page_title: Hillary Step
hierarchical_section_title: Hillary Step
caption_attribution_description: English: Mount Everest a close view with south summit and yellow band
context_page_description: The Hillary Step was a nearly vertical rock face with a height of around 12 metres located very high on Mount Everest at approximately 8,790 metres above sea level, near the summit. It was located on the southeast ridge, halfway between the "South Summit" and the true summit, and it gave climbers the last real challenge before reaching the top of the mountain via the southeast route.
  The Step was known as the most technically difficult part of the typical Nepal-side Everest climb. In some climbing seasons after heavy snowfall, the rock face could have been bypassed with snow/ice climbing. Climbing the Hillary Step has the danger of a 10,000-foot drop on the right and an 8,000-foot drop on the left. The Hillary Step was where the late Anatoli Boukreev found a body hanging from ropes at the base of the step in 1996, as stated in his book The Climb. One expedition noted that climbing the Hillary Step was "strenuous", but did offer some protection from the elements. An unaided Hillary Step climb was rated as a Class 4 rock climb, but at almost 29,000-foot altitude.
  The Hillary Step was destroyed most likely during a massive earthquake that hit the region in 2015.
context_section_description: The Hillary Step was a nearly vertical rock face with a height of around 12 metres (39 ft) located very high on Mount Everest at approximately 8,790 metres (28,839 ft) above sea level, near the summit. It was located on the southeast ridge, halfway between the "South Summit" and the true summit, and it gave climbers the last real challenge before reaching the top of the mountain via the southeast route.
  The Step was known as the most technically difficult part of the typical Nepal-side Everest climb. In some climbing seasons after heavy snowfall, the rock face could have been bypassed with snow/ice climbing. Climbing the Hillary Step has the danger of a 10,000-foot (3,000 m) drop on the right (when going up) and an 8,000-foot (2,400 m) drop on the left. The Hillary Step was where the late Anatoli Boukreev found a body hanging from ropes at the base of the step in 1996, as stated in his book The Climb. One expedition noted that climbing the Hillary Step was "strenuous", but did offer some protection from the elements. An unaided Hillary Step climb was rated as a Class 4 rock climb, but at almost 29,000-foot (8,800 m) altitude.
  The Hillary Step was destroyed most likely during a massive earthquake that hit the region in 2015.
caption: In this pre-2015 view of Mount Everest, the high point is the summit; to the right of the summit, the southeast ridge slopes down to the Hillary Step, and then rises up to the South Summit. This is looking at the Step from the West looking east to its side
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