- 2 days ago
2 million people read the same book and decided to hate one man.
His name was Anatoli Boukreev. And that book said he was a coward who abandoned his clients on the deadliest night Everest had ever seen. There's just one problem.
Welcome to the extreme edge.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Watch More:
Rob Hall's Fatal 60 Seconds: Why He Broke His Only Everest Rule
https://youtu.be/Qx3fwTdjfx8?si=qqep1MPfBAh_JEfC
Why 1 In 3 Climbers Die On Annapurna 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siPIsDWMqYs
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His name was Anatoli Boukreev. And that book said he was a coward who abandoned his clients on the deadliest night Everest had ever seen. There's just one problem.
Welcome to the extreme edge.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Watch More:
Rob Hall's Fatal 60 Seconds: Why He Broke His Only Everest Rule
https://youtu.be/Qx3fwTdjfx8?si=qqep1MPfBAh_JEfC
Why 1 In 3 Climbers Die On Annapurna 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siPIsDWMqYs
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
More eXtreme Stories - Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@TheExtreme-Edge
Every month there's a story that never goes on YouTube. You'll find it here: patreon.com/c/TheeXtreme
For business inquiries only - extremeedgeinfo@gmail.com
Voiceover: https://jessegvoiceactor.com/
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Two million people read the same book and decided to hate one man.
00:05His name was Anatoly Bucreve, the most elite high-altitude climber alive,
00:11and that book said he was a coward who abandoned his clients on the deadliest night Everest had ever seen.
00:19That book sold two million copies, won major awards, and was written by a man who was there.
00:26There's just one problem. Welcome to the Extreme Edge.
00:36At around 1.07 in the afternoon on May 10th, 1996,
00:41this 38-year-old Kazakh climber named Anatoly Bucreve stepped onto the highest point on Earth,
00:48planted his ice axe in the snow, and for a moment, just stood there staring in horror at what he
00:55was seeing.
00:56And it wasn't because he was at the top of Everest, on this narrow ridge of ice and rock where
01:00he could see gigantic mountains poking out of clouds like toothpicks.
01:05It was because far below him, strung out along the ridge leading to the summit, he could see dozens of
01:11climbers still climbing.
01:13Dozens, when it was already past 1 o'clock in the afternoon.
01:17Anatoly was an unconventional climber himself, but even he knew that the one rule on Everest you should never break
01:24is that if you weren't standing on top of the summit by around 2 p.m., you should go back
01:30down.
01:30And the reason isn't that there's some ticketmaster up there that closes up shop past 2.
01:36It's just common sense.
01:38The sun sets in the Himalayas at around 6 p.m., and it gets dark very quickly once it does.
01:44If you summit later than that time, there's a high chance of not making it safely back to camp before
01:50sunset.
01:51And, as you can imagine, being trapped in the dark on the highest mountain in the world is not really
01:58an outcome anyone particularly wants.
02:00But, the climbers Anatoly was watching below were literally nowhere close to the summit at past 1 p.m.
02:08At this rate, they would be lucky to be up here by 4 p.m.
02:13So, why were they still climbing?
02:15What on earth were they thinking?
02:18Well, they didn't pay him to worry about that.
02:21Anatoly had been hired as a climbing guy by Scott Fisher of Mountain Madness,
02:25one of the men basically organizing this whole expedition.
02:29His job was to help climbers from that expedition safely reach the top.
02:34And so, for the next 90 minutes, that's exactly what he did.
02:38He would go down, see one or two climbers seriously struggling to get themselves up,
02:44clip in alongside them, and basically pull them the rest of the way to the summit itself.
02:49He also helped them take photographs of themselves up there,
02:53because who wouldn't want their pictures taken on top of the world?
02:56This was all pretty standard guide work by Anatoly,
03:00but at 2.30 p.m., May 10th, 1996,
03:03he decided to do what would later be considered one of the most reckless things a climbing guide can do
03:09in the history of Everest.
03:11He turned around from the summit and started going back down.
03:16This made absolutely no sense.
03:18Every major Western commercial expedition here on Everest climbed with the simple philosophy
03:24that mountain guides stay with their clients the whole way up and the whole way back down.
03:29I mean, the entire reason people pay a fortune to get up there
03:33is to have somebody experienced stay glued to their side,
03:37and guides know this.
03:39But Anatoly simply didn't want to wait around.
03:43Without telling anyone,
03:45he started climbing down this incredibly narrow ridge of ice and rock that was Everest's summit.
03:51The path in some sections on this ridge is barely wider than your own two feet.
03:56If you slip and fall to your left or right,
03:59well, you drop thousands of feet.
04:02There's a single thin rope secured to the ice that runs right down the middle of this ridge.
04:07Climbers clip their harnesses on while climbing to protect themselves from falling.
04:13And normally, this single rope operates like a one-way street
04:16because everyone moves up in a slow, agonizing herd.
04:21And then hours later, the herd moves down.
04:24But Anatoly that day was moving against the flow,
04:28like a rogue driver speeding the wrong way through a traffic jam of dying people.
04:32So, every time Anatoly met a client climbing up while on the way down,
04:38he had to completely detach from the safety rope,
04:41maneuver around the client, and clip back in.
04:45Doing this over and over cost a massive amount of physical effort,
04:49the effort he could have, quite frankly,
04:51used to actually help his team reach the top.
04:54Now, I don't know about you,
04:56but I would be absolutely furious if I were the climber he was passing.
05:01I am suffocating here,
05:02carrying this awkward, heavy, metal oxygen cylinder on my back
05:07while fighting for every single inch of ice,
05:10only to look up and see this man,
05:12supposed to cheer me through this exact final stretch,
05:16practically gliding down the mountain like Fred Astaire walking down a staircase.
05:20Man, I'd feel like the guy who had just paid a fortune to protect me
05:24had just left me for dead.
05:26But Anatoly didn't seem to care about the optics,
05:29and because he was alone and not helping anyone,
05:33he moved incredibly fast.
05:34He was so fast that by 5pm on May 10th,
05:38he was safely back down at Camp 4.
05:41Camp 4 on Everest, by the way,
05:43isn't even really a camp the way you or I might picture one.
05:46It is basically just a flat, barren spot, right between two mountain peaks.
05:52But it had tents.
05:53At 26,000 feet, that's enough.
05:57The moment Anatoly arrived at Camp 4,
05:59he unzipped his tent,
06:01crawled inside to finally get out of the biting wind,
06:04and immediately got to relaxing.
06:06He fired up his small camping stove,
06:09and began melting chunks of snow to make hot tea.
06:12It looked, to anyone watching,
06:14that he thought his job was done.
06:16All he had to do now was sit back,
06:19stay warm,
06:19and wait for the rest of the expedition
06:21to somehow figure their way down the mountain
06:24and stumble into camp.
06:26But, as Anatoly sat there in the relative quiet of his tent,
06:30listening to the hum of his little stove,
06:33the sky outside began to change.
06:36When he looked outside a few minutes past 5.30,
06:39the wind started to violently batter the nylon walls.
06:42Snow flurries were falling faster and faster,
06:46and the sky was rapidly turning a bruised, unnatural gray.
06:51The blood must have completely drained from his face.
06:54He knew exactly what it meant.
06:57The worst outcome that could happen to the climbers
07:00he had abandoned up there,
07:02right at this moment,
07:03was already happening.
07:05It's easy to look at that moment and think
07:07the mountain was punishing him for going down early.
07:09But the truth is,
07:11this storm was just the trigger
07:13for a much darker controversy,
07:15one that would permanently stain
07:17this entire climbing season.
07:20To understand what led to all of this,
07:22we have to jump back a few months.
07:25By the spring of 1996,
07:27climbing Everest had changed.
07:29It had become a highly commercialized operation.
07:32Anyone with $65,000
07:34could essentially buy their way onto the mountain.
07:38That meant the clients that season
07:40weren't all seasoned mountaineers.
07:42They were wealthy professionals,
07:44socialites, doctors, and journalists,
07:47and they expected premium, handheld treatment.
07:50They expected nothing to go wrong.
07:52But 1996 was a season where everything went haywire.
07:56Relentless storms had battered the peak for weeks.
07:59So, when a rare, narrow window of clear weather
08:03opened up on May 10th,
08:05almost every guiding company pushed for the summit
08:08on the exact same day.
08:10It created a massive, slow-moving traffic jam
08:13on the deadliest part of the mountain.
08:16By the time these exhausted climbers
08:18finally reached the top,
08:20they had blown way past the strict 2 p.m. turnaround time,
08:24and their oxygen was running dangerously low.
08:27But in their minds,
08:29they were safe.
08:30The next major storm wasn't supposed to hit until tomorrow.
08:34Well,
08:35Everest didn't get that memo.
08:38By 6 p.m.,
08:39the skies turned pitch black.
08:41A surprise blizzard slammed
08:43into dozens of unprotected climbers
08:46still making their way down.
08:48Hurricane-force winds
08:49ripped across the ridge
08:51at over 70 miles per hour,
08:53dropping the wind chill
08:55to a flesh-freezing
08:56100 degrees below zero.
08:59But the cold wasn't even the biggest threat,
09:02it was the snow.
09:03Solid ice crystals
09:04were being blasted horizontally
09:06at ungodly speeds.
09:08Just imagine sticking your head
09:10out of a moving car window
09:11on the highway
09:12while someone throws sand
09:14directly into your eyes.
09:16The climbers had to turn their faces
09:18away from the wind
09:19just to breathe.
09:20And when you do that
09:22in a total white-out,
09:23you lose
09:24all sense of direction.
09:25Left,
09:26right,
09:27forward,
09:28backward,
09:28it all just becomes
09:30a blinding white wall.
09:32And before climbers
09:33on the mountain
09:34could even brace themselves,
09:36a blizzard slammed
09:37into dozens
09:38of unprotected climbers
09:39still coming down
09:41the upper slopes
09:42of the mountain.
09:4370 miles an hour.
09:44That's as fast as a car
09:46speeding down the highway,
09:48slamming down
09:49their tired bodies.
09:51The wind chill dropped
09:52to about 100 degrees
09:53below zero,
09:54cold enough
09:55to give any exposed skin
09:57frostbite
09:58in under a minute.
09:59But the biggest issue
10:01wasn't even the cold,
10:02but the snow,
10:03this windy storm
10:04was flinging around.
10:06Solid ice crystals
10:07were being blasted
10:08horizontally
10:09at ungodly speeds
10:11right at their faces.
10:13Climbers facing that storm
10:14simply couldn't
10:15keep their eyes open.
10:17They just couldn't.
10:19Imagine sticking your head
10:20out of that moving car window
10:21on the highway
10:22while someone throws sand
10:24directly into your eyes.
10:25They had to turn their face
10:27away from the wind
10:28just to be able to breathe
10:29and protect their eyes.
10:31The only problem is
10:32they no longer had any idea
10:34what was left,
10:35right,
10:36forward,
10:37or backward
10:38because,
10:38well,
10:39everything looks just
10:41white all around.
10:43It's the worst condition
10:44any climber
10:45can find themselves in.
10:47On May 10th, 1996,
10:49a group of guides
10:50and several clients
10:51from Anatoli's expedition
10:53found themselves
10:54in exactly that nightmare.
10:56They were slowly
10:57making their way
10:58down the ridge
10:59when the storm hit them,
11:01completely unprepared.
11:03It's ironic
11:04because they were literally
11:05just a couple of hundred feet away
11:07from the safety of Camp 4,
11:08but in that snow-white blindness,
11:11it might as well have been
11:12on another mountain.
11:13For hours in the blinding snow,
11:16all they did
11:16was wander blindly
11:18in the darkness,
11:19hoping to somehow
11:20bump into the tents
11:21at Camp 4,
11:22even though they couldn't see
11:24two feet
11:25in front of their own faces.
11:27But eventually,
11:28the group was forced
11:29to come to a dead stop
11:31because,
11:32peering through the blowing ice,
11:34they realized
11:35they had wandered
11:36right up to the very edge
11:37of the Kangshung face.
11:39That's thousands of feet away
11:41from where they began at first
11:43and right at the literal edge
11:44of the mountain.
11:46One more step
11:47in the wrong direction
11:48and they would have fallen
11:50right off the mountain.
11:51They were completely trapped.
11:54They couldn't go forward.
11:55They had no idea
11:56which direction was backward.
11:58And remember,
11:59the winds were still blowing furiously.
12:02So,
12:03they did the only thing
12:04they could do.
12:05They collapsed onto the ice
12:07and formed a huddle.
12:08They literally piled
12:09on top of each other,
12:10desperately trying to share
12:12whatever little body heat
12:13they had left.
12:14It is honestly
12:16the most miserable,
12:17terrifying situation
12:19a human being
12:20can endure.
12:21Especially after paying
12:23tens of thousands
12:24of dollars
12:25to ensure
12:26an expert guide
12:27was there to prevent
12:28exactly this
12:29from happening.
12:30As the hours
12:31ticked by
12:32in the dark,
12:33with their oxygen
12:34completely empty
12:35and their bodies
12:36actively shutting down
12:37from the cold,
12:38it began to dawn
12:39on some of them
12:40that this might be it.
12:42They were not going
12:44to find their way back.
12:45And right out of that storm,
12:48stepping through the blowing snow
12:49like Arnold
12:50stepping out of the wreckage
12:51in Terminator 2
12:52was Anatoly.
12:54He physically dragged
12:56three clients
12:57right from that tangled mass
12:58back nearly 1,000 feet
13:01all the way
13:02to Camp 4.
13:03And he did this
13:04three separate times.
13:06Three!
13:07In a hurricane,
13:08all alone,
13:09without oxygen,
13:10by the way.
13:11By the time the sun
13:12finally came up
13:13the next morning,
13:14Anatoly had single-handedly
13:16saved the lives
13:17of three people.
13:18It remains,
13:19to this day,
13:21one of the greatest
13:22individual rescue efforts
13:23in climbing history.
13:25But,
13:26eight people died
13:28because of that
13:28single storm.
13:30And when the survivors
13:31finally staggered
13:33back down to civilization,
13:35half frozen,
13:36some of them
13:36missing fingers,
13:38missing noses,
13:39one of them
13:39even losing
13:40an entire hand,
13:41the world
13:42wanted to know
13:43one thing,
13:44whose fault was it?
13:46And this man
13:47thought he had
13:48the answer.
13:49His name was
13:50John Krakauer,
13:51and honestly,
13:52he seemed like
13:53the perfect guy
13:54to answer that question.
13:56One,
13:56John was a highly
13:57respected journalist
13:58for Outside Magazine.
14:00The man was literally
14:01trained on how
14:02to investigate
14:03and break down
14:04highly complicated
14:05disasters.
14:07Second,
14:08John had actually
14:09been on Everest
14:10during this exact storm
14:12as a paying client,
14:13so he lived
14:14through the nightmare
14:15firsthand.
14:16He saw people die.
14:18He nearly passed
14:19away himself.
14:20And when he went home
14:21to write the story,
14:23John pointed fingers
14:24at specific decisions
14:25and at specific people
14:27who he felt
14:28failed to do
14:29their jobs that day.
14:30And one of the people
14:32he blamed was,
14:33you guessed it,
14:34Anatoly.
14:35John said exactly
14:36what anyone looking
14:37at this story
14:38would be thinking.
14:39Yeah, sure,
14:40Anatoly saved
14:41three people
14:42at great risk
14:43to his own personal life.
14:44That cannot be denied.
14:46But why were they
14:47trapped in a huddle
14:48in the first place?
14:50Wasn't it partly
14:51because their guide,
14:52the very person
14:53who should have
14:54guided them home,
14:55had instead abandoned
14:56them on the ridge
14:57just because it was late?
14:59And it didn't just
15:00stop there.
15:01For this climb,
15:03Anatoly chose to climb up
15:04without bottled oxygen.
15:06It was his fourth ascent
15:08up there without oxygen.
15:09That's an insane achievement
15:11for a normal climber.
15:12But Anatoly had
15:14a greater responsibility
15:15in this expedition
15:16beyond his own
15:17personal accomplishments.
15:19His tasks required
15:20extra strength up there.
15:22Extra strength
15:23that only bottled oxygen
15:25gives climbers
15:26at those altitudes.
15:27And look,
15:28when you're paid
15:29$25,000
15:30to keep people alive,
15:32choosing to climb
15:33without extra oxygen
15:34when it would have
15:35certainly allowed him
15:36to think more clearly
15:37and assist more clients
15:39was just,
15:40in John's opinion,
15:41an arrogant,
15:42cowardly mistake.
15:44It's amazing
15:45just how quickly
15:46this argument spread.
15:47John's article
15:48was so popular,
15:49so passionate,
15:50that he quickly
15:51expanded his experience
15:53into a book
15:54that came out
15:54the following year.
15:55It was called
15:56Into Thin Air,
15:58and it's still
15:59one of the most popular
16:00adventure books
16:01ever written.
16:02Millions of copies
16:03were sold,
16:04it was translated
16:05into dozens of languages,
16:07it even almost
16:08won a Pulitzer,
16:09and,
16:10I have to be honest,
16:11I see the reason why.
16:13I mean,
16:14the writing
16:14is just exceptional.
16:16And while John
16:17might not have meant it
16:18that way,
16:19Anatoly Bukriyev
16:20became,
16:21in that book,
16:22this brilliant
16:23but selfish,
16:24cowardly guide
16:25who failed his clients
16:26and was only forced
16:28to play the hero
16:29to clean up
16:30his own mess.
16:31But,
16:32buried under the bestseller
16:34and the nominations,
16:35under years of classrooms
16:37and book clubs
16:38treating John Krakauer's
16:39version as gospel,
16:41there's a timeline,
16:42an actual,
16:43minute-by-minute record
16:45of what Anatoly Bukriyev
16:46did that night.
16:48And once you lay it out
16:49next to the accusation,
16:51something strange happens.
16:53The coward disappears.
16:54And what's left behind
16:56looks a lot more
16:57like the only man
16:58on that mountain
16:59who did exactly
17:00what he said he would.
17:02So let's go back,
17:03not to the book,
17:04but to the mountain itself.
17:06And to the hours
17:07before anyone even knew
17:08a storm was coming.
17:10So,
17:10it's 2.30pm,
17:12you are standing
17:12on the razor-thin ridge
17:14at 29,000 feet
17:15watching this massive,
17:17terrifying traffic jam
17:19of exhausted climbers.
17:20You simply have to keep moving
17:23to generate heat.
17:24Without extra oxygen,
17:26your only defense
17:27against the paralyzing cold
17:28is speed.
17:29You come from a long line
17:31of Soviet climbers
17:32who didn't view
17:33mountain guides as helpers.
17:34You were taught
17:35that every climber
17:36must be self-reliant,
17:38and a guide's actual job
17:40is to be the vanguard
17:41who breaks the trail,
17:43fixes the ropes,
17:44and acts as the ultimate
17:45safety net
17:46when things go
17:47completely wrong.
17:48By 1991,
17:50that whole system
17:51with the state funding
17:52and the salary
17:53that let you climb
17:54instead of work
17:55had collapsed,
17:56along with the country
17:58that built it.
17:59But you kept climbing anyway,
18:01because by then
18:02it wasn't a career,
18:03it was the only thing
18:04you actually wanted
18:05to do with your life.
18:06There were months
18:07when you couldn't
18:08afford food,
18:09you borrowed other men's gear
18:11because you couldn't
18:11buy your own,
18:12and still,
18:13ten different times,
18:15you stood on top
18:16of one of the
18:16fourteen highest mountains
18:18on Earth
18:18without a single breath
18:20of bottled oxygen.
18:22So,
18:23when you signed on
18:23to guide for Scott Fisher
18:25this season,
18:26you didn't pretend
18:27to be something you weren't,
18:28you told him straight,
18:29you climb pure,
18:30or you don't climb at all.
18:32And Scott,
18:33a man who understood
18:34exactly what kind
18:35of climber he was hiring,
18:37agreed that if the group
18:38started falling behind,
18:40if things got tight
18:41up high,
18:42you'd get down fast,
18:43grab oxygen and supplies,
18:45and be ready to come back up
18:47if anyone needed pulling out.
18:49So at 2.30pm,
18:51with that traffic jam
18:52still crawling toward a summit
18:53you knew some of them
18:54would never reach,
18:56you make the call.
18:57You turn,
18:58and you start moving down,
18:59alone,
19:00fast,
19:01exactly the way
19:02you told Scott you would.
19:04You are Anatoly Bukriev,
19:06and you have no idea
19:07just how wildly controversial
19:09that decision
19:10is about to turn out to be.
19:12All you know
19:13is that by 5.30pm,
19:15the sky outside your tent
19:16has turned a color
19:17it has no business
19:19turning this early,
19:20and something in your gut
19:21says the tea can wait.
19:23You're moving out
19:24before the wind
19:25even finishes building.
19:27Out of the tent,
19:28oxygen already
19:29slung over your shoulder
19:31for whoever needs it first.
19:32You don't make it 30 feet
19:34before the whiteout
19:35swallows everything.
19:36No hands in front of your face,
19:38no rope,
19:39no ridge,
19:40no horizon to steer by.
19:42Going further right now
19:43isn't brave,
19:44it's just a fast way
19:45to become one more person
19:47this mountain kills.
19:48So,
19:49you fight your way
19:50back through the wind,
19:51trying to peel the jacket
19:52off your body,
19:53and get back inside the tent.
19:55Then,
19:56you wait for hours
19:57and agony
19:58knowing people up there
19:59are trapped,
20:00but there's nothing
20:01you can do to save them.
20:03For a man like you,
20:04that might be the hardest part
20:06of the whole night.
20:077pm comes and passes,
20:09so does 8pm.
20:11Then,
20:11just past 9,
20:13shapes stagger
20:14out of the storm,
20:15half frozen,
20:17barely upright,
20:18but talking.
20:19And they tell you,
20:20in panic,
20:21that the rest of the group
20:22is still out there,
20:23pinned near a cliff edge,
20:25running out of everything.
20:27You go to tent,
20:28looking for anyone else
20:29willing to walk back
20:30into that hurricane.
20:31Nobody is.
20:32So,
20:33you grab more oxygen,
20:34and you go alone,
20:36this time with something
20:37close to a direction,
20:39trusting your memory
20:40of the ground
20:40you crossed
20:41hours earlier
20:42in daylight.
20:43You find them.
20:45You get 3 of them out,
20:46one at a time,
20:47through a storm
20:48that never once lets up.
20:50By the time
20:50the sky starts to grey
20:52with morning,
20:53you've given everything
20:54you had,
20:553 separate times over.
20:57You should stop there.
20:59Everyone would understand
21:00if you stopped there.
21:01But you don't.
21:02Because somewhere above you,
21:04still on that mountain,
21:05is Scott,
21:07the man who hired you.
21:08Word reaches camp
21:09that he never made it
21:11off the ridge,
21:12that he's still up
21:13near the south summit,
21:14and nobody's gotten to him.
21:15So the next morning,
21:17on legs that already carried
21:18three strangers
21:19down a mountain
21:20the night before,
21:21you go back up.
21:23You find him roughly
21:24where the reports
21:25said he'd be,
21:26and the moment you see him,
21:27you already know.
21:28His hands are gone
21:30to frostbite.
21:31His fingers curled stiff
21:33around nothing.
21:35His face is turned
21:36slightly toward the sky,
21:38eyes half open,
21:39already dusted with snow
21:41that never stopped falling.
21:43You crouch down
21:44next to him anyway.
21:45You call his name,
21:46even though some part of you
21:48already knows
21:48there won't be an answer.
21:50Fifteen years of climbing
21:52has taught you
21:52what a dead body looks like
21:54on this slope.
21:55Scott Fisher,
21:57the man who gave you
21:58a chance to earn a living
22:00while doing your favorite
22:01thing in the world,
22:02is gone.
22:03And you can't even
22:05bring him home,
22:06because you don't have
22:07the strength
22:07to drag him down
22:09alone.
22:10By the time the day ends,
22:12you've climbed Everest
22:13without oxygen,
22:14pulled three strangers
22:15out of a hurricane,
22:17and said goodbye
22:18to the man who hired you
22:19without ever saying a word.
22:22And still,
22:23despite all this,
22:24you wake up
22:25one Monday morning
22:26to an article
22:27written by a man
22:28who was asleep
22:28in his tent
22:29while you were still
22:30out in that storm,
22:31saying you abandoned
22:33into your climbers,
22:34essentially calling
22:35you a coward.
22:36Personally,
22:37I'd have lost my mind.
22:40I'd have wanted to scream
22:41and name every single hour
22:43I spent out in that storm
22:44while he was asleep
22:45to make sure the whole world
22:47knew exactly where he was
22:49while I was still moving.
22:51But,
22:52Anatoly didn't do that.
22:54He didn't start
22:55a screaming match
22:56in the press.
22:57He just tried
22:58to set the record straight.
23:00First,
23:00he wrote a letter
23:01back to John's
23:02highly popular article
23:04to explain
23:05his side of the story.
23:06He laid out the timeline
23:08and his tactical reason
23:09for going down
23:10early that day.
23:11He practically begged
23:13the world
23:13to just look
23:14at the raw facts
23:15of who actually
23:16survived that night
23:17and exactly
23:18why they survived.
23:20He even ended
23:21this letter
23:22with a line
23:22that almost nobody expected.
23:24I extend my hand
23:26to him
23:26and encourage
23:27that effort.
23:29Some would call
23:30that noble
23:30but the world
23:32had already chosen him
23:33as the villain.
23:35Quick detour.
23:36Every month
23:37there's a story
23:38that never goes
23:38to YouTube.
23:40It's there if you want it.
23:41Patreon,
23:42link below.
23:43Now,
23:43where were we?
23:45John Krakauer
23:46was a masterful,
23:47lyrical writer
23:48with a massive
23:49Western publishing machine
23:51behind him.
23:52Anatoly was a stoic,
23:54blunt,
23:55Kazakh climber
23:56whose first language
23:58wasn't even English.
23:59You know,
24:00one of the strangest things
24:02about this whole incident
24:03is just how much
24:04both John and Anatoly
24:06actually agree on
24:07even if they didn't know it.
24:09They both agreed
24:10the ropes
24:10should have been fixed
24:11earlier in the day.
24:13They both agreed
24:14there were simply
24:14too many inexperienced
24:16climbers on that mountain
24:17at once.
24:18They even both agreed
24:20that the commercial
24:20Everest industry
24:22had gotten ahead
24:23of itself
24:23and was selling
24:24expensive dreams
24:25to people who,
24:27frankly,
24:27had no business
24:28being up there
24:29in the first place.
24:30But that's where it ended.
24:33Lives were lost.
24:34Both parties were convinced
24:35their opponents
24:36were wrong.
24:37It was bound
24:39to turn into
24:39a deeply personal,
24:41incredibly messy spat.
24:43And that's
24:45exactly what happened.
24:46Later,
24:47in 1997,
24:49Anatoly teamed up
24:50with a writer named
24:51Weston DeWalt
24:52and published
24:53his own book,
24:54The Climb,
24:55specifically to dismantle
24:57John's claims
24:57point by point.
24:59From there,
25:01John and Anatoly
25:02started publicly
25:02trading bitter,
25:04highly technical letters
25:05to the editor
25:06and outside magazine.
25:08It got so intense
25:09that John actually
25:10went back
25:11and updated
25:12the postscripts
25:13and later editions
25:13of Into Thin Air
25:15just to argue
25:16against Anatoly's book.
25:19Anatoly's camp
25:20fired right back,
25:21calling John
25:22an amateur client
25:23trying to play
25:24armchair coach
25:25on a situation
25:26he didn't have
25:27the expertise
25:28or competence
25:29to understand.
25:30The disagreements
25:32split the climbing world
25:33in two.
25:34You had millions
25:35of casual readers
25:36treating John's book
25:37as gospel,
25:38but you also had
25:40elite climbers
25:40who understood
25:41why Anatoly made
25:43those decisions
25:44that day.
25:45They needed a tiebreaker,
25:47someone who knew
25:47both climbing
25:48and the media
25:49intimately.
25:51That someone
25:51was Galen Rowell.
25:54If you don't know
25:55the name,
25:55you should.
25:56Galen was one of
25:57the most respected
25:58climbers and photographers
26:00alive.
26:00He had spent
26:0130 years documenting
26:03exactly this kind
26:04of decision
26:05at exactly this kind
26:06of altitude
26:07under pressure.
26:08When Galen Rowell
26:09said something
26:10about a mountain,
26:11the people who actually
26:12climbed mountains
26:14listened.
26:14In May of 1997,
26:17about a month
26:18after Into Thin Air
26:19hit shelves,
26:20Rowell sat down
26:21and wrote a piece
26:22for the Wall Street Journal.
26:24He didn't hedge,
26:25he went after
26:26John's version directly,
26:28and he did it
26:28with the one weapon
26:29that's almost impossible
26:31to argue with,
26:32the timeline
26:33of the whole accident.
26:34While Anatoly
26:36was out there alone,
26:37John was asleep
26:38in his tent.
26:39That's not an insult,
26:40John himself
26:41had nearly died
26:42that day.
26:43Nobody blames a man
26:44for resting after that.
26:45But it's hard
26:47to square
26:47reckless guide
26:48who didn't care
26:49with a timeline
26:50that has him unconscious
26:51while the man
26:52he's accusing
26:53is still out there
26:55working.
26:56Galen went further
26:57than that, too.
26:58He argued Anatoly
26:59hadn't just gotten lucky,
27:01but that he read
27:02the entire situation
27:03better than anyone else
27:04on that mountain
27:05hours before it mattered.
27:07He clocked
27:08that there were still
27:08five other guides
27:09up there
27:10capable of handling
27:11the descent,
27:12he'd made sure
27:13he came down
27:13rested,
27:14fed,
27:15and ready to move,
27:16specifically in case
27:18something went wrong.
27:19His exact words were,
27:21Anatoly's heroism
27:23was not a fluke.
27:24And then,
27:26people Anatoly
27:27actually pulled
27:28out of that storm
27:29stopped staying
27:29quiet, too.
27:31Sandy Hill Pittman,
27:33one of the three
27:34clients Bukri
27:35pulled out of that storm
27:36with his own hands,
27:37gave an interview
27:38where she described
27:40the two people
27:40who saved her life
27:41that night,
27:42and Anatoly
27:43was one of them.
27:44To her,
27:45he was the kind
27:46of person
27:47that superheroes
27:48in movies
27:48only pretend to be,
27:50because if he had
27:51done one single
27:52thing differently
27:53that night,
27:54taken one different
27:55step,
27:56she genuinely believed
27:58she would not be alive
27:59to tell the story
28:00at all.
28:01Charlotte Fox,
28:03another one of the
28:03climbers Bukri
28:04carried out of that
28:05Whiteout put it
28:07even simpler.
28:08Anatoly saved my life.
28:10By December of 1997,
28:13the mountaineering world
28:14had seen enough evidence.
28:16The American Alpine Club,
28:18the single most respected
28:20mountaineering institution
28:21in the United States,
28:22awarded Anatoly Bukri
28:24the David A. Soule's
28:26Memorial Award.
28:28It's the highest honor
28:29for valor
28:30that the club gives out.
28:31It exists specifically
28:33for climbers who risk
28:34everything at personal cost
28:36to save someone else's
28:38life on a mountain.
28:40In the 16 years
28:41the award had existed,
28:42it had only been given out
28:43a handful of times.
28:45The man the world
28:47had stereotyped
28:48as reckless and selfish
28:50was standing in front
28:51of the American Alpine Club,
28:53receiving its highest honor
28:55for exactly the actions
28:57that the book
28:58had condemned him for.
28:59He had won.
29:01As publicly
29:03and as completely
29:04as a man in his position
29:05could win,
29:06there was just
29:07one problem.
29:09Three weeks
29:10after the American Alpine Club
29:12handed him
29:13its highest award,
29:15Anatoly was already
29:15back on a mountain
29:16in Nepal
29:17known as Anapurna.
29:19It's not the tallest
29:20place on earth,
29:21but it's even more
29:22dangerous in its own way.
29:25Anatoly was attempting
29:26something that,
29:27quite frankly,
29:28sounds nearly impossible.
29:29A winter ascent
29:31on its south face.
29:33If you want to know
29:34just why
29:35this was absolutely insane,
29:37check out this video.
29:39Anyways,
29:40he,
29:41alongside Italian climber
29:42Simone Moro,
29:44and a Kazakh cameraman
29:45named Dimitri Sobolev,
29:47was determined
29:48to take on this mountain.
29:50Nine months earlier,
29:51Anatoly had a dream.
29:53He was in an avalanche.
29:54He didn't know
29:55which mountain it was on.
29:56When people close to him
29:58heard about it
29:59and told him to be careful
30:00to maybe change his plans,
30:02he told them,
30:03it is too late for me
30:04to take up another road.
30:07It sounds defiant,
30:09but maybe he should have listened
30:10because around 12pm,
30:13December 25th, 1997,
30:16the three men
30:17were fixing ropes
30:18in a narrow, cool war
30:19roughly 19,000 feet
30:21up the mountain
30:22when a massive slab of snow
30:24broke away
30:25without warning
30:26from Annapurna's
30:27western wall
30:28and straight above them.
30:31The avalanche
30:32swept them
30:32off the mountain.
30:34Simone Moro
30:36managed to dig himself out
30:38even though his hands
30:39were torn open
30:40to the tendons.
30:41He survived.
30:43Anatoly and Dimitri
30:44were sadly
30:45not so lucky.
30:47The avalanche
30:48had buried them
30:49under thousands of tons
30:50of frozen,
30:51shifting debris.
30:53In the chaos
30:54of the slide,
30:55they were gone
30:56in a heartbeat.
30:57And just like that,
30:59the hero
31:00of the most harrowing night
31:01in Everest's history,
31:02everyone had called
31:04a coward,
31:04was gone.
31:06Anatoly's tragedy
31:07was immediate
31:08because he never
31:09saw it coming.
31:11But what happens
31:12when you do see it coming?
31:14When your only rule
31:15warns you
31:16never to dare
31:17this mountain
31:18because you know
31:19the consequences,
31:21but you do it anyway.
31:23Check out the next video
31:24to see what happens.
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