Climate Change Could Make Everest Unclimbable

[Star]

.
Could Climate Change Make Mount Everest Unclimbable? | Popular Science

By Rebecca Boyle

Changes on the planet are affecting the world's tallest mountain, casting doubt on its climbability and even its height. Sherpas are wondering whether warmer climates will render Mount Everest too dangerous to summit, and geologic changes in the Himalayas have raised uncertainties about its altitude, according to separate reports.

<snip>
.

 

[bripat9643]

.
Could Climate Change Make Mount Everest Unclimbable? | Popular Science

By Rebecca Boyle

Changes on the planet are affecting the world's tallest mountain, casting doubt on its climbability and even its height. Sherpas are wondering whether warmer climates will render Mount Everest too dangerous to summit, and geologic changes in the Himalayas have raised uncertainties about its altitude, according to separate reports.

<snip>
.

Popular Science? Now there's a credible source . . . . NOT!

 

[Abraham3]

It actually came from here: Climate Change May Make Mount Everest Unclimbable : Discovery News : Discovery News

and here

BBC News - Nepal in new bid to finally settle Mount Everest height


Not a huge improvement, but there you go. You quote WUWT.

 

[bripat9643]

It actually came from here: Climate Change May Make Mount Everest Unclimbable : Discovery News : Discovery News

and here

BBC News - Nepal in new bid to finally settle Mount Everest height


Not a huge improvement, but there you go. You quote WUWT.

Yeah, Discovery is much more credible than Popular Science!

 

[Star]

It actually came from here: Climate Change May Make Mount Everest Unclimbable : Discovery News : Discovery News

and here

BBC News - Nepal in new bid to finally settle Mount Everest height


Not a huge improvement, but there you go. You quote WUWT.

Yeah, Discovery is much more credible than Popular Science!

What do rightwingers say when they can't articulate their position without looking inarticulate? -- "Yeah, Discovery is much more credible than Popular Science!"

"Water is the most precious commodity here.
People are fighting each other for it: in the irrigation season, even brother and sister or father and son are fighting over water. It is against our tradition and our Buddhist teachings, but people are desperate," Norphel, a Ladakhi native, says.
"Peace depends on water."​

A Himalayan Village Builds Artificial Glaciers to Survive Global Warming

LEH, INDIA—In the high-altitude desert of the Indian trans-Himalayas, one man is buying time for villagers suffering from global warming by creating artificial glaciers.

The ancient kingdom of Ladakh is the highest inhabited region on Earth. Wedged between Pakistan, Afghanistan and China, Ladakh consists entirely of mountains and is home to a mostly Tantric Buddhist population.

In the so-called rain shadow of the Himalayas, Ladakh receives just five centimeters of rainwater a year—about the same as the Sahara Desert. The population is entirely dependent on glacier and snowmelt to irrigate crops.

Global warming has hit the region particularly hard. Around the principal town of Leh, most of the glaciers have disappeared in the past 15 years. The snow line has risen more than 150 meters, and remaining glaciers have retreated by as much as 10 kilometers. These glaciers are now at high altitudes, far from the villages, where they don't produce significant meltwater until May or June.

<snip>
.

 

[Missourian]

Glossing over the fact that this is likely bullshit...who cares?

Does Everest NEED to be climbed?

If it becomes "unclimbable", does the world come to a screeching halt in it's orbit an suddenly plunge headlong into the sun?

It's like a first millennium Viking saying "You know, if it keeps getting warmer, Greenland will be un-ski-able!!!"

 

[Samson]

.
Could Climate Change Make Mount Everest Unclimbable? | Popular Science

By Rebecca Boyle

Changes on the planet are affecting the world's tallest mountain, casting doubt on its climbability and even its height. Sherpas are wondering whether warmer climates will render Mount Everest too dangerous to summit, and geologic changes in the Himalayas have raised uncertainties about its altitude, according to separate reports.

<snip>
.

The last official measurement was in 1999, when an American team using GPS measured a height of 29,035 feet (8,850 meters). Previously, Everest was measured at 29,028 feet (8,848 meters).

 

[Stephanie]

omg, that would be the end of the world I guess

you radical environmentalist should be jumping for joy over that one...human won't be destroying the mountain anymore...You globull warmers are cultish nutjobs.....everything is the, sky is falling, the sky is falling...

that title was pathetic

 

[Abraham3]

Do you see, anywhere, any excitement amongst the "radical environmentalists over this issue?

No? What an enormous surprise.

 

[Zander]

The globe is warming!!

 

[waltky]

Deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak...

13TH BODY PULLED FROM SNOW IN EVEREST AVALANCHE
Apr 19,`14 -- Search teams recovered a 13th body Saturday from the snow and ice covering a dangerous climbing pass on Mount Everest, where an avalanche a day earlier swept over a group of Sherpa guides in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak.

Another three guides remained missing, and searchers were working quickly to find them in case weather conditions deteriorated, said Maddhu Sunan Burlakoti, head of the Nepalese government's mountaineering department. But the painstaking effort involved testing the strength of newly fallen snow and using extra clamps, ropes and aluminum ladders to navigate the treacherous Khumbu icefall, a maze of immense ice chunks and crevasses. The avalanche slammed into the guides at about 6:30 a.m. Friday near the "popcorn field," a section of the Khumbu known for its bulging chunks of ice. The group of about 25 Sherpa guides were among the first people making their way up the mountain this climbing season. They were hauling gear to the higher camps that their foreign clients would use in attempting to reach the summit next month.

One of the survivors told his relatives that the path had been unstable just before the snow slide hit at an elevation near 5,800 meters (19,000 feet). The area is considered particularly dangerous due to its steep slope and deep crevasses that cut through the snow and ice covering the pass year round. As soon as the avalanche occurred, rescuers, guides and climbers rushed to help, and all other climbing was suspended. Seven of the 12 bodies pulled out and brought down Friday were handed over to their families in the Everest region, while the other five were taken to Katmandu, Nepal's capital. Four survivors were conscious and being treated in the intensive care units of several Katmandu hospitals for broken ribs, fractured limbs, punctured lungs and skin abrasions, according to Dr. C.R. Pandey from Grande Hospital. Others were treated for less serious injuries at the Everest base camp.

Mother of Nepalese mountaineer Ang Kaji Sherpa, killed in an avalanche on Mount Everest, cries while she waits for his body at Sherpa Monastery in Katmandu, Nepal, Saturday, April 19, 2014. Rescuers were searching through piles of snow and ice on the slopes of Mount Everest on Saturday for four Sherpa guides who were buried by an avalanche that killed 12 other Nepalese guides in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak. The Sherpa people are one of the main ethnic groups in Nepal's alpine region, and many make their living as climbing guides on Everest and other Himalayan peaks.

Hundreds of climbers, guides and support crews had been at Everest's base camp preparing to climb the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak when weather conditions are most favorable next month. As with each year, the Sherpa guides from each of the expedition teams had been working together to prepare the path by carving routes through the ice, fixing ropes on the slopes and setting up camps at higher altitudes. One of the injured guides, Dawa Tashi, said the Sherpas were delayed on their way up the slope because the path was unsteady. With little warning, a wall of snow crashed down on the group and buried many of them, according to Tashi's sister-in-law, Dawa Yanju. Doctors said Tashi, who was partially buried in the avalanche, suffered several broken ribs. The Sherpa people are one of the main ethnic groups in Nepal's alpine region, and many make their living as climbing guides on Everest and other Himalayan peaks.

More than 4,000 climbers have summited Everest since 1953, when it was first conquered by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Hundreds have died trying. The worst recorded disaster on Everest had been a fierce blizzard on May 11, 1996, that caused the deaths of eight climbers, including famed mountaineer Rob Hall, and was later memorialized in a book, "Into Thin Air," by Jon Krakauer. Six Nepalese guides were killed in an avalanche in 1970. Earlier this year, Nepal announced several steps to better manage the heavy flow of climbers and speed up rescue operations. The steps included the dispatch of officials and security personnel to the base camp at (5,300 meters) 17,380 feet, where they will stay throughout the spring climbing season, which ends in May.

News from The Associated Press

 

[percysunshine]

.
Could Climate Change Make Mount Everest Unclimbable? | Popular Science

By Rebecca Boyle

Changes on the planet are affecting the world's tallest mountain, casting doubt on its climbability and even its height. Sherpas are wondering whether warmer climates will render Mount Everest too dangerous to summit, and geologic changes in the Himalayas have raised uncertainties about its altitude, according to separate reports.

<snip>
.

When the ice caps melt and sea levels rise, there will be a ferry service to the top of Everest. No climbing will be necessary.

 

[flacaltenn]

It actually came from here: Climate Change May Make Mount Everest Unclimbable : Discovery News : Discovery News

and here

BBC News - Nepal in new bid to finally settle Mount Everest height


Not a huge improvement, but there you go. You quote WUWT.

Yeah, Discovery is much more credible than Popular Science!

What do rightwingers say when they can't articulate their position without looking inarticulate? -- "Yeah, Discovery is much more credible than Popular Science!"

"Water is the most precious commodity here.
People are fighting each other for it: in the irrigation season, even brother and sister or father and son are fighting over water. It is against our tradition and our Buddhist teachings, but people are desperate," Norphel, a Ladakhi native, says.
"Peace depends on water."​

A Himalayan Village Builds Artificial Glaciers to Survive Global Warming

LEH, INDIA&#8212;In the high-altitude desert of the Indian trans-Himalayas, one man is buying time for villagers suffering from global warming by creating artificial glaciers.

The ancient kingdom of Ladakh is the highest inhabited region on Earth. Wedged between Pakistan, Afghanistan and China, Ladakh consists entirely of mountains and is home to a mostly Tantric Buddhist population.

In the so-called rain shadow of the Himalayas, Ladakh receives just five centimeters of rainwater a year&#8212;about the same as the Sahara Desert. The population is entirely dependent on glacier and snowmelt to irrigate crops.

Global warming has hit the region particularly hard. Around the principal town of Leh, most of the glaciers have disappeared in the past 15 years. The snow line has risen more than 150 meters, and remaining glaciers have retreated by as much as 10 kilometers. These glaciers are now at high altitudes, far from the villages, where they don't produce significant meltwater until May or June.

<snip>
.

Holy Smokes.. I've got to quit caring about Star threads.. The sources are just so fucking poor..

Siachen Glacier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The average winter snowfall is more than 1000 cm(35 ft) and temperatures can dip to &#8722;50 °C (&#8722;58 °F). Including all tributary glaciers, the Siachen Glacier system covers about 700 km2 (270 sq mi).

The glacier's melting waters are the main source of the Nubra River in the Indian region of Ladakh, which drains into the Shyok River. The Shyok in turn joins the 3000 kilometer-long Indus River which flows through Pakistan. Thus, the glacier is a major source of the Indus[29] and feeds the largest irrigation system in the world.

Glacial retreat[edit]
Preliminary findings of a survey by Pakistan Meteorological Department in 2007 revealed that the Siachen glacier has been retreating for the past 30 years and is melting at an alarming rate.[32] The study of satellite images of the glacier showed that the glacier is retreating at a rate of about 110 meters a year and that the glacier size has decreased by almost 35 percent.[29][33] In an eleven-year period, the glacier had receded nearly 800 meters,[34] and in seventeen years about 1700 meters. It is predicted that the glaciers of the Siachen region will be reduced to about one-fifth of their current size by 2035.[35] In the twenty-nine-year period 1929&#8211;1958, well before the military occupation, the glacial retreat was recorded to be about 914 meters.[36] One of the reasons cited for the recent glacial retreat is chemical blasting, done for constructing camps and posts.[37] In 2001 India laid oil pipelines (about 250 kilometers long) inside the glacier to supply kerosene and aviation fuel to the outposts from base camps.[37][38] As of 2007, the temperature rise at Siachen was estimated at 0.2 degree Celsius annually, causing melting, avalanches, and crevasses in the glacier.[39]

Waste dumping[edit]
The waste produced by the troops stationed there is dumped in the crevasses of the glacier. Mountaineers who visited the area while on climbing expeditions witnessed large amount of garbage, empty ammunition shells, parachutes etc. dumped on the glacier, that neither decomposes nor can be burned because of the extreme climatic conditions.[40] About 1000 kilograms of waste is produced and dumped in glacial crevasses daily by the Indian forces.[32] The Indian army is said to have planned a "Green Siachen, Clean Siachen" campaign to airlift the garbage from the glacier, and to use biodigestors for biodegradable waste in the absence of oxygen and freezing temperatures.[41] Almost forty percent (40%) of the waste left at the glacier is of plastic and metal composition, including toxins such as cobalt, cadmium and chromium that eventually affect the water of the Shyok River (which ultimately enters the Indus River near Skardu.) The Indus is used for drinking and irrigation.[42][43]

First off -- if there is 35 FEET of snowfall on this glacier each winter -- who the hell cares about the ICE !!! Build a freaking RESERVOIR.. But the Paki and Indys have been fighting so hard over this area --- THAT'S not gonna happen..

Secondly --- Quit crying to me about 0.5degC of GW effect on this glacier when the idiots fighting over it have PIPELINES HEATING it right on top of it. Screw them and their poor enviro judgement. Not my problem. And the toxic waste and military garbage.. And you want me to shed tears????????????????????????????????????????

You really got to change your reading list Star -- it's not doing you much justice..

 

[westwall]

Yeah, Discovery is much more credible than Popular Science!

What do rightwingers say when they can't articulate their position without looking inarticulate? -- "Yeah, Discovery is much more credible than Popular Science!"

"Water is the most precious commodity here.
People are fighting each other for it: in the irrigation season, even brother and sister or father and son are fighting over water. It is against our tradition and our Buddhist teachings, but people are desperate," Norphel, a Ladakhi native, says.
"Peace depends on water."​

A Himalayan Village Builds Artificial Glaciers to Survive Global Warming

LEH, INDIA—In the high-altitude desert of the Indian trans-Himalayas, one man is buying time for villagers suffering from global warming by creating artificial glaciers.

The ancient kingdom of Ladakh is the highest inhabited region on Earth. Wedged between Pakistan, Afghanistan and China, Ladakh consists entirely of mountains and is home to a mostly Tantric Buddhist population.

In the so-called rain shadow of the Himalayas, Ladakh receives just five centimeters of rainwater a year—about the same as the Sahara Desert. The population is entirely dependent on glacier and snowmelt to irrigate crops.

Global warming has hit the region particularly hard. Around the principal town of Leh, most of the glaciers have disappeared in the past 15 years. The snow line has risen more than 150 meters, and remaining glaciers have retreated by as much as 10 kilometers. These glaciers are now at high altitudes, far from the villages, where they don't produce significant meltwater until May or June.

<snip>
.

Holy Smokes.. I've got to quit caring about Star threads.. The sources are just so fucking poor..

Siachen Glacier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The average winter snowfall is more than 1000 cm(35 ft) and temperatures can dip to &#8722;50 °C (&#8722;58 °F). Including all tributary glaciers, the Siachen Glacier system covers about 700 km2 (270 sq mi).

The glacier's melting waters are the main source of the Nubra River in the Indian region of Ladakh, which drains into the Shyok River. The Shyok in turn joins the 3000 kilometer-long Indus River which flows through Pakistan. Thus, the glacier is a major source of the Indus[29] and feeds the largest irrigation system in the world.

Glacial retreat[edit]
Preliminary findings of a survey by Pakistan Meteorological Department in 2007 revealed that the Siachen glacier has been retreating for the past 30 years and is melting at an alarming rate.[32] The study of satellite images of the glacier showed that the glacier is retreating at a rate of about 110 meters a year and that the glacier size has decreased by almost 35 percent.[29][33] In an eleven-year period, the glacier had receded nearly 800 meters,[34] and in seventeen years about 1700 meters. It is predicted that the glaciers of the Siachen region will be reduced to about one-fifth of their current size by 2035.[35] In the twenty-nine-year period 1929–1958, well before the military occupation, the glacial retreat was recorded to be about 914 meters.[36] One of the reasons cited for the recent glacial retreat is chemical blasting, done for constructing camps and posts.[37] In 2001 India laid oil pipelines (about 250 kilometers long) inside the glacier to supply kerosene and aviation fuel to the outposts from base camps.[37][38] As of 2007, the temperature rise at Siachen was estimated at 0.2 degree Celsius annually, causing melting, avalanches, and crevasses in the glacier.[39]

Waste dumping[edit]
The waste produced by the troops stationed there is dumped in the crevasses of the glacier. Mountaineers who visited the area while on climbing expeditions witnessed large amount of garbage, empty ammunition shells, parachutes etc. dumped on the glacier, that neither decomposes nor can be burned because of the extreme climatic conditions.[40] About 1000 kilograms of waste is produced and dumped in glacial crevasses daily by the Indian forces.[32] The Indian army is said to have planned a "Green Siachen, Clean Siachen" campaign to airlift the garbage from the glacier, and to use biodigestors for biodegradable waste in the absence of oxygen and freezing temperatures.[41] Almost forty percent (40%) of the waste left at the glacier is of plastic and metal composition, including toxins such as cobalt, cadmium and chromium that eventually affect the water of the Shyok River (which ultimately enters the Indus River near Skardu.) The Indus is used for drinking and irrigation.[42][43]

First off -- if there is 35 FEET of snowfall on this glacier each winter -- who the hell cares about the ICE !!! Build a freaking RESERVOIR.. But the Paki and Indys have been fighting so hard over this area --- THAT'S not gonna happen..

Secondly --- Quit crying to me about 0.5degC of GW effect on this glacier when the idiots fighting over it have PIPELINES HEATING it right on top of it. Screw them and their poor enviro judgement. Not my problem. And the toxic waste and military garbage.. And you want me to shed tears????????????????????????????????????????

You really got to change your reading list Star -- it's not doing you much justice..

Star don't care, it reinforces his religious beliefs that man is evil and Gaia needs to punish him.

 

[flacaltenn]

Well tell Gaia it aint ME dumping military toxics into her glacier and running avgas and kerosene on top of a melting glacier.. Maybe Gaia will choose a winner in that Paki-Indi game....

 

[Star]

Deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak...

13TH BODY PULLED FROM SNOW IN EVEREST AVALANCHE
Apr 19,`14 -- Search teams recovered a 13th body Saturday from the snow and ice covering a dangerous climbing pass on Mount Everest, where an avalanche a day earlier swept over a group of Sherpa guides in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak.

Another three guides remained missing, and searchers were working quickly to find them in case weather conditions deteriorated, said Maddhu Sunan Burlakoti, head of the Nepalese government's mountaineering department. But the painstaking effort involved testing the strength of newly fallen snow and using extra clamps, ropes and aluminum ladders to navigate the treacherous Khumbu icefall, a maze of immense ice chunks and crevasses. The avalanche slammed into the guides at about 6:30 a.m. Friday near the "popcorn field," a section of the Khumbu known for its bulging chunks of ice. The group of about 25 Sherpa guides were among the first people making their way up the mountain this climbing season. They were hauling gear to the higher camps that their foreign clients would use in attempting to reach the summit next month.

One of the survivors told his relatives that the path had been unstable just before the snow slide hit at an elevation near 5,800 meters (19,000 feet). The area is considered particularly dangerous due to its steep slope and deep crevasses that cut through the snow and ice covering the pass year round. As soon as the avalanche occurred, rescuers, guides and climbers rushed to help, and all other climbing was suspended. Seven of the 12 bodies pulled out and brought down Friday were handed over to their families in the Everest region, while the other five were taken to Katmandu, Nepal's capital. Four survivors were conscious and being treated in the intensive care units of several Katmandu hospitals for broken ribs, fractured limbs, punctured lungs and skin abrasions, according to Dr. C.R. Pandey from Grande Hospital. Others were treated for less serious injuries at the Everest base camp.

Mother of Nepalese mountaineer Ang Kaji Sherpa, killed in an avalanche on Mount Everest, cries while she waits for his body at Sherpa Monastery in Katmandu, Nepal, Saturday, April 19, 2014. Rescuers were searching through piles of snow and ice on the slopes of Mount Everest on Saturday for four Sherpa guides who were buried by an avalanche that killed 12 other Nepalese guides in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak. The Sherpa people are one of the main ethnic groups in Nepal's alpine region, and many make their living as climbing guides on Everest and other Himalayan peaks.

Hundreds of climbers, guides and support crews had been at Everest's base camp preparing to climb the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak when weather conditions are most favorable next month. As with each year, the Sherpa guides from each of the expedition teams had been working together to prepare the path by carving routes through the ice, fixing ropes on the slopes and setting up camps at higher altitudes. One of the injured guides, Dawa Tashi, said the Sherpas were delayed on their way up the slope because the path was unsteady. With little warning, a wall of snow crashed down on the group and buried many of them, according to Tashi's sister-in-law, Dawa Yanju. Doctors said Tashi, who was partially buried in the avalanche, suffered several broken ribs. The Sherpa people are one of the main ethnic groups in Nepal's alpine region, and many make their living as climbing guides on Everest and other Himalayan peaks.

More than 4,000 climbers have summited Everest since 1953, when it was first conquered by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Hundreds have died trying. The worst recorded disaster on Everest had been a fierce blizzard on May 11, 1996, that caused the deaths of eight climbers, including famed mountaineer Rob Hall, and was later memorialized in a book, "Into Thin Air," by Jon Krakauer. Six Nepalese guides were killed in an avalanche in 1970. Earlier this year, Nepal announced several steps to better manage the heavy flow of climbers and speed up rescue operations. The steps included the dispatch of officials and security personnel to the base camp at (5,300 meters) 17,380 feet, where they will stay throughout the spring climbing season, which ends in May.

News from The Associated Press

A couple of years ago, Apa Sherpa predicted warming would cause this to happen - thanks for the confirmation.

You might think a warmer climate would render Everest easier to climb — fewer treacherous glaciers and snowbanks and so forth — but the opposite is true. Rockslides are increasing, and it's much more difficult to clamber up bare rocks than to use metal crampons on thick ice. The conditions are deteriorating so much that the mountain may be unclimbable in a few years, according to Apa Sherpa, a Nepali climber who has reached the summit a record 21 times.
.

 

[Stephanie]

.
Could Climate Change Make Mount Everest Unclimbable? | Popular Science

By Rebecca Boyle

Changes on the planet are affecting the world's tallest mountain, casting doubt on its climbability and even its height. Sherpas are wondering whether warmer climates will render Mount Everest too dangerous to summit, and geologic changes in the Himalayas have raised uncertainties about its altitude, according to separate reports.

<snip>
.

When the ice caps melt and sea levels rise, there will be a ferry service to the top of Everest. No climbing will be necessary.

no kidding,

 

[jon_berzerk]

.
Could Climate Change Make Mount Everest Unclimbable? | Popular Science

By Rebecca Boyle

Changes on the planet are affecting the world's tallest mountain, casting doubt on its climbability and even its height. Sherpas are wondering whether warmer climates will render Mount Everest too dangerous to summit, and geologic changes in the Himalayas have raised uncertainties about its altitude, according to separate reports.

<snip>
.

When the ice caps melt and sea levels rise, there will be a ferry service to the top of Everest. No climbing will be necessary.

no kidding,

and the fishing will be great

a real win win

--LOL

 

[westwall]

Deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak...

13TH BODY PULLED FROM SNOW IN EVEREST AVALANCHE
Apr 19,`14 -- Search teams recovered a 13th body Saturday from the snow and ice covering a dangerous climbing pass on Mount Everest, where an avalanche a day earlier swept over a group of Sherpa guides in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak.

Another three guides remained missing, and searchers were working quickly to find them in case weather conditions deteriorated, said Maddhu Sunan Burlakoti, head of the Nepalese government's mountaineering department. But the painstaking effort involved testing the strength of newly fallen snow and using extra clamps, ropes and aluminum ladders to navigate the treacherous Khumbu icefall, a maze of immense ice chunks and crevasses. The avalanche slammed into the guides at about 6:30 a.m. Friday near the "popcorn field," a section of the Khumbu known for its bulging chunks of ice. The group of about 25 Sherpa guides were among the first people making their way up the mountain this climbing season. They were hauling gear to the higher camps that their foreign clients would use in attempting to reach the summit next month.

One of the survivors told his relatives that the path had been unstable just before the snow slide hit at an elevation near 5,800 meters (19,000 feet). The area is considered particularly dangerous due to its steep slope and deep crevasses that cut through the snow and ice covering the pass year round. As soon as the avalanche occurred, rescuers, guides and climbers rushed to help, and all other climbing was suspended. Seven of the 12 bodies pulled out and brought down Friday were handed over to their families in the Everest region, while the other five were taken to Katmandu, Nepal's capital. Four survivors were conscious and being treated in the intensive care units of several Katmandu hospitals for broken ribs, fractured limbs, punctured lungs and skin abrasions, according to Dr. C.R. Pandey from Grande Hospital. Others were treated for less serious injuries at the Everest base camp.

Mother of Nepalese mountaineer Ang Kaji Sherpa, killed in an avalanche on Mount Everest, cries while she waits for his body at Sherpa Monastery in Katmandu, Nepal, Saturday, April 19, 2014. Rescuers were searching through piles of snow and ice on the slopes of Mount Everest on Saturday for four Sherpa guides who were buried by an avalanche that killed 12 other Nepalese guides in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak. The Sherpa people are one of the main ethnic groups in Nepal's alpine region, and many make their living as climbing guides on Everest and other Himalayan peaks.

Hundreds of climbers, guides and support crews had been at Everest's base camp preparing to climb the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak when weather conditions are most favorable next month. As with each year, the Sherpa guides from each of the expedition teams had been working together to prepare the path by carving routes through the ice, fixing ropes on the slopes and setting up camps at higher altitudes. One of the injured guides, Dawa Tashi, said the Sherpas were delayed on their way up the slope because the path was unsteady. With little warning, a wall of snow crashed down on the group and buried many of them, according to Tashi's sister-in-law, Dawa Yanju. Doctors said Tashi, who was partially buried in the avalanche, suffered several broken ribs. The Sherpa people are one of the main ethnic groups in Nepal's alpine region, and many make their living as climbing guides on Everest and other Himalayan peaks.

More than 4,000 climbers have summited Everest since 1953, when it was first conquered by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Hundreds have died trying. The worst recorded disaster on Everest had been a fierce blizzard on May 11, 1996, that caused the deaths of eight climbers, including famed mountaineer Rob Hall, and was later memorialized in a book, "Into Thin Air," by Jon Krakauer. Six Nepalese guides were killed in an avalanche in 1970. Earlier this year, Nepal announced several steps to better manage the heavy flow of climbers and speed up rescue operations. The steps included the dispatch of officials and security personnel to the base camp at (5,300 meters) 17,380 feet, where they will stay throughout the spring climbing season, which ends in May.

News from The Associated Press

A couple of years ago, Apa Sherpa predicted warming would cause this to happen - thanks for the confirmation.

You might think a warmer climate would render Everest easier to climb — fewer treacherous glaciers and snowbanks and so forth — but the opposite is true. Rockslides are increasing, and it's much more difficult to clamber up bare rocks than to use metal crampons on thick ice. The conditions are deteriorating so much that the mountain may be unclimbable in a few years, according to Apa Sherpa, a Nepali climber who has reached the summit a record 21 times.
.

What a stupid assertion. The reason why so many died is because so damned many tourists are trying to make the trek to Everest. It is the newest "adventure vacation" to make it big. There are well over 200 that have died climbing that mountain including one of my climbing buddies from Australia who was crushed in an icefall in 1972. His body has never been found.

The death zone is littered with corpses, some are so well known they are used as landmarks, and the amount of garbage on the mountain is absurd. Yes, Everest is being wrecked by man, but at the local, not global level.

 

[waltky]

Three sherpa guides still missing...

Search ends for missing on Everest, some Sherpas call for shutdown
Sun Apr 20, 2014 - Rescuers have given up searching for three sherpa guides missing two days after the deadliest ever accident on Nepal's Mount Everest killed at least 13 and shocked the mountaineering world.

Snow and huge chunks of ice swept down the perilous and crevasse-riddled Khumbu Icefall on Friday as guides ferried supplies to upper camps for foreign climbers trying to reach the summit of the world's highest mountain. Helicopter searches and teams scouring the area on the ground on Friday and Saturday found no sign of the missing men, who rescuers believe were knocked into crevasses or trapped under snow while preparing the route for climbers. "We have called off the search operation. It not possible to find the three missing persons, dead or alive," said Lakpa Sherpa, of the Himalayan Rescue Operation, speaking from base camp, the starting point for Everest expeditions.

A doctor expecting the arrival of the victims of a Mount Everest avalanche standbys near the helipad at Grandi International Hospital in Kathmandu

The helicopters used in the search and to ferry bodies from the mountain have been called back to Kathmandu, an army spokesman said. The official death toll remained 13 fatalities. Rescuers brought six bodies from the base camp to Kathmandu at the weekend and have kept them at a sherpa Buddhist monastery in accordance with tradition. The rest were handed over to families in the Solukhumbu region where the accident took place. "The bodies will be carried out from the monastery and cremated separately according to the sherpa tradition on Monday," said Ang Tshering Sherpa of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

Sherpas are an ethnic group in Nepal and have helped foreigners climb the country's towering peaks since before Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Sir Edmund Hilary became the first to reach the top in 1953.

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