Everest '96: Trapped in the Death Zone | Descent Into Darkness | 3
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Mike Groom plods down the southeast ridge of Everest, searching for a path through the fresh snow.

The 33-year-old guide works for a New Zealand-based company called Adventure Consultants. Walking slowly behind him is one of his clients, a 47-year-old Japanese woman named Yasuko Namba. Mike turns around and calls out to her. "Yasuko, it's 5 o'clock. We need to move faster." Yasuko nods and takes another heavy step. Mike can see that she's totally exhausted.

Two and a half hours ago, Mike, Yasuko, and their leader, Rob Hall, were celebrating at the summit. But shortly after they began their descent, it started snowing. And now the path they cut up the mountain earlier in the day is getting hard to see. They still have to travel 1,700 feet down a steep, icy slope before they reach Camp 4 on the south call. Mike looks up at the sky.

In a little over an hour, the sun will set. Mike knows what getting caught out after dark can do. Ten years ago, he lost all his toes due to frostbite after being stranded overnight while climbing in the Himalayas. They have to pick up their pace. Mike picks up his radio, desperate for any news from his team. He hears Rob's voice through the static. Andy, this is Rob. Do you read me?

Rob is still high up on the summit ridge with their client, Doug Hansen, who's collapsed. For the last 30 minutes, Rob has been calling out for someone to bring him oxygen. Mike hears his fellow guide, Andy Harris, respond. Rob, I'm still at the south summit. I checked the bottles again and they're empty. Mike presses his handset and jumps in. Andy, it's Mike.

I'm telling you, the bottles are full. Is your gauge frozen? Do you read me? Rob? Does anybody read me? Damn it! Mike is so angry, he wants to throw his radio off the mountain. All day, it's been malfunctioning, and he has no idea if his messages are getting through. He needs Rob to know that Andy is mistaken. There is oxygen at the South Summit.

Mike takes a few breaths to calm himself and then proceeds with Yasuko down to a small rocky ledge known as the balcony. There, he stops in his tracks. He sees a snow-covered figure sitting on a boulder. Slowly, the figure rises. Hey, Mike.

Mike recognizes the voice. It's one of his clients, Beck Weathers, a pathologist from Texas. Beck, what the hell are you still doing here? This morning, Beck had been experiencing vision problems and couldn't keep climbing. Mike assumed someone would have helped him back to camp hours ago. Beck explains that he promised Rob he would stay put until Rob came back for him.

Jesus, Beck. Why didn't you go down with the others? I promised. Well, you're coming with me now. Beck doesn't argue. Since Beck can barely see, Mike decides to short rope him, a technique used for helping a weak or injured climber. He pulls a rope from his pack, tethers one end to Beck's climbing harness and the other to his. Mike turns to Yasuko. Let's go. Yasuko nods and starts climbing down.

Mike holds the rope like a leash while Beck descends in front of him. The three of them are moving slower than ever. As the wind and snow continue to blast, Mike wonders how the heck they're going to get back to camp before darkness falls.

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On the afternoon of May 10th, 1996, 23 climbers reached the summit of Mount Everest. The majority were from two large expeditions, Mountain Madness and Adventure Consultants. Many of the clients had no high altitude experience and had paid tens of thousands of dollars to be guided by expert mountaineers.

As a result of delays, most of the climbers reached the summit well after their strict 2pm turnaround time. By then, all were suffering from exhaustion. Worst of all, a ferocious storm was moving in fast. As the climbers began their descent, it became a race against time to get back to camp before dark, and before the freezing temperatures and lack of oxygen took their lives.

This is episode three, Descent Into Darkness. Helen Wilton closes her eyes and tries to stay calm. A powerful wind is pushing hard against the adventure consultant's communications tent, where she's stationed at base camp. It's 5 p.m. on May 10th, 1996, and a storm has descended on Everest.

As base camp manager, part of Helen's job is tracking her group's progress and coordinating support when needed. Right now, several members haven't made it back to Camp 4. In two hours, darkness will fall, and anyone left out on the mountain will be fighting for their life. She's most concerned about three climbers still on the upper reaches of the mountains.

Guide Andy Harris is at the South Summit, while leader Rob Hall is near the top of the mountain, tending to their client Doug Hanson. The radio crackles. Helen, this is Rob. Please, can someone bring me a bottle of oxygen? Helen picks up her handset. We're still waiting to hear back from Andy. He's checking again. Andy, this is Rob. Do you read me?

Helen is perplexed. How could there be no oxygen at the South Summit? She'd worked with their lead climbing Sherpa, Aang Dorje, to ensure that a fresh stash was put there. It's inconceivable that he would have made such a mistake. She hears another frantic voice enter the conversation. Andy, it's Mike. The bottles are full. Did your gauge grow them?

She speaks into her handset. "Rob, Andy, this is Helen. Did you copy what Mike said? There is oxygen." "Helen, it's Andy. I'll check again." She sets her handset down and rubs her forehead. She can hardly believe what's happening. Rob is the most experienced and capable high altitude climber she's ever met. How could he have found himself in this situation?

She checks her watch again and feels a lump form in her throat. Even if Andy is successful in getting oxygen up to Rob, they might have to leave Doug behind if he's unable to walk. Rob and Andy would jeopardize their own lives if they tried to carry him down. It's a cold and brutal truth of mountaineering. It would be better to save two lives than to lose all three. Helen decides she isn't ready to consider that possibility.

She's going to stay close to the radio and do all she can to get people to safety. Lapsang Jengbu Sherpa keeps a close eye on Scott Fisher as they sidestep together along a narrow, icy ledge. The leader of Mountain Madness is moving erratically, and Lapsang is worried that one misstep could send his boss tumbling off the cliff. He can see the south summit about 50 feet ahead. If they can get there, Scott will be safer.

It's 5:15 p.m. An hour and a half ago, when Scott arrived at the summit, Lapsang could see that he was extremely exhausted and sick. Lapsang has committed to sticking close to his mentor and friend and bringing him back to camp alive. They reach the south summit, and Scott sits on a boulder to catch his breath. Lapsang sees one of the guides from Adventure Consultants approaching him.

It's a New Zealander named Andy Harris, and he's carrying two orange oxygen bottles. Lopsang, I need your help. Lopsang can see that Andy's eyes are half closed. His speech is slurred. He's probably experiencing hypoxia, a dangerous condition brought about by oxygen deprivation. Many who experience it feel disoriented and confused. Andy steps closer to Lopsang. I need you to bring these bottles to the Hillary step.

Rob is stuck up there with one of our clients. Lopsang hesitates. I... I need to stay with Scott. He is not well. He can see Andy's eyes start to glisten with tears. Please! I'll pay you $500. I don't think I can make it back up there. I'm just... I'm not feeling right. Lopsang lowers his head. All of his instincts are driving him to answer Andy's call for help. But he's exhausted.

and he already has someone who's depending on him. $500 is a large sum, but Lapsang knows what he must do. "I'm sorry. Scott is in bad shape. I must take him down fast." He turns away from Andy, walks over to Scott, and helps him to his feet. As they resume their descent, he looks back and sees Andy staggering away in the other direction, clutching the oxygen bottles.

He hopes Andy can summon the strength to get to his stricken teammates. Rob Hall sits at the top of the Hillary step, huddled close to Doug Hanson. Doug is fading in and out of consciousness. Rob unclips his radio from his shoulder strap. "This is Rob. Is there any update on getting oxygen up to us?" He waits for a response, but all he hears is static.

It's just before 6pm, and with each passing minute, he can feel the wind and snow blasting harder, and the temperature getting colder. Rob grips Doug's shoulders and shakes him. "Doug! You with me? You gotta stay awake!" Doug's eyes open, but he doesn't speak. Rob can see he's physically exhausted, and probably suffering from hypoxia.

If someone can bring up more oxygen, Rob thinks he can get Doug back on his feet and moving. He looks out and sees the sun drifting closer to the horizon. Once it's dark, the danger here will be magnified. Rob has been climbing in the Himalayas for 16 years now.

He's been in tough situations at high altitudes, but nothing like this. He tries to stay focused on the task at hand, but he can't help thinking back to this morning when Doug told him he was ready to quit. Rob asked him if he was sure,

And Doug decided to keep going. Should he have just accepted that Doug wasn't up for it? Why didn't he turn him around at 2 o'clock or 3 o'clock or 4? Rob hears a voice come through on his radio. This is Helen. Rob, do you read me? I read you, Helen. What's the status of that oxygen? Is Andy coming? I don't know. I haven't heard back from him. Rob forces himself to remain calm.

It's hard to fathom that he and Doug could spend the night outside, in the death zone, in the storm. Listen to me, Rob. You need to go down and get the oxygen yourself. You won't be able to help Doug by staying up there. Rob turns to look at Doug. He knows Helen is right, but he feels responsible for Doug, his client and friend. Leaving him behind is unthinkable. Rob, are you there? I can hear you, Helen, but I'm staying with Doug.

He clips his radio back on and shakes Doug awake again. No matter what, he knows that they have to keep moving if they want to stay alive. John Krakauer makes it down to the South Call, just in time. The sun is setting and the storm has escalated into a full-on blizzard. The 42-year-old journalist left the summit over five hours ago, and the journey back down has been harrowing.

The snow fell so thick and so fast, he struggled to find the trail that had been blazed earlier in the day. And then, about an hour ago, he ran out of oxygen again. Never in his life has he felt this cold and this tired. He decides to sit down for a few minutes before walking the rest of the way to camp. As he rests, his mind starts floating away.

He feels like he's having an out-of-body experience, as if he's observing himself from above. From this bird's-eye view, he sees himself dressed in a green cardigan and wingtip shoes. Krakauer squeezes his eyes shut and opens them again. He knows the lack of oxygen is causing his brain to go haywire. Hallucinating is not uncommon up here. Somehow, he has to hold it together.

He gets back on his feet and trudges toward camp as the storm roars around him. Through the white haze, he can see faint lights glowing in the distance. He moves toward them, and seconds later, the silhouettes of tents become visible. He feels a wave of relief wash over him. He made it. He staggers to his tent. He doesn't even have the energy to remove his crampons. He just collapses onto the frost-covered floor.

He's exhausted, but he's safe, and the others will be coming back to camp soon. They did it. They climbed Everest. It was scary out there for a while, but in the end, everything turned out all right. As the wind pummels his tent, his mind drifts away from the mountain and out of consciousness.

Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa takes a good look at his boss's face. Scott Fisher is sitting on a rocky ledge known as the balcony, and Lopsang is kneeling in front of him. Scott's face is caked with patches of ice, and his eyes are lifeless. Lopsang tries to put a breathing mask over Scott's face, but Scott pushes him away. Scott, you need oxygen!

Scott turns his body away from Lopsang, refusing to cooperate. Lopsang looks up at the sky. Darkness is falling on the mountain, and they have to pick up their pace, or they're going to be in big trouble. Ever since they left the summit three hours ago, Scott's become weaker, and his behavior has grown more erratic. Lopsang is struggling to keep his mentor and friend on course and moving down.

Suddenly, Scott pulls himself to his feet and shuffles towards the edge of the balcony. Lopsang leaps up and pulls him back by his shoulders. No, Scott! You're going to fall! Scott wrestles away from him. I'm too sick to walk down. I'm going to jump! Lopsang grabs him.

Scott tries to break free, but Lopsang refuses to release his hold. Suddenly, there's a loud boom. They hold still and look up, fearing an avalanche. An electric flash lights up the sky. Lopsang and Scott crouch down. Lopsang's ears are ringing. He feels like a cannon was fired just inches away from him.

It takes a moment for him to grasp that they're inside a storm cloud, and thunder is exploding all around them. He turns to Scott. The normally stoic leader of Mountain Madness is on his hands and knees, eyes wide. He looks like a frightened child. "I can't walk, Lopsang. I have to jump down to camp." Lopsang knows Scott is delirious, and probably hallucinating.

He's afraid of what he might try to do next, so he retrieves a rope from his pack and ties it to Scott's harness. "Please, Scott, we will walk together." Lopsang then grabs Scott's oxygen mask and tries to put it over his face again. Scott doesn't resist. He tugs on the rope, and Scott slowly rises to his feet. Lopsang searches the snow-covered slope for the path down.

It's up to him to keep the two of them alive. When you're hiring, time is of the essence. That's why more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide use Indeed to find exceptional talent fast. Indeed's powerful matching engine works quickly. So quickly that according to Indeed data worldwide, every minute 23 hires are made on Indeed.

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Head over to Symbiotica.com and use code ODDS for 20% off and free shipping on your subscription order. Mike Groom carefully lowers Beckweathers to the ground. Then he steps closer to Yusuko Namba, who's slumped down on the mountain a few feet away. Mike checks her oxygen gauge.

"Yosuko, you're out of oxygen. We need to take your mask off." Mike grabs her mask and tries to remove it, but Yasuko pushes his hands away. "Yosuko, there's no oxygen flowing in there. You're suffocating." Yasuko holds her mask tightly to her face. Mike isn't sure if there's a language barrier or if she's confused from hypoxia. All he knows is that if they don't start moving faster, the three of them could die tonight.

Since teaming up at the balcony, it's taken them almost two hours to move a thousand feet down the mountain. Mike's not exactly sure where they are. It's almost dark and the visibility is poor, but he guesses they're about 500 feet above the south call. Beck's inability to see is an even bigger hindrance than Mike expected.

He's lost track of how many times he's had to yank on the rope to keep Beck from tumbling forward and taking Mike down with him. As Mike looks back and forth between his two clients, he struggles to imagine how he can get them both to safety. Yasuko can't get up, and Beck can't walk on his own. Just then, Mike spots climbers coming down from above.

It's Neil Biedelman, one of Scott Fisher's guides, and a few of his clients, including Sandy Hill Pittman, Lena Gamilgard, Charlotte Fox, and her boyfriend, Tim Madsen. Neil calls out to him as he approaches. What's going on? You need help? I don't know what to do. Yasuko collapsed, and I'm short-roping back. Neil steps over to Yasuko. Let's head down together. I'll help her. You focus on Beck.

Neil grabs Yasuko by the harness and starts sliding her down, while Mike gets back on his feet again, and together the climbers resume their descent. As they get closer to the south call, they veer to the east, where the slope is less steep, and finally make their way onto the plateau. It's around 6.45pm, and everyone is on the brink of collapsing.

The wind and snow are raging all around them, and they can barely see their own feet. As Mike looks around to get his bearings, his stomach drops. He has no idea where they are. Anatoly Bukhriev trudges across the south call in a blinding whiteout. It's completely dark now, and a freezing wind chills him to the bone. He's moving north, in the direction of the steep incline that leads to the summit.

At least he thinks that's where he's headed. He can only see a few feet in front of him. He stops and looks back in the direction of Camp 4. He's relieved that he can still see the lights. Anatoly arrived back a couple of hours ago, ahead of everyone else from Mountain Madness. He expected that by now, 7 p.m., all of his clients would have returned. But most of them are missing. And so are all of his colleagues.

Neil Biedelman, Lop Sing Jang Boo, and Scott Fisher. Ten minutes ago, Anatoly set off to find them and bring them back to camp. He turns around again and continues moving north. But with each step, he wonders if it will be possible to go up the mountain right now. He worries that the ropes he'll need to ascend will be buried in the snow. Finding them in the dark, in this whiteout, would be like searching for a needle in a haystack with a blindfold on.

He turns to look back at camp, but the lights are gone. Without them, he's disoriented, unsure of where he is on the plateau. He knows that if he wanders too much, he's in danger of getting lost or falling into a crevasse. If he wants to help his team, he has to stay alive. He turns around and tries to retrace his steps back to camp, but all he can see is a thick blanket of white that engulfs him.

Finally, a faint glimmer of light becomes visible. Anatoly exhales, relieved to have found his bearings. He'll go back to his tent and wait for a break in the storm. And then he'll try again. Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa grips the rope attached to Scott Fisher's safety harness. Scott is a few feet below him on a rocky slope, and it's all he can do to keep his boss from tumbling forward.

It's pitch dark now, and the two of them have made it 300 feet below the balcony. Scott is weak and moving very slowly. At the rate they're going, it could take several more hours for them to get to Camp 4. Suddenly, Scott plops down again.

Lopsang steps over to him. Scott, you all right? Scott is gasping for air. Lopsang checks his oxygen gauge. It's now empty. I'm telling you, Lopsang, I can't walk. You have to go down with help me. No, Scott. I'm staying with you. Lopsang tries to lift Scott back on his feet, but Lopsang is exhausted, and he's a lot smaller than Scott. He can't carry him.

All he can do is drag him to a more protected spot where they can huddle together. As Lopsang gets Scott down to a small ledge, he senses that someone else is there in the darkness. In the faint glow of his headlamp, Lopsang sees that it's the leader of the Taiwanese expedition, a man named Makalu Gao. Lopsang saw him at the summit around 3 p.m. with two Sherpas. Now he's all alone, shivering.

Lopsang kneels down in front of him. His eyes are open. "Makalu, are you okay? Where's the rest of your group?" "I sent them down. I couldn't go any further." Lopsang looks back at Scott. He's rocking side to side, groaning in pain. "I'm sick. I'm sick. Go down without me. Please." "No, Scott. I'm staying here with you guys." Lopsang doesn't want to leave his mentor behind.

But Scott won't take no for an answer. Lob saying, you must go find Anatoly. He'll know what to do. He'll come and get me. Lob saying nods reluctantly. He understands that he won't be able to help Scott survive if he stays. So he agrees. Okay, Scott, I'll go down and send Anatoly up.

Lopsang makes Scott and Makalu as comfortable as possible on the ledge, then turns around and descends into the darkness. Lena Gamilgard staggers through the raging blizzard on the south call. The wind sprays her face with sharp ice crystals.

She's in a group of nine climbers. Six are from Mountain Madness, including herself, guide Neil Biedelman and fellow clients, Sandy Hill Pittman, Charlotte Fox, and Tim Madsen. The other three are from Adventure Consultants, guide Mike Broom and clients Yasuko Namba and Beck Weathers. For the past two hours, they've been stumbling around the South Col, desperately searching for Camp Four.

It could be 10 feet away or it could be a mile away. Between the darkness and the whiteout, they've lost any ability to clock their position. They're lost, they're freezing, they're out of oxygen, and they're running out of time. Everyone's starting to lose it. Yasuko and Beck are on the verge of passing out and are leaning on Neil and Mike for support. Sandy is utterly convinced that she's going to die.

Others are in a daze as their brains struggle to function in the thin air. Suddenly, Lena feels herself walking slightly downhill. She tries to form a mental picture of where on the plateau the ground shifts like this. But before she can figure it out, she hears Neil yell. Stop! Don't go any further! She stops in her tracks as it dawns on her.

They're at the far eastern edge of the calm, near a 7,000-foot drop known as the Kangsheng Face. Another few steps and she would have plunged off the cliff into Tibet. Neil calls everyone to come close to him. "If we keep wandering around like this, we're going to lose someone. Let's huddle up here and wait until there's a break in the storm." Lina agrees.

The climbers look around for a spot to protect themselves from the 70 mile per hour wind. But all they can find is a boulder the size of a washing machine. The nine of them gather behind it and hold on to each other tightly. Lena knows her survival depends on remaining calm and conserving energy. She thinks of a phrase that's helped her before. I'm not lost. I just don't know where I am.

I'm not lost. I just don't know where I am. She repeats the words to herself like a mantra as the storm attacks them from all sides. Snow starts to pile up on her, but she refuses to panic. She knows her time has not come yet. She's going to get through this.

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Neil Biedelman slaps Sandy Hill Pittman hard on the back. Stay with me, Sandy. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. Then you have to stay awake.

It's almost midnight, and for the last several hours, the Mountain Madness Guide has been hunkered down on the eastern edge of the South Calm with eight other climbers. They used to be on two teams, but now they're huddled together in one dog pile. They've been shaking, kicking, and hitting each other to try to stay warm and awake. Neil knows that if someone falls unconscious, hypothermia will set in, and they'll likely die.

Neil screams into the wind. The cold is so painful, it feels like torture. Months ago, the 36-year-old American was happy to sign on with his friend Scott Fisher as an assistant guide. This was his first attempt at Everest, and he took the job with no salary, just expenses covered. He knew it would be the challenge of a lifetime, but he never imagined he would be in this predicament.

His client, Lena Gamilgard, is beside him, shivering uncontrollably. "Neil, we're not going to last long. We need to make a move." Neil agrees, but the wind is still raging. He looks up to the sky and can hardly believe his eyes. The blowing snow has cleared just enough that he can see clear patches above and stars. As he looks closer, he can make out the silhouette of Everest.

He hears someone shout. "There's the Big Dipper! And the North Star! I think I can tell where we are!" Neil realizes it's now or never. "Let's get up. We're going." Neil urges everyone to their feet, but Sandy, Charlotte Fox, and Yasuko Namba are too weak to walk without help, and Beckweathers still can't see. Nobody has the strength to carry anyone.

But it's obvious that someone has to go get help, or they're all going to die. Neil speaks up. "If you can't walk on your own, you'll have to stay. We'll send a rescue team back for you as soon as we get there." The immobile climbers agree. Charlotte's boyfriend, Tim Madsen, is able to walk, but he insists on staying with her. Neil turns toward what he hopes is the right direction.

and leads three others, including Lena and Mike Groom, out into the storm. It pains him to leave anyone behind, but he's certain that this is the only way any of them will survive the night. Rob Hall clips his carabiner onto the next safety rope and urges Doug to do the same. It's the middle of the night, and the two men are inching along the narrow ledge between the Hillary Step and the South Summit.

It's pitch dark, and a violent wind is blasting them with snow and ice. Rob knows that below the south summit, there's a crook in the ridge. If they can summon a little more strength, maybe they can rest and get some protection from the storm. Come on, Doug. Keep moving. We're almost there. They're on the southeast ridge, with mile-and-a-half drops on either side.

so they have to unclip and clip back onto the safety rope, every 15 feet or so, at each anchor. Rob's hands are so frozen, he's having trouble using them. He has no idea how they've even made it this far. It's taken them at least eight hours to travel, what would normally take less than an hour. Doug is barely conscious in a zombie-like state, but is somehow managing to put one foot in front of the other.

At the next anchor, Rob looks for the rope, but he can't find it. He realizes they're close, maybe just 15 feet away from the summit. Be careful, Doug. Stay close to me. Just a bit further. Rob takes a few more steps, then stops and looks behind him. Doug isn't there. Rob scans the ridge left to right, but all he sees are white pellets of snow in the darkness. Doug?

His mind reels. Did he just lead Doug down the Hillary step and along the ridge? Or did his oxygen-starved brain imagine that? Only one thing is for certain. Doug is gone. He stares out into the black void. The emptiness is overwhelming. Rob makes his way to the small alcove below the south summit and curls up into a ball. He's totally alone on the tallest mountain on Earth.

in a living nightmare. Anatoly Bukhriev stands on the eastern edge of Camp 4 and shines a flashlight into the darkness. It's almost 1 a.m. on May 11th, and several climbers from both Mountain Madness and Adventure Consultants are still missing, including his colleagues Scott Fisher, Neil Biedelman, and Lopsang Jambu Sherpa. Anatoly has been waiting for a break in the storm so he can try to rescue those stranded above

but the snow is still blasting and there's hardly any visibility. He's about to return to his tent when he hears a sound cutting through the wind. "Help!" Anatoly steps toward the sound. He can just make out four figures staggering towards him. He recognizes Neil Biedelman and Lena Gamilgar. Her face is encrusted with ice and she's struggling to stay on her feet. Anatoly grabs her

and leads all four of them back to the tents. Despite her exhaustion, Lina is frantic. "There are five other people freezing to death out there. You need to hurry!" As Anatoly helps Lina into her tent, she tells him that the others are near the eastern edge of the south call, about a 15-minute trek from camp. His adrenaline surges. He knows he can't waste any time.

He hurries to gather cans of oxygen and a thermos of hot tea. Then he hears someone call his name from one of the Sherpa's tents. Anatoly unzips the flap and looks in. It's Lopsang. He's on the ground, writhing in pain and panicking.

Anatoly learns that Lopsang arrived back at camp just minutes ago after being lost in the storm for hours. "Toli, you need to go back up. You need to save Scott." Anatoly is confused. "Back up? Or across? Up!" Anatoly assumed that Scott was with the others still stuck on the plateau.

But now he realizes Scott isn't on the South Call. He's over a thousand feet up the mountain. He knows he can't rescue everyone on his own. So he races around camp to see if anyone else can go out. Nobody responds. Everyone he manages to rouse is either too sick or depleted to help. He tries not to judge. He understands how completely drained they all are.

Anatoly puts on his crampons and heads back out into the blizzard. It's still too dangerous for him to climb up the mountain for Scott right now, so he heads east in the direction Lena told him to go. Blinded by the whiteout, he just hopes he'll somehow be able to find the stranded clients and save their lives.

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This is the third episode of our four-part series, Everest 96, Trapped in the Death Zone. A quick note about our scenes. In most cases, we can't know exactly what was said, but everything is based on historical research.

If you'd like to learn more about this event, we recommend the books Into Thin Air by John Krakauer, The Climb, Tragic Ambitions on Everest by Anatoly Bukhriev and G. Weston DeWalt, and Left for Dead, My Journey Home from Everest by Beck Weathers.

I'm your host, Cassie DePeckel. Matt Olmos wrote this episode. Our editor is Alyssa Adams. Sound design by Joe Richardson. Audio engineer is Sergio Enriquez. Coordinating producer is Desi Blaylock.

Produced by Alita Rosansky. Managing producer is Matt Gant. Senior managing producer is Ryan Lohr. Senior producer is Rachel Matlow. Executive producers are Jenny Lara Beckman, Stephanie Jens, Marshall Louis, and Erin O'Flaherty. For Wondery. Wondery.

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