Hundreds of climbers and their Nepali guides have gathered at Mount Everest’s base camp as the season gets under way, even as an unstable serac continues to hang above a key part of the ascent through the Khumbu Icefall. The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee has warned that the ice block above the route has developed “multiple cracks” and may collapse at any time, urging “extreme caution” for teams approaching the mountain during a narrow window of comparatively favorable weather. While the season typically begins earlier, teams have been forced to wait longer this year, and guides say the icefall route has become more exposed as conditions shift.
AP reported that climbers began gathering last month at base camp, which sits at about 5,300 meters. For more than two weeks, a massive and unstable ice block, known as a serac, stalled movement higher up the peak. The committee’s “Icefall doctors” — the elite guides deployed by the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee to lay the yearly route by setting ropes and securing aluminum ladders over crevasses — usually finish establishing the route by mid-April, but this year’s work ran behind schedule.
According to the report, the Icefall route opened only on April 29, and the committee issued a caution about the hazard. It warned that the serac “has multiple cracks and may collapse at any time,” and it “strongly urges all expedition operators and climbers to exercise extreme caution.” The new trail the team dug passes below the serac, which officials said was likely to remain in place.
The Khumbu Icefall itself is described as a constantly shifting glacier threaded with deep crevasses and overhanging ice, sometimes compared in size to buildings. The report notes that the icefall is widely considered among the most difficult and tricky sections of the climb, and it points to a prior disaster as context for current risk assessments: a falling serac triggered an avalanche over the Khumbu Icefall in 2014, killing 16 Nepali guides and workers.
Even with those warnings, the report said around 464 climbers and an equal number of their Nepali climbing guides are at base camp this month, preparing for the nearly 8,850-meter summit. The article also said climbers and expedition outfitters are balancing urgency with caution as travel costs rise and permit fees increase, and as the broader logistics of the season are complicated by the ongoing Iran war and changes in access.
Lukas Furtenbach, a renowned mountain guide who manages 40 international climbers, 11 guides and 90 Sherpas on Everest, told AP from base camp that he was worried about what climbers would face as they pass through the Icefall. “Anyone who says they’re not concerned is either inexperienced or not paying attention,” Furtenbach said, adding, “The serac is a real, objective hazard.” He said the route this year is more complex and exposed than last year in at least one section, describing it as “forced into a line that passes under unstable features.”
Furtenbach and other operators said the response is to adjust tactics rather than abandon the attempt. The report said the team is reducing loads, minimizing exposure time, carefully timing movements through the Icefall, and relying on highly experienced Sherpa and guides to conduct risk assessment. Other expedition operators were also said to be cautioning members and monitoring conditions closely.
Ang Tshering Sherpa, of the Kathmandu-based Asian Trekking, said morning travel may carry less danger because the ice is frozen, while afternoon conditions can become riskier as weather warms and ice melts and falls. “If you go in the morning, it might be safer because the ice is frozen, but in the afternoon it becomes dangerous as weather gets warmer, with the risk of ice melting and falling,” Sherpa said. “It is very necessary to be cautious this year.”
The report also connected current glacier hazards to wider climate concerns, saying there has been rising worry about fast melting of Himalayan glaciers because of global warming and climate change. It cited U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who flew to a mountain in Nepal in 2023 and warned about the devastating level of melting glaciers in the Himalayan region. AP said Ang Tshering Sherpa expects a good number of climbers to come this season, even as Western climbers have decreased and Asian climbers have increased.
Everest, which straddles the Nepal-China border, can be climbed from either side, the report said. It added that China closed its route this year, leaving climbers to make their attempt from Nepal on the south side of the peak. The article said thousands of people have scaled Everest since it was first climbed on May 29, 1953, by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.