Why the lure of scaling Mount Everest ends in disaster for most adventure-seekers

Most thrill-hungry amateurs enjoy the pull of making their way to the summit of Mount Everest without much care for their safety

Mount Everest, the highest mountain peak in the world (8,848 metres) has been climbed by hundreds since it was first submitted by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on 29 May  1953. In the next 70 years, the mountain played a crucial role in the development of mountaineering as an extreme sport with many attempts from other routes, leading to the evolution of techniques and, eventually, commercialisation. It has also been the subject of veneration and vilification, by the global media. 

An alarming picture taken by British-Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja Magar (Nimsdai of the 2021 Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible) in 2019 raised eyebrows globally as it went viral. It depicted hundreds of mountaineers climbing along the South Col for a summit approach, in what looks like an endless queue. He later clarified in an interview that it was perceived wrongly as the crowd was due to a rope-fixing issue.  

According to data published by Statista, the busiest time on Mt. Everest in the past ten years came in 2018, when 400 climbers reached the summit. That year, 457 employed personnel including Sherpas and porters also reached the peak, followed by 507 in 2019. For a mountain that remains favourable for a summit climb for approximately 10 weeks annually, a climb attempt for an individual costs in the range of US$40000 to US$50000, a hefty sum for Indians to pay. But it isn’t stopping anyone from trying.  

Playing with life and death

Mumbai based Harish Kapadia, now 78, has been a voice of import in the Himalayan mountaineering sphere after spending 50 years climbing the range’s mountains and glaciers. He edited the Himalayan Journal for 30 years and yet never scaled Everest, saying that his biggest motivator has been the philosophy of “to go where no one has gone before and pave the way for others”. The author of some of the most comprehensive books about climbing the Himalayas and the Sahyadris, Kapadia’s achievements or knowledge is not restricted to the heights of the peaks he has climbed. “There was a time when the Indian government wanted to control the number of people who would climb peaks in a season and we fought against it,” says the man who helmed the Indian Mountaineering Foundation between 1997-1999. 

In 2023 alone, India was abuzz with news of mountaineers who went missing, followed by reports about incredible and miraculous rescues from some of the highest peaks of the world. Baljeet Kaur, a 27-year-old mountaineer from Himachal Pradesh, set out on the path to a new record, climbing Mt.Annapurna without oxygen as the first Indian woman to do so. On 15 April this year, however, tragedy awaited her. Miscommunication and a lack of coordination between her Sherpa, a fairly inexperienced porter, and herself led to a life-threatening situation. However, her initial training at the NCC, tremendous grit and presence of mind led to an almost miraculous survival. Days after she was rescued from the slopes of Mt.Annapurna, a highly tactical, dangerous mountain with unpredictable weather systems, another Indian climber, Anurag Maloo, was found alive deep inside a crevasse after being reported missing for three days. 

Maloo was unconscious for weeks and posted on Instagram on 20 June, coining it as his ‘Re-Birth’ day. But not everyone is as fortunate.

In awe of the mountains

When Singaporean-Indian Shrinivas Sainis Dattatraya informed his wife of his successful summit on 19 May, he mentioned that he won’t be making it down as he had developed severe High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) before he went missing. Despite search operations, his body was not found, and a heartfelt social media post by his estranged wife brought tears to many. What started as a journey to become the first Singaporean to climb Mt.Everest and the adjacent Mt.Lhotse (8,516m) on a single expedition, became yet another cautionary tale for amateur climbers to heed. 

Upon being asked if she is trying to make or break records for fame, Kaur protests with shock: “I do not climb to prove anything to anyone, except the fact that with the right mentality and training, a woman too can climb any mountain in the world.” She is not the first woman to climb mountains and she won’t be the last, but her magnanimous strides towards the impossible stem from her deep faith and the high esteem she regards the mountains with. “I climb because I love the mountains. We need to protect them as they protect us. In my heart, I do not believe the mountains harm anyone, but it will be dangerous if anyone approaches it with arrogance and disregards training.”

A word of caution

A new breed of climbers has penetrated the expensive solo sport who are determined to make their mark in the now not-so-rare field of mountaineering. Meanwhile, rapid commercialisation of the business of climbing has led to those who may have needed more training to venture out, only to find themselves in tragic situations. The first woman from India to set foot on the top of Mt.Everest, Bachendri Pal, however, reportedly slammed the modern system of no restriction on the number of permits to climb as the reason for mishaps. She was quoted by a leading national daily, stating that Everest is facing an “overcrowding of mountaineers who have the money to buy support but lack the right intent, training and experience” at a commemorative event in Dehradun celebrating 70 years of the first successful ascent to the summit.

The alluring effect of fame, sponsorships for future climbs and the rush to achieve it all may be perilous in effect. During the climbing season, instances of avalanches apart, the overall number of missing individuals, and calls for rescues and even crowdfunding campaigns have become an observable phenomenon on social media. The citizenry remains divided on the rights and wrongs of mountaineering, as it has been for decades. Kapadia, however, does not believe that it's the mountaineers who need to be controlled. “In my time, people did not have the means to seek funds or sponsorships from so many sources. Today they can reach them and seek support; there is nothing wrong in it as there are no financial rewards for climbing mountains or setting records”, he explains over a telephonic interview.

He further adds, “We have annual religious yatras in the Himalayas that happen with millions of devotees, completely devoid of training or survival skills. In case of the kind of mishap that happened in Kedarnath that is a direct result of climate change, they are helpless. Mountaineers are educated people and one can make them aware of the perils of plastic pollution and its tremendously fatal effects on the ecosystem but that cannot be done with the public who go on these yatras in the Himalayas.”

The unfortunate truth

In the history of the perilous trail of Mt.Everest, 323 deaths have occurred from 1922 till May 2023, and the numbers have shown great disparity between the number of deads between the payer and the paid in certain years, raising uncomfortable questions about systemic racism and exploitation against the Sherpas. Fulfilling the lure of more income and fame, many local climbers are turning to the profession without the right mindset. As a result, the cases of climbers being left behind, and Sherpas losing contact with their climbers are on the rise. Instances of desertion, often to fulfill a roster that ensures more money, are leading to exhausted individuals accompanying paying climbers to treacherous mountains. There is no apparent solution to this highly diplomatic issue of nationality-based professions, at least in the Himalayas, where seven out of the 14 highest peaks of the world remain in Nepal. With all of the world’s highest peaks having summits in the Death Zone (7,600m+), the loss of life is an accepted outcome for anyone who wants to climb such a peak.

Yet, mountaineering has been and will remain a dangerous sport, with insurance fast becoming a significant contributor for young mountaineers who want to be known, fast. Movies like Everest (2015) and Vertical Limit (2000) as well as several autobiographies and books by veteran mountaineers have underlined the dangers of high-altitude climbing, simultaneously creating an alluring visual in the minds of the adventurous. While they all shed light on the potential casualties of the rich, the untrained and the disrespectful, the numbers increase every year, to the extent where serious climbers give up on Mt.Everest as it has become a 'tourist hike'. 

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