Beck Weathers: The Man Who Was Left For Dead Twice On Mount Everest
YouTubeBeck Weathers suffered severe frostbite after his ill-fated trip up Mount Everest.
In May 1996, eight climbers died on Mount Everest during a tumultuous storm. It was one of the deadliest incidents in the mountain’s recorded history. And at first, many people believed that American climber Beck Weathers was among the victims. After all, he’d been left for dead twice.
So when Beck Weathers showed up at one of the mountain’s camps, his face and hands blackened with frostbite, it captured the world’s attention.
His climbing team had originally been led by veteran mountaineer Rob Hall, and the journey had appeared to be off to a promising start. But as they neared the summit and night fell, Weathers struggled to see. He had recently undergone a radial keratotomy to correct his nearsightedness, but the brutally cold temperatures and high altitude put a strain on his corneas.
Hall ordered Weathers to remain on the side of the trail while he and the others continued climbing. Weathers begrudgingly agreed. But unfortunately, Hall died further up the mountain, refusing to abandon a team member who had fallen too weak to continue on. Weathers, however, kept waiting.
Another team leader, Mike Groom, eventually found Weathers again as he and the remaining team members were coming back down the mountain. A terrible storm had set in, rendering it nearly impossible for the team to see anything. They nearly fell off the mountain as they looked for their tents.
At one point, Weathers lost a glove, and while the others huddled for warmth, he stood alone against the wind, studying his frozen hand, shouting that he’d had it all figured out. Then, a gust of wind knocked him backward into the snow. His teammates were sure that he was gone forever.
After being left for dead twice that night — once by a Russian guide who rescued the rest of Weathers’ team but believed Weathers was beyond saving, and a second time by a Canadian doctor who had been sent to retrieve him — Weathers awoke from his hypothermic coma.
At first, he believed he was in bed. His body was overcome with a feeling of warmth. But then, the cold reality set in, and he realized where he was — and what would happen if he didn’t move. “If I don’t get up, if I don’t stand, if I don’t start thinking about where I am and how to get out of there,” he recalled thinking, “then this is going to be over very quickly.”
Everyone was sure he had died — and his wife was even notified of his demise — but Beck Weathers, against all odds, made it back down to a camp, where he was rescued by a helicopter. Frostbite had taken his nose, right arm, the fingers on his left hand, and parts of his feet, but he was alive.
“They told me this trip was going to cost me an arm and a leg,” he later joked. “So far, I’ve gotten a little better deal.”
