Giant ice tower delays opening of Everest climbing route

Highlights:

• April and May tend to have the best weather conditions
• Nepal may have to send more Sherpas to try to find an alternative route
• Nepal has issued 410 permits to climb Everest so far this season

Hundreds of mountaineers are stranded at the Himalayan base camp for Mount Everest as a crevasse strewn with chunks of ice, including one towering block, delays the opening of the route to the world's tallest peak, officials and climbers said on Friday.

The annual climbing season for the 8,849-metre (29,032-foot) summit runs from April to May, when the weather conditions are most suited to reaching the windswept, icy peak.

But a 100-foot (30-metre) serac, or dangerous chunk of ice, blocks the path above base camp this year.

Seasoned Sherpa climbers, known locally as "icefall doctors", have so far been unable to fix their ropes, place ladders and carve a safe route through the treacherous Khumbu icefall to Camp II. Meanwhile the climbers, chafing to start their ascent while the weather is at its best, can only wait.

"Expeditions are all being delayed because of the impasse," Garrett Madison of US-based Madison Mountaineering told Reuters from base camp.

"It looks likely to fall imminently, however, it could take some time," said Madison of the ice tower. He is leading a team of international climbers on his 16th ascent.

Route usually has opened by now

The route typically opens by the third week of April, said Himal Gautam of Nepal's Department of Tourism.

"If the serac melts or collapses now, allowing the 'icefall doctors' to open the route, climbers could still make their summit bids on schedule," Gautam added.

If not, he said, authorities would send more Sherpa climbers to assess the risk and explore alternative routes. Officials said a team of eight "icefall doctors" is at base camp.

Mingma Sherpa, an 11-time Everest summiteer leading an international team at base camp, said acclimatisation rotations and the ferrying of gear to upper camps have been delayed.

Everest straddles the border between Nepal and China's Tibet region and can be climbed from both sides, though most climbers approach from the Nepali side.

Mountain climbing is a major source of income and employment for Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest peaks. Authorities have issued 410 Everest permits so far this season, at a cost of $15,000 each. There is no limit on how many permits are issued, which has led to criticism from mountaineering experts about the risk of long queues forming in what is known as the death zone because the air is dangerously thin.

Among those waiting to ascend were 98 climbers, including 24 women, from China, the most from any country so far.

Official data also showed 49 from the United States and 46 from India.

Lukas Furtenbach of Furtenbach Adventures, based in Austria, who is leading a group of 40 international climbers, said he expected the number of climbers from the Nepal side to rise as China has closed the Tibetan side for climbers this year for unknown reasons, prompting them to come to the south.