Mount Everest sees highest number of climbers in 70-year history

• Bhishmaraj Ojha/CB Adhikari

This year has seen the highest number of climbers who have reached Mount Everest so far, but they are currently waiting for favorable weather at the first, second, and third base camps of Everest. Some climbers have returned to the base camp due to the deterioration of the weather over the last few days.

Spring season is considered to be the most suitable time for mountain climbing, and this is when the number of climbers increases the most. This year, 466 climbers have taken permission to climb the highest peak in the world, the most significant number ever recorded. 368 men and 98 women have taken permission to climb Mount Everest, which is also the highest number of climbers in the 70-year history of climbing the mountain. In 2022, 323 people from 44 groups, and in 2021, 409 people from 42 groups took permission to climb Mount Everest.

According to Angchiring Sherpa, the former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, it is believed that the number of climbers in Nepal may have increased due to the suspension of climbing from Tibet following the COVID-19 epidemic, despite the fact that the peak can also be reached from the north face of Everest.

Gyanendra Shrestha, who has been working as a liaison officer of the Tourism Department since 2007, reported that climbers and their helpers who went to climb the mountain are already at the base camp of Mount Everest.

Icefall doctors have made the way to the South Col (fourth camp) for climbing Everest. After fixing the rope to the peak of Mount Everest, the climbing starts.

Imagine Nepal Trek and Expedition Company is responsible for building the way after the second camp of Mount Everest. The Everest Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) made the way to the second camp. From the second camp to the summit of Everest, the mountaineering operators association has been building the way. According to Imagine Nepal’s Executive Director Dawa Galjen Sherpa, the way to the fourth camp of Everest is now ready.

Due to bad weather in the Everest region, heavy snow has been falling for the last three days, and the climbing has not been able to proceed. The icefall doctor is resting at the second camp of Everest. However, as soon as the weather is favorable, the work of hanging the rope up to peak will start. It is expected that it will take about a day to open the way from South Col to the peak. The Weather Forecast Division under the Department of Water and Meteorology has predicted that the weather will improve from Wednesday.

According to the details of the tourism department, citizens of 65 countries, including Nepal, have taken permission to climb Mount Everest this season. The highest number of climbers have taken permission from China, followed by America, India, Hungary, Canada, Russia, UK, and Nepal. On May 29, 1953, Tenzing Norge Sherpa of Nepal and Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Although humans have been climbing Mount Everest for 70 years, it remains a dangerous undertaking. Statistics show that more than 300 climbers have lost their lives while climbing Mount Everest.

This also:

• Tragedy on Mount Everest: Three Sherpas Killed in Avalanche at Khumbu Icefall
• Defying the Odds: Double-Amputee Mountaineer’s Everest Quest
• Ice fall doctors’ crucial role for spring season
• Nepal: An ideal mountaineering destination…………………………………………………………….

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