Nepal is thinking of cancelling climbing expeditions to Mount Everest this year following damage to the route used to reach the world’s highest peak during last month’s earthquake.
“Aftershocks are still ongoing,” Tulsi Gautam, the head of the Tourism Department, said. “It is too dangerous up there.”
The government will make an official announcement on the matter after it reaches a decision on the fees paid by mountaineering companies, Gautam said.
Avalanches triggered by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 7800 people severely damaged the climbing route, according to the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, a non-government group that is responsible for preparing the route.
An avalanche that hit the base camp killed 19 mountaineers, including foreigners, who were setting up for climbing, and swept away the route prepared in March.
The climbing season was also cancelled last year after an avalanche killed 16 Sherpa guides.
A team of icefall doctors, who prepare the route by fixing ropes and aluminium ladders for the summiteers before each climbing season, went to build the route for the second time this season and concluded they could not fix it in time for the ascent.
The route, regarded as one of the most challenging because of falling snow and shifting ice, is located in the world’s highest glacier, between the Everest base camp and Camp II, which is 6500 metres above sea level. It is full of deep crevasses and huge ice towers.
Most of the climbers have called off their expeditions.
About 350 climbers were to scale Everest this season, the Tourism Department said.
