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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. Numerous climbers were at a high altitude on Everest during the storm including the Adventure Consultants team, led by Rob Hall, and the Mountain Madness team, led by Scott Fischer. While climbers died on both the North Face and South Col approaches, the events on the latter were more widely reported. Four members of the Adventure Consultants expedition died, including Hall, while Fischer was the sole casualty of the Mountain Madness expedition. Three officers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police also died. Following the disaster, several survivors wrote memoirs. Journalist Jon Krakauer, on assignment from Outside magazine and on the Adventure Consultants team, published Into Thin Air (1997) which became a bestseller. Anatoli Boukreev, a guide in the Mountain Madness team, felt impugned by the book and co-authored a rebuttal called The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest (1997). Beck Weathers, of Hall's expedition, and Lene Gammelgaard, of Fischer's expedition, wrote about their experiences in their respective books, Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest (2000) and Climbing High: A Woman's Account of Surviving the Everest Tragedy (2000). In 2014, Lou Kasischke, also of Hall's expedition, published his own account in After the Wind: 1996 Everest Tragedy, One Survivor's Story. In addition to the members of the Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness teams, Mike Trueman, who coordinated the rescue from Base Camp, contributed The Storms: Adventure and Tragedy on Everest (2015). Graham Ratcliffe, who climbed to the South Col of Everest on 10 May, noted in A Day to Die For (2011) that weather reports forecasting a major storm developing after 8 May and peaking in intensity on 11 May were delivered to expedition leaders. Hall and Fischer received these before their planned summit attempts on 10 May. Some of their teams summited Everest during an apparent break in this developing storm only to descend into the full force of it late on 10 May. Climbers The following is a list of climbers en route to the summit on 10 May 1996 via the South Col and Southeast Ridge, organized by expedition and role. All ages are as of 1996. Adventure Consultants The Adventure Consultants' 1996 Everest expedition, led by Rob Hall, consisted of 19 people, including eight clients. Guides Rob Hall (35) – expedition leader; died near the South Summit Michael Groom (37) Andy Harris (31) – disappeared near the South Summit while assisting Hall Clients Frank Fischbeck (53) – had attempted Everest three times and reached the South Summit in 1994 Doug Hansen (46) – had previously attempted Everest with Hall's team in 1995; disappeared near the South Summit while descending with Hall Stuart Hutchison (34) – youngest client on Hall's team; previous 8,000 m experiences included K2 winter expedition in 1988, Broad Peak west ridge in 1992, and Everest north side in 1994 Lou Kasischke (53) – had climbed six of the Seven Summits Jon Krakauer (42) – journalist on assignment from Outside magazine; an accomplished technical climber, but had no experience in climbing peaks over 8,000 m Yasuko Namba (47) – had climbed six of the Seven Summits; became the oldest woman to summit Everest at the time; died on the South Col John Taske (56) – oldest climber on the Adventure Consultants team; no 8,000 m experience Beck Weathers (49) – had been climbing for 10 years and was also making a bid for the Seven Summits, but had no 8,000 m experience Sherpas Sardar Ang Dorje (26) Arita Chuldum Kami Lhakpa Chhiri Ngawang Norbu Tenzing Lopsang The Sherpas listed above were the climbing Sherpas hired by Rob Hall's Adventure Consultants. There were many other Sherpas working at lower elevations who performed duties vital to the Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness expeditions. Most climbing Sherpas' duties require them to ascend at least as high as Camp III or IV, but not all of them summit. The expedition leaders intend for only a select few of their climbing Sherpas to summit. Legendary Sardar Apa Sherpa was scheduled to accompany the Adventure Consultants group but withdrew due to family commitments. With the exception of Namba, none of the clients on Hall's team had ever reached the summit of an 8,000-meter peak, and only Fischbeck, Hansen, and Hutchison had previous high-altitude Himalayan experience. Hall had also brokered a deal with Outside magazine for advertising space in exchange for a story about the growing popularity of commercial expeditions to Everest. Krakauer was originally slated to climb with Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness team, but Hall landed him, at least in part, by agreeing to reduce Outside's fee for Krakauer's spot on the expedition to less than cost. As a result, Hall was paying out-of-pocket to have Krakauer on his team. Mountain Madness The Mountain Madness 1996 Everest expedition, led by Scott Fischer, consisted of 19 people, including 8 clients. Guides Scott Fischer (40) – lead climbing guide; died on the Southeast ridge balcony 350 m (1,150 ft) below the South Summit Neal Beidleman (36) – professional outdoorsman Anatoli Boukreev (38) – professional mountaineer, in 1997 was awarded the David A. Sowles Memorial Award by the American Alpine Club Clients Martin Adams (47) – had climbed Aconcagua, Denali, and Kilimanjaro Charlotte Fox (38) – had climbed all 53 of the 14,000 ft (4,267 m) peaks in Colorado and two 8,000 m peaks, Gasherbrum II and Cho Oyu Lene Gammelgaard (35) Dale Kruse (45) – long-term personal friend of Fischer's and the first to sign up for the 1996 expedition Tim Madsen (33) – had climbed extensively in the Colorado and Canadian Rockies, but had no 8,000 m experience Sandy Hill Pittman (41) – had climbed six of the Seven Summits Pete Schoening (68) – one of the first to climb Gasherbrum I and Mount Vinson; known for singlehandedly saving the lives of six team members during a mass fall in the American expedition on K2 in 1953 Klev Schoening (38) – Pete's nephew and a former US national downhill ski racer; no 8,000 m experience Sherpas Sardar Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa (23) "Big" Pemba Nawang Dorje Ngawang Sya Kya Ngawang Tendi Ngawang Topche (died a few months later from HAPE he contracted during hauling duties to Camp II) Tashi Tshering Tendi c c.^ The Sherpas listed above were the climbing Sherpas hired by Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness expedition. Ngawang Topche was hospitalized in April; he had deve.... Discover the Graham Ratcliffe popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Graham Ratcliffe books.