Group
Dynamics and Team Work: The Case of the 1996 Failed Everest Expeditions
In
1996 dozens of teams of climbers made their way to the top of the world
seeking the greatest trophy in the world of mountaineering: Climbing Mt.
Everest. But when a snowstorm swept down on the two teams as they made
their way down from the mountain, tragedy struck. Eight members of the
two expeditions died from exposure, including the team leaders.
The world learned of this tragedy in two ways. First, the climbs were carefully documented on the internet, on pages which are still maintained by Outside Magazine (click here to review them). Also, the author Jon Krakauer documented these events in for the magazine and later in his book, Into Thin Air.
The incident illustrates the many things that can go wrong in groups. Although the groups were called "teams," they lacked any of the characteristics typically associated with teams and teamwork. The members barely knew each other, and they shared no common bond or experiences. They had never practiced climbing together before attempting the summit, and had never developed the kind of organization needed to cope with the extraordinary conditions they faced. Both of the teams were also very heavily dependent on the two leaders of the teams, so when the leaders became disabled the groups were unable to function. As Krakauer (1997, p. 163) writes:
- We
were a team in name only, I'd sadly come to realize. Although in a few
hours we would leave camp as a group, we would ascend as individuals, linked
to one another by neither rope nor any deep sense of loyalty. Each client
was in it for himself or herself, pretty much. And I was no different:
I sincerely hoped Doug got to the top, for instance, yet I would do everything
in my power to keep pushing on if he turned around.
- Outside Magazine continues to maintain the web pages that were created during the 1996 as the groups began their climb. These pages have extensive links to all news items pertaining to the groups
- Jon Krakauer article Into Thin Air
- Intergroup conflict: in several cases various groups of climbers from different contries blamed each other for the tragedy, and other deaths that occured that year
- Disputed interpretations: Anatoli Boukreev disagreed, vehemently, with some of Jon Krakauer's conclusions and observations, and eventually published his own book The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest before he died on a climb.
This page was last updated in February of 2000
Send comments to Don Forsyth at jforsyth@vcu.edu