Delays reaching the summit 1996 Mount Everest disaster

shortly after midnight on 10 may 1996, adventure consultants expedition began summit attempt camp iv, atop south col (7,900 m/25,900 ft). joined 6 client climbers, 3 guides, , sherpas scott fischer s mountain madness company, expedition sponsored government of taiwan.

the expeditions encountered delays. climbing sherpas , guides had not set fixed ropes time team reached balcony (8,350 m/27,395 ft), , cost climbers hour. there question cause of failure, cannot resolved expedition leaders perished.

upon reaching hillary step (8,760 m/28,740 ft), climbers again discovered no fixed line had been placed, , forced wait hour while guides installed ropes. because 33 climbers attempting summit on same day, , hall , fischer had asked climbers stay within 150 m of each other, there bottleneck @ single fixed line @ hillary step. hutchison, kasischke, , taske returned towards camp iv feared run out of supplementary oxygen due delays.

climbing without supplemental oxygen, guide boukreev mountain madness team reached summit (8,848 m/29,029 ft) first @ 13:07. many of climbers had not yet reached summit 14:00, last safe time turn around reach camp iv before nightfall.

boukreev began descent camp iv @ 14:30, having spent 1.5 hours @ or near summit helping others complete climb. time, hall, krakauer, harris, beidleman, namba, , mountain madness clients martin adams , klev schoening had reached summit, , remaining 4 mountain madness clients had arrived. after time, krakauer noted weather did not benign. @ 15:00 snow started fall, , light diminishing.

hall s sirdar, ang dorje sherpa, , other climbing sherpas waited @ summit clients. near 15:00, began descent. on way down, ang dorje encountered client doug hansen above hillary step , ordered him descend. hansen did not respond verbally, shook head , pointed upward, toward summit. when hall arrived @ scene, sherpas offered take hansen summit, hall sent sherpas down assist other clients, , instructed them stash oxygen canisters on route. hall said remain hansen, had run out of supplementary oxygen.

scott fischer did not summit until 15:45. exhausted ascent , becoming increasingly ill, possibly suffering hape, hace, or combination of both. others, including doug hansen , makalu gau, reached summit later.