Climbing Everest, the most imposing mountain on the planet with its 8,848.86 meters high, is always dangerous and, sometimes, deadly. This year’s climbing season has left a devastating trail. Breaking the record for the second time in the same year: of the 17 lives lost until the spring of 2023, three more must be added, reaching 20 deaths during the climb to the top, according to data published this Thursday by The Himalayan Database , which stores information about all expeditions in the Himalayas since 1905.
This grim milestone, marking the deadliest season in the 70 years since the summit was first reached by climber Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, raises questions about the growing influx of climbers – some of them inexperienced – the conditions variable climates and the deadly risks associated with extreme altitude.
The last deadliest climbing season was recorded in 2014 with 17 deaths. A year later, although they did not perish in the ascension, at least 18 people did die trapped in one of the base camps during the earthquake, which also left nearly 9,000 dead, in Nepal.
Acute mountain sickness, known as Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), caused by reduced air pressure and low oxygen levels at high altitudes, accounts for almost half of all deaths this year. Reduced oxygen availability can cause pulmonary and cerebral edema, hallucinations, and tachycardia. Additionally, mountaineers have to endure extreme physical stress while climbing and often suffer from dehydration. In some cases, these factors can be fatal.
However. Expedition organizers, including Imagine Nepal Trek and Expedition, have warned that the combination of extreme weather conditions, reduced safety measures due to the “rush to summit” and inexperienced and “impatient” climbers have resulted in a deadly cocktail. , making this season the deadliest and that “in many cases the disaster could have been avoided with mandatory material and safety measures,” according to the AFP agency.
At a global level there is evidence that Earth warming is altering weather patterns and causing fluctuations in temperature, but scientists warn against linking local weather conditions directly to global warming without evidence. Although some climbers claim that the mountain is “colder” than they had experienced before, with temperatures of up to 40 below zero when “it should be warmer, at -28 ºC,” Sherpa Mingma Gyalje told The Telegraph. There are those who claim that the collapse of large blocks of ice is due to global warming, according to local media, and that for example this year it has caused up to three deaths due to crushing.
“It has been an emotionally and physically exhausting year for the Sherpas,” porter Dawa Steven told Reuters. In June, Pemba Gelje made headlines after abandoning his client’s climb of Everest to rescue a Malaysian climber from the death zone above 8,000 meters, carrying him on his back when he could not be dragged. Considered the backbone of the climbing world, it has been a costly season for the Nepalese Sherpas. Among those who died this year there are seven of them along with climbers from four continents: an Irishman, an American, a German, a Hungarian, a Canadian, a Moldovan, a Chinese, a Singaporean, an Australian, two Malaysians and two Indians (one male and the only deceased female). Since 1953, The Himalayan Database has recorded a total of 375 people, including mountaineers and Sherpas, who have perished climbing the highest mountain in the world. It is estimated that more than 200 bodies are still found on its snow- and ice-covered slopes.
Another record broken in 2023 has been that of authorizations. The Guardian newspaper reported in May that the Nepalese government had issued the highest number of climbing permits to date: 479. Climbing the mountain is impossible without this document.
Starting in 2025, the price to obtain this precious visa will increase to almost 15 thousand euros, as announced in August by the country’s Tourism Department. It will be the first rate update in a decade. A measure that will try to dissuade poorly prepared hikers and after the increase in deceased mountaineers who are abandoned on the mountain.
Among the new measures, it will include a regulation that requires the bodies of deceased climbers to be taken down from the mountain. To do this, you must prove the possession of insurance that covers the recovery of the body, especially from the area of ??death. According to the local newspaper Kathmandu Post, the price to recover a body is between 15 thousand and 150 thousand euros.