MARCO Siffredi gained worldwide attention in 2001 when he successfully snowboarded Mount Everest, carving lines just below the cruising height of a jumbo jet.
This was the first time anyone had snowboarded down the world’s highest mountain, but it wasn’t the ultimate run that Siffredi had planned, so he left unsatisfied and with the intention to return the following year.
He returned in 2002, summited, and headed for his chosen route – despite the protestations of his sherpas after a change in the weather conditions.
Siffredi was never seen again.
Despite efforts to locate his body, he has never been found, and no evidence beyond the Frenchman’s initial descent from the summit has been discovered. The lack of clues makes it difficult to speculate on the exact circumstances surrounding his disappearance.
Siffredi was born in 1979, in Chamonix, France, a town renowned for its skiing and mountaineering culture. He began snowboarding at a young age and quickly developed a reputation for his skill and daring on the slopes.
He was known for his adventurous spirit and willingness to take on difficult and dangerous challenges. In 1999, he became the first person to snowboard down the east face of Mont Blanc, one of the highest peaks in the Alps.
Setting the Everest record
On May 23, 2001, Siffredi, with the help of two Sherpas and oxygen equipment, successfully reached Everest’s 8,849 metre summit. Due to a lack of snow on the Hornbein Couloir, the route he originally intended to take, he opted to board down the Norton Couloir to Advanced Base Camp located at the base of the North Col.
However, during his descent down the Norton Couloir of the north face, a fastening strap on his snowboard broke due to the extreme cold after covering 200 metres. Fortunately, a sherpa was able to help him repair the snowboard, and he continued the descent to 6,400 metres in two hours.
Siffredi’s legacy as a pioneering snowboarder and adventurer was cemented, and his successful descent down Everest’s Norton Couloir remains one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of mountaineering and extreme sports.
Try again
In early August 2002, not satisfied with his feats from a year realier, Siffredi embarked on a mission to be the first person to snowboard down Everest’s Hornbein Couloir. Despite it being late in the season for summitting, he hoped to find more snow on the passage.
Accompanied by three Sherpas (Phurba, Pa Nuru, and Da Tenzing), he left Kathmandu on August 10 and reached base camp in Tibet on August 14. On September 7, the group arrived at the advanced field at 8,300 metres and the following day, Siffredi and the sherpas reached the summit at 2:10pm. Despite the accomplishment, Siffredi reportedly showed little enthusiasm and appeared exhausted.
Siffredi had chosen to ascend much later in the season to ensure that the route had ample snow. As a result, certain parts of the ascent had snow that was chest deep. While it’s beyond the realms of most people to reach the summit under normal circumstances, the extreme conditions made the 12-hour journey even more strenuous. By the time they reached the top, everyone was completely exhausted. This was one of the reasons why he was advised against making the descent.
Despite the extremely heavy snowfall, Marco could also see that the entire north face had been ripped clean, exposing the rock below.
He described the face as ‘a festival of avalanches’ in TransWorld Sport at the time. It seemed that avalanches were ravaging the face daily, and the bottom of the route seemed icy.
As weather conditions began to deteriorate further, Siffredi’s Sherpas warned him not to proceed with his descent, but he ignored their advice and set out towards the Hornbein around 3pm after taking an hour’s rest. During the descent, his sherpa companions lost sight of him intermittently.
At the North Col, approximately 1,300metres below Camp Three, the Sherpas claimed to have seen the silhouette of a man standing up, followed by him sliding silently down the mountain.
However, when they reached the spot of the sighting, Siffredi’s snowboard tracks were nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately, his body was never found.
One theory is that Marco lost his edge and plummeted into the miles long crevasse at the base of the face. Another is that he may have made the traverse across the north face before an avalanche took him out.
His sister Shooty firmly believes he completed the run and is now living happily with Yak herders in Tibet, climbing new routes and boarding new lines. We’re believing this one.