원정 개요

C1 at North Col
C2 on North Ridge
C3 on North Face.

No camps above Col slept in till summit push, but camps established from 28th April (C2). 1st summit party left C3 at 3:50 am, reached top 10:10 am (with Indians) and returned to C3 at 1:00 pm. 2 Norwegians slept at Col and Sherpas to ABC same day. 2nd summit team followed day behind and on top at 1:15 pm and slept in C3 (now without oxygen because gave his 2 bottles to fatally sick Austrian with Hungarians, Reinhard Wlasich).

Sherpas:
Dawa Tashi, Beding, atop Everest 4 times before, Cho Oyu once
Dawa Tshering, Beding, atop Everest 2 times before, Cho Oyu twice
Gyalbu, Beding, atop Everest 2 times before, Cho Oyu once


Personal View [by Morten Rostrup, published in British Medical Journal, 3 Jan 1998)

Mount Everest: A Deadly Playground

On 11 May 1997 five climbers died during their descent from Mount Everest on the North Ridge. Exactly one year and one day earlier eight people died during a storm below the summit. Seven more died later the same year, making 1996 the worst ever on Everest. As a doctor on a Norwegian Everest expedition, I partly witnessed and partly took part in rescue operations on the north side of the mountain where four climbers died. This was my sixth expedition to the Himalayas and my 12th to mountains above 5000m. The incidents illustrate important medical and ethical aspects of high altitude climbing, and should be considered carefully by expedition doctors.

On 10 May 1996 three Indian climbers were overtaken by bad weather close to the summit and did not make it back to the camp that night. Early next morning five climbers from another expedition headed for the summit. They met the first Indian climber alive on the North Ridge below the most difficult part of the climb, the Second Step. He was reported to be moving slowly downwards. Despite obvious need for help, the team continued and met his two fellow climbers above the Second Step, still alive, but suffering from altitude sickness, exhaustion and hypothermia. They were considered more or less beyond rescue. The team continued and reached the summit about 10 am. On their way back they verified the death of one of the Indians. They could not see the second man, but assumed that he had fallen down the North Face. The third climber was still alive further down the ridge. Too exhausted to give any help the climbers passed him by for a second time. A few hours later he died alone.

At the same time two members of a mixed expedition, climbers from different countries who did not know each other beforehand, left a third member alone in his tent at 7800m. He was suffering from cerebral edema, but his fellow climbers did not realise his condition, and they themselves were exhausted and suffering from frostbite and severe retinal hemorrhage after an unsuccessful summit attempt without supplementary oxygen. The condition of the climber in the tent deteriorated and a rescue operation had to be arranged. The members of his expedition were, however, reluctant to help him, probably because such an exhaustive operation would reduce their own chances of reaching the summit. After being urged by our expedition leader, they brought him down. He was now also suffering from pulmonary edema and severe frostbite, and was lucky to survive.