Mount Everest north side of Everest lies Rongbuk Monastery, which has been called the "sacred threshold to Mount Everest, with the most dramatic views of the world." For Sherpas living on the slopes of Everest in the Khumbu region of Nepal, Rongbuk Monastery is an important pilgrimage site, accessed in a few days of travel across the Himalayas through Nangpa La. Miyolangsangma, a Tibetan Buddhist ""Goddess of Inexhaustible Giving"", is believed to have lived at the top of Mt Everest. According to Sherpa Buddhist monks, Mt Everest is Miyolangsangma's palace and playground, and all climbers are only partially welcome guests, having arrived
Mount Everest several expeditions were caught in a blizzard high up on the mountain. During the 1996 season, 15 people died while climbing on Mount Everest. These were the highest death tolls for a single event, and for a single season, until the sixteen deaths in the 2014 Mount Everest avalanche. The disaster gained wide publicity and raised questions about the commercialisation of climbing Mount Everest. Journalist Jon Krakauer, on assignment from "Outside" magazine, was in one of the affected parties, and afterward published the bestseller "Into Thin Air", which related his experience. Anatoli Boukreev, a guide who felt impugned by Krakauer's