Alan Arnette, a mountaineer who runs an Everest news and analysis website out of Fort Collins, Colo., gets asked the which-side-is-safer question so frequently he's developed a pithy response: "Pick your poison," he says.
Statistically speaking, the north side appears the more daunting of the two: Statistics highlighted on Arnette's site shows that 36 people died climbing the North Ridge route over one decade, while 15 died attempting the South Col route.
Altitude is the No. 1 cause of death on the north side, whereas falling into a crevasse was the No. 1 cause of death on the south side (before last year's avalanche tragedy).