The route to the summit of Mount Everest is jam packed with eager climbers frantically rushing to reach the world’s highest point – even as several adventurers and their guides were killed or went missing this week.
Shocking video shared to social media showed how a string of dozens of climbers snaked up the glacier in the high-altitude ‘death zone’ – so called because the air is so thin that most have to rely on supplementary oxygen to survive.
The ‘human traffic jam’, captured on May 20, came as the mountain enjoyed a ‘weather window’ – a brief period of clear conditions in which successfully reaching the summit is a less perilous task.
Forecasters expect the golden window to close by the end of the week, meaning the route to the summit is likely to be inundated with would-be summiteers desperate to achieve their dream for another couple of days.
But the climbers are facing troubling odds, even in the favourable conditions. Authorities announced this morning that a Kenyan climber died close to the summit yesterday and his Nepali guide is missing.
Meanwhile, British climber Daniel Paul Paterson, 40, and his guide Pas Tenji Sherpa, 23, also remain unaccounted for after they successfully reached the summit on Tuesday morning, only to be caught in an ice fall on their descent just minutes later.
Shocking video shared to social media showed how a seemingly endless string of climbers snaked up the glacier in the high-altitude ‘death zone’ – so called because the air is so thin that most have to rely on supplementary oxygen to survive
The ‘human traffic jam’, captured on May 20, came as the mountain enjoyed a ‘weather window’ – a brief period of clear conditions
As climbers can only summit in small weather windows, queues can form on the mountain which substantially increases the risk of death
This photograph taken on May 3, 2024 shows mountaineers at the Khumbu Glacier during their ascend to Mount Everest’s summit, in Nepal
British climber Daniel Paul Paterson, 40, and his guide Pas Tenji Sherpa, 23, also remain unaccounted for after they successfully reached the summit on Tuesday morning, only to be caught in an ice fall on their descent just minutes later
Kenyan Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui, 40, and his Nepali guide Nawang Sherpa, 44, went out of contact Wednesday morning, and a search team was deployed on the 8,849-metre (29,032-foot) high mountain.
‘The team have found the Kenyan climber dead between the summit and the Hillary Step, but his guide is still missing,’ Khim Lal Gautam, chief of the tourism’s department field office at the base camp said this morning.
It was reported that Kirui wanted to attempt the summit without supplementary oxygen – a feat that only 221 of the 6,664 people who have reached the top of Everest have managed to achieve, according to the latest count in January 2024.
Rescue teams are also continuing their search for Brit Paterson and his guide, both of whom were caught up in the sudden ice fall on Tuesday.
The shocking collapse is reported to have happened at Hillary Step, a nearly vertical rock face just beneath the summit of the world’s highest peak.
‘A cornice broke off and washed down a few climbers including Daniel and his guide towards the Tibet side,’ a member of a team at Everest base camp told The Times.
Neither climber has yet been confirmed dead but hopes are fading that anyone could survive more than a day in the ‘death zone’.
Paterson’s partner Beck Woodhead said yesterday that she had not heard from her partner and was waiting for news with their families.
The fitness enthusiast had dedicated his climb to a late friend from Wakefield Crossfield Club, which he co-owns, and recently announced that members had raised £10,000 for her family.
A keen climber, he had trained in the Himalayas last year and said he was emotional when he saw the Everest summit, telling followers: ‘My dream will always be to conquer this.’
A Sherpa with Paterson’s group said yesterday that the expedition had successfully reached the summit, before sharing the news the two men went missing during the climb.
‘Eyewitnesses reported the incident took place between Summit Ridge and South Summit and some climbers were swept away in Kangshung Face,’ he said.
‘Our dedicated search and rescue teams are deployed on the ground. They are working tirelessly to locate our missing climbers. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families during this challenging time.’
Mr Paterson previously said it had always been his dream to ‘conquer’ the Everest summit
Missing Daniel Paul Paterson, 40, is pictured on May 11 ahead of his climb to the summit
Mr Paterson with his partner Beck Woodhead
The route up Everest and the surrounding peaks is perilous at the best of times.
On Monday, a Romanian climber died in his tent during a bid to scale Lhotse, the fourth-highest mountain in the world.
Everest and Lhotse share the same route until diverting at around 7,200 metres.
Gabriel Tabara also wanted to climb Lhotse without supplementary oxygen, but sherpas found his lifeless body in his tent at Camp 3 (located at an altitude of 7,163 metres) on the morning of the planned summit attempt.
Earlier this month, two Mongolian climbers went missing after reaching Everest’s summit and were later found dead.
Two more climbers, one French and one Nepali, have died this season on Makalu, the world’s fifth-highest peak.
Last year, more than 600 climbers made it to the summit of Everest, but it was also the deadliest season on the mountain, with 18 fatalities.
Nepal has issued more than 900 permits for its mountains this year, including 419 for Everest, earning more than $5 million in royalties.
More than 500 climbers and their guides have already reached the summit of Everest after a rope-fixing team reached the peak last month.
This year, China also reopened the Tibetan route to foreigners for the first time since closing it in 2020 because of the pandemic.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring, when temperatures are warm and winds typically calm.
But Everest – the world’s highest and most famous peak – has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years.
This has provided a welcome economic boost to Nepal and the guides who spend their lives helping climbers from all corners of the globe to prepare and summit Everest and the surrounding mountains.
But it has also given rise to shocking pollution.
Tourists coming to Mount Everest and the surrounding Sagarmatha National Park bring in an estimated 1,000 tonnes of waste each year, the majority of which never leaves the park
In the Spring climbing season of 2023 alone, 75 tonnes of rubbish was collected from Everest base camp including 21.5 tonnes of human waste which was dumped in nearby pits
At 29,029 feet (8,848 meters) Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world and has been a consistent draw for tourists and climbers from around the globe
At Everest Base Camp (pictured) around 2,00 climbers gather each season, generating vast quantities of waste
Experts estimate that there could be as much as 50 tonnes of rubbish left on the mountain, while Everest Base Camp churns out 75 tonnes of garbage every season.
The waste problem is now so bad that climbers will be forced to carry their own poo back down the mountain.
Mount Everest itself sits within the Sagamartha National Park in the Khumbu region of Nepal.
This 124,400-hectare UNESCO World Heritage Site contains some of the world’s highest mountains as well as some 200 Sherpa villages.
The number of tourists visiting the park had been steadily increasing for years but last decade shot up, doubling in the three years between 2014 and 2017.
While the park itself is home to a permanent population of only 7,000, some 60,000 foreign tourists now visit each year along with thousands more Nepalese guides.
It is now estimated that each year, between 900 and 1,000 tonnes of solid waste is brought into the park – the vast majority of which never leaves.
The problem became so bad that in 1991, The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) was founded to try and bring the levels of waste back under control.
The SPCC now manages waste collection from Everest Base Camp and the trails in the national park.
And, since 2014, climbers who go beyond Base Camp must bring back 18 lbs (8kg) of rubbish or risk losing their $4,000 (£2,600) deposit.