Has Everest become safer or more dangerous over time?

Both, depending on the framing. Per-climber risk has fallen sharply - from over 5 percent pre-1990 to about 0.69 percent in 2015-2025, roughly a sevenfold improvement. But absolute death counts have risen, from about 13 deaths in the 1920s to about 110 in the 2010s, because participation grew more than a hundredfold over the same period. The mountain has not gotten less dangerous; the operational quality of commercial expeditions has gotten much better. Popular narratives emphasize the record absolute counts; the data emphasizes the falling per-climber rate. Both are accurate.

Why does the Matterhorn kill so many climbers?

The Matterhorn - roughly 600 cumulative deaths since 1865, 8 to 10 a year - combines several compounding factors. Sheer volume: up to 3,000 climbers attempt it each season, with as many as 130 on the Hörnli Ridge on peak days. Underestimation: it is non-technical relative to harder Alps peaks but clearly harder than many guidebooks suggest. Weather exposure: the long, exposed ridge offers minimal shelter and traps climbers when conditions change fast. And rockfall: thawing permafrost has driven multiple major rockfall events, including a 2003 event that evacuated 90 climbers.

Are Sherpa fatalities counted in the Everest death total?

Yes. The Himalayan Database tracks both members (foreign climbers, often paying clients) and hired workers (primarily Sherpas). Of the 339 cumulative Everest deaths through 2025, 132 are hired workers - about 39 percent of all fatalities. In the earliest decades, Sherpa deaths were often recorded only by count rather than by name. The 2014 Khumbu Icefall avalanche, which killed 16 Sherpas in one event, was an inflection point in public attention to Sherpa risk and prompted improvements in life insurance, compensation, and family support. Sherpas have historically borne a share of the mountain's risk out of proportion to the cultural attention given to Western climbers.

How has the descent-versus-ascent fatality pattern changed?

The historical pattern (1921-2006, Huey et al. 2020 in PLoS One) showed 62 percent of Everest deaths during ascent or route preparation and 38 percent on descent. The modern pattern (Himalayan Database, 1922-2023) shows 56 percent of above-base-camp fatalities on descent - and a 2020 follow-up found 61.7 percent of recent fatalities occurred after summiting. The shift reflects improvements in ascent-phase logistics - oxygen, forecasting, fixed ropes, Sherpa support - that have not equally improved the descent, where time-budget exhaustion and physiological deterioration compound. Climbers reach the summit more reliably than ever, but the descent remains the under-managed phase.

Last updated July 17, 2026

Mountaineering Truth Project · Investigation 14 · Data Through 2025

Mountaineering Deaths by Decade: Are the Mountains Getting Safer? (170 Years of Data)

Q: How many people have died on Mount Everest?

As of December 2025, 339 people have died on Mount Everest since the first British expedition in 1922, per Alan Arnette's 2026 compilation of Himalayan Database data. Of these, 207 are members (foreign climbers, often paying clients) and 132 are hired workers, primarily Sherpas. The mountain has averaged about 5 deaths per year historically, rising to roughly 7 per year from 2010 to 2025 as participation has grown. Approximately 200 to 250 bodies remain on the mountain, mostly in the death zone above 8,000 m where recovery is dangerous and often impossible.

Q: What was the deadliest year on Everest?

By absolute count, 2015 was the deadliest with 22 deaths at Base Camp, from the avalanche triggered by the magnitude 7.8 Nepal earthquake. 2014 was second with about 19, including 16 Sherpas killed in a single Khumbu Icefall avalanche. 1996 was third with 15, including the 8 killed in the May 10-11 storm that became Into Thin Air. 2019 produced 18, largely from summit-day overcrowding. By per-climber rate, however, the earliest decades were far deadlier - the pre-1990 era ran above 5 percent versus about 0.69 percent in 2015-2025.

Q: What was the 1865 Matterhorn disaster?

On July 14, 1865, Edward Whymper led the first ascent of the Matterhorn with a seven-person team. On the descent, the inexperienced Douglas Hadow slipped on icy rocks, pulling guide Michel Croz, Lord Francis Douglas, and Charles Hudson down the north face when the rope broke between them and the rest of the party. The four fell more than 4,000 feet; three bodies were recovered, but Lord Douglas's was never found. The disaster is considered the end of the Golden Age of Mountaineering and triggered a public reckoning, including denunciations from Charles Dickens and The Times. The Matterhorn has since killed roughly 600 climbers and still claims 8 to 10 lives a year.

Since Alfred Wills climbed the Wetterhorn in 1854, mountaineering has told two opposite stories at once. The death toll keeps rising – yet the risk to each individual climber keeps falling. This investigation traces both trends across seven eras, from the 1865 Matterhorn disaster to Everest’s safest season on record in 2025.

By the Global Summit Guide Editorial Team · Published May 21, 2026 · Data through the 2025 season

Updated Jul 17, 2026 · Next review Nov 2026 · ~17 min read

Editorial approach – research-based data analysis. Cumulative Everest figures draw primarily on Alan Arnette’s Everest by the Numbers: 2026, which compiles the Himalayan Database (Salisbury, Hawley) through the 2025 season, cross-referenced with peer-reviewed analysis (Huey et al., PLoS One) and historical mountaineering literature. Decade boundaries are reporting conveniences; per-climber rates can be calculated several ways, and we note the denominator where it matters.

The short version

The mountains haven’t gotten safer. The climbing has.

Across 170 years the data runs two directions at once. Per-climber risk has fallen dramatically – Everest’s death rate dropped from over 5% pre-1990 to about 0.69% in 2015-2025, roughly a sevenfold improvement. But absolute death counts have risen, from ~13 in the 1920s to ~110 in the 2010s, because participation grew more than a hundredfold.

Both are true. The popular framing (“record deaths on Everest”) emphasizes the count; the data emphasizes the rate. The honest read: the mountains are unchanged – the operational quality of expeditions has transformed, even as the sheer number of climbers pushes the annual toll higher.

339Everest deaths 1922-2025

5%+ → 0.69%Everest rate, pre-1990 vs 2015-25

~600Matterhorn deaths since 1865

~7/yrEverest avg, 2010-2025

200-250Bodies still on Everest

The 170-year picture, in eight numbers

Cumulative as of December 2025

339

Cumulative Everest deaths, 1922-2025

207 members + 132 hired workers (mostly Sherpas) · Himalayan Database / Arnette 2026

5%+ → 0.69%

Everest normalized death rate

Pre-1990 vs 2015-2025 – a ~7-fold improvement in per-climber risk

~600

Cumulative Matterhorn deaths since 1865

~8-10/year – the deadliest mountain in Switzerland

~5 → 7/yr

Everest deaths per year

Historical ~5/year rising to ~7/year across 2010-2025 as participation grew

200-250

Bodies still on Everest

Mostly in the death zone above 8,000 m, where recovery is often impossible

62% → 56%

Ascent vs descent fatality share

62% on ascent (1921-2006, Huey) shifted to 56% on descent (modern)

39%

Hired-worker share of Everest deaths

132 of 339 fatalities are Sherpas and other hired staff

170 yrs

Of modern mountaineering

From Wills’ 1854 Wetterhorn ascent to the 2025 season

On this page

The master decade table
The seven eras of fatalities
Five patterns across 170 years
FAQ
Sources & methodology

The master decade table

Everest fatalities by decade – the cleanest single dataset showing how the picture evolved.

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Decade	Everest deaths	Climbers attempting	Defining events
1921-1929	~13	~50	British reconnaissance. 1922: avalanche kills 7 Sherpas (first recorded Everest deaths). 1924: Mallory & Irvine disappear.
1930-1939	~5	~80	Continued British north-side attempts. Maurice Wilson dies attempting a solo summit in 1934.
1940-1949	0	0	WWII halts all expeditions. No climbing on Everest.
1950-1959	~4	~30	1953: Hillary & Norgay achieve the first ascent. Decade death rate ~3%.
1960-1969	6	~30	National expeditions. 1963: first American ascent; first West Ridge ascent (Hornbein, Unsoeld) with one death.
1970-1979	28	~120	Frequency rises sharply. 1975: Junko Tabei, first woman to summit. Hannelore Schmatz dies on descent, 1979.
1980-1989	58	~280	Attempts climb. 1980: Messner solo without oxygen. 1985: Dick Bass, first commercial-style client to summit.
1990-1999	60	~770	1996: 15 deaths in one year, including the 8-death May storm of Into Thin Air. Commercial era launches.
2000-2009	~55	~2,100	Massive commercial expansion. 2006: 11 deaths including the David Sharp incident. Oxygen logistics improve.
2010-2019	~110	~5,800	The deadliest decade ever. 2014: Icefall avalanche kills 16 Sherpas. 2015: earthquake, 22 deaths at Base Camp. 2019: queues, 18 deaths.
2020-2025	~50	~3,800	Lowest normalized rate ever (~0.69%). COVID cuts 2020-22 participation. 2023: 18. 2024: 8-9 (Hillary Step cornice killed 4). 2025: only 3.

Counts and ranges are approximate, reflecting different methodologies across sources; decade totals are most reliable for 1970 onward. The cumulative figure of 339 reflects Alan Arnette’s 2026 compilation through the end of the 2025 season.

The two numbers that tell opposite stories. Read the death-count column and mountaineering looks far more dangerous – from ~13 deaths in the 1920s to ~110 in the 2010s. Read the climbers-attempting column and the opposite appears: participation grew roughly a hundredfold over the same period, so the per-climber death rate fell from over 5% pre-1990 to about 0.69% in 2015-2025. The mountain got less dangerous per attempt; the absolute count rose because so many more people now attempt. Both framings are true – the media usually shows the first, the data the second.

The seven eras of fatalities

There is no single story of mountaineering deaths. There are seven – each shaped by specific technologies, tragedies, and assumptions about what climbers owed each other.

ERA 1 OF 7

The Golden Age, 1854-1865

Alfred Wills 1854 → Whymper 1865 · European Alps · Defining disaster: the Matterhorn descent

Modern mountaineering begins with Wills’ 1854 Wetterhorn ascent. In eleven years, nearly every major Alpine peak was summited for the first time, mostly by British climbers with Swiss or French guides, and the Alpine Club was founded in 1857. The era closed on the Matterhorn.

The 1865 Matterhorn descent – 4 deaths (14 July 1865). Whymper’s seven-person team summited, then on the descent the inexperienced Douglas Hadow slipped, pulling guide Michel Croz, Lord Francis Douglas, and Charles Hudson down the north face when the rope broke. Three bodies were recovered; Douglas’s was never found. Charles Dickens denounced the “fool-hardihood” of Alpine climbing; the disaster ended the Golden Age.

ERA 2 OF 7

The Reconnaissance Era, 1920s-1940s

1921 Everest reconnaissance → 1953 first summit · Himalaya, Karakoram, Andes · Defining disasters: 1922 avalanche; 1924 Mallory/Irvine

After WWI, national expeditions pushed into peaks that had never been climbed, with limited technology and uncertain logistics – and the death tolls reflected the conditions.

1922 North Col avalanche – 7 deaths (7 June 1922). An avalanche swept seven Sherpa porters to their deaths – the first recorded fatalities on Everest, and the start of a pattern in which Sherpa deaths disproportionately reflected the mountain’s real dangers while Western climbers drew most of the attention.

Mallory & Irvine disappear – 2 deaths (8 June 1924). Last seen ~240 m from the summit, climbing strongly into cloud. Whether they reached the top before dying remains mountaineering’s most enduring mystery. Mallory’s body was found in 1999; Irvine’s in 2024.

ERA 3 OF 7

The Heroic Age, 1950s-1970s

1950 Annapurna → late 1970s · The 14 eight-thousanders · Defining achievement: all 14 climbed by 1964

The Heroic Age opened with the French first ascent of Annapurna I in 1950 – the first 8,000er ever – and effectively closed in 1964 when the last, Shishapangma, fell. In 14 years, twelve nations completed first ascents of all fourteen 8,000ers.

Nanga Parbat – 31 deaths before its 1953 first ascent. The “Killer Mountain” earned its name decades before modern data: the 1934 German expedition alone lost 10 climbers in a single storm. Hermann Buhl finally made the first ascent solo in 1953. See the 8000ers ranked by difficulty for the full profile.

ERA 4 OF 7

The Pre-Commercial Era, 1980s

~1978 (Messner without O2) → 1992 · All major peaks · Defining shift: mountaineering as elite sport, then paid client

A transitional decade: 58 Everest deaths against ~280 climbers – a much higher absolute count than the 1970s, at a roughly stable per-climber rate. It ended with a single ascent that changed everything.

Dick Bass summits Everest – 1985. A Texas businessman with limited mountaineering background, Bass paid for guides and infrastructure and became the first commercial-style client to reach the top – proof of concept for the entire commercial era to come.

ERA 5 OF 7

The Commercial Awakening, 1990s

~1992 → 2000 · Everest commercial expeditions emerge · Defining disaster: the 1996 Into Thin Air storm

Guided commercial expeditions became a recognized industry, led by Rob Hall’s Adventure Consultants and Scott Fischer’s Mountain Madness. Clients paid ~$65,000 (1996 dollars) for supported ascents.

The 1996 Everest disaster – 8 deaths, 15 for the year (10-11 May 1996). A severe storm trapped climbers in the death zone overnight; Rob Hall, Scott Fischer, and others died. Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air made it the most-read mountaineering account ever, and forced the young commercial industry to professionalize – turnaround policies, weather forecasting, better oxygen logistics, stricter vetting.

ERA 6 OF 7

The Mass Commercial Era, 2000s-2010s

~2000 → 2019 · Industrial-scale Everest · Defining disasters: 2014 Icefall, 2015 earthquake, 2019 queues

Everest climber counts grew from ~2,100 in the 2000s to ~5,800 in the 2010s, with Nepali operators entering at lower price points. The 2010s were the deadliest decade in absolute terms (~110 deaths) – dominated by three events.

2014 Khumbu Icefall avalanche – 16 deaths (18 April). A serac collapse killed 16 Sherpas at once – then the deadliest single incident in Everest history – prompting protests and a partial season shutdown.

2015 Nepal earthquake – 22 deaths at Base Camp (25 April). The magnitude-7.8 quake triggered an avalanche off Pumori that swept Base Camp; the season was cancelled entirely.

2019 overcrowding – 18 deaths. Summit-day queues and time-budget exhaustion; Nirmal Purja’s photo of climbers stacked along the ridge crystallized the limits of commercial Everest.

ERA 7 OF 7

The Modern Calibration Era, 2020s

2020 → present · All major commercial peaks · Defining trend: the lowest per-climber death rate in history

COVID cut participation in 2020-21; by 2022 it had recovered. 2023 produced 18 fatalities, 2024 produced 8-9 (including the Hillary Step cornice collapse), and 2025 produced only 3 deaths against well over 1,000 climbers – one of the safest seasons in modern history. The 2015-2025 Everest rate of ~0.69% is the lowest sustained rate on record – against K2’s historic 12-25% and Annapurna’s modern 13-20%.

2024 Hillary Step cornice collapse – 4 deaths (21 May). A cornice gave way at the famous final-ridge section, accounting for nearly half of 2024’s Everest fatalities in one incident, and raising questions about the Step’s stability as Himalayan snow and ice patterns shift.

Five patterns across 170 years

Pulling back from the era-by-era walkthrough, five patterns emerge across the full sweep.

Per-climber risk has fallen across every era

From the Matterhorn descent (4 of 7, ~57% on that single climb) through the Reconnaissance Era (~10% per attempt on early Everest) through pre-1990 Everest (5%+) to the 2015-2025 decade (~0.69%), the trend is unambiguous. The mountains didn’t get safer; the operational quality of expeditions did.

Absolute counts rose because participation rose faster than safety improved

The 1920s saw ~50 Everest climbers and ~13 deaths; the 2010s saw ~5,800 and ~110. Participation grew ~116-fold; deaths grew ~8-fold; per-climber risk improved by roughly a factor of 14. “Record deaths” headlines miss that structural improvement.

Major disasters dominate decade statistics

The 2014 Icefall avalanche (16) and 2015 earthquake (22) together account for ~35% of the 2010s’ toll; the 1996 disaster was ~25% of the 1990s’. Single events skew decade numbers, and the underlying per-climber risk in event-free years is lower than the averages suggest.

Sherpa fatalities have been disproportionately undercounted

Of 339 cumulative Everest deaths, 132 – about 39% – are hired workers, mostly Sherpas. In early decades they were often recorded only by count, not by name. The 2014 Icefall avalanche was an inflection point for attention, insurance, and compensation, but the imbalance persists in attenuated form.

The fatal phase shifted from ascent to descent

The 1921-2006 pattern (62% ascent / 38% descent, Huey et al.) shifted to 56% on descent in the modern Himalayan Database – and a 2020 study found 61.7% of recent fatalities occurred after summiting. Ascent-phase logistics improved faster than the descent, which remains the under-managed phase. See why climbers die on summit day.

Understand the risk before you commit

The data’s clearest lesson is that outcomes track preparation and operator quality more than the mountain itself. Weigh relative risk with our death rates by mountain and most dangerous mountains analyses, and if you’re planning a trip, compare flights and lodging through the Global Summit Guide Expedia travel shop.

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Death Rates by Mountain The Truth Project

Deaths by decade FAQ

The questions people ask most about mountaineering fatality trends.

How many people have died on Mount Everest?

339 through 2025 (207 members + 132 hired workers), per Alan Arnette’s 2026 Himalayan Database compilation. The mountain averages ~5-7 deaths a year, and 200-250 bodies remain, mostly in the death zone above 8,000 m.

Has Everest become safer or more dangerous?

Both. Per-climber risk fell ~7-fold (5%+ pre-1990 to ~0.69% in 2015-2025), while absolute deaths rose (~13 in the 1920s to ~110 in the 2010s) because participation grew more than a hundredfold. The mountain is unchanged; the operational quality of expeditions transformed.

What was the deadliest year on Everest?

By count, 2015 (22 at Base Camp from the earthquake avalanche), then 2014 (~19, incl. 16 Sherpas in the Icefall), 1996 (15, the Into Thin Air storm), and 2019 (18, overcrowding). By rate, the earliest decades were far deadlier.

What was the 1865 Matterhorn disaster?

On the first ascent, 4 of Whymper’s 7 climbers died on the descent when a rope broke – ending the Golden Age of Mountaineering and triggering a public reckoning. The Matterhorn has since killed ~600 climbers and still claims 8-10 a year.

Are Sherpa deaths counted in the total?

Yes – the Himalayan Database tracks members and hired workers separately. 132 of the 339 Everest deaths (~39%) are hired workers, mostly Sherpas. Early-decade Sherpa deaths were often recorded only by count, not name.

Has the fatal phase shifted from ascent to descent?

Yes. The 1921-2006 pattern was 62% ascent / 38% descent; the modern pattern is 56% on descent, with a 2020 study finding 61.7% of recent deaths occurred after summiting. Ascent logistics improved faster than the descent.

Sources & methodology

The Himalayan Database (Salisbury, Hawley) – the foundational dataset for Nepal/Tibet expedition records; source for cumulative summit and fatality counts.
Alan Arnette, Everest by the Numbers: 2026 – the canonical annual synthesis; source for the 339 cumulative deaths (207 members + 132 hired workers), the ~5→7/year averages, and the 0.69% normalized 2015-2025 rate.
Huey, Salisbury, Wang, Mao (2020), PLoS One – analysis of 5,800+ Everest climbers, including the descent-vs-ascent phase finding (61.7% of recent deaths after summiting).
Grokipedia / Wikipedia death-statistics compilations for decade-by-decade counts and the pre-1990 vs modern rate comparison; Wikipedia first-ascent records and historical literature for the 1865 Matterhorn detail.
Cross-referenced with our own Everest Death Map and 8000ers ranked investigations.

Methodology & caveats. Decade boundaries are reporting conveniences; the “eras” span across them. Death counts vary slightly across sources by inclusion criteria (base camp vs above; members only vs all hired workers). Per-climber rates use Arnette’s 2026 normalized methodology for the 0.69% figure. Published May 21, 2026 · data through the 2025 season · next review November 2026.

About this investigation

Global Summit Guide Editorial Team · Investigation 14 of the Mountaineering Truth Project

The Truth Project compiles primary-source data into honest, contextualized analysis. This historical piece anchors the series – the long-arc context behind every peak-specific investigation. Research lead: Travis Ludlow; safety review: Dawson Ludlow.

Read the editorial mission and team background.

The mountains haven’t changed. The climbers have.

170 years of data tell one honest story: individual risk has fallen dramatically while the annual toll has risen, because so many more people now climb. Understanding both halves is the difference between fearing a headline and understanding a risk.

Compare Death Rates All 20 Investigations

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Global Summit Guide is an independent mountaineering resource founded in 2026. The team combines first-hand trekking and climbing experience with in-depth research and professional health and nutrition review to help climbers choose objectives, prepare properly, and stay safe.

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