Mt Everest with many pits and fissures

Solukhumbu / March 27: Mt Everest, the world’s tallest mountain has been found with many pits and fissures borne out of the April 25 Gorkha earthquake.

The revelation was made by icefall doctors who were mobilized to set the path rolling for mountaineers setting off to climb the mountain, also known as Sagarmatha this season. The icefall doctors start working from the Base Camp.

“I had never seen so many pits and fissures on the path to the summit of Sagarmatha”, Icefall doctors commander Ang Kami Sherpa said, “it is dangerous this year”. Climbing of the world’s tallest mountain has not been possible since the past two years.

The icefall doctors mobilized under the Everest Pollution Control Committee (EPCC) have reached Camp I carving out a way for the upcoming Everest summiteers. However, as a result of the pits and cracks on the way, icefall doctors have had to use a comparatively greater number of stairs. More than 200 stairs are expected to be used to build the path up to Camp II, added Sherpa.

Khumbu icefall is regarded as the most dangerous way on the path to the summit of Everest and carving a path through it always challenging, and this time is more of a problem due to the impact of the earthquake, Sherpa said.

Mountaineering in Mt Everest remains disrupted since 16 Sherpa guides were killed in an avalanche in 2014 and the April 25, 2015 earthquake.

The path up to the Camp II is expected to be completed by next week and two ways have also been developed in locations that are likely to see a rush of climbers, said EPCC administrator Nishan Shrestha. RSS