 St. P-1529 Object Class Euclid Special Containment Procedures St. P-1529's native environment is to be kept under telescope and satellite surveillance whenever weather and daylight permit. Year-round telescope surveillance is to be conducted from the Foundation's permanent monitoring stations in ██████, Nepal, and ██████, People's Republic of China. As early in the year as weather permits, a Foundation front company, South Chomolunga Portage, shall establish forward monitoring stations at Base Camp on the northern and southern ascent, with the exception of Camp 6 in the northern ascent and Camp 4 in the southern, to be maintained until weather conditions force the evacuation of the mountain for the season. When SCP-1529 is active, telescope surveillance will be conducted by means of an automatic telescope with a video feed playing at 7 seconds delay to avoid a repeat of incident 1529-2. When necessary and safe, surveillance shall be conducted by airplane or helicopter. The Foundation shall liaise with civilian expedition coordinators as necessary to prevent attempts on the summit when SCP-1529 is active. The bodies of any hikers who encounter SCP-1529 are to be removed from the mountain as soon as possible for autopsy and disposal. All SCP-1529 related casualties shall be attributed to natural causes related to altitude sickness and hypothermia. Any survivors and or witnesses are to be debriefed and administered to Class B amnesiac. Mobile Task Force Si-29029 Alpine Echo shall remain on standby at all times at the Foundation monitoring station in ██████. During tours of duty, all members of the Mobile Task Force shall remain at all times in a pressurized environment acclimatized to 7900 meters above sea level. In the event that a recurrence of incident 1529-1 occurs, Alpine Echo shall deploy to the mountain by helicopter in a temp-procedure bookreave. Description SCP-1529 is a humanoid individual residing near the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, above the 8,000-meter death zone mark where human acclimatization is believed to be impossible. SCP-1529 appears to be of average height and weight, and is dressed head-to-toe in what resembles standard mountaineering wear and boots, colored white. SCP-1529's face is entirely obscured by the hood of its parka and what appears to be an oversized pair of opaque black mountain goggles. SCP-1529 has never been observed to wear any other clothes. As very few living people have observed SCP-1529, except through a telescope, it is not known whether its coverings are clothes or part of its body, or what it may look like underneath, except as per Interview 1529-1. The Foundation became aware of SCP-1529 in the 1970s, when annual expeditions to the summit of Mount Everest became commonplace, and rumors began to circulate in the mountaineering community about a monster near the summit. Photographs found undeveloped in George Mallory's camera after the discovery of his remains in 1999 indicate that SCP-1529 was present and active by the time of his attempt on the summit, and was not then significantly different in appearance than it is today. Foundation media assets have reported that Mallory's camera was never found and that its death was a result of a fall. During periods when daylight is sufficient and cloud cover allows for surveillance of the mountain, SCP-1529 is on average observable ████ of the time. For ████ of that time, SCP-1529 is inactive and lies or sits motionless. Recorded periods of inactivity have extended from 17 minutes to possibly 8 months. Medium period of inactivity is 23.4 days. When active, SCP-1529 can be observed to climb about the upper reaches of the mountain and summit in no discernable direction. SCP-1529 has never been observed to use any tools or climbing aids other than its hands and feet, and while traveling along established climbing routes will ignore the existence of guide ropes or ladders that have been installed by previous climbers. SCP-1529 has demonstrated an ability to climb or descend sections of the mountain's face believed impassable to conventional mountaineers, has never been observed to fall or lose its grip, and is seemingly unencumbered by sub-zero temperatures, high winds, thin air, or low atmospheric pressure. The cause of its becoming active or inactive is unknown, and shows no correlation to weather, time of day, traffic up the mountain, season, or time of year. SCP-1529 has never been observed to descend below the 8,000 meter mark, except as per incident 1529-1. Documented periods of activity have extended from 3 hours to possibly 6 days. Medium documented period is 15.2 hours. Medium observation of SCP-1529 is thus far proved impossible. Infrared imaging has showed no difference in temperature between SCP-1529 and its surrounding mountainside. If human climbers ascend past the 8,000 meter mark while SCP-1529 is active, it will attempt to make its way towards them and interpose itself between them in a summit or camp. SCP-1529 seems to prefer to target solo climbers, or climbers that are significantly ahead of or behind the rest of their group, but will target individuals within a group if such an opportunity does not present itself. Once SCP-1529 is within eyesight of a traveler, it will attempt to gain his or her attention and cause the traveler to make eye contact with it, which induces a hypnotic effect in the victim. The victim finds it very difficult to break eye contact with SCP-1529 and will begin to feel very warm and comfortable and enticed to sit down and relax. Once the climbers stop moving, SCP-1529 will close range with the climber and ██████ Death from hypothermia appears to occur within one to two hours of making eye contact with SCP-1529, much more quickly than is typical for climbers stuck near the summit. After death, SCP-1529's victims experience an extremely accelerated state of decay. After several hours or days, bodies have become rotted and mummified in levels comparable to bodies that have lain exposed on the mountain for several decades. Of the approximately 220 people who have died in the high altitudes of Everest since 1924, SCP-1529 is believed to have accounted for at least ████ people have survived encounters with SCP-1529, almost all, except as per Interview 1529-1 due to another mountaineer assisting the victim before SCP-1529 made physical contact. SCP-1529 does not appear to be capable of entrancing more than one climber at a time, however physical encounters between SCP-1529 and more than one person have been noted to lead to ██████. Purpose and motivation for SCP-1529's behavior is unknown, see Interview 1529-1 for speculation. Incident 1529-1 on ██████ SCP-1529 entered Camp 5 on the northern approach at 7,775 meters and ████ casualties occurred, including both Foundation personnel operating the Camp 5 monitoring post. Foundation assets in the media attributed to deaths of a sudden storm and poor planning on the part of Expedition Coordinator ████ who was among the deceased. SCP-1529 had not been under observation at the time due to its having an interactive phase sometime during the night, it had not yet been located on the telescope. The date this is the first and only documented instance of SCP-1529 traveling below the 8000 meter mark or entering any camp while inhabited. Incident 1529-2 on ████, 2000, Agent ████ in the permanent facility in China engaged in telescope surveillance of SCP-1529 while it was active near the summit of the mountain. Reported to SCP-1529 while facing in the direction of the base looked directly in the direction of the telescope. Immediately reported symptoms consistent with an SCP-1529 encounter and reported that SCP-1529 had begun descending the mountain in the direction of the permanent facility. Was unable to pull himself away from the telescope and had to be manually restrained and sedated 17 minutes after beginning of encounter, whereupon he was rushed to the facility's sick bay and found to have a core body temperature of 27°C and signs of frostbite in the fingers and toes, despite having remained indoors at a room temperature of 24°C for the duration of the encounter. Agent ████ who attempted to resume surveillance after ████ illness found SCP-1529 still descending the mountain and encountered similar symptoms. Historic surveillance was discontinued until ████ when aerial surveillance confirmed that SCP-1529 had ceased to descend and had entered an inactive state. Interview Log 1529-1 Interviewed ████ here after ████, interviewer, agent ████ forward on ████-2000, ████ was reportedly killed during an encounter with SCP-1529 when it irreply became active shortly after ████ had reached the mountain's summit. However, ████ was found alive when another team reached his position nearly two days later and was removed safely from the mountain. He required fingertip and toe amputation due to frostbite but otherwise making a full recovery. The following is an excerpt from ████'s debriefing prior to his discharge from hospital. Begin Log Tell me about what happened when you encountered the creature. It can't have been more than 10 minutes after I left the summit, about 1300. That's the hardest part of the climb. You've reached the top and you've exhilarated and proud of yourself and then you realize you've just done the most difficult thing you've ever done in your life and you have to do it all over again, right now, backwards, or you'll end up like green boots. The others were 5 or 6 meters ahead of me. I've been delayed by a moment to adjust my hood. That's when I saw it come over the ridge. What was your reaction when you first saw it? Just to say the least, we haven't been told there was anybody else climbing to the top that day. I just thought he must have come over from the other side or gotten left behind by his mates. I shouted and waved my hands in the air to try to get his attention. What happened when you got his attention? He looked right at me and that's when it started. I suddenly felt… happy? Relieved? It was like right away all the pain of soreness and the chill was gone. I didn't have blisters on my feet and I could feel the tip of my nose again. It was like I was back in ██████, kicking up my feet by the fireplace. Like I could forget all my worries and enjoy a well-deserved rest, but… but… it didn't feel right. Have you ever heard of paradoxical undressing? When your body starts to cool down, really cool down, your blood vessels dilate and you start to feel like you're warming up. So you start tearing off your clothes because you feel like you're burning up and you need to cool off, and the next thing anyone knows, you're naked and frozen to death curled up in a snowbank. I had a mate who went that way in 98. As far as I know, he still curled up next to the hillary step. So you believed you were imagining it? Right. So I tried to shrug it off, but I couldn't take my eyes off the man who started climbing up towards me, and that's when it all went to shit. How so? Right away all that warmth and comfort was gone. Suddenly I felt cold, colder than I ever been before, colder than I had a right to be. I couldn't feel my fingers or my face. My lips felt cracked and frozen. I tried to breathe and it was like my lungs were full of water. My legs cramped up and the next thing I knew I was down. My mates were almost 30 meters off by now. I tried to yell to them but all that came out was a whisper. I looked up and that man, that thing, was still coming. How long did it take for it to reach you? An hour? I'm not sure. I couldn't see my watch and I don't think I could have made sense of it anyways. I managed to get my arms on the ground, but I couldn't push myself to my feet. It was getting to the point that even if I could write myself, I wouldn't be able to make it back to camp before nightfall. I was starting to think I wasn't making it off the mountain at all, but what worried me more was the man. The closer he got to me, I started to feel something in the back of my head, something primal and menacing and above all, hateful. What happened when it reached you? It grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me up to face it. I was looking right into those goggles, those eyes. Were they goggles or eyes? Neither. I don't know. But it was like I could see things in them. Not see them so much more like feel them, images and feelings in the back of my mind, rage and joy and confusion. Confusion? I don't think it was used to people resisting it. It asked me a question. It spoke? Not words so much, I could hear it but not with my ears. I saw images of people, people sitting back in hot tubs, laying by a crackling fire, sunning themselves on the beach, warm, happy people, but I knew their faces. They were faces I'd seen in books and in pictures, and people I'd seen on the way up the mountain who I hadn't seen on the way down. I saw green boots, people still lying face down somewhere in the death zone and I heard its question. Which was? You would refuse my gift? Elle became very troubled at this point in the interview and was silent for some time. Go on. I could barely make sense of anything that was going on, but I knew that this thing in front of me was a bigger threat than any storm or any snow drift, moving my lips with heart and anything I'd ever done, but I did, and I told it, yes. How did it respond? I saw more images, images of those same people lying in the snow, already half-dead. I could tell I was looking at them from its perspective. It was ██████ them. I couldn't have been sick. It didn't say anything to me in words so much, but it was angry at me. It was offended, outraged, shocked. It was trying to tell me I'd been ungrateful and instead of relaxing peacefully while it ██████, I'd have to feel every minute of it. I asked it, why are you doing this? What did it say then? It mocked me. Elle is silent again. Just a few more questions, please. How did it mock you? It. It showed me another one of its victims, probably the first one, Mallory, 1924. I'd have known that face like my own mother's, but I'd never seen it in that kind of detail before or in that condition. He was on his stomach, weak, frostbitten, dying. He was waving and hollering at the thing as I watched it approach from its own perspective. It looked them in the eyes and it ██████. I think watching it was worse than living it would have been. It didn't told me. Elle is silent. Told you what? Because it's there. I wasn't gonna let ██████ happen to me. It was holding me up, so I had just enough strength to ball up my fist. I punched it. Hard as I could. Every last ounce of strength I had, right on the goggles. They cracked. I could see what was behind them. What was it? ██████. I don't remember much after that. I must have gotten into my bivy bag somehow because that's how they found me. ██████. End log. Closing statement. After Elle's encounter with SCP-1529, it was not observed, active or inactive, for five months, seventeen days, nineteen hours. Upon next observation, its goggles showed no signs of damage or wear. Elle passed away on ████, 2000 ████. Foundation media assets had reported the cause of death would do the complications from childhood exposure to asbestos. The not-topsy performed by the Foundation indicated that Elle was suffering extreme hypothermia, frostbite, and cerebral edema at the time of his death. Elle had retired from mountaineering following the SCP-1529 encounter and had not traveled more than 500 meters above sea level in the twelve months preceding his death. Addendum. On ████, 2000 ██, aerial surveillance picked up an image of an individual of similar appearance to SCP-1529 near the summit of ████ as the government of ████ has prohibited mountaineering. Threat to normalcy is negligible at this time. Aerial and satellite surveillance of ████ will continue on a regular basis until permanent monitoring stations can be established.