Everest's Villain? The Sandy Hill Pittman Story

Sandy Hill Pittman was a part of the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster where 8 people died. She quickly became the villain of the story and still is a villain, almost 30 years later. This is her story.

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0:00 The 1996 Everest disaster
0:51 Krakauer and Into Thin Air
1:09 The storm hits
2:51 The aftermath
4:12 Sandy Hill a villain?
5:45 Sandy's climbing resume
9:16 Everest attempt 1 & 2
10:05 Final Everest bid
10:59 The infamous cappucino machine
11:35 Sandy responds
13:20 Scott Fischer's 1996 team
14:10 Others speak about Sandy
15:21 The allure of the mountains
15:56 Crossfit
16:05 What do YOU think?
#mounteverest #sandyhillpittman #jonkrakauer #mounteverestdisaster

Copyright © 2023 Adventures Gone Wrong. All rights reserved.

[adventuresgonewrong]

Some of you are asking why Sandy Hill Pittman was blamed for the deaths - there are a few things people accuse her of by indirectly causing deaths:
1) She was short-roped (or pulled up the mountain) near the top by a Sherpa and they say this caused delays for the whole team as that Sherpa was supposed to set ropes up higher. The delay meant they were up on the summit dangerously late in the day and then the storm hit. (this is usually the main reason and the short-roping is confirmed by a few people who saw it)
2) She "hooked up" with a snowboarder and that angered the gods thus causing the storm (this was pointed out by Krakauer, but it was the Sherpas who really believed this, I don't get the sense many Western climbers bought into it)
3) She brought extravagant items that her Sherpas had to carry high up the mountain, thus tiring them out (this is more vague, there's not a lot of specific info on this anywhere)

[lukewarmwater]

Back in the 90s when I was killing myself with booze and dope I was sitting around the living room with my buddy Vern watching the news and the Everest disaster came on. I remember saying "What the fuck is wrong with those people? Why would anyone want to risk their lives doing that dumb shit!?" and without taking his eyes from the TV Vern said "They'd probably say the same thing if they saw how we lived...".

[mollysarkisian]

In hospital when things go wrong, we often see “the Swiss cheese effect”, meaning a combination of factors “lined up” to create a death/serious injury. (Lack of communication, preparation, competencies; short-cuts, fatigue etc)

[SanadaUsako]

I’ve read the book twice, and I don’t think Krakauer blames her at all. He’s critical of some things she did sure, but he’s critical of a lot of people there including himself. I actually thought it was mostly balanced in representing the complicated factors at play.

[jessicadouglas]

The point of Krakauer's book was not "Sandy Hill should not have been on Everest". The point of his book was "No one should be on Everest".

[notever_everytime]

I've read Krakauer's book, and he doesn't vilify Sandy at all - it seems to be Sandy who feels like the victim. He was honest about everyone's shortcomings: Sandy wanted the sherpa to haul a satellite phone / fax above camp 3, where it didn't even work; Scott was bad at delegation, which wore him out completely as he ran to and down the mountain in multiple extra trips; Rob ignored his own protocols, causing his own death, and the deaths of others; Yasuko showed up not even knowing how to use crampons; Anatoli refused to use supplemental oxygen when he was supposed ro remain at maximum mental clarity for clients; poor communication between the two teams about rope-fixing responsibilities lead to hours of delay on sumit day; Lopsang short-roped Sandy up the summit for a couple of hours, draining his strength to guide; John himself was very self-focused and didn't help with the rescue efforts at all. No one was painted in pretty colors.

[barbarawilcox]

Thank you for a thoughtful piece!
What's awful about the 1996 disaster is that the main trigger -- leaders overeager to get high-paying clients to the summit -- has only gotten worse, as if nobody has learned anything.

[DonMcFarlane-sflw]

I was 21 years old when I did a three week trek into Everest (1979). It was beautiful, uncluttered and a surreal place of pure wonder of the natural world. It was obvious why the Himalayas are such an attraction to the best mountaineers in the world. They climbed for personal satisfaction using the skills developed over a lifetime of climbing. I had no such experience. Then it became a circus with incompetent expeditions. And then came the commercializations of climbing Everest. Lack of experience, lack of fitness, poor judgment, the need to take unreasonable risk for commercial gain, and unbelievable and tragic decision to ignore the well know fact that storms hit Everest with little notice and are more severe than many professionals can handle. And the policy of the Nepalese government to grant far too many permits to expeditions who all try to make a narrow window of opportunity to summit. For all these reasons the 1996 disaster is not a mystery, it was inevitable. No respect for a mountain like Everest. suffer the consequences.

[DorothyRInman]

I will be greatly vilified for saying this, but I strongly believe had Rob Hall practiced what he preached, many more lives would have been saved.

[kjg]

Mount Everest has become a polluted, overcrowded landscape filled with privileged people looking for the next, exotic thrill to alleviate their boredom. Jon Krakauer's book was not at all "sensationalistic, " nor did he blame Pittman for the tragedy. He was truthful about what happened on Everest that day. He also writes for a living. How abhorrent for Pittman to acuse him of making "blood money" from his book.

[whogon]

"Married a non-mountaineer" what an insanely odd way to describe someone's husband

[schnauzermom]

Poor Charlotte Fox survived this same Mt Everest trip…..and later fell down the stairs of her home and died. Absolutely tragic.

[stephenimsong]

a mountaineer guide once told me, if everest was located in a western or more affluent region, it would not be climbed nearly as much as it is now. its the combination of being located near a poor 3rd world country and being the tallest peak in the world that has resulted in its exploitation of the sherpas there. look at denali for example, no sherpas there to exploit and you have to take yourself up that mountain unlike on everest

[barryjury]

As a retired alpine guide i have two points.
Number 1 as a guide your first responsibility is to bring your clients home alive. Thats non negotiable. The guides on this particular climb failed to do this. They failed to insure the fixed ropes were in place where they were required. The fact that weren't isn't the fault of any sherpa or anyone else but the various expedition leaders.
Number 2 Everest is a dangerous mountain and if you require a guide you have no place being there

[april]

People arguing semantics about the stupid coffee pot. A moka IS an espresso maker. The big heavy thing y'all are thinking of is an espresso machine. She literally explained it and a photo was shown so idk why so many ppl keep insisting she didn't bring a little aluninum coffee pot up there.

[nowi]

I just finished "Into Thin Air, " and Jon did not blame Sandy for the disaster. He did point out that she was short roped for 5-6 hours and was probably not up to the challenge of Everest. She was also filing dispatches for NBC while on the mountain and made Lap Sang drag a satellite phone all the way to Camp 4 along with other creature comforts not available to the average climber. in 1993 she even brought her 9 year old son to base camp with a nanny to look after him and hired four of the world's best climbers to help her ascend the mountain (which she failed on that attempt). She is a very wealthy socialite who probably shouldn't have been on the mountain that day. Leaving the summit, a guide forced someone else to give up their oxygen because Sandy had gone through 3 bottles just to get to the top. All in all, not the villain, that's her wanting to be the victim when others died on that mountain. Personally, I find her distasteful, but the consensus is that she is a moderately skilled amateur climber, who has the money and means to get to the summits she wants. I also find her opinion of Jon completely self-serving and wrong.

[stevet]

"she was a strong woman, maybe she didn't know how to say ' thank you for saving my life"
...that is not an example of being strong...that is an example of being ungrateful and egotistical...

[anniehills]

It did confuse me when Rob went up and helped Dan when it was so late in the day. I am pretty sure he must have promised him he would get him up there. He completely forgot about going to help Beck! He didnt tell anyone Beck was alone, half blind and needs to get down with help. Poor Beck.

[UMadUCauseBad]

Climbing everest is far from worth it. Over saturated expeditions, trash, disrespect to nature, money over lives, selfish climbers, illogical climbers, plus it's like waiting in line to go to the top. There should only be a specific amount of people allowed to climb per year, and if they don't make it in the scheduled time, you turn back to not block those who are on time. Everest is a joke now.

[ZenZill]

Rob Hall's decision to stay up on the mountain with an already doomed Hansen frustrates me, the guy was married and had a kid on the way! Hubris and a little greed killed this group, yet that wont stop others from pushing to the summit when they're already spent.