More than 300 people have died climbing Mount Everest — the tallest peak in the world, located in the Himalayas near the China-Nepal border.
Now streaming on Netflix, Everest, which originally premiered in 2015 and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke and Josh Brolin, among others, tells the story of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster that claimed eight lives.
On May 10, 1996, four different expeditions attempted to summit Everest. Things took a dark turn that day when an unexpected blizzard bore down on the mountain, ultimately claiming the lives of several climbers.
It takes hikers an average of two months to reach the top of Everest, according to Furtenbach Adventures. Climbers must first trek on a 7-12 day hike to base camp, where they spend four to six weeks acclimating to higher altitudes. The summit push then takes four to seven days as hikers slowly ascend the mountain before making one final 10-12 hour climb to the mountain’s peak.
Everest’s unpredictable weather and difficult breathing conditions make this one of the most physically and mentally demanding climbs in the world.
Here’s everything to know about the real-life events that inspired Everest.
Is Everest based on a true story?
Yes, Everest is based on the real-life Mount Everest tragedy of May 10, 1996.
That day, four expedition groups attempted to summit Everest, including Adventure Consultants led by Rob Hall (Clarke), who previously ascended the mountain four times, and Mountain Madness led by Scott Fischer (Gyllenhaal), an American who climbed Everest two years prior to the events of the movie.
As was standard practice, the trek began at midnight with a 2:00 p.m. deadline to turn around and return to the base camp, regardless of whether they made it to the summit.
However, due to severe weather, some hikers didn’t even make it to the peak until 5 p.m., and some expeditions were stuck in the mountains with no means of descending as a blizzard hit the mountain.
Ultimately, a total of eight hikers didn’t survive, though only five are portrayed in the movie.
Who died in the 1996 Everest disaster?
Eight people died on Mount Everest in May 1996, but the film only highlights five of the deceased: guides Andrew Harris (Martin Henderson), Hall and Fischer, as well as clients Doug Hansen (John Hawkes) and Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori).
While Harris and Hansen’s deaths remain a mystery in real life, as their bodies were never recovered, in Everest, Harris dies from the effects of hypothermia, while Hansen falls off the side of a cliff.
One of the guides, Hall, died from exposure to the elements while trying to get Hansen, who had grown incredibly fatigued, down the mountain. In his final moments, Hall was able to speak to his wife via radio from the mountainside. “Please don’t worry too much” were his last words to her. His body was found days later, however, it was not removed, per Britannica.
Fischer also died from exposure as he was said to have been overcome with severe altitude sickness. His body also remains on Everest, which is common practice for those who have died on the mountain.
Namba’s body was found and removed from the mountain in 1997. She reportedly died from extreme fatigue and exposure after a guide decided her injuries were too severe for him to prioritize getting her down the mountain over other members of the expedition, according to Tranquil Kilimanjaro.
In addition to the blizzard, several other factors contributed to the tragedy on Mount Everest that day. Guides failed to set up fixed ropes, causing detrimental delays, and a lack of oxygen canisters accelerated health issues for the climbers trying to descend to camp safely.
Did anyone survive the 1996 Everest disaster?
The majority of the climbers made it off the mountain alive in May 1996.
Most notably was Beck Weathers (Brolin). He never reached the summit of Everest as the high altitude and increased sunlight left him unable to see clearly. When the blizzard hit, he was struggling to get down the mountain and was thought to have died from exposure alongside Namba … that was until he wandered into camp on his own the following day.
Weathers was airlifted to a nearby hospital and treated for severe frostbite. In 2020, he released his memoir Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest.
“It was the image of my wife and children that drove me to my feet, and that managed to awake me after 15 hours of being frozen facedown in the ice,” Weathers told PEOPLE ahead of the movie’s premiere in 2015. “It would be very difficult to put into words just how powerful that was to be back with them and safe again.”
Jon Krakauer (Michael Kelly), a reporter for Outside magazine, also survived the events of May 10 after summiting Everest. In 1997, he published Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster.
“Climbing Mount Everest was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life. I wish I’d never gone,” Krakauer told HuffPost in August 2015. “I suffered for years of PTSD, and still suffer from what happened. I’m glad I wrote a book about it. But, you know, if I could go back and relive my life, I would never have climbed Everest.”
Adventure Consultants guide Michael Groom (Thomas M. Wright), Russian-born climber Anatoli Boukreev (Ingvar Eggert Sigurosson), Charlotte Fox (Amy Shindler) and Neal Beidleman (Tom Goodman-Hill) were among the other survivors.
Where was Everest filmed?
Everest was filmed all over the world — in Nepal, California, Italy, Iceland and England.
Establishing shots for the base camp scenes were filmed on the Mount Everest grounds in Nepal. However, an avalanche, which claimed the lives of multiple sherpas in 2014, ended the shoot early. No one from production was injured, according to Screen Rant.
“The main unit did travel to Nepal and film the actors on the trek to base camp, but because of the altitude they couldn’t spend a lot of time up high,” director of photography Kent Harvey told Outside in September 2015. “They would basically helicopter in, jump out, film some scenes, jump back in the heli, and head back down valley.”
Alternatively, production constructed base camp at Cinecitta Studios in Italy, and the scenes on Hillary Step — a 40-foot vertical rock face (one of the most challenging parts of the Everest climb) — were filmed at Pinewood Studios in England. Various other climbing scenes were shot in The Dolomites as well as Iceland.
How can I watch Everest?
Everest is currently available to stream on Netflix.
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