The world’s highest peak has had a tough year, with fatalities and overcrowding. But there’s another, less-travelled, path to see the famous mountain.
Approaching the Himalayas from the Tibetan side, Mount Everest (centre) dominates the horizon and is easily visible from the asphalt highway. Chris Wright
The sense of an overcrowded and dangerous Everest was cemented when Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja’s photo of climbers lined up along the summit ridge, as if they were waiting for a bus, went viral. That image changed the public perception of the world’s highest peak. No longer was it remote and exhilarating, the literal pinnacle of climbing; instead it was exploited, cramped and unnecessarily deadly.
