Deadly dreams: Record Everest season among most dangerous

KATHMANDU, Nepal—Scaling

Everest is always dangerous, but expedition organizers have warned that a combination of extreme weather, cornercutting on safety, and inexperienced and “impatient” foreign climbers has resulted in one of the peak’s deadliest mountaineering seasons.

As the last search and rescue teams hang up their boots and the tent city at base camp packs up for the year, expert climbers say several of the 17 people killed or missing and presumed dead this season could have avoided disaster.

“This season was very bad overall,” said expedition organizer Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, of Imagine Nepal Trek and Expedition, whose team was responsible for opening the route to the summit.

“The main reason is that the weather was extremely cold... but there was also carelessness.”

Higher death numbers were recorded in past seasons, but those tolls included several killed in single large-scale disasters.

In 2014, 16 Nepali guides were killed by an avalanche, with climbing closed for the season thereafter.

Many climbers dropped out this season, even after paying a nonrefundable $11,000 for a permit and at least $30,000 more for the expedition

The deadliest season was in 2015, when at least 18 people died in an earthquake that also killed nearly 9,000 people across Nepal.

This season, 12 people died and five others are missing.

Ten of them were foreigners, the highest such toll on record, as well as seven Nepalis: guides, mountain workers and a climber.

Around five climbers die each year on the oxygen-starved paths to the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) icy peak.

Some say too many of the foreign mountaineers are ill-prepared for what remains a major test of body and soul.

Nepal issued a record 478 permits for foreign clients this season, with around 600 climbers and guides reaching the top, prompting some to suggest there is a need to cut numbers.

Minus 40 degrees

The tough guides say the mountain was the coldest they have ever experienced, with freezing temperatures far lower than usual adding to the danger.

“It should already have been warm, around minus 28 degrees Celsius (-18.4 degrees Fahrenheit),” said Mingma Gyalje Sherpa.

“This year it was even down to minus 40 degrees.”

Climate change is dramatically altering weather patterns and causing extreme fluctuations in temperature,