🔗 Share this article

Search parties have successfully guided all of the last hikers near the eastern slopes of Everest in the Tibet region to a secure location, including numerous of native guides and livestock handlers, officials stated. This concludes one of the biggest rescue and recovery missions ever seen in the zone.

Large-Scale Rescue Operation Concluded

Numerous of hikers were found themselves stuck in heavy snow over the recent weekend in the secluded Karma valley, after an exceptionally intense winter blast dumped significant snowfall across the territory.

Snow persisted throughout Saturday in the valley, which rests at an average altitude of 4,200 meters (13,800 feet). By Sunday, rescue personnel had guided approximately 350 hikers to safety.

Initial updates had estimated that the last group of roughly 200 travelers were anticipated to reach safety by Tuesday.

In total, 580 mountaineers, along with more than 300 guides, animal handlers, and other crew members were rescued, according to authoritative reports released on Tuesday night.

Those Rescued Recount Extreme Situations

One Chinese trekker shared how their group had been “too scared to sleep” on Saturday, as snow swiftly built up around their tents, compelling them to clear it every 90 minutes. They decided to descend on Sunday as the weather became more severe.

“On the way, we came across our guide’s father, who had set out for him. That’s when we found out the snow was deep in the valley, too; community members, unable to contact their children on the mountain, were extremely worried.”

Expedition Schedules Disrupted

The blizzard also hindered the plans of climbers guided by a US-based mountaineering outfit to reach the top of Cho Oyu, an 8,188-meter (26,864-foot) peak on the border between the People's Republic of China and Nepal.

Visitor Increase in the Area

Karma valley was first visited by western explorers a hundred years ago. In modern times, with the expansion of the Everest region in Tibet as a prominent tourism attraction, the area has attracted an growing number of visitors. More than 540,000 sightseers traveled to the Everest region last year, setting a all-time high.

Area Still Off-Limits

The Everest region remains temporarily off-limits to the general public, covering the Karma and Rongshar valleys, as well as Cho Oyu.

Broader Effect

The heavy snowfall over the weekend also affected numerous of trekkers in other parts of western China, for example Xinjiang, Qinghai, and Gansu. Sadly, at least one individual succumbed, due to a combination of low body temperature and acute mountain sickness.

Atypical Weather

October is typically a high season for the area, with normally fine and pleasant weather, but one member of an 18-person expedition team that got back to Qudang commented that the weather this year was “atypical.”