Billi Bierling

In May this year, two Indian climbers died on Mount Everest's southern slopes in Nepal. Arun Kumar Tiwari reached the summit but developed acute mountain sickness (AMS) on the descent and died at about 8,790 metres. His teammate, Sandeep Are, also collapsed but was dragged down to Camp II by five Sherpas only to succumb to altitude sickness there. Both deaths were tragic. Both were, in my view, avoidable. Around 200 bodies are still believed to remain on Everest. Some are hidden beneath snow and ice while others lie where hundreds of climbers walk past them After 22 years working for the Himalayan Database, the archive of expeditions in the Nepal Himalaya, I have seen the same pattern again and again. Summit fever has an extraordinary ability to override signals from the body.

Reaching the top of the world and returning to London within a week without so much as stopping for a coffee in Kathmandu sounds like the stuff dreams are made of. But on 21 May 2025, four former members of the British special forces turned this dream into reality when they stood on the summit of Mount Everest four days and 11 hours after leaving the UK. Their secret was to inhale Xenon two weeks prior to the climb, a gas well known to anaesthetists, but so far unheard of in mountaineering. When I climbed Everest in 2009, I remember thinking that the World Anti-Doping Agency would have a field day at base camp ‘Although Xenon has worked well in clinical studies, it is very rarely used for patients in the UK.

Andrew Comyn 'Sandy' Irvine disappeared while attempting to climb Everest in June 1924 with his partner George Mallory. For a century, the 22-year-old British climber's body lay undiscovered. But last month a startling discovery was made on the mountain: a preserved boot with a red label attached; the lettering inside read: ‘AC Irvine’. Could this discovery finally solve the mystery of whether Mallory and Irvine reached the summit? The group of American filmmakers uncovered the boot on the Central Rongbuk Glacier, on the north face of Everest. The expedition was not there to hunt for clues on the ill-fated British 1924 Mount Everest expedition and the climbers instantly knew what they were looking at.

Everest is, we're told, 'the highest garbage dump in the world'. It's a place, if you believe the reports from this year's climbing season, that is increasingly crowded. Terrifying video footage released last month showed climbers waiting their turn at the very top of the mountain shortly before two of them fell to their death. What's the appeal? The Sherpas are no longer the unsung heroes For nearly two decades I've lived in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. I spend my time here gallivanting around the high Himalayas. Having made it to the top of Everest, it's clear to me that the reason so many people want to climb the mountain is simple: it is the highest peak on earth. The majority of those who reach the summit bask in the glory for the rest of their lives.