Hundreds of climbers are heading towards Everest’s ‘death zone’ – where dead bodies are left behind

Attempting to climb Everest requires months or even years of preparation. More than 300 people died trying to climb the mountain, but this fact does not deter many from venturing out

Thick, dark clouds fill the sky, with freezing winds carrying snow at more than 100 kilometers per hour. With a freezing temperature of around -34 degrees Celsius, snowstorms and avalanches are frequent, putting people’s lives at risk.

And these are typical conditions for the highest mountain in the world: Mount Everest.

The giant rises to 8,849 meters between Nepal and Tibet, in the Himalayas, with the peak surpassing most clouds in the sky.

An attempt to climb Everest requires months, sometimes years, of training and preparation – even then, reaching the summit is far from guaranteed. In fact, it is known that more than 300 people died on the mountain.

Still, the mountain continues to attract hundreds of climbers who are determined to reach its peak every spring. Here’s what it takes to make the climb and what motivated some climbers to reach the summit of the world’s highest peak.

“I thought I was in really good shape”

Jacob Weasel, a trauma surgeon, managed to reach the summit of Everest last May, after preparing for almost a year.

“I put on a 50-kilo backpack and did two hours on a stair climbing machine without any problems,” Weasel tells CNN. “So I thought I was in really good shape.” However, the surgeon admits that he felt humiliated after discovering that his physical condition was not up to the high level of athleticism required by the mountain.

“I would take five steps and have to stop for 30 seconds to a minute to catch my breath,” Weasel recalls about his struggle with the lack of available oxygen during the climb to Everest.

Climbers hoping to reach the summit typically do an acclimatization session to adjust their lungs to the increasingly low oxygen levels once they reach the mountain. This process involves climbers ascending to one of four designated camps on Everest and spending one to four days there before descending again.

This routine is repeated at least twice to allow the body to adapt to the decrease in oxygen levels, which increases the climbers’ chances of survival and reaching the summit.

“If we took a person and put them in the high camp of Everest, not even at the top, they would probably go into a coma within 10 to 15 minutes,” explains Weasel.

“And they would die within an hour, because the body is not prepared for such low oxygen levels.”

Although Weasel has successfully climbed dozens of mountains, including Kilimanjaro (5,895 meters), Chimborazo (6,263 meters), Cotopaxi (5,897 meters) and, most recently, Aconcagua (6,961 meters) in January, he guarantees that none of them compares to the high altitude of Mount Everest.

“Because no matter how well trained we are, when we reach the limits of what the human body can handle, it’s simply difficult,” he continues.

At its highest altitude, Everest is almost incapable of supporting human life and most climbers use supplemental oxygen above seven meters. Lack of oxygen poses one of the biggest threats to climbers trying to reach the summit, with levels dropping to less than 40% once they reach Everest’s “death zone”.

“It’s hard to survive up there”

The climbers’ first objective is Everest base camp, at around 5,180 meters above sea level, which takes around two weeks. Then, they ascend to the three remaining fields located along the mountain.

The fourth camp, the last before the summit, lies along the edge of the death zone at 7,924 meters, exposing climbers to an extremely thin layer of air, sub-zero temperatures and winds strong enough to throw a person off their feet. mountain.

“It’s hard to survive up there,” Weasel tells CNN. He remembers passing bodies of climbers who died on the mountain—which isn’t unusual. The bodies of the fallen climbers are well preserved, exhibiting little to no decomposition due to the intense cold temperatures.

“I’m probably more familiar with death and the loss of life than most people,” says the surgeon. “For me, it was just a reminder of the gravity of the situation and the fragility of what life is… even more motivation to appreciate the opportunity.”

High-altitude cerebral edema (ECGA) is one of the most common illnesses climbers face when trying to reach the summit. “The brain runs out of oxygen,” explains Weasel.

ECGA results in brain swelling as it attempts to regain stable oxygen levels, causing drowsiness and difficulty speaking and thinking. This confusion is often accompanied by blurred vision and sporadic episodes of delirium.

“I had auditory hallucinations where I heard voices [de amigos] I thought they were coming from behind me,” Weasel recalls. “And I had visual hallucinations,” he adds. “I was seeing my children’s and my wife’s faces coming out of the rocks.”

Weasel recalls running into a friend, Orianne Aymard, who was trapped on the mountain due to an injury. “I remember looking at her for about five minutes and just saying, ‘I’m so sorry,'” says Weasel.

“I spent more than a decade of my life training to help people as a surgeon and to be in a position where there is someone who needs our help and we are unable to offer any assistance… it was difficult to deal with that feeling of helplessness” , says Weasel to CNN.

Aymard survived. She was rescued and suffered several broken bones in her foot, in addition to severe frostbite on her hands. Despite all her injuries, Aymard is considered one of the lucky ones.

“The bodies are frozen on the mountain”

Everest has long been a tomb for climbers who could not handle adverse conditions or accidents on its slopes.

When a loved one or fellow climber is seriously injured or dies on the mountain, it’s routine to leave them behind if they can’t be saved, according to Alan Arnette, a mountaineering coach who summited Everest in 2014.

“What most teams do, out of respect for the climber, is take the body out of sight,” he says. And that only happens if they can.

“Sometimes this is not practical due to bad weather or because bodies are frozen on the mountain,” Arnette explains to CNN. “So it’s very difficult to move them.”

Seeing a dead body on Everest is comparable to seeing a horrific car accident, according to the mountain coach. “You don’t turn around and go home,” says Arnette. “We slow down respectfully…or we say a prayer for that person and then we move on.”

It has been 10 years since the deadliest accident on the world’s highest mountain, after an avalanche killed 12 Sherpa guides. And 2023 was recorded as the deadliest year on Everest, with 18 fatalities on the mountain – including five people who have not yet been found.

The process of recovering bodies is extensive, sometimes impossible. Helicopter rescues and search missions are challenging due to the high altitude and often treacherous conditions, resulting in the deaths of some rescuers in their attempts to save others.

“See the sunrise at an altitude of 8,839 meters”

The 914 meter climb from the fourth camp to the summit can take between 14 and 18 hours. Therefore, climbers usually leave it at night.

“That whole night was cold,” Weasel recalls. “It was dark, very windy.” But in the morning it proved to be worth it, he says.

“Seeing the sunrise at an altitude of 8,839 meters and seeing the shadow of the Everest pyramid cast in the valley below us…”, Weasel tells CNN. “It was probably one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life,” he continues.

“It’s strange to be up there and know that everything else on the planet is below where we are.”

The size of the mountain is humiliating, says the surgeon. “I’ve never felt so small,” he recalls. “This mix of humility and connection to something greater than ourselves is the appropriate place from which we should approach our existence on this planet.”

Like Weasel, Arnette reached the summit at sunrise and had the same “small” feeling. At the top, there were “more mountains than you can count,” Arnette recalls. “It was a feeling of enormous gratitude and at the same time I knew I had to get back down.”

After about 20 minutes to an hour, climbers typically begin their descent back to the base of the mountain.

“Bigger than you”

Before leaving for Nepal, Weasel was presented with an eagle feather as a sign of his Native American heritage.

He was determined to plant the feather at the top of Everest “as a symbol of our people and what we have endured over the last few hundred years,” Weasel admits to CNN. “Showing that our spirit is not broken, but that we are capable of rising above the things that have happened to us,” he adds.

“I remember placing that eagle feather on top of the world and the feeling of true privilege I felt representing our people.” And that’s why he decided to reach the top of Everest, to be an example that anything is possible for indigenous children and their tribe.

“Knowing what it’s like up there, for me personally, the only real justification for going and putting our lives, and other lives, at risk is if we’re climbing for a reason that’s much bigger than ourselves,” says Weasel .

Arnette attempted to climb Everest three times before reaching the summit.

“My first three tries, I didn’t really know why,” says Arnette. When her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, she saw the purpose of climbing differently.

“I wanted to do it to raise funds for Alzheimer’s disease and honor my mother,” he says.

There are about 300 people who have received a permit from the Nepal government to climb the mountain this year, according to Arnette. The number is decreasing compared to previous years.

“I think one of the reasons is the fact that we had 18 deaths last year and people realized that Mount Everest is a dangerous mountain.”

However, he does not believe this should stop climbers from trying to reach the summit. “I’m a big believer that when we climb these mountains, we come home a better version of ourselves,” Arnette tells CNN.

“Everest has become too commercialized, with ‘you’re stepping on dead bodies’ and ‘it’s full of rubbish'”, says the mountain coach. “The reality is that it’s a very small level of all of this, but there’s a lot of joy that people get from doing it,” he continues.

“And that’s the reason we climb mountains.”