Death on Everest

The goal of Marco Siffredi was simple – to become the first person to snowboard down Mount Everest. At the age of 22, in May of 2001, Marco summited Mount Everest with the plan to snowboard the Hornbein Couloir. But there was not enough snow that spring for him to snowboard that route. Instead he went to plan B and set off on his snowboard down the North Col Route. On the way down one of the parts on his snowboard broke, but he and a Sherpa were able to repair it. He eventually snowboarded all the way down to Advanced Base Camp, becoming the first person to successfully snowboard down Everest. It took him four hours to do it. However, this was not his true goal. He returned to Everest the following year, but he forgot to bring the lucky cross he always wore around his neck. Marco came in August this time hoping the snow was deep enough to snowboard down the “true face” of Everest, the Hornbein Couloir. At 2:00 PM he and his Sherpa reached the summit after a 12 hour climb through chest deep snow. Along the way Marco’s radio broke so he had no way to contact anyone down the mountain. It was late in the day, 3:00 PM and his Sherpa asked Marco not to start snowboarding at that time. But he told his Sherpa he would ‘see him tomorrow” and pushed off down the face of the Hornbein Couloir. This was the last time anyone saw Marco. After two hours, people began to wonder where Marco was. With no radio, people began to worry that Marco was dead. A search party found his snowboard tracks end about 1,500 feet down the Hornbein Couloir from the summit where he set off. To this day his body has still not been found.