Hillary Step

The Hillary Step was a 40-foot (12 m) vertical rock face that sat 8,790 metres (28,839 ft) above sea level on the southeast ridge of Mount Everest. Some 30 metres (98 ft) vertically below the mountain's 8,849-metre (29,032 ft) summit, it lay halfway between the "South Summit" and topping out. It was the most technically difficult part of the typical Nepal-side Everest route, and the last real challenge before completing the final stage of the climb. The rock face was destroyed by the April 2015 Nepal earthquake. Located in the death zone, the Hillary Step was a Class 4 pitch. One expedition noted that climbing the Hillary Step was "strenuous" and offered little to no escape from unpredictable, rapidly changing weather. Heavy snowfall could enable climbers to bypass Hillary using snow and ice climbing techniques. The Hillary Step has claimed several climbers' lives. In 1997, mountaineer Anatoli Boukreev – known for saving the lives of climbers during the 1996 Mount Everest disaster – found the body of Bruce Herrod hanging from ropes at the base of the step; Herrod had died during a climb two weeks after the 1996 disaster.