A colossal block of glacier, known as a serac, is obstructing the main route to Mount Everest just as the peak climbing season begins, raising fears of dangerous queues on the world's highest peak. The 30-metre-tall ice block sits nearly 600 metres below Camp 1 on the Nepalese side of the mountain, according to the BBC.
Icefall doctors, specialist Sherpas responsible for fixing ropes and ladders on the lower section of the route, spent days searching for a way around it and found none. 'We haven't found artificial ways to melt it so far, so we don't have any options other than to wait for it melting and crumbling itself,' Tshering Tenzing Sherpa, base camp coordinator for the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, told the BBC.
By this time in April, the route would normally be fixed as far as Camp 3. The icefall doctors arrived three weeks ago but remain blocked well below Camp 1. Sherpas say the serac's lower section is already weakening and they hope it will collapse within days, but the delay is compressing the climbing window significantly. Favourable weather on Everest is typically only reliable until the end of May.
'This is not something you can fix or move,' Himal Gautam, a spokesperson for Nepal's Department of Tourism, told reporters. 'It's natural. We can only wait and assess.' The department said it was exploring airlifting rope-fixing teams and equipment directly to Camp 2 to open the upper route while waiting for the obstruction below to clear.
Prominent Nepali climber Purnima Shrestha, currently acclimatising at base camp ahead of her sixth Everest summit, said the delay had added to concerns about overcrowding. 'Delays in the opening of the route have added concerns of possible traffic jams to the peak this year,' she told the BBC. Even if the route opens soon, she warned, the climbing window could be narrow, compressing large numbers of climbers into a shorter period.
Nepal issued 367 climbing permits for Everest this spring, most to Chinese nationals. Fees for foreigners have been increased to $15,000 this year from $11,000, and doubled to $1,000 for Nepalis. Despite the impact of the Iran war on fuel costs and international travel, expedition operators said demand held up, with mountaineering affected less than trekking.
