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A Sherpa guide claims to have found safer route to Everest
Kathmandu, May 28: Climbing Mount Everest could be much safer now. A veteran Sherpa guide claimed today he has found a new a route around the dreaded Khumbu icefall that has claimed the lives of many climbers.
Kathmandu, May 28: Climbing Mount Everest could be much safer now. A veteran Sherpa guide claimed today he has found a new a route around the dreaded Khumbu icefall that has
claimed the lives of many climbers.
The Khumbu icefall is the first and the biggest hurdle
climbers face on their way up to the 8,850-meter summit.
"I have tried this route and this autumn I will go back to the mountain and map it out," Kaji, who like most sherpas only uses one name, told.
Working with an Indian-Nepalese army team, Kaji spent the past two months trying out his route.
From a distance, climbers say the Khumbu icefall looks like a mass of huge ice cubes spread across the mountain. Freezing temperatures at night and the warm sun during the day make the ice unstable and unpredictable.
Climbers use lightweight aluminum ladders tied together by ropes as bridges to cross over crevasses in the ice that can be as deep as 30 meters. One wrong step often means death.
Although there are no official records of how many climbers and sherpas have been killed on the Khumbu icefall, mountaineering officials estimate that over 100 people have died in this stretch of the route.
Kaji, an experienced sherpa guide, has scaled Mount Everest five times. In 1998, he reached the summit in 20 hours and 24 minutes, a record that has since been broken three times.
The latest record was set a few days ago when Lakpa Gyelu 35, raced from the base camp to the summit in 10 hours and 56 minutes. Bureau Report
"I have tried this route and this autumn I will go back to the mountain and map it out," Kaji, who like most sherpas only uses one name, told.
Working with an Indian-Nepalese army team, Kaji spent the past two months trying out his route.
From a distance, climbers say the Khumbu icefall looks like a mass of huge ice cubes spread across the mountain. Freezing temperatures at night and the warm sun during the day make the ice unstable and unpredictable.
Climbers use lightweight aluminum ladders tied together by ropes as bridges to cross over crevasses in the ice that can be as deep as 30 meters. One wrong step often means death.
Although there are no official records of how many climbers and sherpas have been killed on the Khumbu icefall, mountaineering officials estimate that over 100 people have died in this stretch of the route.
Kaji, an experienced sherpa guide, has scaled Mount Everest five times. In 1998, he reached the summit in 20 hours and 24 minutes, a record that has since been broken three times.
The latest record was set a few days ago when Lakpa Gyelu 35, raced from the base camp to the summit in 10 hours and 56 minutes. Bureau Report