In brief
As the peak climbing season on Mount Everest begins, climbers are facing a significant delay due to a sizable ice block obstructing the route from Base Camp, raising concerns over potential traffic jams on the summit attempts. Icefall doctors are currently assessing the situation while climbers await a resolution from the melting serac.
A huge, unstable chunk of glacier is blocking the route up Mount Everest from Base Camp in Nepal just as peak climbing season gets under way in the Himalayas.
Icefall doctors – who fix ropes and ladders on the lower part of the route up the world's highest peak - can find no way round the 100-foot-high (30m) block of ice just under Camp 1. They say the only option is to wait for the ice block, called a serac, to melt – which they hope will happen within days.
The delay means preparations are weeks behind schedule for the spring season when weather for Everest ascents is usually best, and fears are growing that climbers will be queuing to reach the summit again this year.
Purnima Shrestha, a prominent climber and photographer from Nepal, is currently acclimatising to summit Everest for the sixth time. We usually climb between Camp I, Camp 2, and Camp 3 back and forth during this acclimatising process. Delays in the opening of the route have added concerns of possible 'traffic jams' to the peak this year, she told the BBC from Base Camp.
The icefall doctors work for the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) that is responsible for securing ropes as far as Camp 2 on Everest, which stands 8,848.86m (29,031 feet) above sea level. They reached Base Camp three weeks ago. By this stage in April they would normally have fixed the route as far as Camp 3, but are still blocked by the chunk of glacier about 600m below Camp 1.
We haven't found artificial ways to melt it so far, so we don't have any options other than to wait for it melting and crumbling itself, SPCC base camp co-ordinator Tshering Tenzing Sherpa told the BBC. The climate conditions are a significant factor as favourable weather is expected only until the end of May, and with the melting of the ice currently obstructing the route, Sherpas hope the rope-fixing work to Camp 2 will be completed within a few days - and the summit within a week.
Nepal's Department of Tourism is exploring different options, including airlifting teams to Camp 2 to facilitate progress on the climbing season. Meanwhile, climbers continue to wait patiently for the conditions to change while planning their ascent strategies.
