Nepalese mountaineers set up Everest routes for foreign climbers, and hope for a busy season this year

The skilled mountaineers use ropes and ladders to make a safer route across Mount Everest’s most dangerous areas

With the Tibetan side of Everest still closed, Nepal’s climbing and tourism operators are hoping to see nearly as many visitors in 2021 as they did in 2019

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Climbers cross the Khumbu icefall of Mount Everest. The route across is prepared at the start of the climbing season by highly skilled Nepalese mountaineers. Photo: AFP/Prakash Mathema

Published: 4:15pm, 11 Mar 2021Updated: 4:15pm, 11 Mar 2021

Nepal’s “icefall doctors” are preparing to set up routes on Mount Everest ahead of the hoped-for return of foreign climbing expeditions after the Covid-19 pandemic wiped out last year’s season on the world’s highest peak.

These highly skilled Nepalese mountaineers are the first men on the peak every season, using ropes and ladders to build a route across plunging crevasses and constantly shifting ice, including the treacherous Khumbu icefall.

“A team of eight including two support staff have reached the Everest base camp and are preparing,” Nishan Shrestha, of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which manages the route setting, said. “They will begin work next week on a day deemed auspicious.”

The pandemic hit right before the beginning of the busiest mountaineering season last year, forcing Nepal to shut its borders. This was a devastating blow to many thousands of people, from guides to hoteliers who depend on the climbing industry for their livelihoods.

Mountaineers descend from Camp One to Everest base camp via the Khumbu icefall in 2016. Photo: AFP/ Phurba Tenzing

Nepal has reopened its borders to foreigners, although mountaineers must quarantine for seven days and present a negative test before heading out on their expedition.

“It is much more positive now. I think in Everest we might not see as many climbers as in 2019, but it will be close,” said Mira Acharya, an official at the tourism department, which issues mountaineering permits.