Climbing Everest's North Face in a Killer Storm

May 1996 saw the beginning of another climbing season on Mount Everest, with the arrival of spring marking the start of the pre-monsoon period. Teams of hopeful mountaineers were gearing up to conquer the world's highest peak. Among them were Jon Krakauer and Anatoli Boukreev, who both later penned their own versions of the events that followed, as well as Matt Dickinson. However, on May 10, with ten different expeditions spread out across the mountain, the situation took a deadly turn. The temperature suddenly plummeted from freezing to a bone-chilling 40 degrees below zero. A fierce storm with howling winds descended upon the climbers, leaving them blinded by white-out conditions. By the time the blizzard subsided, twelve lives had been lost, marking the deadliest incident in modern Everest climbing history.

Dickinson, an adventure filmmaker, was part of a team attempting to conquer Everest's treacherous North Face from the Tibetan side. Out of the nearly 700 people who had successfully reached the summit since the mountain was first scaled in 1953, only around 230 had taken the colder and more technically challenging route via the North Face. Despite facing the brutal storm that pushed him to his limits, Dickinson also managed to capture the ascent on film. As they battled through the violent clouds swirling around the mountain, Dickinson and his team found themselves engulfed in a terrifying white force. Being relatively inexperienced at such high altitudes, Dickinson struggled with doubts about their mission in the face of the storm's wrath. However, he and his partner Alan Hinkes felt compelled to continue their climb and reach the summit.

Dickinson's first-hand account, the only one from a climber on the North Face during the killer storm, immerses the reader in the chaos of the disaster while offering unique insights into the world of mountaineering. "The Other Side of Everest" is a story of personal triumph amidst the most catastrophic storm to hit the mountaineering community. It is a must-read for anyone who has pushed themselves beyond their limits of physical and mental endurance.

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