Jim Davidson, The Next Everest: Climber Interview on the 2015 Everest Earthquake and His 2017 Summit

By Blake Penson · Updated 2026-10-24

Blake Penson has climbed Everest twice and has 20 years in the mountains.

Jim Davidson is an American high-altitude climber, geologist and speaker from Colorado. He was at Camp I on Mount Everest on 25 April 2015 when the 7.8-magnitude Gorkha earthquake struck Nepal, triggering avalanches that killed at least 18 people on Everest, the mountain's deadliest day, and cutting off his team's route down through the Khumbu Icefall. After two days stranded at about 6,000 m, his team was flown out by helicopter. He returned in 2017 and reached the summit. His book about both expeditions, The Next Everest: Surviving the Mountain's Deadliest Day and Finding the Resilience to Climb Again, was published by St. Martin's Press on 20 April 2021. Davidson is also co-author, with journalist Kevin Vaughan, of The Ledge (2011), about the 1992 crevasse fall on Mount Rainier that killed his climbing partner Mike Price. In this interview, he talked to ExpedReview about the earthquake, how he trained to go back, and what he learned.

Jim Davidson: key facts

Home	Colorado, USA
Background	Climber, geologist and environmental scientist, speaker
Everest 2015	At Camp I during the 25 April earthquake; evacuated by helicopter
Everest 2017	Reached the summit
The Next Everest	St. Martin's Press, 20 April 2021, 416 pages
The Ledge	Co-written with Kevin Vaughan, Ballantine Books, 2011
Rainier 1992	Climbed Liberty Ridge with Mike Price; crevasse fall on the descent killed Price
Other peaks	Includes Aconcagua and Cho Oyu

25 April 2015 at Camp I

Davidson crawled into his yellow dome tent at Camp I, took off his boots and outer layers and slipped into his sleeping bag. After an exhausting day climbing the Khumbu Icefall on Everest's south side, the veteran mountaineer was feeling the best he had ever felt at nearly 20,000 feet (about 6,100 m).

A year of intensive training lay behind him, and he felt ready for the climb of a lifetime. But as he was drifting off, the glacier beneath Camp I began to shake, and the low rumble of avalanches thundered around the Western Cwm.

About 140 miles (220 km) west of the mountain, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake, the largest to hit Nepal in 81 years, had struck. Nearly 9,000 people were killed across the country. On Everest, an avalanche from the Pumori side and the Lingtren–Khumbutse ridge swept through part of Base Camp, killing at least 18 people. Above the Icefall, Davidson and the other climbers at Camps I and II were trapped: the earthquake and aftershocks had destroyed the route through the Icefall below them.

After two tense days on the mountain, Davidson's team was evacuated by helicopter from Camp I to Base Camp. The season was over.

Why he wrote The Next Everest

In The Next Everest, Davidson takes the reader into his tent at Camp I and through the earthquake and its aftermath. His straightforward writing and emotionally open telling give a clear window into what happened.

"It was an amazing and terrifying experience for everybody involved and a terrible thing for Nepal," Davidson told ExpedReview. "I wanted to tell that story, to put it out there. As a geologist, I wanted to answer why did this earthquake happen and what it was like."

The book goes well beyond 25 April 2015. Davidson also wanted to show what it is really like to climb Everest today and how he prepared.

"I also wanted to give a behind-the-scenes look from my perspective as a veteran climber and environmental geologist," he said. "And answer the question: what are things like on Everest these days?"

The book also follows his decision to go back two years later. "I wanted to share some lessons about resilience and about surviving difficult circumstances and then bouncing back stronger or smarter after surviving those tough circumstances," he said.

A geologist's view of the earthquake

Davidson's training in geology shapes the book. Nepal sits on the boundary where the Indian plate pushes under the Eurasian plate, the collision that built the Himalaya and that still drives large earthquakes. The 2015 Gorkha earthquake released part of that strain, and Davidson explains in the book why seismic risk under Nepal remains high. For climbers, the lesson is that objective hazards on Everest are not only avalanches and serac falls, but also events that no team can predict.

From the Appalachian Trail to the Himalaya

Davidson's love of the outdoors began in his New England childhood.

"My first outdoor wilderness experience was backpacking the Appalachian Trail in Maine in the summer of 1981," he said. "That opened my eyes to the wilderness. From there, I found rock climbing the next summer."

After starting on modest cliffs in central Massachusetts, he dropped other hobbies to focus on rock and then ice climbing, and in 1986 he moved to Colorado to be closer to bigger mountains. Over the next three decades he climbed around the world, from Aconcagua in Argentina to Cho Oyu in Tibet. Along the way he learned lessons about climbing and life that would serve him on Everest.

1992: the crevasse on Mount Rainier

The defining moment of his climbing life came in June 1992 on Mount Rainier. Davidson and his close friend Mike Price climbed the demanding Liberty Ridge and reached the summit. On the descent of the Emmons Glacier, a hidden snow bridge collapsed under Davidson.

"My partner got dragged into the crevasse after me and tied together two of us fell to the bottom," Davidson said. "Very sadly, my partner died in the fall and I was buried in snow and trapped down there with him."

Alone in the crevasse, Davidson had to climb out of the icy walls himself. He told the story in The Ledge, co-written with journalist Kevin Vaughan and published by Ballantine Books in 2011. The book won a National Outdoor Book Award.

"I learned a couple of things about life and a couple of things about climbing from that experience," Davidson said. "I always thought of myself as a careful climber and that only emphasized that even more."

"Then there were a few life lessons as well that I had to learn about facing difficult situations and somehow from a terrible thing try to extract some positive lessons or wisdom or strength to take with me to the next set of challenges or the next opportunity in life," he continued.

He brought those lessons to his preparation for Everest. For more on crevasse risk and how glacier travel works, see our Rainier guide and Mount Rainier climbing routes compared.

Training to climb Everest

When Davidson decided to attempt Everest in 2015, he began serious training about a year before the trip. He built muscle, cut body fat and worked on endurance and both aerobic and anaerobic capacity.

He felt good when he reached Camp I, but the Icefall had been harder than expected. The steep, unstable terrain at altitude took far more out of him than he anticipated. After the evacuation, when he decided to go back in 2017, he knew he had to train harder still.

Davidson already knew that a broad base of mountaineering experience is essential on Everest. It was not enough to do the basics well; he had to do them well at altitude, in the dark and in bad weather.

"I thought I had done that work when I went to the mountain 2015, but after seeing how difficult the icefall could be and how serious the mountain could be, I added on several layers to that," he said.

When he went out for sprints, he did his usual routine and then more. When he reached exhaustion and thought he could not continue, he kept going.

"I would picture myself being in the icefall while an avalanche was happening and I had to run for my life," he said. "I would use that to push myself physically and mentally, to push my boundaries and give myself that little bit more, that one per cent edge."

He knew he would need that edge on the summit push, which usually takes several days from Base Camp. He tried to simulate the push in training so he could learn how his body would react when already tired.

"As I get towards the end of my training, I start going on longer days," he said. "I might do an easy six-hour day. Then do Longs Peak in the winter on day two – about 16 hours – and come back on day three with a long ski or run, so that my body learns to respond when I'm already tired."

What his training shows aspiring Everest climbers

Davidson's approach mirrors what many guides recommend:

• Build a base over a year or more. Endurance and strength take time.
• Train back-to-back days. Everest's summit push is several hard days in a row, so practise being tired and still moving well.
• Train in real mountains and weather. A long winter day on a Colorado fourteener teaches more about cold, fatigue and judgement than a gym.
• Train the mind. Picturing hard moments, such as running from danger in the Icefall, helped him push on.

See training for mountaineering and how to choose an Everest guide.

2017: the summit

In 2017, with supplemental oxygen, strong Western and Sherpa guides and the training behind him, Davidson reached the top of Everest. The Next Everest tells the story of how he got there and gives advice to anyone facing their own "next Everest".

"Even if there is a good rope in place, even if you do have a great sherpa and a strong team, there's a lot of factors against you and that's something I tried to show in the book," he said.

"I'm not lecturing and saying this is how I did it is the right way, but just to say this is how an experienced climber has to dedicate themselves to be ready to not only take care of themselves but the rest of their team too," he added.

Lessons on resilience

Across both books, Davidson's theme is resilience: surviving a terrible event, learning from it and returning stronger. On Rainier, it meant climbing out of a crevasse after losing his friend. On Everest, it meant going back to a mountain that had shown how dangerous it could be, after a disaster that devastated the country around it. In both cases, he says, preparation and care made the difference, along with a willingness to look honestly at what went wrong.

For climbers, the practical lessons are clear: train beyond what you think you need, respect objective hazards you cannot control, choose a strong team and remember that your preparation affects your teammates as well as yourself.

The 2015 earthquake and Everest

The 2015 season was the second in a row that ended early on Everest's south side. In April 2014, an ice avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall killed 16 Nepali mountain workers. A year later, the earthquake avalanche at Base Camp became the deadliest single event in the mountain's history. Together, the two seasons led to a broad debate about the risks borne by Sherpa and other Nepali workers, insurance and pay, which continues today. See Everest deaths, Everest success rates and our Everest cost guide.

Reading The Next Everest as a climber

For anyone planning an Everest expedition, the book is useful less as a how-to than as an honest account of what the mountain asks of you. Davidson describes the Icefall as harder than he expected, the uncertainty of waiting at Camp I with the route below destroyed, and the decision, after a disaster, of whether to go back at all. Those are questions every aspiring Everest climber should think about before signing up: how much risk you accept, how you would respond if a season ended early, and what you owe your team. Read it alongside our guide to the South Col route and the best time to climb Everest.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Jim Davidson?

An American high-altitude climber, geologist and speaker from Colorado, and author of The Next Everest and co-author of The Ledge.

What is The Next Everest about?

Davidson's experience of the 25 April 2015 earthquake at Everest Camp I and his return to summit in 2017, with lessons on resilience.

When was The Next Everest published?

On 20 April 2021, by St. Martin's Press.

Did Jim Davidson summit Everest?

Yes, in 2017, two years after the earthquake ended his first attempt.

What happened to Jim Davidson on Mount Rainier?

In June 1992, after climbing Liberty Ridge, he fell into a crevasse on the descent with his partner Mike Price, who died. Davidson climbed out alone. The Ledge tells the story.

How many people died on Everest in the 2015 earthquake?

At least 18 people were killed on Everest, mostly in the avalanche that hit Base Camp.