlining the new
[10:48] Speaker 1: route for that summer's climbers, this time rerouting it to
[10:50] Speaker 1: avoid passing by the mammoth serac that had caused previous
[10:53] Speaker 1: groups so much grief. They would need to remove old
[10:56] Speaker 1: ropes and bridges and replace these with newer ones over
[10:58] Speaker 1: new crevasses that had formed. It was a strenuous and
[11:02] Speaker 1: precarious job and sometimes took upwards of 30 trips per season,
[11:05] Speaker 1: but the Sherpas were highly experienced and continued on as
[11:08] Speaker 1: normal even in the face of uncertainty around their job security.
[11:12] Speaker 1: At around 6.30am on April 18th, 2014, 25 workers, mostly Sherpas,
[11:17] Speaker 1: set out to do just that. Adjusting this year's route
[11:20] Speaker 1: as well as carrying provisions such as tents, cooking equipment
[11:22] Speaker 1: and auction for the arduous journey ahead. Climbers had started
[11:26] Speaker 1: to arrive at Everest and were acclimatizing and everything needed
[11:28] Speaker 1: to be in place for the push to the summit.
[11:31] Speaker 1: Among the group was the cautious climber, Kaji Sherpa, who
[11:34] Speaker 1: worked his job reluctantly to put food on the table.
[11:37] Speaker 1: Another was then Dori Sherpa, who similarly didn't enjoy climbing.
[11:40] Speaker 1: but felt forced to take on the job to fund
[11:42] Speaker 1: his son's education. As did Mingma Nuru Sherpa, who was
[11:46] Speaker 1: previously a monk, but now the family breadwinner following the
[11:48] Speaker 1: death of his father. Aang Kaji Sherpa was one of
[11:51] Speaker 1: the strongest in the group, having already completed half a
[11:53] Speaker 1: dozen expeditions to Everest. A father of six, he had
[11:57] Speaker 1: played an important part on the National Geographic Everest Expedition
[12:00] Speaker 1: in 2012, delivering bowls of soup to the team during
[12:02] Speaker 1: their climb. Perhaps the most notable person there that day
[12:06] Speaker 1: was Dorhi Khatri Sherpa, known for his work as an
[12:08] Speaker 1: activist for the Sherpa community. He was well aware of
[12:12] Speaker 1: the risk he, his friends, and relatives put themselves in
[12:14] Speaker 1: to make ends meet, and he had previously led protests
[12:17] Speaker 1: to campaign for civil rights as well as action against
[12:19] Speaker 1: climate change. That morning, all the men were strung together
[12:23] Speaker 1: along a rope, having just repaired a ladder bridge across
[12:25] Speaker 1: a crevasse. Generally, while some repairs do require teams of
[12:29] Speaker 1: workers to be roped together, it's safest to disconnect these
[12:31] Speaker 1: and spread out as quickly as possible once tasks are completed. Otherwise,
[12:35] Speaker 1: this risks collective damage to the group if one person
[12:37] Speaker 1: falls victim to a fall or avalanche. Everyone working that
[12:41] Speaker 1: day knew this as most were seasoned workers who had
[12:43] Speaker 1: returned to their posts year after year, and indeed on
[12:46] Speaker 1: most days they would have been fine. Of all days though,
[12:49] Speaker 1: that day was not the day to break that practice.
[12:52] Speaker 1: Because at that moment, the Sherpas weren't just working on
[12:54] Speaker 1: the Khumbu Icefall. They were working at a specific location
[12:57] Speaker 1: effectually known as the Popcorn Field. The Popcorn Field is
[13:01] Speaker 1: a sliver of the glacier known for harboring large and
[13:03] Speaker 1: irregularly shaped ice blocks that resemble popped kernels. and it's
[13:07] Speaker 1: one of the most unpredictable landmarks on top of an
[13:09] Speaker 1: already ferocious body of ice. Most crucially, it's also the
[13:13] Speaker 1: location of the fabled 1970 incident, an incident that now
[13:16] Speaker 1: felt eerily similar to the events playing out that day. Unfortunately,
[13:20] Speaker 1: despite everything that could have been done to improve safety
[13:22] Speaker 1: over the years, all these shifting layers were about to
[13:24] Speaker 1: collide and crumble into something entirely unstoppable. At 6.45am, 39-year-old
[13:29] Speaker 1: Kaji Sherpa heard a crash like nothing he'd experienced before.
[13:33] Speaker 1: He turned around only to witness an explosion of rocks
[13:35] Speaker 1: flying through the air and hurtling towards him. Instinct kicked
[13:38] Speaker 1: in and Kaji knew immediately he had to run. That
[13:42] Speaker 1: very same bulging serac that had haunted climbers for the
[13:44] Speaker 1: past few years had finally grown too large to maintain
[13:47] Speaker 1: its balance. All at once, the pressure snapped and the
[13:50] Speaker 1: block shattered into thousands of pieces, each now catapulted through
[13:54] Speaker 1: the air at high speed. Measuring a colossal 34.5 meters
[13:58] Speaker 1: in thickness and weighing an unfathomable 31.5 million pounds, Its
[14:03] Speaker 1: size was on par of some of the tallest and
[14:05] Speaker 1: heaviest structures on the planet. Its area was larger than
[14:08] Speaker 1: an NBA basketball court, and its height was equivalent to
[14:11] Speaker 1: 11 of these stacked on top of each other. It
[14:14] Speaker 1: weighed around the same as the Spring Temple Buddha in China,
[14:16] Speaker 1: or the equivalent of 657 buses. And all of this
[14:21] Speaker 1: mass was flying down the mountain, directly on top of
[14:23] Speaker 1: Kaji and the others, tightly roped together and with the
[14:25] Speaker 1: weight of their client's equipment on their shoulders. Kaji managed
[14:29] Speaker 1: to get free and quickly ran, darting out of the
[14:31] Speaker 1: way of the avalanche and flinging himself to the side
[14:32] Speaker 1: of its path. Miraculously, he retained consciousness, but many of
[14:36] Speaker 1: his fellow Sherpas were not so lucky. As Kaji lay there,
[14:40] Speaker 1: he heard his friends crying out, pleading for help, before
[14:42] Speaker 1: some of these cries went quiet. He would later say,
[14:46] Speaker 1: there was nowhere to escape. If there was an open field,
[14:49] Speaker 1: we could have dropped the baggage and escaped, but there
[14:51] Speaker 1: was snow all around us that could have easily fallen
[14:53] Speaker 1: if we stepped on it, so we were helpless. 16
[14:56] Speaker 1: workers would die that day, including Teng, Mingma, Eng, and
[14:59] Speaker 1: activist Dory, who was identified only by his boots. With
[15:03] Speaker 1: such an immense overspill of snow, many lay trapped deep underground,
[15:06] Speaker 1: and after 48 hours of searching, including with helicopters, only
[15:09] Speaker 1: 13 bodies were recovered. The other three remained lost, still
[15:13] Speaker 1: buried to this day under 100 meters of snow and ice.
[15:16] Speaker 1: The circumstances had been almost identical to those in 1970,
[15:19] Speaker 1: only this time the death toll had increased. The entire
[15:22] Speaker 1: Sherpa community was shaken, unsure how to even respond to
[15:25] Speaker 1: such a devastating loss. Not only had they lost fathers, brothers,
[15:29] Speaker 1: and sons, but would now have to deal with the
[15:30] Speaker 1: increased financial pressure from losing their income source in tandem.
[15:34] Speaker 1: Those that survived also had a tough reckoning of whether
[15:36] Speaker 1: to go back to their posts. In the moments following
[15:39] Speaker 1: the disaster, the Nepalese government announced it would compensate each
[15:42] Speaker 1: victim's family 40,000 rupees, or around $ 400. Many felt this
[15:47] Speaker 1: was a pitiful offering and pushed for $ 10, 000 at least,
[15:50] Speaker 1: not to mention the cost of medical bills and insurance. Then,
[15:54] Speaker 1: just days later, the entire Sherpa population hung up their
[15:57] Speaker 1: boots for the year, banding together in solidarity and respect
[15:59] Speaker 1: for the dead. A spokesperson for the community, Tulsi Goering, said,
[16:04] Speaker 1: we had a long meeting this afternoon and we decided
[16:07] Speaker 1: to stop our climbing this year to honor our fallen brothers.
[16:10] Speaker 1: All Sherpas are united in this. Though there were some dissenters,
[16:14] Speaker 1: for the most part, not a single Sherpa stepped foot
[16:16] Speaker 1: on Everest for the rest of the 2014 season. The
[16:19] Speaker 1: south call route was essentially out of action, and the
[16:21] Speaker 1: Western climbers too abandoned their ascent out of respect. By
[16:25] Speaker 1: the end of the month, only 50 people remained at
[16:27] Speaker 1: base camp, less than 10% of those who had arrived
[16:29] Speaker 1: at April. The government would eventually agree to compensate the
[16:33] Speaker 1: families by around $ 5, 000 extra, but by 2015, many of
[16:37] Speaker 1: the Sherpas were still not ready to return their jobs. Heartbroken, enraged,
[16:41] Speaker 1: and in many cases, still not having received their compensation money,
[16:44] Speaker 1: they sought employment elsewhere. Although documentaries were made and funds raised,
[16:48] Speaker 1: their lives had been ruined with the shadow of what
[16:50] Speaker 1: happened to linger over them for years to come. Some
[16:53] Speaker 1: reform was won, like for example, the mandatory insurance amount
[16:56] Speaker 1: for Sherpa's work on Everest was increased to $ 15, 000, and
[17:00] Speaker 1: the south call route was redrawn once more, but it
[17:02] Speaker 1: was a drop in the ocean compared to what these
[17:04] Speaker 1: families had experienced. An award was also created in Dorha
[17:08] Speaker 1: Kati's honor, and Kaji Sherpa vowed to never climb Everest again.
[17:12] Speaker 1: The event was the single deadliest day on Everest and
[17:15] Speaker 1: remained so for just one year, until another avalanche killed
[17:18] Speaker 1: 22 in 2015, including both Sherpas and climbers. Despite their
[17:23] Speaker 1: prominence in catastrophic events though, avalanches are far from the
[17:26] Speaker 1: only hazard that mountaineers navigating the Khumbu Icefall have to
[17:29] Speaker 1: worry about. As well as the popcorn field and its
[17:32] Speaker 1: jagged landmines, the violent shifting of ice produces a far
[17:35] Speaker 1: more deadly and inconspicuous obstacle, and it's one already briefly mentioned.
[17:39] Speaker 1: Crevasses are created when snow and ice are pulled down glaciers,
[17:42] Speaker 1: leaving gaps behind them. These enormous pits can be unfathomably deep,
[17:47] Speaker 1: often extending over 100 meters down to the ground and
[17:49] Speaker 1: can measure around 15 meters wide. But their size is
[17:53] Speaker 1: only part of the danger, By far the most sinister
[17:56] Speaker 1: aspect of a Karaz is its ability to subtly blend
[17:58] Speaker 1: into the background for months, if not years, remaining undetected
[18:02] Speaker 1: as new snow falls, covering the hole and obscuring it
[18:04] Speaker 1: from sight. In a sense, they're the equivalent of a
[18:07] Speaker 1: minefield of deadly trapdoors, waiting on the slopes for unsuspecting victims.
[18:12] Speaker 1: And while they exist on mountains all over the world,
[18:14] Speaker 1: those amidst the Khumbu Icefall are some of the deepest
[18:16] Speaker 1: and deadliest on Earth. As of 2026, there are increased
[18:20] Speaker 1: safety measures to combat crevasses, seracs, and other obstacles on
[18:24] Speaker 1: the glacier, making the summit to Everest more achievable than ever.
[18:27] Speaker 1: And climbing Everest is more popular than ever, with over
[18:30] Speaker 1: a thousand successful summits in the 2026 season alone. And
[18:34] Speaker 1: with the memory of the avalanche becoming fainter every year,
[18:36] Speaker 1: the prospect of a steady, decent income began, for many,
[18:39] Speaker 1: to outweigh the dangers, with more and more men joining
[18:41] Speaker 1: as porters in 2026. One of these men was Hilary
[18:45] Speaker 1: Dawa Sherpa, Already 57, he was on the older side
[18:49] Speaker 1: for a Sherpa taking on this kind of work. Hillary
[18:51] Speaker 1: was working alongside another Sherpa, Pasang Kaji, to accompany two
[18:55] Speaker 1: clients to the summit, Chris from England and Marius from Poland.
[18:59] Speaker 1: It was the very end of the 2026 climbing season,
[19:01] Speaker 1: and May 29th had been announced as the closing date,
[19:04] Speaker 1: after which the route through the Khumbu Ice Vault would
[19:06] Speaker 1: begin to be dismantled. Chris, who was an ex-Royal Marines
[19:10] Speaker 1: veteran turned endurance athlete, reached the summit with Pasang the
[19:12] Speaker 1: previous day. Marius, on the other hand, decided to turn
[19:15] Speaker 1: back just shy of the summit at 8,450 meters for
[19:19] Speaker 1: some reason. And this would become important in just a moment.
[19:23] Speaker 1: A day later, he was making his way down the
[19:24] Speaker 1: mountain with Passang while Chris and Hillary brought up the rear.
[19:28] Speaker 1: On their way down, Chris noticed that something was a
[19:30] Speaker 1: little odd about Hillary's behavior. Mid-descent, high above Camp 3,
[19:34] Speaker 1: Hillary perched himself on his backpack without explanation. At first glance,
[19:38] Speaker 1: there wasn't anything too weird about that. Upon asking if
[19:41] Speaker 1: he was okay, Hillary simply replied that he was fine,
[19:43] Speaker 1: telling Chris to just go on without him. Chris was
[19:46] Speaker 1: cautious about this, something felt slightly off. He didn't know
[19:49] Speaker 1: whether he had any oxygen, he also wasn't sure if
[19:51] Speaker 1: Hillary's phone or radio were working properly either, but despite
[19:54] Speaker 1: his instincts, he felt compelled to continue on with his journey.
[19:57] Speaker 1: Hillary had apparently also stopped to rest like this many
[19:59] Speaker 1: times during the journey. Chris then continued, and as he
[20:02] Speaker 1: moved down the mountain, he could see Marius in the distance,
[20:05] Speaker 1: crumpled on the snow, looking as if he had passed
[20:07] Speaker 1: out entirely. Catching up with him, he saw that Marius'
[20:11] Speaker 1: oxygen had been entirely depleted and his hands were frostbitten.
[20:14] Speaker 1: He seemed to need help and he needed it quickly. Hillary, however,
[20:18] Speaker 1: was still nowhere to be seen. Chris then had a
[20:20] Speaker 1: decision to make. Should he go back and find his
[20:23] Speaker 1: missing Sherpa, who in his view seemed okay, or should
[20:26] Speaker 1: he devote his attention to his teammate who seemed to
[20:28] Speaker 1: be the most vulnerable of the group? In his mind,
[20:30] Speaker 1: it was a complete no-brainer and turning his attention to Marius,
[20:33] Speaker 1: he led him down the mountain, sharing his oxygen along
[20:35] Speaker 1: the way. The pair eventually reached Camp 3, where they
[20:38] Speaker 1: sheltered for around an hour and a half and waited
[20:40] Speaker 1: for Hillary. When he still failed to appear, they continued
[20:43] Speaker 1: on to Camp 2, where Passang was waiting. As the
[20:46] Speaker 1: hours ticked away, the three realized there was still no
[20:48] Speaker 1: sign of Hillary. The team then raised the alarm over
[20:51] Speaker 1: radio and Hillary was reported missing. As they made it
[20:54] Speaker 1: back to base camp, Chris was interviewed by reporters at
[20:56] Speaker 1: the BBC, relaying the story of the events that had
[20:58] Speaker 1: culminated in such a tragic disappearance. Meanwhile, bad weather on
[21:02] Speaker 1: the mountain began to brew, stalling rescue operations. The few
[21:06] Speaker 1: helicopter searches that did go ahead didn't find anything, and
[21:08] Speaker 1: five days on from raising the alarm, hope of finding
[21:11] Speaker 1: him had all but disappeared. Knowing the dangers he had
[21:14] Speaker 1: been up against, Hillary was sadly presumed dead. So devastated,
[21:18] Speaker 1: his family was informed and commenced the traditional Nepali process
[21:21] Speaker 1: of mourning, which involves funeral rites spread out over several days.
[21:25] Speaker 1: It was on the second day, six days after he
[21:27] Speaker 1: initially went missing, when Hillary's wife received news that no
[21:30] Speaker 1: one could have anticipated. As it turned out, Hillary was
[21:33] Speaker 1: actually still alive. Incredibly, he had escaped with nothing but
[21:37] Speaker 1: frostbite in his hands and exhaustion, and he was airlifted
[21:40] Speaker 1: to a hospital in Kathmandu, having been discovered by a
[21:42] Speaker 1: cleaning crew collecting garbage at the end of the season.
[21:46] Speaker 1: He had apparently made it all the way down, and
[21:48] Speaker 1: then while descending the Khumbu Icefall, Hillary fell into a
[21:50] Speaker 1: crevasse and became entombed in a deep hole underground. For
[21:54] Speaker 1: two days, he had survived there, melting ice to survive
[21:56] Speaker 1: and living off a pack of chocolates. He finally managed
[21:59] Speaker 1: to escape after an avalanche created a ramp of snow
[22:02] Speaker 1: allowing him to crawl out of his position. Not only
[22:05] Speaker 1: was this extremely lucky, but the sheer luck of surviving
[22:07] Speaker 1: a fallen Jokeross was remarkable on its own. But as
[22:11] Speaker 1: incredible as his survival was, as tributes and news reports
[22:13] Speaker 1: started to pour in, more and more information leaked out
[22:16] Speaker 1: from sources close to Hillary about just how remarkable his
[22:18] Speaker 1: story was. Because as it turns out, what you've heard
[22:21] Speaker 1: so far is missing some important context. Although Chris was
[22:25] Speaker 1: with Hillary before he went missing, he was far from
[22:27] Speaker 1: the only person who saw what happened that day. Allegedly
[22:30] Speaker 1: told it wasn't a good idea to speak to the press,
[22:32] Speaker 1: the Polish climber Marius later came forward with his version
[22:35] Speaker 1: of the events, entirely subverting the nature of the incident
[22:38] Speaker 1: and filling in some cracks in the public's knowledge that
[22:40] Speaker 1: until then seemed a little blurry. According to him, things
[22:43] Speaker 1: transpired very differently, and while it's a good idea to
[22:45] Speaker 1: take every account with a grain of salt and use
[22:47] Speaker 1: our own discernment, here is what he had to say.
[22:50] Speaker 1: Ahead of his trip, Marius claims that Hillary was not
[22:52] Speaker 1: initially intended to be a high-altitude guide. Instead, he had
[22:55] Speaker 1: been hired as a cook at Camp 2. It was
[22:58] Speaker 1: only when another of the Sherpas on the team became
[23:00] Speaker 1: ill that Hillary's role suddenly changed. During the acclimation climb,
[23:04] Speaker 1: Marius claimed that after 15 hours of climbing, he wasn't
[23:06] Speaker 1: given any food or water by the Sherpa accompanying him.
[23:09] Speaker 1: When he questioned this, he claimed that one Sherpa was
[23:12] Speaker 1: too injured to cook and the other didn't know how
[23:13] Speaker 1: to operate the stove. This obviously seemed unusual. Still, Marius
[23:18] Speaker 1: hoped that these were just teething problems that would be
[23:20] Speaker 1: ironed out during the summit push. When the group eventually
[23:23] Speaker 1: set off on the summit push though, Marius and Hillary
[23:25] Speaker 1: paired together, and Chris and Pasang paired up, which was
[23:28] Speaker 1: the opposite of the formation that had been commonplace during training.
[23:32] Speaker 1: Marius had gotten to know Pasang most during the trip,
[23:34] Speaker 1: but he was now having to put his trust into
[23:36] Speaker 1: someone entirely unfamiliar for reasons he didn't fully understand. It
[23:40] Speaker 1: was during this climb too that Hillary dropped a bombshell
[23:43] Speaker 1: after Marius witnessed him struggling while carrying the auction. He
[23:46] Speaker 1: had never summited Everest before. Marius was confused and to
[23:50] Speaker 1: put it bluntly, slightly horrified. His account also painted a
[23:53] Speaker 1: very different picture of who had been struggling earlier in
[23:55] Speaker 1: the climb. In his telling, Hillary was the one to
[23:58] Speaker 1: be worried about. As they approached the summit, Marius claims
[24:02] Speaker 1: he was worried about Hillary's ability to make it. He
[24:04] Speaker 1: claims to have left Hillary at an area known as
[24:06] Speaker 1: the balcony, and went on ahead alone. However, his jacket
[24:09] Speaker 1: zipper eventually wouldn't close, and crucially, he claims he didn't
[24:12] Speaker 1: have enough oxygen, so he decided to turn back. He
[24:15] Speaker 1: then returned to Hillary, but then continued on while Hillary
[24:17] Speaker 1: waited for Chris and Passang to return. Marius claims that
[24:21] Speaker 1: the tank he was given from that point onwards only
[24:23] Speaker 1: had 20 units of oxygen. He had paid for seven
[24:26] Speaker 1: tanks overall, but he claims they were nowhere to be seen.
[24:29] Speaker 1: He was soon out of oxygen, and just ahead of
[24:31] Speaker 1: Camp 3, his headlamp also failed. It was at this
[24:34] Speaker 1: very moment that Chris caught up with him, shared his oxygen,
[24:36] Speaker 1: and the two descended together. In his account, he was
[24:39] Speaker 1: only stopping for lunch when Chris caught up with him.
[24:41] Speaker 1: Either way, though, Hillary, of course, was nowhere to be seen,
[24:44] Speaker 1: and then Hillary's miraculous survival and rescue occurred over the
[24:47] Speaker 1: next several days. When checking in with Hillary after his rescue,
[24:51] Speaker 1: he confirmed that he had been hired as a cook
[24:53] Speaker 1: and not as a porter. Following the illness of another
[24:55] Speaker 1: Sherpa and the promise of a substantial boost in his salary,
[24:58] Speaker 1: Hillary revealed that he was pressured into accepting more and
[25:01] Speaker 1: more responsibility, agreeing to porter duties for the increased payment.
[25:05] Speaker 1: The auction, too, had an explanation, with Hillary confirming that
[25:08] Speaker 1: for every bottle of oxygen they lost, the Sherpas could
[25:11] Speaker 1: be charged a fee of $ 250. 00. Hillary said that the
[25:14] Speaker 1: pressure was so strong that even while stranded, he was
[25:17] Speaker 1: reluctant to abandon the cylinders because he feared being charged
[25:19] Speaker 1: for losing them. As of now, Nepal's Department of Tourism
[25:23] Speaker 1: subsequently opened an investigation, while the Nepal Mountaineering Association called
[25:26] Speaker 1: for an independent inquiry. Hillary himself, meanwhile, was discharged from
[25:30] Speaker 1: the hospital and returned home to be with his family.
[25:33] Speaker 1: But whether you believe it verbatim or not, Marius' version
[25:36] Speaker 1: of the events and Hillary's experience are a testament to
[25:38] Speaker 1: the continuation of an industry that seems to harm lives
[25:41] Speaker 1: as much as it makes dreams come true. almost a
[25:44] Speaker 1: symptom of an unchecked, unregulated form of tourism that has
[25:47] Speaker 1: been allowed to boom and bust with little thought to
[25:49] Speaker 1: any of the reliable but fragile constants that sustain it,
[25:52] Speaker 1: whether that's the workers and their labor or the stunning landscapes.
[25:56] Speaker 1: Whatever happened there that day, one thing is clear. No
[25:59] Speaker 1: matter what changes in the political environment, the Khumbu Icefall
[26:02] Speaker 1: continues to weave its way down the mountain. And every year,
[26:05] Speaker 1: Sherpas risk their lives ferrying climbers across it.

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