LOCAL guides have opened the route past the icefall on Mount Everest, which was blocked for two weeks by a large chunk of dangerous ice.
A team of highly-skilled mountaineers, known in Nepal as “icefall doctors”, began fixing ropes and ladders on Everest last month to prepare for the spring climbing season.
But a serac – a block of glacial ice – above the already treacherous Khumbu icefall disrupted their work, sparking fears of delays in the limited summit season on the world’s highest peak.
“A team of 21, including eight icefall doctors, went up this morning, opening the route up to Camp 1,” Lakpa Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, who coordinated the effort, said.
“The serac is still there so the risk persists... We expect it will melt soon.”
Sherpa said teams would work to set the route up to the summit to ensure there are no more delays.
The government has issued more than 900 climbing permits for various Himalayan mountains this season, including 425 for Everest.
A sea of tents to host more than 1,000 people – foreign climbers and support staff – has built up at the foot of Everest, readying to scale the 8,849m summit.
Climbers at the base camp have been anxiously watching the developments on the route.
They must cross the icefall, a constantly shifting maze of crevasses and ice blocks to reach higher on Everest.
“We are not yet sending people up,” said Lukas Furtenbach of Furtenbach Adventures, saying he would await a decision from the committee which mobilises the icefall doctors. — AFP
