Heavy snowfall in Everest base camp hampers expeditions

Kathmandu. Hundreds of climbers preparing to climb the highest peak, Mount Everest, are confused due to inclement weather.

Heavy snow has been falling at the Everest base camp for the past 24 hours. Some climbers are still waiting for the weather to clear from the base camp to the second camp, while others are forced to stay in the base camp due to the inability of the helicopter to arrive due to inclement weather.

It is unknown at this time what will happen next. Renowned climber Nirmal Purja mentioned that his expedition is at the second camp and plans to climb Mt. Everest on May 30 and Lhotse on May 31.

The base camp manager of the Everest Pollution Control Committee, Chiring Tenzing Sherpa, posted a video of the heavy snowfall at the Everest base camp on his Facebook wall on Friday.

Two days ago, the committee had issued an appeal to keep the climbers safe due to inclement weather. Despite the global Corona epidemic, the highest number of climbers in history came this year.

This year, a total of 318 men, 92 women and 408 people from 43 expeditions had taken permission to climb Mt. Everest, raising more than Rs 660 million in royalties. However, due to inclement weather, many climbers have not been able to climb this year.

Although initially embarrassed by the corona infection, some climbers have climbed since the corona decreased.  But the climb has not been possible lately due to inclement weather.

So far, about 250 climbers and 100 Sherpa allies have climbed Mt. Everest.Some climbing companies have ended the climb themselves, while others have stopped climbing themselves. “We ended this year’s trek two days ago after seeing the unfavorable weather,” said Govinda Gurung, managing director of Nepal Treks and Expeditions.