The survivors of Mt Everest's worst 36 hour tragedy (1996) | 60 Minutes Australia

it was to be the adventure of a lifetime scaling the highest mountain in the world groups of amateur climbers had paid guides to take them up Mount Everest all 8,848 meters of it but as they descended from the summit from out of nowhere a fierce blizzard swept in and for the next 36 hours drained of all energy and frostbitten the climbers had to fight for their lives eight perished and there was terrible suffering but as you're about to hear it could all have been so much worse had it not been for the heroism of one Australian right now it's the peak spring climbing season in the Himalayas a window between winter blizzards and summer monsoons on May the 9th teams of adventurers were about to get the ultimate high one they paid a lot of money for but within 48 hours nature and desperate people would be picking and choosing who would live and who would die this is this is actually me standing on the crest of southeast ridge at about 5:30 in the morning of the 10th of May it's a glorious day yes not a cloud in the sky not even a breath of wind at this stage Michel groom was one of three guides taking a group of paying climbers to the top before the expedition was over he'd be the only guide left alive and this is me on the summit at two o'clock in the afternoon so you really do know that you're standing on the top of the world oh definitely because it's it's not much bigger than a a dining room table or or a bath tub itself so there's not much room actually to stand it drops off in all directions of all sides Michael groom has seen more Himalayan summits than any other Australian this is footage from one of his 17 previous expeditions the intended route takes a tight diagonal break from right to left up to the summit ridge and then we follow the summit ridge up to the summit whether we'd actually do or not we'll have to wait and see the former Brisbane plumber is drawn to these mountains but frostbite has already cost him all ten toes and much of both feet but this black mark here represents the frostbite that are received in the last few days good heavens Michel I mean is it really worth it well you'd have to think looking at it that it's it's not but we all realize the risks involved and you accept those risks or you don't play the game dr. John TASKE a Brisbane anesthetist and former SAS commando was one of those who paid to climb with Michael groom but 300 metres short of the summit he calculated he had neither the oxygen nor the energy to safely go on so called Muslim McGrath extremely at the time I felt very depressed and and disappointed but certain that the decision was correct it was a decision that probably saved your life in retrospect years on earlier climbs Michael groom has experienced extremes of Himalayan weather once he tumbled 900 meters in an avalanche but he says this blizzard was worse than anything the 800 knot winds temperature was probably down to about minus 40 and visibility was now 4 or 5 meters the descent is always the most dangerous and difficult part and on this day the atrocious weather split the group apart some made it back to shelter at Camp 4 but others including Michael groom were stranded with him were two others from his party a Japanese businesswoman yes cone amber and an American dr. Beck weathers they were both totally exhausted and Beck was blind and I had to actually shoulder his his body weight onto my shoulder in the mean time round up yes go and get her to follow follow us in some sort of direction that we hoped we'd pick up camphor and it's now how late at night I would guess it's probably 8:30 9 o'clock at night by the time we gave up hope of trying to find camp 4 and decided that the safest thing to do was just simply lie as flat to the ground as possible and I had Beck lying right beside me his hands were quite cold so I was warming them up in my pockets and this position we laid in for about 3 or 4 hours huddled together together we were thrashing around trying to generate some heat you know you you punch on each other and do anything that tried to keep the other person stimulated and awake because you didn't want to slide away into unconsciousness because the odds would be you never wake up again from his home in Dallas Texas Beck withers recalled how around 1:00 in the morning the weather lifted just enough for Michael to get a bearing on camp 4 they agreed he should go for help and so he left Beck and Yasko in the care of two climbers from another group they were you know some of the other crew that was in the group with us we're getting pretty unhappy and you know yell out I don't want to die and that kind of thing but seemed to me kind of a non-productive thing to do and when Mike eventually stumbled into the camp at one am amazed me that he was there at all but he was absolutely exhausted wasn't incoherent he was he was speaking what was he saying he was he was calling out for us to send Sherpas to help Beck and yes go and giving fairly clear directions as to which way to go to pick them up but Sid they were roughly 500 meters away towards the can't young face and there was nobody in the camp at that stage with the with the strength to go and get them what did you think were the chances of Becca nesco surviving the night I thought absolutely nil absolutely nil the following morning with Michael groom still hypothermic and only semi-conscious two other members of the team one a doctor went out in search of their lost companions they located bekandjesse Co where I said they were but this particular member said that they were so close to to death that they were it was not worth risking someone else's life to rescue someone who was most likely going to die anyway [Music] so Michael and the others made the agonizing decision that Yasko and BEC be given up for dead yes Co did die out there in the snow and also that night the two other guides on the trip New Zealand climbing legends Rob hall and andy harris along with another paying member of the group Doug Hansen but incredibly later that day Beck weathers stumbled into the cab back from the dead I thought to myself well I'm gonna face into the wind i'ma walk forward and I'm he's gonna walk off this mountain I'm a walking to the 10th one of the two and I looked at well you are truly a blessed man I think perhaps there was a guardian angel watching over you that night have you thought about the fact that that on that morning of the 12th someone actually found you out there in the snow and gave you up for dead thought you were gone I didn't know that and I would have to say that probably was cold and as frozen as I was that I would look pretty dead the survivors in the group was still far from safe and the blizzard raged on into a second night this was it we were as I said we were running out of oxygen we had the storm that just continued unabated or was even getting worse and knew the risks of getting of attempting to move in these conditions and the chances of being just physically blown away that we really feel that this was in that's the only remaining god I had to do something so the next morning Michael rounded up the group to move them down to camp to where there was medical help frostbitten and delirious there was one vital thing he didn't know so I managed to get them all up and moving by seven except one except one and that was Beck Beck unknown to me had arrived had crawled into camp 4 at 5:00 p.m. the afternoon before I looked into a tent that was open I saw a body lying on the floor of the tent with a sleeping bag over the face of the body for a moment I hesitated as to whether I should look at the body to see who it was but I decided not to know I had assumed he was one of the American party who had passed away during the night Michael groom took his party down the mountain leaving Beck to be ultimately rescued by fresh climbers who came up from Camp three do you feel that you did the right thing all the way ah my consciousness is clear I am completely satisfied that I did everything humanly possible in the blizzard and after after the event can I can I say even though in effect you you left him for dead twice no I didn't leave him for dead twice the first time it was a group decision that I should head off to find camp for because I was the strongest both physically and mentally the second time I did not leave back for dead because I didn't even know he was there in some ways I wish I had have removed the sleeping bag and and identified him and then I could have could have taken care of him but that's something I I didn't do and I have to live with that decision I think Michaels probably struggled somewhat with with the thought that that he had to leave you out there and and and then that he actually left you a second time thinking that it was if you were a dead body well in the first instance we had a whole crowd of folks that were pretty desperately lost and the they asked Mike to go try to locate the high camp because he was far and away the most experienced Himalayan climber there and I accepted that I and I really felt that that for the good of everybody who was in that group that Mike had the best chance of finding the camp and getting everybody through it and but I think that it was a correct decision for him to go and try to help everybody and I'm not surprised when he saw me the second time that I looked like I had already gone back and the injured climbers from other groups descended to camp one where a Nepalese army pilot performed the highest helicopter rescue ever but eight people had died their bodies entombed in ice and the deaths of such experienced climbers as Rob Hall have raised serious questions as to whether adventurers who pay for the experience put not only themselves in danger but also those who guide them no you paid I believe one hundred thousand dollars to be part of this expedition not quite but close yes but that doesn't mean that I'm not physically capable of climbing Everest and it was a rogue storm that that killed these people whether they were good bad or indifferent climbers it was stronger than all of them what about Rob Hall do you believe he would have survived if he had not had Doug Hansen to look after I do yes Rob Hall was was such a magnificent climber and a survivor that without Doug Hansen to look after I believe he would have survived Rob Hall stayed with him through friendship its roommate ship not through a sense of obligation because he was a paying customer definitely not definitely not do you agree that in having these other customers these other paying climbers to care for you do increase the risk to your own life it's an acceptable risk it's an acceptable risk that I'm prepared to accept how you do it but how are you going I tell you what what you want you've been dead it's pretty good to have a it's pretty easy to have a good day BIC withers expects his frostbitten face to recover but the odds are this doctor might lose his hands well I suspect I'm gonna get to donate a little bit it's just a just a question of you know whether I just give a boutique amount or whether they want a more substantial donation and we're probably gonna take a couple of months before I know as for Michael groom now recuperating on a warmer mountaintop near Brisbane with his wife Judy he simply can't afford to lose any more of his frostbitten feet without losing the ability to walk let alone to climb and he is determined to climb again how great is your sense of loss and of grief right now well I'm absolutely distraught with with sadness for my friends but have you cried no not yet still to come is it and it still to come hello I'm Alison Langdon thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 4,672,137

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam, Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Tom Steinfort, Mt Everest, Tracey Curro, summit, blizzard, tragedy, hero, suffering, exclusive interview, Beck Weathers, frostbite

Id: NbScCel-upc

Length: 16min 31sec (991 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 05 2018