Sobering photo shows man attempting to snowboard from summit of Mount Everest before he was never seen again
The final photo of a man who attempted to snowboard from the summit of Mount Everest shows him preparing to set off on the doomed attempt.
Ever since Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tenzing became the first people to get to the summit of Mount Everest, the mountain has gone from being seemingly unassailable to a hugely popular spot for people around the world to attempt to reach the summit.
Sadly, over the years many of those people have died in their attempt to scale Everest, or as they descend back down the mountainside as well after getting to the top of the tallest mountain in the world, with the bodies of some individuals even becoming macabre markers for other climbers.
But French daredevil Marco Siffredi, 23, took things one step further than regular mountaineers, first ascending to the top of Mount Everest, before attempting to descend down the mountain not on foot, but on a snowboard.
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Siffredi initially tried this in 2001, but there wasn't enough snow that time on the route that he had wanted to snowboard, though he was able to partially descend the mountain on a snowboard via a different route.He went back the following year to try again, and this time the snow was there.
Unfortunately, Siffredi did not survive the second attempt, and his body was never recovered, but what happened in the lead-up to this attempted stunt?
As if wanting to snowboard from Everest's summit was not enough, Siffredi also reached the summit via a difficult route, the Hornbein Couloir route.
Things seemed to be progressing well at first, as the weather was clear and sunny, and Siffredi and three sherpas made it up to the summit after a 13-hour-long climb on 8 September 2002.
Siffredi then spent hours resting and getting organised for the stunt, but the group started to notice clouds gathering below them, as they were at an altitude of 29,000 feet.
Despite the warnings of the sherpas to camp for the night and then descend the following morning, Siffredi continued.
He was last seen snowboarding down the mountain, and disappeared into the clouds which were gathering.
The group of sherpas had quickly headed back to base camp, descending ahead of a coming storm.
On the way down they saw a single figure after breaking through the clouds around 4,000ft lower than when they started, but when they approached where the figure had been, hoping it would be Siffredi, they found no sign of it, not even any tracks.
The sherpas began to fear the worst, that Siffredi had died in his attempt, and their worries would sadly be confirmed when they arrived back at base camp and Siffredi was not there.
It has never been confirmed exactly what happened to Siffredi, but he is all but certain to have died on his descent from the summit.
In addition to the many hazards he would have faced, such as ravines, rocks, and the weather, Siffredi was also exhausted from the 13-hour climb to the summit prior to attempting the stunt.
His body has never been found.
Topics: World News, Mount Everest, Extreme Sports
Kit Roberts