Hillary Step

The Hillary Step was a 40-foot vertical rock face that sat 8,790 metres (28,839 ft) above sea level on the southeast ridge of Mount Everest. Located halfway between the "South Summit" and the true summit, the Hillary Step was the most technically difficult part of the typical Nepal-side Everest climb and the last real challenge before reaching the top of the mountain. The rock face was destroyed by a 2015 earthquake.

Located in the death zone, the Hillary Step was Class 4 on the climbing-difficulty scale. One expedition noted that climbing the Hillary Step was "strenuous" and offered little to no escape from unpredictable, rapidly changing weather.

Heavy snowfall could enable climbers to bypass Hillary, by way of snow and ice climbing.

The Hillary Step has claimed several climbers' lives. In 1997, mountaineer Anatoli Boukreev – known for saving the lives of climbers during the 1996 Mount Everest disaster – found the body of Bruce Herrod hanging from ropes at the base of the step; Herrod had died during a climb two weeks after the 1996 disaster.