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Mount Everest Open For Business: Climbers Return Despite Recent Tragedies

By Pam Wright
Published on: 02:13 PST, Apr 23, 2016

Mount Everest is once again open for business, a year after a quake in Nepal claimed the lives of 19 and injured dozens more.

Hundreds of climbers have returned to Mount Everest Base Camp for the brief April-May window that offers the best weather conditions for an attempt to reach the 29,035-ft. summit.

They came despite back-to-back tragedies — the 2015 earthquake that released thousands of tons of snow and ice down the mountain and a massive, deadly avalanche the year before.

Each year, it seems more and more mountaineers converge on Everest Base Camp with a dream of following in the footsteps of Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, who were the first to reach to summit in 1953.

The dream has become big business locally, bringing much-needed commerce to the poverty-stricken area. But to the chagrin and fear of some, it has come with tragedy.

According to the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal, as reported by The Indian Express, the number of climbers on Mount Everest is down by about 40 percent compared to last year.

This is not great news for the sherpas who rely on hauling equipment up the mountain and preparing a route to the summit for climbers to make their living. The Sherpa community is still relieved to see the mountaineers — who refused to let tragedy affect their pursuit of conquering the tallest mountain on Earth — arrive at Base Camp.

Pemba Sherpa, who runs a guesthouse in the nearby village of Pheriche, told The Associated Press that the Sherpa community did not expect many climbers this year on Everest — which has claimed the lives of more than 250 — and are concerned that another tragedy would mean the end of their livelihood.

“This is much more than what we all had expected. The climbers and trekkers who have reached here are very happy — satisfied at the condition of the mountain and not scared anymore. But, if there are any problems this year, then we are all finished. It will all end.”

It’s not just the high-altitude Sherpa porters who can make upwards of $7,000 each season — considered a fortune in a country where the average per capita income is $700 — that count on the Everest tourist dollars.

Lakpa Nuru, 25, who was at Everest Base Camp during both recent disasters, said he will still attempt to make his sixth Everest ascent as a high-altitude porter because he has little choice.

“I lost many of my friends in the last two years. I am scared, but I don’t have another option. Most of us are here so that we can earn for us or our family. If the foreigners don’t come any more, we will all starve.”

Following the tragedies, a bit of a mutiny took place amongst the Sherpas, with many of them refusing to continue working unless their demands of better working conditions, more insurance, and free education for the children of those killed were met by the government.

With the needed income, the Nepalese government met most of their major demands, including requiring expeditions to insure Sherpas for up to $15,000.

The mountain is a treacherous place to be and wrought with peril, especially in the death zone that begins above 26,000 feet. The debilitating effects of the death zone are so great that it takes most climbers on summit day up to 12 hours to walk the distance of about a mile from South Col to the summit. A person going from sea-level to the summit would lose consciousness within two to three minutes, which is why it takes 40-60 days of acclimatization at lower altitudes on Mount Everest before a summit is attempted.

More and more climbers attempt the ascent despite criticism that too many inexperienced climbers are on the mountain. That topic became a wide-spread debate following the 1996 climbing disaster chronicled by Jon Krakauer in his best-selling account, Into Thin Air.

On May 11 of that season, eight climbers died after several expeditions were caught in a blizzard high up on the mountain, including experienced climber Rob Hall, who remained high up in the death zone trying to save a less experienced climber who had become disoriented. He left behind a pregnant wife and a grieving climbing community.

Despite the peril, climbers still come.

Adrian Ballinger, a guide with California-based Alpenglow Expedition who has scaled Everest six times, noted that competition has dramatically driven down the cost of a guided climb from $65,000 to as little as $22,000. With the reduced price comes more, less-experienced climbers and a greater opportunity for disaster.

“I see an increased chance of large-scale accidents on the mountain based on the lower level of experience of everyone involved — not just the clients, but the Sherpas and the guides. Adding more people with lower standards of experience, equipment, care and management is making the mountain more dangerous.”

Only time will whether this season on Mount Everest will bring triumph or tragedy.

[Photo by Pasang Geljen Sherpa/AP Images]

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