A picture showing a serpentine queue of climbers atop the Mount Everest has once again led to concerns over the impact of too many people attempting to scale the world’s highest peak.
Earlier this week, American climber Don Cash died on Everest, hours after reaching the summit.
According to Outside, Cash was “one of about 200 people who went to the top of the world that day, and he encountered a traffic jam on his way down.”
“When Cash and his Sherpa guides got to the Hillary Step they were forced to wait their turn for at least two hours,” wrote Alan Arnette. A photo posted by climber Nirmal Purja on Facebook on May 23 might explain why that happened. “I summited everest at 5:30 am and lhotse 3:45 pm despite of [sic] the heavy traffic (roughly 320 people),” wrote Purja.
The picture has gone viral with over a 1,000 shares, with many people expressing concern over the impact such huge rush of climbers having on the mountain. “The high level of traffic, as shown in this photo, has been a recipe for disaster as seen with the recent deaths over the last few weeks,” wrote one. “I can’t believe this photo from Mount Everest 2019 is real, but apparently it is,” another wrote. “This looks like a lot of fun and totally normal and not at all fucked,” another quipped.
Seven climbers died on the Everest this week amid “traffic jams near the summit as record numbers make the ascent, despite calls to limit the number of climbing permits,” according to BBC.
Courtesy: News18
