Everest route blocked by ice

FILE PHOTO: Members of an expedition team hike at Khumbu Icefall, as the route to Mount Everest Camp One has not yet been opened for the season in Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, April 22, 2026. REUTERS/Purnima Shrestha/File Photo

Hundreds of mountaineers are stranded at the Himalayan base camp for Mount Everest as a crevasse strewn with chunks of ice, inclu­ding one towering block, delays the opening of the route to the world’s tallest peak, officials and climbers said.

The annual climbing season for the 8,849m summit runs from April to May, when the weather conditions are most suited to reaching the windswept, icy peak.

But a 30m serac, or dangerous chunk of ice, blocks the path above base camp this year.

Seasoned Sherpa climbers, known locally as “icefall doctors”, have so far been unable to fix their ropes, place ladders and carve a safe route through the treacherous Khumbu icefall to Camp II.

Meanwhile, the climbers, chafing to start their ascent while the weather is at its best, can only wait.

“Expeditions are all being delay­ed because of the impasse,” Garrett Madison of US-based Madi­son Mountaineering said from base camp.

“It looks likely to fall imminently; however, it could take some time,” said Madison, who is leading a team of climbers on his 16th ascent, of the ice tower.

The route typically opens by the third week of April, said Himal Gautam of Nepal’s Department of Tourism.

“If the serac melts or collapses now, allowing the ‘icefall doctors’ to open the route, climbers could still make their summit bids on schedule,” Gautam added.

If not, he said, authorities would send more Sherpa climbers to assess the risk and explore alternative routes.

Officials said a team of eight “icefall doctors” is at base camp.

Mingma Sherpa, an 11-time Everest summiteer leading an international team at base camp, said acclimatisation rotations and the ferrying of gear to upper camps have been delayed.

Everest straddles the border between Nepal and China’s Tibet region and can be climbed from both sides, though most climbers approach from the Nepali side.

Mountain climbing is a major source of income and employment for Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest peaks.

Authorities have issued 410 Eve­rest permits so far this season, at a cost of US$15,000 (RM59,455) each.

There is no limit on how many permits are issued, which has led to criticism from mountaineering experts about the risk of long queues forming in what is known as the death zone because the air is dangerously thin. — Reuters