Everest's Villain? The Sandy Hill Pittman Story

Some of you are asking why Sandy Hill Pittman was blamed for the deaths - there are a few things people accuse her of by indirectly causing deaths:
1) She was short-roped (or pulled up the mountain) near the top by a Sherpa and they say this caused delays for the whole team as that Sherpa was supposed to set ropes up higher. The delay meant they were up on the summit dangerously late in the day and then the storm hit. (this is usually the main reason and the short-roping is confirmed by a few people who saw it)
2) She "hooked up" with a snowboarder and that angered the gods thus causing the storm (this was pointed out by Krakauer, but it was the Sherpas who really believed this, I don't get the sense many Western climbers bought into it)
3) She brought extravagant items that her Sherpas had to carry high up the mountain, thus tiring them out (this is more vague, there's not a lot of specific info on this anywhere)

It's not a sport .can't be compared to tennis foot ball swimming.

Divorcee three times over.

No matter your expertise, fitness level, resume, experience, determination, emotional or mental strength, sometimes the mountain is just gonna get you.

Jon made it back to camp and refused to help in the rescue , so I think he has no right blaming Sandy

Sandy was criticised because she had a Sherpa drag her up and then he didn’t want to go back up with another Sherpa to fix the lines. That led for the late turnaround. She was saved by Charlotte Fox as well

Those interviews were, imo, self aggrandising and unfeeling. She does herself no favours at all. Mountaineering is dangerous, the weather can be brutal nature takes no prisoners.

You cant really base the whole story off of Jon's book and a few news reports. There are several books on the incident by people that were there. And everybody has a slightly different story of what they witnessed or went through. Id have to go back and re read them its been a while. I dont remember her being spelled out as a villan just someone who needed more base camp etiquette and rubbed people wrong. Her little fling on the mountain didnt help her either. While it may not sound like a big deal to us. To sherpas and their beliefs & traditions its a huge deal and there were fights/arguments about it. At the end of the day though Sandy dosent control the weather and summit at all costs was the real villan.

Two trained guides, experienced sherpas and seasoned climbers but let’s lay the blame at this random clients feet because she’s a pretty young woman and we hate that so clearly her fault. If she shouldn’t have been short roped, why was she? If they should t have carried heavy items up the mountain, why did they? Like, a whole lot of other peoples responsibility has to be overlooked to try to pretend this was her fault.

If you aren’t physically prepared for the task, Sherpas should simply refuse to take you up. If you aren’t willing to take it seriously, like demanding a satellite phone and other comforts be taken up for you, they should refuse to take you up. Human greed is to blame.

She should’ve known her limits but she was greedy for adventure. (Asking for extra gear that wasn’t essential and having to be short roped)
The Sherpas should’ve known not to take her but they were greedy for the money.

Really it’s awful decisions made by all.

The comments here are so weird and feminist. She is to blame and so are all the rest of them. “We weren’t there that day but I can see them all throwing her under the bus” … I’ve seen comments like this … the absolute logic flaw here. You weren’t there, you can’t condemn nor clear her. All you can do is take the stories you have been given and then realise it was a horrible tragedy in which no one party WANTS to take the blame because that would mean accepting the guilt.

Ofcourse they are all throwing around the blame like a hot potato. It’s human nature to not take accountability, especially in the last 60/70 years of society.

It was a horrific event in which all parties made bad decisions that put the entire group in danger. The fact that none of them are willing to take ANY blame should make it glaringly obvious what the problem was. Egos. For all of them.

Shut it down.

Some people like to pin blame on someone. But being caught in storm can happen to anyone, even seasoned sailor of Florida coast. Only, that high in mountain there is no outside help and in Death Zone life is dripping away faster then anywhere else on planet.

First time I've heard a different side of the story That must have been hard for her to receive so much flack

Come on: Everyone who climbs Everest is doing it for personal gratification. Nobody up there is studying the mountain's ecology or geology, they're not pioneers seeing if it can be done--we already know it can be, obviously. All of them are seeing if they'll survive it so they can feel special. They're all just up there leaving trash at this point. They're not heroes.

It has been twenty years since reading "Into Thin Air".

What my take away was, Krakhour mostly blamed Bourkreev for the deaths.

I did not think it was fair, given that Krakhout himself did no contribute any herorics.

Lol if they thought the 96 disaster than i wonder what they would think of the multiple disasters that have happened in the intervening years.

Just imagine the "thrill of victory" sensation at the top!
I do admire strong Women! It seems to me Ms. Pittman had the "chop's" and the 'cred's to make this trip.
Some wise soul said "luck is just the residue of skill".
Well, bad luck is the residue of breaking rules.
And they had some really awful luck coming down.
RIP all lost in the ultimate "agony of defeat." story.
Best to survivors and all the family's.

I'm currently reading "Into Thin Air" and wanted to offer my take on the book. I think it's very honest. Sometimes people hear things they don't like. Hopefully she's learned a lot from her life experience as we all will. I'm actually at the part of the book when Jon writes about Peck's interview with 60 Minutes. When Peck says having Jon on the expedition made people work harder and do more than that person might feel comfortable. So Jon had nothing to do with Sandy Pittman's baloney. She treated people like poop from what I hear. Change the way you treat people, don't produce a rebuttal.

Rob Hall's decision to stay up on the mountain with an already doomed Hansen frustrates me, the guy was married and had a kid on the way! Hubris and a little greed killed this group, yet that wont stop others from pushing to the summit when they're already spent.

It was sandys fault for all those deaths and just for a capachinno 😮😮

She was DEFINITELY at fault. She was pulled up by a Sherpa instead of climbing herself-same Sherpa who could have helped rescue others. She brought all sorts of equipment with her and some poor Sherpa had to carry it-it was very heavy also (computer equipment, her personal phone, coffee machine). She also overused oxygen (hard to believe with the Sherpas doing all the work) and someone else had to give her oxygen. She should have turned around but instead slowed her down. SHE SHOULD HAVE DIED , NOT OTHERS

Amazing production, my friend !

If anyone was cowardly on that expedition it was actually Krakuer

It's the weather so how is it a person problem ?

Well who carried the coffee pot??? Bet it wasn't her

She was so devastated that she waited almost a week before hosting a cocktail party.

Its a serious accusation, the one who makes it must be an a-hole of the first degree if it isnt true.

I saw his movie storm over everest i think....he did not make her look bad.

LMAO how is a storm on Everest unexpected. Grab a brain folks it's the highest mountain on earth.

I always thought of her as very unlikable, but never a person who was at blame for the tragedy.

Climbing Everest is a crap shoot, few that attempt it actually make it.
It's up to the team leader, and he failed.
I understand the allure of the mountains though, and I satisfy it by skiing. I'd never be able to climb anything serious because of my fear of heights. I can barley ride a chairlift, lol.

Everest's Villain! exclamation mark

I’ve read into thin air a couple times and Sandy definitely wasn’t “blamed for the disaster” in the book. In fact, it points out dozens of different areas in which great mistakes were made by both climbers and expedition leaders alike. In the PBS documentary which you have clips from, there isn’t a single accusation against her for her part in the disaster either.

I will definitely say that the press really zoomed in on her specifically, but Jon himself does not place the blame for what happened squarely on her shoulders at all. For her to say that is unfair in my opinion and makes it seem like she didn’t actually read the book either. I also very much dislike her painting the account as “blood money” because writing is very much an exercise in helping people work through events for many and also can be so important to help the wider public to understand tragedies like this.

Sandy wants to be the victim when actually the victims were the ones who lost their lives that day. Maybe I’m reading her wrong but she seems very selfish and self centered

Definitely had some blame. Short roped up for 6 hours.

I'm confused as to why, if she was such an experienced and qualified mountain climber, she had to be short-roped for hours. Obviously this tragedy wasn't her fault, it was caused by a series of bad decisions by people who should've known better, and mostly by unexpected terrible weather. But in my opinion, if you can't walk up a mountain yourself, you shouldn't expect someone else to drag you up. I personally don't even think that should qualify as summiting.

I hear deep echoes of misogyny here. It seems she was an easy scapegoat because she's female. Two guys were doing the exact same thing as her and didn't get this kind of dragging through the mud. I'm not a mountaineer, but I did work in the journalism field for many years and this kind of unfortunate lopsidedness in blame happens all the time because of systemic bias and the tendency for media outlets to jump the gun.

Had the sherpa not have been short roping an inexperienced climber who couldn’t get to the summit by herself (sandy) that sherpa could’ve been helping the logistics that he was actually hired to do and probably many more wouldve been saved.

i knew nothing of the Everest 1996 disaster when first binging on mountaineering disasters a month ago from the comfort of our home but the very first mention of Sandy Hill grabbed my attention because the word “ socialite “ was the description & I’m immediately picturing the likes of Rock Pop Princess Sporty Spice or Duchess Sarah Ferguson being carried along whilst the cameras weren’t in her direction whilst Sandy Hill has a resume which inspite of the former famous ladies whom are expert in their fields are nothing like her 🙄👍Thanks for your work from near Bournemouth in SW England or Wessex

I’m curious why certain specifics weren’t brought up in this video about what happened and the events that led up to her needing rescue, etc?

I've read Krakauer's book, and while there is an amount of criticism aimed toward Ms. Hill; I felt both Fisher and Hall were primarily to 'blame', as they were their party's leaders.

Obrigada por esclarecer. Machismo e preconceito contra mulher e rica.

It's just plain old misogyny. Double standards.

I believe she was totally
experienced enough to be
up there climbing the
mountain... She has been
falsely blamed for deaths
that she had nothing to do with...

Interesting story. I don't have enough information to judge her. In general a leader is responsible for his/her team, including vetting them beforehand and not letting them endanger themselves or anyone else during. Not thanking someone afterward is an etiquette issue, not a condition of culpability. If that year "was one of the worst in her life", I wonder what the others were.

Scott Fischer was more concerned about Sandy writing a good review for his trekking business, that he completely ignored all his other client's safety.
Scott Fischer was to blame for his client's being put in extreme danger.
Rob Hall stayed with a cancer ridden client, Dave, who made a one way trip that cost several of Rob's client's safety. Rob should have left a man who obviously decided to take Rob with him, as he didn't want to die alone. Rob's choice cost not only his life, but many of his own client's lives.
Both Rob and Scott ignored ALL safety procedures and rules that they knew they were violating.
Sad......so much loss of life for no good reason.
But Scott's ego, in getting a good write up in an adventure magazine, by a useless and selfish female; cost many innocent lives on Scott's team.
1996 and the innocent lives lost, should be a cardinal lesson for all team leaders and Sherpas. If a client cannot make it on his own, he must be left until all others, who can walk, are safe. That is the price one must pay to perform such a dangerous and suic!dal trek.

Truly believe sexism and misogyny played a role in the blame game after this tragedy. Would they have so intensely villified and blamed Sandy had she been a man instead of woman? I think not.

It's extremely curious how those involved in the two expeditions continue to call it an unexpected "rogue storm" when both expeditions were privy to highly accurate weather reports received by the IMAX team and a European team.
In fact the IMAX team, who had planned to summit on the 9th, abandoned the plan and turned back due to unstable weather.
It's a closely guarded secret by those in the know for whatever reason.
It took British climber Graham Ratcliffe [who was on the South Col on the night of the tenth but not mentioned in Krakauers book] three years before he found the truth of the matter.
Shame on all who perpetuate the myth of an unexpected 'rogue storm' when the truth is that both expedition leaders took a bunch of relatively inexperienced climbers to the summit when they KNEW that a storm was bearing down on them.
Even more baffling is how Hall ignored his own turnaround time with that knowledge.

Leaving out the reasons why some people criticized her was quite an omission. It's good that is corrected in the comments.

I read Jon Krakauer's book. I was also following the expedition in real time with online reports, from Outside Magazine, a publication I often did business with on behalf of my advertising clients. Did Krakauer blame Pittman for the tragic turn of events on Everest? No way. Was Pittman yet another wealthy individual who bought her way up the mountain? Absolutely, and I believe that was the focal point of Krakauer's criticism and not to place specific blame on anyone. Did Pittman, married to MTV honcho Bob Pittman, carry herself with a less-than-attractive sense of entitlement? Sure seems that way. Because of the privileged social circles she traveled in, was she consumed with the negative perception that followed her afterwards? 100%. Did she go on the attack to discredit Krakauer in an attempt to revise history in her favor? I think that about sums it up.