Alexey Bolotov

Over 340 people have died attempting to reach—or return from—the summit of Mount Everest which, at , is Earth's highest mountain and a particularly desirable peak for mountaineers. This makes it the mountain with the most deaths, although it does not have the highest death rate. The most recent years without known deaths on the mountain are 1977, in which only two people reached the summit, and 2020, when permits were suspended by Nepal because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deaths have been attributed to avalanches, falls, serac collapse, exposure, frostbite, or health problems related to conditions on the mountain. Not all bodies have been located, so details on those deaths are not available.

The upper reaches of the mountain are in the death zone, a mountaineering term for altitudes above a certain point – around , or less than of atmospheric pressure – where the oxygen pressure level is not sufficient to sustain human life. Many deaths in high-altitude mountaineering have been caused by the effects of the death zone, either directly (loss of vital functions) or indirectly (unwise decisions made under stress or physical weakening leading to accidents). In the death zone, the human body cannot acclimatize, as it uses oxygen faster than it can be replenished. An extended stay in the zone without supplementary oxygen will result in deterioration of bodily functions, loss of consciousness, and death.

Background

During the 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition, two people died en route to the mountain: an unidentified porter and heart attack victim A. M. Kellas. The first recorded deaths on the mountain itself were seven porters who perished in an avalanche in the 1922 British Mount Everest expedition.

In 1996, 12 people died trying to reach the summit, the most in a single year to that date. The number reflects the large number of climbers that year rather than a spike in the death rate: before 1996, one in four climbers died making the ascent, while in 1996, one in seven died. But it also includes the 1996 Mount Everest disaster on May 11, 1996, during which eight people died due to being caught in a blizzard while making summit attempts. Among them was guide Rob Hall, the first non-Sherpa to have summitted five times. Two books detailing the disaster, ''Into Thin Air'' by Jon Krakauer and '' The Climb'' by Anatoli Boukreev, both written by mountaineers who were on Mount Everest at the time, give conflicting accounts of the events.

The 1996 record was surpassed in the 2014, 2015 and 2023 seasons. There were few summits from the south in 2014 and none in 2015. On April 18, 2014, 16 Sherpas were killed in an avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall. On April 25, 2015, 19 people—the most ever in a single day on Everest—were killed in an avalanche at base camp after a 7.8 earthquake, which killed more than 9,000 people and injured more than 23,000 in Nepal. During the 2023 season, a total of 17 climbers died to and from the summit. Almost none of the deaths are related to one another.

In 2001, Babu Chiri Sherpa died from a fall near Camp II. He had climbed the mountain 10 times and spent 20 hours on the summit of Everest in 1999, then a new record. He also climbed to the summit twice in two weeks and held the record climbing time from base camp to summit of 16 hours and 56 minutes.

In 2019, 11 people died on Everest during a record season with a huge number of climbers. Videos shared on social media showed climbers waiting in long queues to advance up the mountain.

Due to the difficulties and dangers in bringing bodies down, most who die on the mountain remain where they fall. Two Nepalese climbers died on October 24, 1984, while trying to recover the body of Hannelore Schmatz. In 1999, searchers for George Mallory's body found his and other bodies in the snow in a catchment basin near the peak.

Melting glaciers are revealing bodies on Everest. The Nepalese government does clean-up efforts to remove trash left by climbers, and also recovers bodies along with these efforts. Four unidentified bodies were recovered in 2019. Another five unidentified bodies were recovered in 2024.

Deaths

Information on of the people who died climbing Mount Everest are listed in the table below.

By nationality

The table below indicates all the nationalities of the deaths on Mount Everest to date.

Some Mount Everest deaths had dual nationalities. The dual nationalities numbers are included in the table below and are marked by an asterisk (*) next to the country. This is to show that of the number of deaths from a certain country one or more death had dual nationality.

See also

* List of deaths on eight-thousanders
* List of Mount Everest death statistics
* List of Mount Everest records
* List of mountaineering disasters by death toll
* Mount Hood climbing accidents
* Rongbuk Glacier
* The Himalayan Database
* Timeline of climbing Mount Everest

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