Inside the 1996 Everest Disaster - a Doctor's view

The events of 1996 on Mount Everest have been well recorded over the years, with best book selling Into Thin Air and accounts from Anatoli Bukreev, Beck Weathers, Lene Gammelgaard and others on the mountain at the time.The disaster cost 8 lives, including two of the most respected commercial guides in what was a fledgling industry. The disaster also highlighted new levels of human endurance with Anatoli Boukreev mounting one-man rescue missions after summiting without oxygen and Beck Weathers somehow surviving a night outside in the teeth of the storm at 21,000ft.

This video, although not new, gives an account of what happened on the mountain from the point of view of Dr Kenneth Kamler, who was on the mountain with an IMAX team and was involved in treating Beck Weathers on the mountain. In particular the video shows how Weathers was able to use mental imaging to restore activity to vital parts of the brain, so giving enough energy to somehow survive the night.