<p>When Chinmayee Thrishulamurthy and Santhosh Devarajappa began their final push to the summit of Mount Everest on May 20, they were prepared for the perilous climb through the ‘Death Zone’. What the Bengalureans, both accustomed to the traffic congestion, did not expect was a similar snarl-up at an altitude of 8849 metres. They had to spend the night stuck in a slow-moving human queue at minus 30ºC temperatures, as precious oxygen supplies drained away. They are glad that everyone in their group carried three oxygen cylinders each, factoring in a 12-16-hour climb.</p><p>Their experience captures a growing crisis on the highest mountain in the world. More than seven decades after Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reached the summit in 1953, Everest is now grappling with dangerous overcrowding.</p>.Everest: The crowded crown.<p>A record 1,008 climbers reached the summit this season, including 274 on a single day. Ninety-five Indians were among the 494 foreigners who received permits.</p><p>“The queue was along a 500-metre vertical wall, between the South Col and Balcony. It takes six hours to cross the stretch normally. But we entered the section around 8.30 pm and got out only by 5 am,” Chinmayee, a professor of ophthalmology with a passion for mountaineering, tells DH.</p><p>The route had turned into a bottleneck as a rescue operation for fellow mountaineer and friend from Bengaluru, Sandeep Are, was underway. Are died during descent after summiting.</p><p>The congestion was also linked to earlier delays in crossing the Khumbu Icefall, which postponed rope-fixing in the upper sections. “Usually, there are 15 to 20 summit days. Because of the delay, we had four or five this time. And among those, May 20 and 21 were not as windy, so everyone set out at once,” explains Chinmayee.</p><p>Chinmayee and Devarajappa had been preparing for Everest for a long time. They had taken mountaineering courses and climbed peaks such as Deo Tibba (6,001 m) and UT Kangri (6,030 m) as members of the Karnataka Mountaineering Association. But on their way to Everest, they found themselves sharing ropes with many amateurs. “Some people were using crampons for the first time in their lives,” she says, referring to the spiked traction gear needed for walking on ice.</p><p>She supports Nepal’s proposed rule that requires climbers to summit at least one 7,000 m peak in the country before attempting Everest (8,848 m). “Capping permits alone will not solve the crowding problem. Stricter vetting of experience is needed.”</p><p>Inexperienced climbers, she says, slow down movement and, in difficult conditions, can endanger others, including Sherpas involved in rescues. “They must undergo a basic mountaineering course to prepare mentally, but also to learn that something as simple as staying in sweaty socks can lead to frostbite", she adds.</p>.A snarl-up at the Summit: The wounds of Sagarmatha.<p>However, waste management on the peak was better than she had expected. She says that the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee has made progress by clearing old tents, and bringing back used food tins and oxygen cylinders from Camps 2, 3 and 4. Though abandoned ropes remain in hard-to-reach sections, visible human waste was absent. She believes the Rs 65,000 fine for violations appears to be working as a deterrent.</p><p>As Everest expeditions, once symbols of daring adventure, draw flak for unsustainable tourism and repeated rescue operations, Chinmayee admits that passionate mountaineers carry some guilt about continuing today. “But it’s a dream, after all,” she says. Before the expedition, Chinmayee told a close friend that if she died on the mountain, she did not want her body brought down. “It would not be fair to put the lives of five or six rescuers at risk.” The mountain, in her view, “demands honesty about what one is willing to ask of others”.</p>
<p>When Chinmayee Thrishulamurthy and Santhosh Devarajappa began their final push to the summit of Mount Everest on May 20, they were prepared for the perilous climb through the ‘Death Zone’. What the Bengalureans, both accustomed to the traffic congestion, did not expect was a similar snarl-up at an altitude of 8849 metres. They had to spend the night stuck in a slow-moving human queue at minus 30ºC temperatures, as precious oxygen supplies drained away. They are glad that everyone in their group carried three oxygen cylinders each, factoring in a 12-16-hour climb.</p><p>Their experience captures a growing crisis on the highest mountain in the world. More than seven decades after Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reached the summit in 1953, Everest is now grappling with dangerous overcrowding.</p>.Everest: The crowded crown.<p>A record 1,008 climbers reached the summit this season, including 274 on a single day. Ninety-five Indians were among the 494 foreigners who received permits.</p><p>“The queue was along a 500-metre vertical wall, between the South Col and Balcony. It takes six hours to cross the stretch normally. But we entered the section around 8.30 pm and got out only by 5 am,” Chinmayee, a professor of ophthalmology with a passion for mountaineering, tells DH.</p><p>The route had turned into a bottleneck as a rescue operation for fellow mountaineer and friend from Bengaluru, Sandeep Are, was underway. Are died during descent after summiting.</p><p>The congestion was also linked to earlier delays in crossing the Khumbu Icefall, which postponed rope-fixing in the upper sections. “Usually, there are 15 to 20 summit days. Because of the delay, we had four or five this time. And among those, May 20 and 21 were not as windy, so everyone set out at once,” explains Chinmayee.</p><p>Chinmayee and Devarajappa had been preparing for Everest for a long time. They had taken mountaineering courses and climbed peaks such as Deo Tibba (6,001 m) and UT Kangri (6,030 m) as members of the Karnataka Mountaineering Association. But on their way to Everest, they found themselves sharing ropes with many amateurs. “Some people were using crampons for the first time in their lives,” she says, referring to the spiked traction gear needed for walking on ice.</p><p>She supports Nepal’s proposed rule that requires climbers to summit at least one 7,000 m peak in the country before attempting Everest (8,848 m). “Capping permits alone will not solve the crowding problem. Stricter vetting of experience is needed.”</p><p>Inexperienced climbers, she says, slow down movement and, in difficult conditions, can endanger others, including Sherpas involved in rescues. “They must undergo a basic mountaineering course to prepare mentally, but also to learn that something as simple as staying in sweaty socks can lead to frostbite", she adds.</p>.A snarl-up at the Summit: The wounds of Sagarmatha.<p>However, waste management on the peak was better than she had expected. She says that the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee has made progress by clearing old tents, and bringing back used food tins and oxygen cylinders from Camps 2, 3 and 4. Though abandoned ropes remain in hard-to-reach sections, visible human waste was absent. She believes the Rs 65,000 fine for violations appears to be working as a deterrent.</p><p>As Everest expeditions, once symbols of daring adventure, draw flak for unsustainable tourism and repeated rescue operations, Chinmayee admits that passionate mountaineers carry some guilt about continuing today. “But it’s a dream, after all,” she says. Before the expedition, Chinmayee told a close friend that if she died on the mountain, she did not want her body brought down. “It would not be fair to put the lives of five or six rescuers at risk.” The mountain, in her view, “demands honesty about what one is willing to ask of others”.</p>