Overview
- A team of 21 Sherpas, including the specialists known as icefall doctors, finished fixing a route through the Khumbu Icefall to Camp 1 that avoids direct exposure to the unstable ice tower.
- Expedition leaders say the serac still looms over the area, so clients will wait while Sherpa teams first build out logistics at Camps 1 and 2 and confirm the route is safe.
- More than 400 climbers and a similar number of Sherpas remain at base camp, with many keeping fitness by acclimatizing on nearby peaks such as Mera Peak and Lobuche East.
- Nepal issued 425 Everest permits this spring, bringing in over six million dollars and packing demand into a short weather window that usually shuts by late May.
- Officials and operators are weighing season extensions into mid‑June and helicopter lifts to Camp 2 if the hazard lingers, and caution is informed by the 2014 Icefall avalanche that killed 16 Sherpas.