IT’S A JAM AT THE SUMMIT OF EVEREST

OVERCROWDING WORSENING EACH YEAR, OPERATOR SAYS

Traffic jams have killed at least 18 people climbing Mount Everest this season. Nepal has issued around 380 permits for those hoping to climb the highest mountain peak in the world, and that has resulted in this unfolding tragedy.

Anjali Kulkarni, an Indian mountain climber, trained for six years to make it to the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain peak in the world. She finally fulfilled her longtime goal when she reached the summit last week. But it was the descent that killed her.

Her son, Shantanu Kulkarni, told CNN that she died after getting stuck in a “traffic jam” on the mountain.

“She had to wait for a long time to reach the summit and descend,” Thupden Sherpa, who organised tours on the mountain, told Agence France-Presse.

“She couldn’t move down on her own and died as Sherpa guides brought her down.”

Two other Indian hikers, Kalpana Das, 52, and Nihal Bagwan, 27, also died last week.

Keshav Paudel, who organised tours on the mountain, said Bagwan was “stuck in the traffic for more than 12 hours and was exhausted.”

CLEAR WEATHER SPARKED RUSH

They are among at least 18 people to have died climbing in Nepal’s Himalayan mountains this season, including at least 10 on Everest in the past week, as a few days of clear weather attracted huge numbers of climbers hoping to scale the 29,029 feet to the mountain’s peak.

Nepal has issued around 380 permits for those hoping to climb the mountain. They cost about $11,000 (Dh40,403) each, and hikers are accompanied by local, and sometimes international, guides.

A chilling photograph from the mountain shows a long line of mountaineers queuing to ascend a steep ridge to the summit. The photo was shot by Nirmal Purja, an avid mountaineer, who wrote in an Instagram caption that he estimated there were 320 people in line.

Traffic jams create dangerous situations for climbers, who are often already exhausted and carrying heavy loads while battling altitude sickness, which can make people dizzy and nauseated. Gordan Janow, director of programmes at Alpine Ascents International, has been organising treks to Everest for around 30 years. He said overcrowding often occurs, but “every year seems to be worse and worse.”

When a line starts to back up, “you’re changing your natural pace so you’re spending more time in this high altitude zone than might be necessary if you were climbing 10 to 15 years ago,” he said.

[When a line starts to back up] you’re changing your natural pace so you’re spending more time in this high altitude zone than might be necessary if you were climbing 10 to 15 years ago.”

Gordan Janow | Director of programmes at Alpine Ascents International

KNOWING WHEN TO TURN AROUND IS CRUCIAL

Alpine Ascents currently has a group of a dozen climbers on the mountain, he said. And one of the most important skills for the guides who accompany them, he said, “is knowing when to turn people around.”

Last year, 807 people reached the mountain’s summit, more than had ever reached the top in a single year before.

In addition to the risks of altitude sickness and exhaustion, there have been a number of avalanches on the mountain over the year, including one set off by the catastrophic 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015.

In that instance, an avalanche swept down the mountain and through the base camp, killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens more.