Everest is a fickle beast. One year you've got a clear path, and the next, the mountain decides to rearrange the furniture. If you’ve followed high-altitude mountaineering even a little bit, you know the name. The Hillary Step. For decades, it was the final "boss" of the South Col route. A 12-meter (roughly 40-foot) vertical wall of rock and ice that stood between exhausted climbers and the roof of the world.
But if you look at the Hillary Step before after photos today, something is clearly missing.
Honestly, the mountain looks different now. In 2015, a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal. It was a tragedy that claimed thousands of lives and sent shockwaves through the Himalayas. A few seasons later, when the dust—well, the snow—settled, climbers coming back from the summit started whispering. They said the Step was gone.
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The Old Hillary Step: A Vertical Nightmare
Before 2015, the Hillary Step was legendary for all the wrong reasons. Located at 8,790 meters, it sat right in the "Death Zone."
Think about that. You’re physically shattered. Your brain is starved of oxygen. You’re wearing bulky mittens, heavy boots, and a thick down suit. And then, you hit a vertical rock face. Sir Edmund Hillary first tackled it in 1953 by jamming himself into a crack between the rock and the ice. He basically "chimneyed" his way up.
For the next 60 years, every climber on the Nepal side had to do some version of that. It wasn't just hard; it was a bottleneck. Because only one person could go up or down at a time, people would get stuck. Imagine standing on a knife-edge ridge at 29,000 feet, waiting two hours for a nervous amateur to figure out their foot placement. It was a recipe for frostbite. Or worse.
The 2015 Shift: What Changed?
After the earthquake, the "before" and "after" became the hottest debate in base camp. In 2016, there was so much snow that nobody could tell for sure. But by 2017, the verdict started coming in from guys like British mountaineer Tim Mosedale.
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He was blunt: "The Hillary Step is no more."
The photos were jarring. Where there used to be a distinct, jagged vertical prow of rock, there was now a snowy slope. It looked... manageable. Some veteran Sherpas, like the legendary Kami Rita Sherpa, confirmed it. The big boulder that formed the core of the step had likely tumbled away or shifted significantly during the tremors.
Nepal's government tried to deny it for a while. They probably didn't want the mountain to lose its "technical" mystique, but the visual evidence was hard to ignore. The "Step" had basically turned into a "Staircase."
Why the "After" Isn't Necessarily Easier
You’d think a snow slope is better than a vertical rock wall, right? Kinda. But not really.
- Unstable Footing: Rock is solid. If you hook a crampon on a ledge, it stays. Snow? It shifts.
- Avalanche Risk: Turning a rock face into a 45-degree snow slope adds a new layer of objective danger.
- The Bottleneck Remains: Even though the technical "climbing" is easier, the ridge is still narrow. You still have 200 people trying to use one fixed rope.
The Controversy: Did It Really Collapse?
There are still some "purists" who argue the rock is just buried under an unusual amount of permanent snow. They say the 2015 earthquake didn't actually break the rock, but rather shifted the ice around it.
Geologists are split. Some say the 7.8 quake was definitely enough to dislodge a fractured limestone block at that altitude. Others point out that climate change is thinning the "ice glue" that holds these peaks together. Whether it’s geological or meteorological, the result is the same: the route you see in 1950s documentaries is gone.
What This Means for Future Climbers
If you’re planning to climb Everest (or just dreaming about it), the Hillary Step before after transition changes the strategy. You don't need to be a pro rock climber to get past that section anymore, but you do need incredible endurance for the "new" bottlenecks.
The descent is actually where it gets sketchy now. Negotiating a steep snow slope with "randomly perched" rocks—as Mosedale described them—is a nightmare when you’re descending in the afternoon sun. The terrain is less predictable.
Actionable Insights for the Modern Everest Enthusiast
If you are following the 2026 season or planning a trek to Base Camp to see the history for yourself, keep these things in mind:
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- Check the High-Res Comparisons: Look for the 2018 photos by Casey Grom. They are widely considered the "smoking gun" that shows the rock blocks have shifted into a staircase configuration.
- Understand the "New" Bottleneck: The danger at the Step is no longer the technicality of the move; it's the duration of the wait. Oxygen management is now more critical than rock-climbing prowess.
- Respect the Geology: The Himalayas are young mountains. They are still growing and still breaking. The disappearance of the Hillary Step is a reminder that even the highest point on Earth is a work in progress.
The mountain doesn't care about our names or our history. It moves when it wants to. The Hillary Step might be gone in its 1953 form, but the challenge of the South Summit remains just as deadly as it ever was.