List of mountaineering disasters by death toll

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The following is a list of mountaineering disasters by death toll. This list includes climbing and mountaineering disasters that resulted in multiple deaths (4+).

Fatalities	Year	Type	Location	Country	Details
199	1902	Storm	Hakkōda Mountains	Japan	Soldiers ordered to the traverse Hakkōda Mountains as a training exercise. Soldiers were given inadequate equipment and training. 95% of the soldiers perished due to hypothermia.
45	2005	Storm	Antuco Volcano	Chile	Chilean army major sent group of conscripts to march in blizzard in -35 °C (-30 °F), despite objections from corporals. Only one out of the five companies had mountain survival gear.
43	1990	Earthquake and Avalanche	Lenin Peak	Soviet Union	6.4 magnitude earthquake triggered serac fall on Lenin Peak. This resulted in an avalanche crashing into Camp II, where 45 climbers were camping. This is considered to be the worst mountaineering accident in history, where the victims were mountaineers rather than soldiers.
43	2014	Storm	Annapurna and Dhaulagiri	Nepal, China	A snowstorm and a series of avalanches killed trekkers and climbers, including those on Annapurna Circuit and at base camps
27	2022	Avalanche	Draupadi Ka Danda (DKD2)	India	Avalanche during guided mountaineering course buried mountaineers in crevasse
24	2015	Earthquake and Avalanche	Mount Everest	Nepal, China	A 7.8 magnitude earthquake caused an avalanche to sweep into Everest Base Camp
19	1968	Avalanche	Biały Jar	Poland	Avalanche swept 25 hikers.
16	2014	Avalanche	Mount Everest	Nepal, China	Seracs on Khumbu Icefall failed, resulting in ice avalanche that killed sixteen climbing sherpas.
16	1937	Avalanche	Nanga Parbat	Pakistan	Team was at Camp IV below Rakhiot Peak when it was overrun by an avalanche.
15	1970	Avalanche	Huascarán	Peru	A massive debris avalanche, triggered by an earthquake, killed 30,000 people after it buried a town and ten villages. Among the dead were 15 Czech climbers who were climbing Huascarán at the time of the avalanche.
15	1972	Avalanche	Manaslu	Nepal	Avalanche buried the camp of a Korean expedition attempting the north-east face
13	1954	Storm	Dachstein Mountains	Austria	Group of high school students and 3 teachers died in blizzard while hiking the Dachstein Mountains
13	1996	Avalanche	Cotopaxi	Ecuador	An avalanche buried the Refuge, a hut at 4,800m, on a busy day. An earthquake a few days prior may have weakened the glacier above the Refuge, contributing to the accident.
12	2012	Avalanche	Manaslu	Nepal	Avalanche swept through camp.[1]
11	2008	Avalanche	K2	Pakistan, China	Primarily caused by ice avalanche that occurred at the Bottleneck, destroying climbers' rope lines, leaving them unable to descend.
11	1968	Storm	Iztaccihuatl	Mexico	A storm with high winds and snow caught a group of 31 climbers on their way down. 11 of them died from hypothermia or falls.
11	2013	Terrorist attack	Nanga Parbat	Pakistan	16 terrorists stormed mountaineering base camp and killed 10 climbers and one guide
11	2022	Avalanche	Marmolada	Italy	Massive avalanche triggered by serac collapse; ice and rock fell onto popular hiking trail that passed below the summit
11	1981	Avalanche	Mount Rainier	United States	Serac fall resulted avalanche/ice fall on Ingraham Glacier
10	1993	Avalanche	Chimborazo	Ecuador	An avalanche buried a group of climbers in a crevasse at 18,700ft, below the Veintimilla summit.
10	1934	Storm	Nanga Parbat	Pakistan	Group of climbers trapped by storm at 7,480m (24,50 ft)
9	1959	Disputed	Dyatlov Pass	Soviet Union	A group of 9 hikers perished in the Ural Mountains. Without witnesses, cause of death disputed. Recent investigations in 2019 and 2021 concluded that an avalanche was the most likely cause.
9	1986	Storm	Mount Hood	United States	Seven students and 2 adults caught in storm during high school trip to climb Mount Hood.
9	2012	Avalanche	Mont Maudit	France, Italy	An avalanche caught a large group of climbers, killing nine and injuring an additional nine, during a dawn ascent from Cosmiques Hut.
9	1994	Avalanche	Mont Blanc	France, Italy	Nine climbers killed in ice avalanche on Mont Blanc.[2][3]
9	2024	Storm	Between Lambtal and Sahastra Tal Peak	India	Blizzard resulted in 90 kph wind and whiteout conditions
8	2008	Avalanche	Mont Blanc du Tacul, Mont Blanc massif	France	Eight climbers killed due to serac fall before dawn.[4] [5]
8	1993	Avalanche	Grandes Jorasses, Mont Blanc Massif	France, Italy	100 meter ice and rock avalanche caught group of eighteen climbers, killing eight.[6][7]
8	2017	Avalanche	Chausuyama	Japan	7 students and a teacher were killed when an avalanche struck a high school mountaineering club's training class.[8]
8	1996	Storm	Mount Everest	Nepal, China	8 climbers caught in blizzard, including both guided teams on South Col and climbers on the North Face
8	2003	Avalanche	Rysy	Poland	Members of high school sports club were swept in avalanche when attempting to climb Rysy in winter
7	2015	Avalanche	Dôme de Neige des Écrins	France	Seven were killed in late summer avalanche in Écrins National Park.[9][10]
7	1969	Avalanche	Dhaulagiri	Nepal	Seven members of an American team were killed in an avalanche while attempting the southeast ridge.
7	1967	Storm	Denali	United States	Blizzard killed group of climbers. Later analysis found winds were likely near 480 km/h (300mph), quite possibly the worst conditions experienced by any mountaineers on record.
7	2018	Storm	Pigne d'Arolla	Switzerland	Ski mountaineers descending Pigne d'Arolla in whiteout conditions perished due to hypothermia
7	1955	Avalanche	Mount Temple	Canada	Seven youths were killed when avalanche swept down route
7	1959	Avalanche	Pico de Orizaba	Mexico	Expedition of 7 climbers went missing. Bodies were found in 2015[11]
6	2021	Avalanche	Chimborazo	Ecuador	An avalanche swept 16 climbers, killing six, at 6,100m (20,000ft).
6	2015	Avalanche	Queyras mountain range	France	Six ski mountaineers were killed when an avalanche swept them while trekking at 7,900ft.[12][13]
6	1970	Avalanche	Mount Everest	Nepal, China	Khumbu Icefall collapsed, killing six Sherpa porters
6	1971	Storm	Cairngorm Plateau	United Kingdom	Six 15-year-old students and two leaders were stranded in a blizzard, perishing of exposure. Britain's worst mountaineering accident.
6	1974	Avalanche	Mount Everest	Nepal, China	French expedition attempted West Ridge Direct on Everest, but were killed by an avalanche
6	1993	Disputed	Khamar-Daban mountains	Kazakhstan	6 hikers died under disputed circumstances. According to autopsy, 5 died from hypothermia, and one died of heart attack.
6	1995	Storm	K2	Pakistan, China	Six perished while returning from the summit, due to violent storm, with winds possibly up to 160 kph (100 mph)
6	1939	Cornice collapse	Mount Baker	United States	Six climbers fell to deaths when cornice collapsed[14]
6	2014	Fall	Mount Rainier	United States	Two guides and four clients fell to death on Liberty Ridge route. Possibly caused by avalanche.
6	1953	Fall	Mount Taranaki	New Zealand	Roped group of seven from a tramping club fell off Mount Taranaki’s Hongi bluff, with only one survivor. Conditions deteriorated during the descent, resulting in icy conditions, and climbers primarily had ski poles, with only one having an ice axe and crampons.[15]
5	1930	Unknown	Aoraki / Mount Cook	New Zealand	One guide and four women killed on Tasman Glacier, cause undetermined.[16]
6	1991	Fall	Annapurna	Nepal	Two Korean climbers and four guides were killed by an avalanche.[17]
5	1986	Storm	K2	Pakistan, China	Storm trapped climbers at Camp IV, with no food and no gas to melt snow into water.
5	1981	Fall	Mount Hood	United States	Five members of Mazamas died from a fall from Cooper Spur during their descent
5	1968	Lynching	Malinche	Mexico	5 mountain climbers killed by villagers who believed them to be communists
5	2013	Unknown, possibly avalanche	Kangchenjunga	Nepal, India	Five climbers disappeared during the descent
5	2024	Unknown, possibly avalanche	Dhaulagiri I	Nepal	Five Russian climbers went missing, possibly avalanche
5	1973	Avalanche	Annapurna	Nepal	Four Japanese climbers and one Nepalese climber were killed in an avalanche
5	2002	Avalanche	Shishapangma	China	Five members of university club killed on west face by avalanche.[18]
4	1977	Hut Failure & Storm	Aoraki / Mount Cook	New Zealand	Four climbers were killed when the hut they were staying in, the Three Johns Hut, was pulled off its foundation from wind and thrown into the valley below.[19]
4	1865	Fall	Matterhorn	Switzerland, Italy	During first ascent of the Matterhorn, one man fell, pulling the other three down the north face.
4	1936	Avalanche	Eiger	Switzerland	Avalanche caught an already injured and exhausted party attempting to descend the north face
4	1998	Avalanche	Aonach Mor	United Kingdom	4 were killed in avalanche
4	2009	Avalanche	Ren Zhong Feng	China	A collapsing serac caused a massive avalanche, which likely buried a Hungarian team attempting first climb of the mountain
4	2013	Avalanche	Bidean nam Bian	United Kingdom	4 were killed in avalanche close to Church Door Buttress on the north side. The worst avalanche in Scottish history
4	2012	Avalanche	Denali	United States	Four climbers died in an avalanche[20]
4	1954	Fall	Mount Victoria	Canada	Three climbers and guide, roped together, fell to their deaths climbing Victoria Glacier[21]
4	2023	Fall	Pico de Orizaba	Mexico	Four climbers killed in a fall while climbing the southern slope[22]
4	2003	Avalanche	Mount Tasman	New Zealand	An avalanche caught a party of six, killing three guides and one climber.[23]
4	2006	Avalanche	K2	Pakistan, China	Four Russian climbers killed in an avalanche[24]
4	1905	Fall	Kangchenjunga	Nepal, India	Behavioral issues with team leader resulted in team deciding to retreat to Camp III. During this retreat, a fall precipitated an avalanche that killed four.
4	1987	Fall	Lhotse	Nepal, China	Four spanish climbers fell 1,500 meters to their deaths in an avalanche.
4	1959	Fall	Cho Oyu	Nepal, China	Four killed in an avalanche
4	1984	Avalanche	Nanga Parbat	Pakistan	Four Japanese climbers went missing while attempting the Rupal face.[25]
4	1998	Avalanche	Gasherbrum I	Pakistan, China	Four Japanese climbers were killed in an avalanche
4	1987	Avalanche	Gasherbrum I	Pakistan, China	Four Pakistani men killed in an avalanche
4	1997	Unreleased	Königspitze	Italy	Four men fell to their deaths climbing the mountain.[26]
4	1987	Unknown, possibly Avalanche	Shishapangma	China	Four men from German expedition missing, likely due to avalanche

North Face of Everest as seen from the path to North Base Camp. At least 300 people have died on the mountain.

Notes

1.^ While the Hakkōda Mountains disaster is considered to be the worst accident in mountain climbing history, it is important to note the victims were soldiers, not mountaineers.

2.^ Similar to the Hakkōda Mountains disaster, the victims of the Tragedy of Antuco were soldiers, not mountaineers.

See also

• mountains portal

• List of deaths on eight-thousanders
• List of Mount Everest death statistics
• List of people who died climbing Mount Everest
• Mount Hood climbing accidents