Melting ice may shift Everest base camp

Kathmandu: The global warning and impending melting of ice on Mt Everest are mostly likely to force Nepal to shift its Everest base camp to other lower altitudes.

According to government sources, the Mt Everest base camp might be lowered to 400 m following unsafe locations and increasing climate changes.

Though Mt Everest has two base camps, the most popular one is a southern site located at an altitude of 5,364 metres, serving as a starting point for climbers wishing to ascend the peak of Everest.

This point is used by around 1,500 climbers a year. The Everest base camp situated on the Khumbu glacier is endangered by the melting ice due to climate change which is evidenced by the widening gap of crevasses as reported by climbers.

In addition, the increasing rock falls and water on the surface of the glacier is making the base camp more risk-prone and unsafe for the climbers.

Researchers in 2018 discovered that a segment of the area’s glacier is thinning at a rate of 1 metre per annum which indicates that it is losing around 9.5 million cubic metres of water every year.