Overview of What Happened

Overview of What Happened

May 10, 1996, remains to be one of the darkest and worst days= in the history of climbing Mount Everest. The expedition involving two commercial outfitters Mountain Madness from the United States and Adventure Consultants from New Zealand. The team from the United States comprised of the guides Beildleman, Bourkreev, Fischer, and eight clients. The team from New Zealand commercial outfit comprised guides Groom, Harris, and Hall with eight clients. The morning incident claimed the lives of eight climbers. Each team assembled his clients, and the on 31^st Hall team set to the Base Camp while Fischer’s team arrived at the Camp on 8^th Aril.

The tragedy occurred as a result of human errors such as non- adherence to turning around times, failure to utilize supplementary oxygen as well as proceeding with the expedition amid the oncoming severe weather. Amid several challenges en route to the summit, such as bad weather, turnarounds due to illness, strong winds, and so forth, the team arrived at the summit on May 9. On descending, storm clouds began to move into the area, storm fall, and the wind picked up.  The climbers picked the remaining oxygen canisters, but as a result of fatigue and deteriorating bad weather, descending occurred at a slower pace. As such, the conditions of ailing Hansen deteriorated, Hall lagged to assist him. The weather became so horrific; wind chill was at 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the whiteout conditions prevailed. All these barred the climbers and guides from successfully reaching Camp IV and consequently causing the deaths of eight climbers, including Fischer, Hall, Hansen, and Dr. Weathers, among others.

Factors that Contributed to the Tragedy

A couple of factors contributed to the Everest May 10, 1996, tragedy. A combination of bad weather, poor communication, inadequate risk management protocols, and negligence from the guides and the side of the clients contributed immensely to the tragedy.

1. Bad Weather

It is evident that at the onset of the expedition, unsanitary conditions and polluted air in the villages was a challenge.  At the Base Camp, these conditions left several climbers with digestive and respiratory ailments. Taske, Kasicheke, and Harris developed intestinal ailments, Krakauer developed a persistent cough while Beidleman suffered from a severe cough. Beidleman’s condition prompted some climbers to question his physical condition and ability to guide during the expedition.  At Camp III, some of the climbers, including Breashears, opted to turn back during their summit bid owing to bad weather. These climbers spend a windy night at Camp III, and the weather was unstable for them to climb to the summit.

Bourkreev also points out that the weather was unstable for several days as high winds were blowing at higher elevations. At Camp IV, Bourkreev found Sherpas struggling to erect tents due to high winds estimated to at more than 60 miles per hour. During the descent to the South Summit, the weather turned from bad to worse. The storm clouds began moving towards the area, the snow started falling, and the wind gained momentum. The whiteout blocked the visibility of the climbers forcing them to spend more time searching for the route to South Summit. As such, the climbers collected the remaining oxygen canisters as they tried to descent faster. Some of the Sherpas and other mountain climbers remained at the mountain amid coldness brought by the bad weather.

1. Logistics Problem

At the onset of the expedition towards Base Camp, the climbers experience a series of logistics problems. First, the oxygen supply for the team from Russia to Nepal delayed as a result of a problem at the Russian border.  An issue with charter flight prevented the delivery of tents to high altitudes. The bad weather in Nepal slowed the progress of yaks transporting supplies to the Base Camp. As such, the delivery of oxygen canisters and the other supplies to the Base Camp delayed. Moreover, there was a conflict with Nepali porters, who demanded a huge wage increase. All these logistic challenges inserted more burden to the expedition guides who spent most of their time to resolve the issues instead of planning to acclimate themselves properly for higher altitudes and planning the team course of action.

• Negligence and Lack of Effective Communication.

Most of the time, the clients assisted him/herself. The negligence of the climbers also contributed to the tragedy. Even though the climbers noticed earlier that Fischer seem exhausted and his physical condition deteriorating, nobody questioned his plans to proceed with the expedition.  Even in Camp IV, the climbers noted that Fischer was still expecting difficulties trying to ascend, but nobody bothered to discuss his exhausted appearance.  Dr. Weathers was experiencing deterioration of physical conditions, and when Hall tried to send him back to Camp IV, he convinced the guide to go on with the expedition.

The guides also portrayed negligence and ignorance in their leadership towards the summit. When Kruse became ill, Fischer, opted to send him to down himself instead of sending him with another person. He claimed that Kruse was his friend; as such, Fischer could not help solve the rope problem. Fischer safety procedure was not effective. The procedure required him to be the sweep on summit day, but he remained behind, assisting the other clients struggling and turn around.  The logistic challenges impacted Fischer’s acclimatization and affected his physical condition. The Mountain Madness team only had three radios; thus, Fischer could not communicate with the climbers in front of the people. When the other climbers requested for Harris assistance with the oxygen canisters, Harris erroneously reported that there was no oxygen remaining in South Summit.

Risk Management Protocol in Place.

The Mountain Madness team, a risk management protocol, required the expedition leader, Fischer, to make the final safety decision. The team had three guides with radio, one at the front, the other guide at the middle, and the other behind the climbers. Such an arrangement ensures that no client was far from the manual or the radio at any time. The second protocol was acclimatization. The two teams began to acclimate in mid-April to strenuous physical activity at high altitude.  Acclimatization enables the climbers to be more resistant to high altitude illnesses such as high-altitude pulmonary edema.

Another protocol was carrying of supplemental oxygen supply. Supplemental oxygen enables the guides to have the mental and physical capability to assist the clients. Finally, the team used rope attachment to manage risks. The ropes minimize the risks. For instance, during the expedition, a falling boulder with the size of a small TV hit Harris’s chest, but he did not fall great since the ropes anchored along the route assisted him.

Risk Management Policies or Procedures to Make Everest Safe

A couple of risk management procedures and policies ought to be implemented to make Everest as safe as possible. One such policy is effective communication. The commercial outfitters and government ought to enact and strengthen communication policies. Every climber should at least possess a radio, though it should be light as possible, to ease communication. If Fischer and Jangsu had effective communication with the Sharpes and other mountain climbers who had to wait for Fischer to attach ropes as about 500m to the summit, thy would have reached the summit and descent earlier as stipulated before the storm.

Secondly, the acclimatization procedure ought to be revised and strengthened. With the right and adequate acclimatization, the mountain climbers will be able to avoid several high altitude illness and enable them to reach the desired destination at the stipulated time. Most turnarounds in the incident due to climbers’ illness contributed to the tragedy as it led to overutilization of the oxygen at one camp. Finally, logistic policies and procedures should be tightened up. The policy should ensure that before climbing the mountain, the team should have a sufficient supply of oxygen and other requirements needed.