KATHMANDU, NEPAL— Every year there are reports about people who have died tring to concour Mount Everest.
On Everest, tragedy is almost normal. Ten people have died so far this year – four more than mountaineering officials expect in a typical year.
On Wednesday, authorities said Sherpa rescuers found the bodies of four climbers inside a tent at the highest camp on Everest, a few thousand metres from the summit. The rescuers were in the area to recover the body of a Slovak mountaineer who had died over the weekend.
“Some years there are more, and some years there are less, but deaths on the mountain are normal,” said Jiban Ghimire, who runs a prominent expedition company, Shangrila Nepal Trek. Most in the climbing world know tragedy will touch them at some point. “It is the nature of work. We can’t say what will happen on the mountain,” he said.
The Himalayan Times had reported that two were Nepalese and two were foreigners. It said one was a woman.
Tourism Department official Durga Dutta Dhakal told the AP on Thursday that 30 other climbers would have passed the place where the bodies were supposedly found, and that none had reported seeing them.
Despite the bleak news, there’s also been some inspiring developments on Everest this season. The BBC reports two new possible speed records:
“[A] 29-year-old Spaniard is being hailed as having reached the summit in the fastest-ever time, without rope or extra oxygen.
“Kilian Jornet reached the top, from the Tibetan side, in just 26 hours, his team said yesterday. The record cannot be verified until he returns.
“An Indian woman, Anshu Jamsenpa, is also believed to have set the new woman’s record for the fastest double ascent, having climbed the mountain twice in one week.”
