The World's Highest Peak Hikers Report 'Severe' Weather as Large-Scale Rescue Effort Persists

Trekkers have described facing "extreme" situations after an unexpected blizzard during one of China's busiest holiday weekends trapped hundreds of individuals on Mount Everest, triggering a massive rescue operation.

Evacuation Efforts In Progress

Officials in China stated that around 350 individuals had made their way down but at least 200 remained stranded at the Everest Scenic Area, located to the eastern side of the mountain, on the Tibet side of the border.

Crowds of visitors had traveled to the region for "Golden Week," an week-long festive break in China. However, local officials, who administer the Tibetan Autonomous Region, said intense snow had hit the area on the weekend, stranding hundreds of individuals at tent sites at an altitude of more than 4,900 meters (16,000 feet).

"It was the most extreme weather I've experienced in all my hiking experiences, undoubtedly," a Chinese trekker said on Weibo, detailing a "violent convective snowstorm on the eastern slope" of Everest.

"I looked up in the middle of the night and saw that the accumulation had almost buried the top," said another trekker on a social platform. "It was the initial instance I genuinely experienced the terror of being engulfed by snow."

Personal Accounts

One Chinese trekker said their group had been "too scared to sleep" on that night as accumulation quickly piled up around their shelters, forcing them to remove it hourly. They decided to descend on Sunday as the conditions deteriorated.

"On the way, we encountered our guide’s parent who had come looking for him. That's when we learned the snow was heavy in the lowlands too; villagers, unable to contact their family on the mountain, were extremely worried."

The northern and eastern side of Everest is more accessible than sites on the neighboring side of the border and draws large crowds of tourists for less technical hiking, not requiring ascent of the peak.

Online Documentation

Images and footage shared on the internet showed shelters buried in snow and lines of hikers walking through deep snowbanks to get down the mountain.

"The snow was extremely thick, and the path extremely slippery. Hikers stumbled frequently – some fell, others were bumped by yaks," noted a trekker, who added that all safely descended and were picked up by bus.

Latest Developments

By Sunday afternoon, about 350 people had reached Qudang, a village roughly 50 kilometers away from the Tibetan starting point of Everest, "safe and sound," state media announced.

At least 200 additional were still stranded but had been reached, the updates indicated. Local news stated that scores of emergency workers had gone up the mountain to help people and clear snow from obstructing the way out.

There was minimal updates or new details about the rescue effort on the following day. It was also not clear if the weather had impacted anyone on the northern side of Everest, also in Tibet. The area is tightly controlled by the Chinese government, and journalistic access is restricted. The weather also seemed to have disrupted local communications, with calls to local businesses not connecting. A number of hikers said power was out in Qudang when they reached the town.

Seasonal Context

Autumn is a busy period for the area, with usually calm and pleasant conditions, but one trekker, among 18 members of a hiking party that returned to Qudang, said that the climate this year was "unusual."

"The guide said he had never encountered such weather in October. And it occurred all too suddenly."

The regional travel department said admissions and entry to the Everest Scenic Area were halted from the weekend.

Regional Impact

Neighbouring countries were affected as well by severe conditions. Heavy rains caused landslides and sudden flooding that have blocked roads, washed away bridges, and claimed the lives of at least 47 people since Friday in Nepal.