# Everest: Just Don't Do It **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 22, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397 "2016-05-22T21:31:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 53
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1041 "2025-05-16T14:44:02Z")
It’s all summits since 1905 tracked in the [Himalayan Database.](https://www.himalayandatabase.com/) I can’t attest to the completeness of it, but it’s generally regarded as the best source. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the chart above (click on the graph for more charts and tables). [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/4BRzoWX.png "Everest Summits over Calendar Year") ](https://imgur.com/a/everest-summits-over-calendar-year-6Eey2ha) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1042 "2025-05-16T15:15:53Z")
OK, the contrast on my monitors didn’t let me see to Sep/Oct lines. I’m sure the data is accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1043 "2025-05-16T21:01:10Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > There is the occasional summit in October or November, but it’s not really a season. Here’s a chart of summits by day through the year. Probably a chart of plummets would look about the same. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1044 "2025-05-16T21:14:31Z")
Wild ass guess, but I bet there are proportionally fewer deaths in Sept/October. People climbing then know what they’re doing. May is all the tourists. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1045 "2025-05-17T05:21:35Z")
Really? What makes you say that? ---
**Author:** ![DETXL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/detxl/32/19366_2.png) [@DETXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DETXL)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1046 "2025-05-17T07:09:24Z")
Everest itself might be an exception. The “member deaths by season” table (pp. 156 in the PDF you linked) suggests an overall death rate for the spring season of 1.54 non-personnel climbers, vs 1.19 for the fall season. That holds true for all 6000s (0.61 vs 0.49), 7000s (2.03 vs 1.43), and 8000s (1.58 vs 1.53). But for Everest specifically, the aggregated spring season death rate is 1.33 (142 deaths against 10,680 climbers above base camp), and the aggregated fall death rate is 1.72 (35 deaths against 2,030 climbers above base camp). The difference is reversed, and much sharper, for hired personnel—0.65 in spring (69 deaths, 10,597 personnel above base camp) vs 2.47 in autumn (35 deaths, 1,419 personnel above base camp) although it looks like the variance is strongest for Annapurna and Kangchenjunga, not Everest. | Cohort | Spring | Ascents | Deaths | Fall | Ascents | Deaths | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Member (all peaks) | 24,854 | 9,118 (36.7%) | 383 (1.54%) | 27,641 | 9,605 (34.7%) | 328 (1.19%) | | Member (8000) | 19,433 | 7,633 (39.3%) | 306 (1.58%) | 11,741 | 3,505 (29.9%) | 179 (1.53%) | | Member (Everest) | 10,680 | 4,931 (46.2%) | 142 (1.33%) | 2,030 | 190 (9.4%) | 35 (1.72%) | | Hired (all peaks) | 16,596 | | 149 (0.90%) | 10,858 | | 126 (1.16%) | | Hired (8000) | 14,545 | | 129 (0.89%) | 5,614 | | 69 (1.23%) | | Hired (Everest) | 10,597 | | 69 (0.65%) | 1,419 | | 35 (2.47%) | (from tables A-8, D-12, and D-13. I don’t think hired personnel ascent rates are tracked in that publication) ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1047 "2025-05-17T13:46:05Z")
Outside magazine names the two Nepali men who died earlier on Everest. Ngima Dorji Sherpa and Pen Chhiri Sherpa died earlier this month, but their deaths were not reported until this week. > **[First Deaths of the 2025 Season Reported on Mount Everest](https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/everest/mount-everest-four-dead/?scope=anon)** > > Our reporter has confirmed four fatalities, as well as multiple helicopter rescues from high on the peak ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1048 "2025-05-19T17:22:39Z")
Two abandoned their climb of Everest but decided to go from Camp 3 to Lhotse instead. Unfortunately they did not make it back safely. > **[Romanian TV journalist, Indian climber die on Lhotse, death toll reaches 4](https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/romanian-tv-journalist-indian-climber-die-on-lhotse-death-toll-reaches-4)** > > At least two foreign climbers died while attempting to climb the world’s fourth highest mountain in the Everest region, officials confirmed. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1049 "2025-05-20T02:43:49Z")
> [@DETXL](#): > > But for Everest specifically, the aggregated spring season death rate is 1.33…, and the aggregated fall death rate is 1.72… Thank you for finding this data. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1050 "2025-05-20T02:57:53Z")
Yes, thank you, very interesting and not what I expected. Now I’ll have to look at it by year. If the fall climbing season has more deaths due to weather, I’d expect deaths to decrease in the last 20 years as weather forecasting became more accurate ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1051 "2025-05-31T23:26:05Z")
Everest has been summited in record time: round trip from London to the summit and back in less than a week. Instead of the usual weeks of acclimatizing, these guys inhaled xenon gas prior to their trip. This is pretty wild. > **[These Climbers Summited Mount Everest in Record Time. Did Inhaling Xenon Help?](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-inhaling-xenon-gas-really-help-mount-everest-climbers-reach-the-summit/)** > > British climbers recently reached the top of Mount Everest in record time. They inhaled xenon gas before the trip. But was that the decisive factor? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1053 "2025-10-06T02:28:17Z")
> **[Snowstorm traps 1000 people on slopes of Mount Everest](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4ykkgxqwko?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark)** > > Rescue teams have been deployed to clear the snow on the world's highest mountain, Chinese state media reports. Looks like they want to break the record for the most deaths in a day on Everest. 😟\*\* . . . \*\* For the record, [19 people died on one day on April 25, 2015.](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/may/24/mount-everest-earthquake-nepal-jim-davidson) ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1054 "2025-10-06T04:59:49Z")
Remember that no one is summiting Everest in October. The climbing window is in the spring. IIRC, the climbing season is only possible because of a predictable seasonal shift in the jet stream pattern…the rest of the year the winds at the peak are over 100 mph. There are tourism packages that include various treks on the lower slopes of Everest, sometimes they go as far up as base camp. These trips require a reasonably high level of fitness but no special skills. It’s not how I’d want to spend my vacation, but it’s not particularly dangerous and I can see the appeal for more adventurous travelers, you pass through little Nepalese villages where you can buy stuff and hang out in tea shops. That headline is a little dramatic, it conjures up images of a large scale version of the air operations like the ones used after avalanches on the higher slopes. In reality, it sounds like a road washed out leaving lots of trekkers stranded on the lower slopes at and below base camp. I don’t even think it’s a particularly life threatening situation. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1055 "2025-10-06T07:50:26Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > Remember that no one is summiting Everest in October. The climbing window is in the spring. While most summit successes occur in May, there are two climbing seasons per year, spring and fall. Some have successfully summited in the fall. Added — Someone took Elizabeth Hawley’s database and created a bar graph. See the first image here, and note the successful summit climbs in October, and a very few in September. [[Album] Everest Summits over Calendar Year ![](https://i.imgur.com/4BRzoWX.png?fb "Everest Summits over Calendar Year") ](https://imgur.com/a/6Eey2ha) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1056 "2025-10-16T14:31:06Z")
> Kanchha Sherpa was among the 35 members of the team that put New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay atop the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak on May 29, 1953. He was one of three Sherpas to reach the final camp before the summit with Hillary and Tenzing. > **[Kanchha Sherpa, last surviving member of 1953 Mount Everest expedition, dies...](https://apnews.com/article/kanchha-sherpa-mount-everest-dead-nepal-a0a5ed445d41baae7ae9f6c347471666)** > > Kanchha Sherpa, the last surviving member of the first Mount Everest expedition team, has died at 92. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1057 "2025-10-16T15:23:23Z")
A member of one group reports hunkering down in a hotel near Everest and relying on a generator for electricity. They should’ve stayed [here](https://www.expedia.com/Namche-Bazar-Hotels-Himalayan-Lodge.h17527214.Hotel-Information?chkin=2025-10-30&chkout=2025-10-31&x_pwa=1&rfrr=HSR&pwa_ts=1760627792760&referrerUrl=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZXhwZWRpYS5jb20vSG90ZWwtU2VhcmNo&useRewards=false&rm1=a2®ionId=553248621592241088&destination=Everest+Base+Camp+I%2C+Koshi%2C+Nepal&destType=MARKET&latLong=27.987689%2C86.875575&sort=RECOMMENDED&top_dp=16&top_cur=USD&userIntent=&selectedRoomType=201864171&selectedRatePlan=209431302&searchId=2eab51d5-4dc9-4790-8724-3383fc0d6744). Cooked-to-order breakfasts and WiFI, for only $14 a night! Even the economy room offers bedsheets at no extra charge. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2025, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1058 "2025-11-08T00:41:43Z")
Climb without supplemental oxygen and ski down: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/cjZvFY6__qw/maxresdefault.jpg "I Skied Down Mount Everest (world first, no oxygen)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjZvFY6__qw) Brian ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2025, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1059 "2025-11-08T00:50:13Z")
Holy shit, he’s a mad man. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2025, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1060 "2025-11-08T00:57:04Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > There are tourism packages that include various treks on the lower slopes of Everest, sometimes they go as far up as base camp. These trips require a reasonably high level of fitness but no special skills. It’s not how I’d want to spend my vacation, but it’s not particularly dangerous and I can see the appeal for more adventurous travelers, you pass through little Nepalese villages where you can buy stuff and hang out in tea shops. The wife of a college roommate did the hike to base camp a couple of years ago along with several friends. (Prior to that, they climbed to Machu Picchu and another year, hiked Mount Kilimanjaro.) ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2025, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/1061 "2025-11-08T07:21:12Z")
Holy crap, watching that as a moderately advanced skier, that was incredible and terrifying to watch. I’m also astonished at how good the video quality is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397.md?page=52) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397.md?page=54)