Death on Everest

On the podcast: An American mountaineer describes the dangers of climbing the world’s tallest peak.

By , the executive editor for podcasts at Foreign Policy.
Climbers line a path on Mount Everest in Nepal on May 22. Rizza Alee/AP
Climbers line a path on Mount Everest in Nepal on May 22. Rizza Alee/AP
Climbers line a path on Mount Everest in Nepal on May 22. Rizza Alee/AP

This past spring, at least 11 people died trying to reach the top of Mount Everest, the tallest summit in the world. Overcrowding on the mountain caused human traffic jams along the narrow ridge leading to the top, contributing to the high death toll.

This past spring, at least 11 people died trying to reach the top of Mount Everest, the tallest summit in the world. Overcrowding on the mountain caused human traffic jams along the narrow ridge leading to the top, contributing to the high death toll.

New Zealand’s Edmund Hillary and his Nepalese guide, Tenzing Norgay, were the first people confirmed to have reached the top of Everest, in 1953. In the decades that followed, only the most experienced climbers set out for the summit, often after years of training.

But the 1990s brought the commercial era to the mountain—with catastrophic results at times. Hundreds of people have died over the years.

Woody Hartman, a Lyft executive from San Francisco, joined a mountaineering team in the Himalayas back in May. He reached the summit but found himself climbing over dead bodies to do so.

Hartman joined us on First Person in June. This is a rebroadcast of our conversation.

 

 

Tag: Nepal

More from Foreign Policy

Residents evacuated from Shebekino and other Russian towns near the border with Ukraine are seen in a temporary shelter in Belgorod, Russia, on June 2.
Residents evacuated from Shebekino and other Russian towns near the border with Ukraine are seen in a temporary shelter in Belgorod, Russia, on June 2.

Russians Are Unraveling Before Our Eyes

A wave of fresh humiliations has the Kremlin struggling to control the narrative.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva shake hands in Beijing.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva shake hands in Beijing.

A BRICS Currency Could Shake the Dollar’s Dominance

De-dollarization’s moment might finally be here.

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler in an episode of The Diplomat
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler in an episode of The Diplomat

Is Netflix’s ‘The Diplomat’ Factual or Farcical?

A former U.S. ambassador, an Iran expert, a Libya expert, and a former U.K. Conservative Party advisor weigh in.

An illustration shows the faces of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin interrupted by wavy lines of a fragmented map of Europe and Asia.
An illustration shows the faces of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin interrupted by wavy lines of a fragmented map of Europe and Asia.

The Battle for Eurasia

China, Russia, and their autocratic friends are leading another epic clash over the world’s largest landmass.