A crowd of climbers were trapped on the summit of Mount Everest as snow and ice slid from the world’s highest peak, leading to the disappearance of two climbers, including a British man.
Videos and photos on social media show what appear to be hundreds of people on Hillary Step, a nearly vertical rock near the top of the Everest around 8,800m.
Disaster struck when the cornice – a pendulous mass of hardened snow hanging over the edge of a cliff – could not support the weight and collapsed, dragging some climbers down the mountainside.
Vinayak Malla, a guide with the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA) who climbed Everest on May 21, said on Instagram that reaching the summit “was different from my previous experiences.”
She said: “After reaching the summit we crossed the Hillary Step, traffic was moving slowly and suddenly a cornice collapsed a few meters in front of us.
“When the cornice collapsed, four climbers almost died, but were caught in the rope and rescued.
“Unfortunately, two climbers are still missing. We tried to cross, but it was impossible due to the traffic on the fixed line.”
Dan Paterson, a 40-year-old British climber, and Pastenji Sherpa, his 23-year-old Nepali guide, are still missing after the cornice collapse.
The founder of 8K Expeditions, a guide company they both used, noted that they reached out to the pair after they “heroically” summited Everest at 4:40am (11:55pm in the UK).
Lakpa Sherpa said, however, “Despite exhaustive search efforts, we regret to confirm that Daniel and Pastenji could not be recovered.”
A fundraiser, organized by Paterson’s partner Becks Woodhead, has raised more than £88,000 in a bid to launch a search and rescue operation for the British climber.
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Overcrowding on the world’s highest mountain has been blamed for the increase in deaths, with climate change is also blamed for making travel more dangerous.
Kul Bahadur Gurung, general secretary of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said in 2019 – when 11 people died in the March-May climbing season – that “there were more people on Everest than there should have been”.
At least 12 people died climbing the mountain last year, according to online channel Outside. The number meant that 2023 had the fourth highest number of deaths in Everest’s history.
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