Climbers are dying in traffic jams near top of Everest

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 this 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 organized 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 this week. Keshav Paudel, who organized tours on the mountain, told AFP that Bagwan was “stuck in the traffic for more than 12 hours and was exhausted.”

They are among at least 17 people to have died climbing in Nepal’s Himalayan mountains this season, including at least seven 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, AFP reported. They cost about $11,000 each, and hikers are accompanied by local, and sometimes international, guides.

Traffic jams create dangerous situations for climbers, who can be exhausted and are carrying heavy loads while battling altitude sickness.

Gordan Janow, director of programs at Alpine Ascents International, has been organizing treks to Everest for about 30 years. He said crowding 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,” he said. Alpine Ascents 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.”

“The idea isn’t to push yourself to the ultimate maximum to reach the summit,” he said. “Then there’s no steam or energy left in your body to get down.”

Last year, 807 people reached the mountain’s summit, more than had ever reached the top in a single year before. When climbers choose to scale Everest, they do so with the understanding of the potential perils they could encounter along the way.

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