What actually happened? What was the disaster? I couldn’t understand from Wikipedia
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Asking Google Gemini to explain in language easy to understand:
In 1996, a bunch of climbers (around 17 teams!) all tried to reach the top of Mount Everest at the same time. It was kind of like a crowded rush hour on the world’s tallest mountain!
Two important things happened that made it dangerous:
1. **Too many climbers:** With so many people on the mountain, things got slow and backed up. This meant climbers spent more time in the “Death Zone,” an area super high up where there’s very little oxygen and it’s super cold.
2. **Surprise blizzard:** Just as climbers were trying to come down from the summit, a HUGE storm hit. Imagine climbing down a mountain in a whiteout with freezing wind and almost no air to breathe!
Sadly, 8 climbers got caught in the storm and died. This became known as the 1996 Everest disaster, the deadliest day on the mountain at that time.
This event raised a lot of questions about safety and ethics on Everest. Should so many people be allowed to climb at once? Who’s responsible when things go wrong? The story of the 1996 disaster is a reminder of the dangers of Everest and the courage of those who attempt to climb it.
Here are some extra things to remember:
* It wasn’t just the storm that caused the deaths. The delays caused by the crowded mountain played a big role too.
* Not everyone died. Some climbers, like Anatoli Boukreev, made it down safely despite the storm.
* The story of the disaster was made famous by the book “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer, who was on the mountain that day.
I hope this explanation helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
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