Mount Everest’s filthy base camp, thick traffic jams in the spotlight as two climbers feared dead
Shocking videos show climbers have to navigate huge crowds, filth and even death while scaling the world’s highest Instagram hot spot.
Climbers have to navigate thick traffic jams, a filthy, sprawling base camp — and increasingly, death — while trying to get to the world’s highest Instagram hotspot.
Renewed attention is being paid to the crowded conditions on Mount Everest, where two missing climbers were believed dead this week after part of an icy ridge collapsed.
Social media videos appear to show a line of hundreds of climbers stranded in the aftermath of the tragic Tuesday incident in which British climber Daniel Paterson, 39, and his Nepali guide Pas Tenji Sherpa, 23, were dragged down the side of the mountain after a chunk of hardened snow overhanging the edge of a cliff suddenly fell, the BBC reported.
The clips were just some of the dozens of images of an apparent constant rush hour getting to the top of the world. More than one clip on X in recent months shows climbers screaming as they watch dead bodies slide by them.
Mr Paterson and Mr Tenji were with a 15-person group that had reached the top of the world’s tallest peak. They were still unaccounted for as of Sunday.
In a separate incident, Kenyan climber Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui, 40, was found dead and his guide Nawang Sherpa, 44, remained missing after they vanished from the mountain on Wednesday.
“Everest — the highest, the dirtiest and the most controversial place on Earth,” wrote The Northerner on X. “Humans bypassing corpses, leaving people dying, ignoring help cries, making it dirtiest place with pollution and human wastes; all for the glory of summit. When will it stop?!”
Indian mountaineer Rajan Dwivedi, who successfully summited Everest at 6am on May 19, wrote on Instagram that “Mt Everest is not a joke and in fact, quite a serious climb”.
“I believe so far (more than) 7000 have summited since 1st ascent in May 1953. Many end up with frost bites, snow blindness and various type of injuries that are not counted in any database,” he wrote on a post that included video of the endless, snaking line of climbers coming up and back down as they seized one of the rare weather windows.
“This video captured shows [sic] what we face on one rope line and negotiating interchanges during the traffic for upstream and downstream! The main reason is weather window to avoid the fierce cruising jet streams that could be 100-240mph (160-386kmh)! For me, coming down was a nightmare and exhausting while huge line of climbers were coming up to maximise on the weather window.”
Overcrowding on Everest has been a problem for years but the world’s biggest mountain has become an increasing concern to officials in recent years.
Everest’s popularity hasn’t waned, despite frequents accidents and deaths on the mountain.
The season is at its peak at the moment — with hundreds of climbers jammed side-by-side along the Hillary Step.
Mountaineering guide Vinayak Jaya Malla witnessed the collapsing cornice last week after successfully reaching the summit and then starting back down.
“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,” Malla wrote.
“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. Many climbers were stuck in the traffic and oxygen was running low. I was able to start breaking a new route for the descending traffic to begin moving slowly once again.”
Mr Dwivedi said had “mixed feelings” after the climb.
“I saw many climbers in quite precarious situation hanging on the rope and their Sherpas struggling to pull them down,” he wrote, adding he saw some climbers in a “sleepy/zombie state”.
“They were shaking and crying causing a traffic jam,” he said.
This article originally appeared on NY Post and was reproduced with permission
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