Like in the movie, Rob Hall spoke to his wife on his radio via a satellite connection patched through by Helen Wilton from a mountainside campsite roughly 8,000 ft below him. He had spent the night of the blizzard on an outcrop that was about 400 ft below Everest's 29,029-ft summit. Alone in the brutal-cold near-oxygen-free air, Hall had come to terms with the realization that he was going to die. As in the Everest movie, the true story confirms that after naming their unborn baby "Sarah," he told his wife Jan, "I love you. Sleep well, my sweetheart. Please don't worry too much." That was the last time anyone heard from Hall. -TIME.com

Eight people died during the Mount Everest disaster that unfolded May 10-11, 1996. The fatalities included Scott Fischer, Rob Hall, Andy Harris, Doug Hansen, Yasuko Namba, Tsewang Samanla, Dorje Morup, and Tsewang Paljor. In fact-checking the Everest movie, we learned of the unidentified corpse known as Green Boots (pictured below), who is commonly believed to be Tsewang Paljor, one of the eight who perished in the Mount Everest disaster. Paljor was a constable with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and was part of a three-man expedition attempting to become the first Indian team to reach the top of Everest from the northeastern route. He was wearing green Koflach boots on the day his team summited in 1996.

The "death zone" is a general term used to describe an area of a mountain above 8,000 meters or roughly 26,000 feet, where the human body can no longer acclimatize and simply begins to die. No matter how much training, without supplemental oxygen one cannot spend more than approximately 48 hours in the death zone, a region found only on 14 mountains worldwide, including Everest. The oxygen level there is roughly only one third of the value at sea level, which in basic terms means that the human body will exhaust its oxygen supply faster than breathing can replenish it. Mental and physical states are affected, leading climbers to experience hallucinations, deterioration of bodily functions, loss of consciousness, the feeling of slowly being choked, and finally, death. -Gizmodo.com

Yes, but the Everest movie dramatizes the situation a bit. In the film, Josh Brolin's character loses his footing on a ladder as an avalanche unfolds nearby. As he holds on for his life, Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) comes out to rescue him. Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air, simply stated that both Beck Weathers and Yasuko Namba had at several times "appeared to be in danger of falling off a ladder and plummeting into a crevasse." Weathers himself wrote that navigating the hazardous ladders of the shifting Khumbu Icefall is like being "an ant trapped in the bottom of an ice machine" (Left for Dead). Watch footage of real climbers crossing the ladders of the Khumbu Icefall.

As stated above, there is only a short two-week window each year in May when climbing conditions are at their best. In 1996, there was an unusually late and heavy snow pack, which had kept any yaks from reaching Base Camp, causing a multitude of climbers to make their ascent just after the yaks were able to get the supplies to the camp. This, coupled with the growing commercialization of Everest expeditions, resulted in some 33 climbers attempting to summit Everest on May 10, 1996, creating bottlenecks at the Hillary Step, the last hurdle before reaching the top (see footage of real climbers conquering the Hillary Step and reaching the top). These bottlenecks were worsened by the fact that the Sherpas and guides had not yet placed a fixed line, causing the climbers to have to wait for roughly an hour while the ropes were installed. This happened at both the Hillary Step and further down near the Balcony. As a result, many of the climbers did not reach the summit by the 2 pm turnaround time, the last safe time to make it back to Camp IV before nightfall. -Into Thin Air

A Sherpa from Rob Hall's team and another from Scott Fischer's team were supposed to head out early to attach ropes into the rock and ice to help the climbers quickly traverse the most difficult sections. However, Scott Fischer's Sherpa, Lopsang Jangbu, never showed up, and Rob Hall's Sherpa refused to work alone. Lopsang was busy towing journalist and socialite Sandy Pittman via short-rope. Jon Krakauer, fellow climber and author of Into Thin Air, says that it was "hugely important" to Scott Fischer that Sandy make it to the top. "You can't buy that kind of advertising," says Krakauer. -Dateline

Yes. Like in the Everest movie, the true story reveals that Peach Weathers was instrumental in organizing her husband's helicopter rescue. She enlisted the help of her friends and fellow moms, who began calling everyone they could think of. They contacted U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison from Texas and Tom Daschle, the Democratic Senate minority leader. Daschle encouraged the State Department to act, and they reached out to David Schensted at the embassy in Kathmandu. After Schensted was turned down by several pilots, a Nepalese woman he worked with recommended Lieutenant Colonel Madan Khatri Chhetri, a Nepalese Army pilot who she suspected might accept the challenge, and he did. -DMagazine.com

During our investigation into the Everest movie true story, we learned that the Sherpa are an ethnic group of people from the most mountainous area of Nepal, including Mt. Everest. They are highly experienced mountaineers who are very knowledgeable of their local terrain. The term Sherpa is commonly used by foreigners to refer to any guide, climbing assistant or porter paid to accompany climbers on mountaineering pursuits in the Himalayas. Sherpas are basically the keepers of the mountain and are instrumental in maintaining the routes to the top. The Sherpas' unique climbing ability is due in part to the fact that they have adapted genetically to living at high altitudes. 11 real-life Sherpas were cast in the Everest movie.

Yes, it is believed that Andy Harris (portrayed by Martin Henderson in the Everest movie) walked off the South Summit during the storm when he was disoriented from the effects of high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE). He apparently disappeared in the South Summit area near where his ice axe was found and where Doug Hansen disappeared as well. It is possible that Andy had decided to climb back up in an attempt to assist Rob Hall with an ailing Doug Hansen. The bodies of Andy Harris and Doug Hansen have not been found to date. -A Day to Die For

HACE occurs when the body fails to acclimatize at high altitudes, such as in Everest's Death Zone. Disorientation, nausea, lethargy and eventually coma and death can occur in climbers suffering from HACE.

Scott Fischer's personal friend and client Dale Kruse was suffering from altitude sickness and possible HACE at Camp I (19,898 ft). Fischer decided to climb down from Camp II (21,325 ft) to take Kruse back to Base Camp (17,500 ft) for treatment. Fischer made the 4,000-foot climb the next morning to rejoin his team at Camp II. He did not get adequate rest time before departing for Camp III (24,500 ft) with his team the next day. His ascent to Camp III was slow and when the more than 50 climbers left for Camp IV (25,938 ft) on the morning of May 9, Fischer was one of the last to depart.

Setting out for the summit (29,029 ft) just before midnight, Scott Fischer didn't arrive there until 3:30 pm, well past the 2 pm cutoff time to safely make it back to Camp IV before dark. He radioed Base Camp and told them he was weary and felt sick. He descended in the blizzard to just above the Balcony (27,559 ft), telling Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa to descend without him and to send Anatoli Boukreev up to help. Suffering from hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and most likely cerebral edema as well, Scott Fischer sat down in the route, never to get up again. When the storm subsided on May 11, two Sherpas arrived to help but it was too late. His breathing was shallow and he was not responding. They placed an oxygen mask over his face and left him be. He died before Anatoli Boukreev reached him. Boukreev lashed Fischer's backpack over his face and moved his friend's body off the climbing route (The Climb). It still remains on the mountain.

Mount Everest is the world's tallest mountain above sea level, rising 29,029 ft (this value can vary based on measuring criteria). However, Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, is the world's tallest mountain when measured from its base below sea level, rising approximately 33,474 ft from the Pacific Ocean floor.

"I climbed for the wrong reasons," says Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air. "I'd always wanted to do it as a kid. ... The excuse was, I was broke and I was a freelance journalist and I was getting paid well, but really, I would have paid money to go on that trip. I wanted to climb Everest, because it's Everest. I wasn't used to being guided. To be guided, you advocate your own decision making, your own judgement, you listen to what the captain of the ship orders you to do and you have to do it. The system doesn't work otherwise." Krakauer also says that it made him really uncomfortable that Sherpas were taking the risk for him. "Everest is a really different mountain than anything else," he adds. -HuffPostLive Jon Krakauer Interview

Yes, the Everest true story reveals that mountaineers from the IMAX expedition discovered Rob Hall's body on their way to the summit on May 23, 1996, roughly 12 days after Hall's death from exposure. The IMAX team, which included Ed Viesturs and David Breashears, were filming the 1998 documentary Everest. The film had been in production at the time of the disaster, but shooting was postponed as the IMAX team followed Ed Viesturs up the mountain to help the stranded climbers, including Beck Weathers. The IMAX team also came across Scott Fischer's body.

Yes. When fact-checking Everest, we learned that two more recent disasters on the mountain have taken more lives. The 1996 Everest disaster claimed eight lives and was the deadliest day in Everest's recorded history until 2014, when an avalanche resulted in the deaths of 16 Nepalese guides. That toll was topped in 2015 when the Nepal earthquake caused avalanches on Everest that led to 18 deaths.

Yes. The 1997 made-for-TV movie Into Thin Air: Death on Everest was also based on the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, a journalist/mountaineer who was caught in the middle of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster while on assignment for Outside magazine. Krakauer was part of Rob Hall's Adventure Consultants' expedition.

Further explore the Everest true story via the videos below, including an interview with Jon Krakauer in which he says climbing Everest was the biggest mistake of his life.

• Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness Company Website
• Rob Hall's Adventure Consultants Company Website
• Official Everest Movie Website