The peak of Mount Everest is the highest point on Earth. But getting there might kill you. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
Mount Everest is the “Mount Everest” of mountains. While it’s not the most technically difficult, it’s pretty much the end-all-be-all of mountains. Echoes of Enigma, a YouTube channel dedicated to exploring the world’s most dangerous and mysterious mountains from the comfort of your home, broke down the full route from Base Camp to the Summit and back again. The narrator explains why each section is so dangerous using real satellite renders from Google Earth Studio.
When you talk about the world’s most “dangerous” mountain, things get a little murky. It’s subjective, and more people attempt to climb Everest than say, Annapurna, so the numbers are a little sticky depending on what you’re comparing. But if you’re going by fatality to summit ratios, Annapurna in Nepal is far and away the most dangerous. Around one in three people die trying to get to the top, a 32 percent death to summit ratio. Then comes K2, then Nanga Parbat. Everest, with a four-percent death to successful attempt ratio, isn’t even in the top five. But still, it’s Mount Everest and it is littered with bodies.
If we are going by sheer number of deaths, though, Everest is the winner. According to the Himalayan database, at least 322 people have perished on Mount Everest since records began in 1922, and many of their bodies are still up there due to the difficulties that come with getting them down. Everest is full of danger, from the Khumbu Icefall to the aptly named Death Zone, and this video covers them all.
