Recently, three more Indian climbers have died on Mount Everest, taking the toll of Indian mountaineers who have perished while hiking the world’s highest mountain to eight this season.
Mount Everest lies on the border between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Reaching an elevation of 8,850 metres, it is the highest mountain in the world.
More than 200 mountaineers have died on the peak since 1922, when the first climbers' deaths on Everest were recorded.
At the last ridge from the southern Nepali side, there is only one fixed rope, everyone hangs onto this one rope. When it is crowded, there are two lines of people - one going up, and one going down the summit.
At present, one of the reasons cited for deaths is heavy traffic - massive long lines due to a few days of good weather - on the mountain.
‘Traffic jam’ occurs when many climbers vie for the summit at the same time, and can be especially dangerous above 8,000 metres, known as the 'death zone'.
In a traffic jam, exhausted climbers are often forced to wait for several hours for their turn to ascend or descend on a single rope, increasing chances of exhaustion, frostbite or altitude sickness. The climbers could also run out of oxygen during the final phase of the ascent.
