10 Mountain Climbing Disasters Deadlier Than The Everest Movie

The Mountain: The Pamir Mountain range in the former Soviet Union and near the Chinese border contain some of the world’s most challenging alpine treks, with more than 1,000 glaciers.  At 7,149 meters (23,456 feet), Lenin Peak is the third highest point along the range.

# of Deaths: 40

The Story: For six decades, climbers used a portion of Lenin Peak known as the “frying pan” as a natural camping ground on the way up the mountain. In July 1990, an abnormally large number of climbers, 140, were bunched together in the “frying pan” due to a freak snowstorm for that time of the year. As one of the survivors later recalled, “They all camped under a serac [a column of ice] which should only cleave once every 500 years or so. Pretty good odds but . . . “

When an earthquake occurred on Friday, July 13, no one in camp actually felt or heard it, but many scrambled to safety in reaction to the resulting avalanche bearing down on them. Forty members of the group were not so lucky, buried under the snow. Those that didn’t die instantly likely wish they had as survivors reported hearing voices crying out for help for several hours, but the snow was too thick to dig through. A foreign rescue team only managed to retrieve three bodies.

The tally of the dead included 27 Soviets, including one of the nation’s leading climbers, 6 Czech climbers, four Israelis, two Swiss, a Spaniard and three others. The mountain was closed for three days, and virtually all of the survivors returned home rather than continue on with their expeditions.