Ropes fixed up to Camp II of Mt Everest for spring ascent

With the onset of the tourist season, the number of foreign tourists visiting Khumbu in the Everest region has increased.

Representational image Photo: Buddha Air

NL Today

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Kathmandu: The pathway to the Camp II of Mt Everest has been opened. A team of icefall doctors, assigned to fix ropes to the world’s tallest peak has cleared the route from the Base Camp to Camp II.

According to the Mount Everest Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), six icefall doctors are currently working on installing signals, stairs, and ropes.

The climbers have now already left for Camp II after the pathway was cleared by the icefall doctors, said SPCC vice-president Lama Kaji Sherpa. In order to acclimatize, the climbers have to go from the Base Camp to Camp II and return.

Sherpa said that 15 stairs have been used from the Base Camp to Camp II this time. Earlier, 32 were used in 2018, but only 20 in 2019 BS. The pathway to Camp II is also used to climb Lhotse and Nuptse mountains.

Bustle of foreign tourists in Khumbu

With the onset of the tourist season, the number of foreign tourists visiting Khumbu in the Everest region has increased. The number of foreign tourists entering the Khumbu region has been increasing along with the onset of spring. Khum Prasad Poudal, an employee of the Lukla branch of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, said that the flights to the Tenzing Hillary Airport in Lukla have increased.

Up to 45 flights by chopper and 35 flights by different airlines are taking place daily in Lukla these days. He said that as high as 266 tourists arrive in Khumbu by 14 flights via plane and 225 by 45 via helicopter in a day.