- For nearly 100 years
climbing Mt. Everest has been seen as one
of the ultimate things to check off your bucket list. Read 'War and Peace',
(soft piano music) ride an ostrich, Climb Mount Everest.
(bells tinkling) So much so, that many serious climbers consider Mount Everest adventure
tourism for the super rich. I don't know, still
seems pretty hard to me. One climber wrote, Climbing Mount Everest is a challenge, but the bigger challenge is climbing it and not telling anyone. Burn. Ew, ew, whoo! We're not at 27,000 feet, we're in Los Angeles right now, where it's like the devil's anus. (popping) But those who are brave,
or foolish, enough to attempt to climb Mount
Everest's 29,029 foot peak, face weeks of steep
climbs from camp to camp, thin air, treacherous terrain,
and freezing conditions. If a person finds themselves
at Camp Number Four, the highest of the rest
camps at 26,300 feet, they have entered what is
known as The Death Zone. You might ask, is the Death Zone just
some intimidating name meant to frighten off
those slacker mountaineers? (laughs)
No! The Death Zone is called the Death Zone because literally every moment
you spend above 26,000 feet, the human body is dying. Once a climber enters the Death Zone it is a race against time to make it to the summit
and back down again. A person is essentially slowly suffocating over two or three days. Every movement is laborious, and even going one mile can take 12 hours. Of the almost 300 people that have lost their lives
on Mount Everest since 1922, the majority of them have done so in or around the Death Zone. But here's the thing,
if you die on Everest, you will probably stay on Everest. What dies on Everest, stays in Everest. When a person dies on Mount Everest their corpse quickly
gets frozen into place, and is covered with ice and snow. Even digging a gum wrapper out
of the face of Mount Everest can be this whole ordeal. And yes, along with bodies, Everest is also covered in garbage! Way to go Adventurers! But digging a frozen corpse
out of a mountainside is not only extremely difficult
it's extremely dangerous. In fact, it can take
a team of eight people to handle one body, and many of the lives
that Everest has claimed are lives of those sent
to recover the dead. Not only do the body recoverers have to deal with the
same extreme conditions that killed the fallen
climbers in the first place, but they're dealing with a dead body that may have doubled in weight due to the frozen conditions. If a 175 pound person dies on Everest, by the time the body is
hacked out of the ice, it could weigh 300 pounds. That's a question you
never saw on the SATs, huh? So the dead stay on Everest. When possible, corpses are
covered over with stones, or the flag of their country, even lowered over cliffs
away from other climbers, anything that might give them
some semblance of dignity. But some are just too difficult to get to, or frozen in too awkward a position. Many of the bodies that die on Everest lie exactly where they died, mummified by the wind,
and the sun, and the cold. Hannelore Schmatz became
one of those frozen dead. Coming down from the
summit, Schmatz died in 1979 just 100 meters from Camp IV. In the years that followed, climbers would encounter her corpse, still leaning back on
her backpack, eyes open, hair fluttering in the wind. By the way, I'm not gonna be too graphic with what I show here,
just out of respect, but I do not control, nor do I judge, what you choose to Google. In 1984 a Sherpa and a
Nepalese police inspector tried to retrieve Schmatz's body, but they themselves fell to
their deaths in the attempt. Eventually Schmatz's body was forced off the
mountainside by strong winds. The body of George Mallory, one of the first men ever
to climb Everest in 1924, although it's never been confirmed that he reached the summit, was found in 1999 after
being missing for decades. Found by the Mallory and
Irvine Research Expedition and the TV show NOVA, I live NOVA, Mallory's corpse was discovered
on the Northeast Ridge at 27,000 feet. According to NOVA, Mallory's exposed skin "Was bleached white"
and "The body was frozen "with little elasticity
still within the tissue. "The tissue of the body
was clearly frozen." Despite being dead for over 60 years old, Mallory's frostbitten
hands were still intact, his boots and clothes were still on, his blonde hair was still visible. The NOVA team buried him
in a shallow rock grave on the Northeast Ridge. It's no wonder that Mt.
Everest has been called the 'World's Tallest Open Grave'. There's literally no way
to avoid facing death when climbing Everest. There are certain
sections that are littered with dozens of visible corpses. In some cases, climbers have no choice but to step over the deceased in order to continue their ascent. Some of the dead are even
thought of as trail markers. Maybe the most famous of Everest's dead was an Indian climber
named Tsewang Paljor. Having died in an avalanche in 1996, Paljor's body came to rest in a cave on Everest's northern route, in what's known as the 'Rainbow Valley'. The Rainbow Valley!
(bells tinkling) That sounds beautiful! What a treat. If by 'treat' you mean
the stretch of mountain covered by the colorful snowsuits
of Everest's frozen dead, then yah, the Rainbow
Valley is a real 'treat'. For almost 20 years Paljor
was known as 'Green Boots' due to the neon green boots
he was wearing when he died. The cave that his preserved body rested in became known as 'Green Boots' Cave, and was somewhat of a grim
landmark on the mountain. For years Paljor's brother
attempted to have Paljor buried or removed from view,
but was unsuccessful. And then in 2014 someone
did their family a solid. Along with seven or eight other Rainbow Valley prominent corpses, Paljor's body just disappeared. This is still somewhat of a
mystery, but it's suspected that the Chinese Tibetan
Mountaineering Association and the Chinese Mountaineering Association quietly moved the bodies. Likely burying them, or
sending them over the ledge. Those are just a few of the bodies that call Everest their
final resting place. Some have never been found, and some are just part of the
landscape of the mountain. Although summiting Everest may
be the thrill of a lifetime, if you pursue this dream, death will be your constant companion. Maybe just ride that
ostrich and call it a day. (cha cha music) Remember deathlings, you will die, just hopefully not in The Death Zone. I'm someone who happens
to love extreme adventure death stories,
(soft piano music) Arctic exploration,
rainforests, mountaineering. I've read a ton on non-fiction
books and documentaries, but if you have more, please Link them or Comment them below. Summer reading season is coming up and I am ready. Way to go Adventurers! Brought to you with support from People's Memorial Association and the Co-Op Funeral Home. And donations from viewers like you. Ha ha, no!
