Hundreds of People Stuck on Mount Everest

A collapse of an ice and snow cornice after the Hillary Step near the summit of Everest has caused a traffic jam on the Mountain with people at the top trapped as there's no way forward or back , sadly 2 climbers are missing due to the collapse.

A cornice - an overhanging mass of hardened snow overhanging the edge of a precipice - collapsed, dragging some climbers down the side of the mountain.

Vinayak Malla, an International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA) guide climbing Everest on 21 May, said on Instagram that reaching the summit "felt different than my previous experiences".

She said: "After summiting, we crossed the Hillary Step, traffic was moving slowly then suddenly a cornice collapsed a few meters ahead of us. There was also a cornice under us.

"As the cornice collapsed, four climbers nearly perished yet were clipped onto the rope and self-rescued.

"Sadly, two climbers are still missing. We tried to traverse yet it was impossible due to the traffic on the fixed line."
news.sky.com...

View from the top.


Hope the climbers get down safely but the question has to be asked when is to many to many , now would be my answer.

a reply to: gortex

That why. HUNDREDS of climbers. Pics of the place is trashed is upsetting..

a reply to: mysterioustranger

Crazy isn't it , I think the picture of the snake of people meandering up Everest will probably win picture of the year , it's a sad reflection of what we've become and really quite pathetic.

Silly Humans.

When you’re hiking where dead bodies are used as mile markers.

You have already thrown caution to the wind.

While I will say a pray that everyone returns safely.

I won’t be surprised if many don’t make it.

Hope the weather holds out.

since the majority are most likely not professional climbers, I doubt many will survive if there is any serious delay in getting traffic moving.

They just wont have the conditioning to survive the stress of being in the death zone, and most probably have a limited amount of supplemental O2 on them since those cans are not light and easy to carry.

a reply to: gortex

That’s crazy! I went to base camp back about 20 years ago and I thought it was busy then.

This is sad. They won’t last long at that altitude, even at base my head was pounding and I felt like I had the worst hangover of my life.

At the Step altitude climbers just walk past the dead and dying. Helping them would take much needed time and energy that may mean they themselves would perish.

Rescues at that altitude are virtually impossible.

The Sherpas will be their only hope

Once an accomplishment. Now just a rich people tourist trap.

The loss of life is sad but like it has been said already, you take your chances.

This mountain gets more and more dangerous & more trashed each passing year because of the volume of tourism. The authorities should really close off access to it for a few years at least.

a reply to: gortex

Looks like summiting Everest is no longer a very exclusive club. Pretty much like hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

a reply to: Boomer1947

Looks like summiting Everest is no longer a very exclusive club. Pretty much like hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

it's all about the duckies, big bucks in famous site tourism.
some countries though take better care of their historical sites better than others.

The equipment, the guides and permit costs to climb Mt. Everest is $50,000.

Rich tourists, tempting fate by exploring dangerous parts of the world without proper qualifications or experience.

I'm getting Titan submarine vibes from this story.

"I think there was some greed, there was some glory in it...and here we are again...Now there's one wreck lying next to the other wreck, for the same damn reason." -James Cameron

Soon to be many more trail markers.
I was aware of the "climbing Everest" box on the bucket lists of the affluent but had no idea of the Disney ride lines to the top. It must be a cocktail party status symbol..." yeah, I did Everest last year"... will replace..."yeah, I was at Woodstock" as all the non-attendees age out of the lie.

a reply to: TinfoilTophat

They're not all wealthy. Some are just enthusiasts who spend years saving for such an adventure.

That is so crazy and the prices some of the people to pay to climb Everest is nuts. I know the prices with the best guides can be up to $50K per person. Cheaper guides can be had for $5-10k but they don't provide the best equipment or safety, I was just watching a show on Everest where these 2 friends went the cheap route and 1 friend died and the other friend lost his toes from frost bite

I was just gonna add I don't know how that can be fun when you are literally going up a mountain with hundreds of people in front of you and behind you

a reply to: gortex

That looks like Broadway on a Saturday night. LOL

What a tragedy! I hope there aren't more lives lost, but realistically........

'Hillary Step' ; seems appropriate.

The second video, saw that exact picture yesterday on reddit and only thought:

Wow, what a "funny adventure" for people with too less brain and too much money.

Tbh, it's just a pity about the Sherpas who have to chase these neglected, untrained and unprepared tourists up there and carry their amenities (guaranteed thousands of dollars worth for this single trip) for them.

I would love to take one of these tourists with me on a simple and relaxing wilderness camping tour for two weeks in a forest, without contact to the outside world, without help from my side. I believe i would have the most funny trip ever. I bet I couldn't stop laughing while I'm on a relaxing vacation but this person is probably going through a hell of a trip because this "extreme adventure tourist" is untrained, unprepared and completely clueless. And without a Sherpa to carry and prepare everything for them.

That´s at least how i personally see this Mount Everest tourists which also litter the whole mountain instead of leaving no trace in nature. They should have known beforehand that if you play stupid games you can also win stupid prizes as some of them did now again. But maybe that's just natural selection. It's not always the strongest that survive, but 99.9% of the time it's always the smartest (who probably wouldn't scramble up there like in a queue at the checkout at ALDI's just to be able to say: "I was on Mount Everest"!).

a reply to: gortex

can you imagine if a quake hits the area surrounding EVEREST?

The only problem is that they've made the way to the summit of Everest a path, ok a steep path but a path non the less. Walking up a steep path is NOT climbing and these people are not climbers. SO, a proper climber would not be very worried about this event because he would CLIMB out of it. OK, feel sorry for the deaths but they asked for it, they went into the lions den and got bit.