The Icefall Doctors, a team of Nepalese workers who set the ladders and fixed ropes through the Khumbu Icefall up to Everest’s Camp 1, arrived at Base Camp on Monday to begin repair work on the route, . The route was damaged in the April earthquake that struck Nepal and killed thousands of people in Kathmandu and the surrounding area. The Icefall Doctors are aiming to fix the route in time for the fall season.
Most climbers on Everest canceled their spring expeditions in the wake of the earthquake. But more than five climbing teams from the United States, Austria, Japan, Germany, and the UK applied for permits to climb peaks including Everest and Mount Manaslu this fall, a Nepali tourism official told the Himalayan Times. Two Japanese climbers plan to summit Everest before the end of the month.
“We plan to begin rope-fixing work in the treacherous icefall section after conducting a ground survey by next week,” Ang Kami Sherpa, the lead Icefall Doctor, told the Himalayan Times.