episode-header-image

Jun 2023

10m 5s

Tragedy on Everest

Bbc World Service

About this episode

Michael Groom is one of the survivors of a tragic climbing expedition to Mount Everest in Nepal.

In 2010, Jonny Hogg spoke to Michael Groom about the moments that went badly wrong when a storm struck the world's highest mountain on 10 May 1996.

(Photo: Michael Groom on Everest in 1993. Credit: Guy Cotter)

Up next

Creating CAPTCHA

In 2000, as the internet expanded, websites faced a growing challenge to stop spam bots from flooding their systems.To separate humans from machines, researchers at the United States’ Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, created the Completely Automated Public ... Show More

The creation of the International Criminal Court

In 1998, at a conference organised by the United Nations, a blueprint was devised for what would be the world's first permanent International Criminal Court.Judge Phillipe Kirsch chaired the Rome conference that led to the formation of the court. He tells Gill Kearsley about the ... Show More

Geneva Conventions

In 1859, Swiss businessman Henry Dunant witnessed the Battle of Solferino, in Italy. He couldn’t believe the lack of aid for the wounded soldiers and came up with two ideas – a voluntary aid organisation and an international treaty to protect those injured in wartime. They went o ... Show More

Recommended Episodes

Scaling Everest, the highest mountain in the world

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes focusing on Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. It's 70 years since Edmund Hillary with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, became the first people to reach the summit of Everest in 1953. We hear about som ... Show More

BBC OS Conversations: Mount Everest

It’s 70 years since a New Zealand mountaineer and his Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer guide reached the highest point on Earth. There have been celebrations in Nepal in recent days to mark the anniversary. Thousands of people have followed in their footsteps but this climbing se ... Show More

Summiting the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain

K2, a mountain in the Kashmir region of Asia, is the second highest peak on Earth and yet more dangerous than Mount Everest, especially in the winter. But in January 2021, a group of Nepali climbers attempted to accomplish what people thought was impossible. Team co-leader Mingma ... Show More

Mount Everest Pt. 1: The Blizzard of 1996

In 1996, two climbing groups set out to reach the peak of Mount Everest, the highest point on planet Earth. A sudden, unexpected blizzard would leave them stranded on the mountain's summit, where the freezing cold and lack of oxygen slowly killed them off, one by one. Learn more ... Show More

Everest '96: Trapped in the Death Zone | Mountain Madness | 1

In May 1996, two expert mountaineers and their clients set off to climb the world’s tallest peak — Mount Everest. Many of the clients have no high altitude experience and have paid upwards of $65,000 to be guided up the mountain by competing companies: Adventure Consultants and M ... Show More

The Price of Adventure

Renowned mountaineer Alex Lowe had reached the summit of his career by 1999, scaling some of the planet’s most challenging peaks. Just a few months after he was featured in National Geographic as “one of the world’s finest all-around climbers,” he was killed in an avalanche in Ti ... Show More

10 Well-Known Dead Bodies on Everest

There are over 200 dead bodies left on Mt. Everest. Today's episode is about why the bodies are not retrieved and the 10 most "famous" dead bodies on Mt. Everest. The 10 most "famous" dead bodies on Mt. Everest include George Mallory, Marco Siffredi, Green Boots, and Sleeping Bea ... Show More

Special: My Indian Life

“I’m in love with the mountains.” A special episode from Kalki Presents: My Indian Life. Savita Kanswal was an inspirational climber, who had scaled Mount Everest. At the age of 26, she was tragically killed in an avalanche in the Himalayas. Kalki Presents: My Indian Life explore ... Show More

S1 E1: Ant Middleton: The extreme adventurer who has no limits

Ant Middleton doesn’t sit still for long. He’s a former marine and sniper, perhaps best known for his role as chief instructor in SAS Who Dares Wins. In 2019 he conquered one of the biggest challenges known to man - climbing Mount Everest. This year he attempted a dangerous climb ... Show More

Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami