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Everest '96 Disaster | Boukreev v. Krakauer | Bus 142 & Into The Wild

Everest Mystery

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LIVE DISCUSSION* "Villains and Heroes" with Thom Pollard (from 14 June 2024) covering the 1996 Mount Everest disaster and the controversy between Anatoli Boukreev and Jon Krakauer, as well as the deadly allure and mystique of Christopher McCandless's odyssey into the Alaskan wilderness and his untimely death by starvation in Bus 142.

TIME STAMPS BELOW

I was notified by a viewer about an incorrect statement made in the video, having already moved onto the next thought, and didn't catch myself. I hadn't caught that when mentioning the team that Doug Hansen and Yasuka Namba were on, I apparently said Mountain Madness, which we know is incorrect. They were on the Adventure Consultants team with Rob Hall.

Individuals who lost their lives during storm of 1996
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
South/Nepal:
Yasuko Namba (client) - Japan
Rob Hall (owner Adventure Consultants) - New Zealand
Scott Fischer (owner Mountain madness) - USA
Andy Harris (guide) - New Zealand
Doug Hansen (client) - USA

North/Tibet
Dorje Morup (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) - India
Tsewang Paljor (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) - India
Tsewang Samanla (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) - India
==============================

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Here are the two recent videos we will begin discussing in our live feed.
Anatoli Boukreev's Controversial Actions in the '96 Everest Disaster
This Man Saved Lives on Everest — But Was ...

Dying to Reach Bus 142 - The Allure of Chris McCandless' Tragic Story
The Magic Bus? The Dark History of INTO TH...

TIME STAMPS

00:00 - villain or hero?
01:05 - results of recent Everest mystery poll question
02:15 - relate Everest ‘96 to Gasherbrum II experience in 1996
05:58- Everest ‘96, powerlessness of the guides and the sherpa
08:51 - things that happened on Everest leading up to the storm worth considering
9:24 - Ngawang Topche Sherpa sickness and death
11:03 - Scott Fischer’s personality a factor
12:40 - Scott Fischer and concerns for Pete Schoening
14:01 - lacking in amount of O2 for summit, and strength of teams
16:19 - what it’s like being in the death zone
18:25 - Mountain Madness clients on the edge during descent from summit
20:10 - strength of Jon Krakauer as a client & Boukreev’s agreement with Fischer to descend early as well as to guide without bottled oxygen
25:13 - Lopsang and fixed ropes situation, short-roping Sandy Pittman
28:30 - clients’ responsibility for causing deaths
43:55 - Neil Beidleman’s understanding of Boukreev climbing without O2
55:49 - delays on summit day
58:53 - Chris McCandless and Bus 142
1:01:01 - weakness of Boukreev’s book The Climb v. Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air
1:02:12 - Into the Wild book by Krakauer
1:06:47 - relating to Bradford Washburn and Bob Bates escaping Mount Lucania and how they crossed the river to safety
1:09:10 - is Chris McCandless a hero or villain
1:11:40 - Ed Viesturs and David Breashears assisting with rescue after storm on Everest
1:16:40 - would a tragedy like Everest ‘96 be able to happen on Everest today and exploitation on the mountain now with many new operators

Sincerely,
Everest Mystery

20 Comments

@EverestMystery Creator 1 year ago Pinned

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@colleenrudolph1501 1 year ago

Look this is really simple. Rob Hall and Scott Fisher DID NOT DO THEIR JOB, period. They didn't stay with their groups, they didn't enforce the turnaround, they didn't stock enough oxygen. Rob Hall left a blind guy on the mountain that should have been down immediately. Scott Fisher tried to climb everest 3 times in one day and no one listened to the film crew which was probably the strongest group on the mountain

@macbubba-z9i 2 years ago

I think people frequently misunderstand Boukreev’s perspective about his role on Fisher’s team. You read the Climb and Above the Clouds, and it’s very clear he did not view himself as an “assistant hand holder” for the clients. He saw himself as responsible for carrying gear, fixing rope, and advising Scott on technical issues. He believed clients should be strong and self-sufficient. His decision to hike down ahead of the clients on May 10th makes perfect sense from this perspective. This decision didn’t bother me at all. Boukreev was never going to stand next to Pittman all day saying, “Great job Ms. Pittman. Would you like some hot tea Ms. Pittman. Can I lay my coat down for you to sit on Ms. Pittman.” Yeah right! Krakauer may have expected that from Boukreev, but that wasn’t reality. It also makes me so mad that ONLY clients from Krakauer’s team died. Not a single client on Boukreev’s team died, yet Krakauer blames Boukreev. Lets not forget Krakauer hauled ass down the mountain, ditched his colleagues, and zipped himself into his tent, never to reappear until the storm passed. He didnt provide a lick of assistance when the going got tough, whereas Boukreev risked his life multiple times. Blaming Boukreev in any way for this tragedy is flat out dishonest and unfair. It makes my blood boil just thinking that Krakauer had the gall to insult a man who did nothing wrong. If Krakauer was so worried about his team, maybe he should have stuck around to help them down. Rather than blaming a guide on a different team for not taking Krakauer’s responsibilities onto his shoulders. By far the most irresponsible person on this trip was Rob Hall. He violated so many rules and put all his clients in harms way. No disrespect to Hall following his passing. It’s easy to understand why he wanted to get to the summit, but Krakauer points his finger at the wrong guy.

@LKnight32 1 year ago

So for me the two main points about Boukreev’s role in this is that the only person who says he was supposed to be using oxygen is Neal B but there is a video from just before the trip of Scott saying how Boukreev wasn’t going to be using oxygen on the climb because he was a monster at altitude so Scott knew perfectly well he wasn’t going to use it. The second point is that he did wait at the summit for over an hour before he descended and back in 1996 the hand holding guide wasn’t a business model as it is now, it was a new thing so there wasn’t all these rules the guides were supposed to follow. Everyone knew the type of climber Boukreev was, if Scott wanted a guide to hold a clients hand he knew that wouldn’t be Boukreev but he hired him anyway. If the guiding style wasn’t right that’s on Scott for hiring the wrong guide.

Also Rob Hall is the “Villain” for lack of a better term as he made so many mistakes, he even sold his tour to his clients with a completely different guide team as the IMAX team out paid him because he let Krakour on the trip for just the cost of the permit he was essentially paying for all of the food and kit for Krakour out of pocket and gave Doug H a massive discount to go back after failing the year before he was essentially doing the climb for next to nothing but promised advertising slots in outdoor magazine and any positive spin the article Krakour was initially hired to right could give him which massively clouded his judgement and made him go against almost of the safety protocols he himself had imposed.

@Red19UK 2 years ago

Ive recently discovered your channel, and have been binge watching, absolutely fascinating stuff.

@Sandra_HereToSeeTheDuctTape 2 years ago

I know, you don't want negative comments but I can't help it...
I need to complain...
no way around it...
sorry...
...
...
It was too short! The video was way too short! You are an amazing storyteller and I not only love to hear stories about Mount Everest but also about Chris McCandless. I could have listened to you for another 1,5 or 2 or 3 hours. ☺ And to make the video even better we also got a guest appearance from the kitty. 🥰
So, thank you very much for this great upload and greetings from Germany!

@NB-cs3me 1 year ago

There was already an O2 shortage. If he climbed with O2 I think the only difference would be that he wouldn't have been able to save all those people later when the O2 ran out.

@jk-qe3jj 2 years ago

Maybe telling a blind guy to wait alone for hours at 8400 m does not make Rob Hall a villain, but it surely does make him criminally negligent.

@evat514 1 year ago

Please don’t ever feel like you need to cut things out of your videos for fear of them being too long, Thom. I absolutely love your long videos and I’ve seen some other comments on this thread saying the same. You are a wealth of history and information on these subjects and an incredible storyteller. Captivating and enlightening all at once! 🙏

@suzystone244 1 year ago

Hi Thom.
Been binging on all your uploads and waiting for more.
Transparency is key to journalism. Civilian and professional.
The research is needed. Facts need to be just plainly told.
Your deep dive ...❤

@mikes3756 2 years ago

I just watched a not well known presentation made by Krakouer on boulder PBS in the 1990s. On that he has nothing but praise for Broukeev.

@kelseypeterson9656 5 months ago

Your Everest 96’ content is superb. Your delivery is helpful and you break down the different aspects well!

@JM-zk9ou 7 months ago

I just had a convo on Reddit with someone who was blaming the deaths on Sandy and hating on her for the espresso machine (was a coffee pot) and fax machine, which had NOTHING to do with the climb. Scott Fisher was the expedition lead. He didn't confirm that guides assigned to fix ropes carried out their jobs and he assigned guides to climbers. Maybe Pittman shouldn't have been there in the first place even with her two prior 8,000 meter climbs and two Everest bids. That was on Fisher, too.

@darwinschimmelpfenning5782 2 years ago

In hindsight, had anatoli not returned to base camp early. He would not have been rested to go out in the storm and save the stranded climbers nearby. After all, Krackhauer was exhausted when ask to help with rescue. It just appears many mistakes & poor decisions were made. I for one, cannot put blame on any one person on this expedition. Just a multitude of circumstances leading to a tragedy.

@danielroncaioli6882 2 years ago

We all make bad decisions every day. Usually they only amount to regret later. However, when lives are on the line, you must always err on the side of safety. When I was a Crew Chief/Door Gunner on a helicopter, we had a strict all go or no go policy. Either we all (flight crew) agreed or we didn’t do it. Didn’t matter who on the crew said no. That policy was because it was too easy to get tunnel vision or task over saturated. When that occurs, mistakes happen. It was always safety over mission. 6-8 packs were relying on us to do the right thing and keep them safe. We took that responsibility very seriously.

@theresayockim3750 9 months ago (edited)

How about this? Anitoli might have DIED too if he'd still been on the mountain without oxygen when the surprise storm hit! Because of his culture, his learned strength BECAUSE of that barren culture, he also didn't wear the expensive clothing the other guides and Sherpas wore! In fact, Krakauer had belittled Boukreev IN CAMP, LIKE A BULLY because Boukreev preferred to wear the shoes he'd been successful climbing with; shoes he felt made him the lithe, quick, strong climber he was! I think Krakauer had an unnatural distain for him because of his strength and character. Also, Anitoli didn't speak English well and that was a detriment. He's a hero and Krakauer ISN'T.

@Shadow1-A 2 years ago

Great video sir. I love the way you lay things out and educate at the same time. Thank you.

@mlmallory2780 1 year ago

I think Anatoli was voted down by both Rob and Scott several times when the tried to caution them. Rob and Scott made terrible decisions and caused their own deaths sadly.

@FabianaVC 2 years ago

I absolutely lovee your videos and your content! I think you are an amazing person,watching and listening to you gives me peace and I truely enjoy it so thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.

@jillbergene-k1d 1 year ago

Hello, my friend. I'm from Bozeman, Montana, the onetime home of Alex Lowe. Those of us in the ski community pretty much worshipped Alex. A few of us saw him at the Bozeman Food Co-op three weeks before he died...we huddled in wonder. I even sold him a Power Bar at a health food store. I attended the public memorial for Alex at the gym at MSU. Krakauer was the featured speaker, along with Conrad Anker and Alex's wife Jenny. I've been a Krakauer fan for a long time, and an Ed Abbey fan, who he mentions in Into The Wild. Can't believe it took me this long to find your channel. Thank you! Your videos are excellent. The movie Everest certainly made Krakauer seem like a wuss. Interesting. Take care and I'm so glad to find you!!!!!