The tent camp, from which people from all over the world set out for the summit every year, is to be set up several meters below in the future. You have to find a spot below the ice where climbers can acclimatize.
According to the researchers, meltwater is destabilizing the glacier, according to the BBC. Expedition teams for the past few seasons had also said that new rifts were constantly opening up in the middle of the camp.
income dependent nepal
“Now we are getting everything ready for resettlement and starting consultations with all interested parties,” said Taranath Adhikari, tourism officer for the Nepalese government. A site is expected to be found about 200 to 400 meters below the former camp, Adhikari says.
“Basically, it’s about adapting to change to keep the entire Everest climbing business going.” Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world – but according to the American news agency AP, mountaineers are a good source of income, they contribute about 300 million US dollars (about 269 million euros) a year . Permission to climb Everest alone costs $11,000 (9,000 euros) per person.
Because of difficult weather conditions, peak season for climbing Mount Everest is limited to a few weeks in spring. Every year, hundreds of climbers attempt to climb the mountain on the border between Nepal and China-administered Tibet on the Nepalese side at the short window of opportunity. Since the first ascent of Everest in 1953, more than 5,000 people have reached the summit. Several hundred died in the attempt.
AP/Rizza Alee In the few weeks suitable for weather conditions, mountaineers often huddle towards the summit
Summit glaciers are also in danger of disappearing
The melting of the glacier on Mount Everest made troubling headlines earlier in the year. The South Col glacier ice sheet below the summit is also melting at an accelerating rate. A University of Maine study published in the journal Nature shows that the glacier is shrinking more than 80 times faster than it took to form.
At this rate, the glacier could “probably disappear within a few decades,” study leader Paul Mayewski told National Geographic. Several other research teams have also come to the conclusion in recent years that glaciers in the Himalayan Mountains are melting at an increasing rate.
Nepalese climber Kami Rita Sherpa, who has climbed Mount Everest 25 times since 1994, told AFP he had witnessed the changes firsthand. “Now we’re seeing exposed rocks in areas where there used to be snow,” he said. “This is worrying.”