Hundreds of mountaineers are stuck at Everest base camp as a massive, unstable serac threatens the only viable route up the world’s tallest peak, leaving expedition leaders, Sherpa guides and Nepali government officials in a tense holding pattern with no clear resolution in sight.
The frozen obstacle, a nearly 100 foot (~30 meters) tower of ice lodged above the Khumbu Icefall, has prevented the elite Sherpa team known as “icefall doctors” from fixing the ropes and ladders necessary to open the route toward Camp I and beyond. According to the Kathmandu Post, the serac sits approximately 984 feet (300 meters) below Camp I at 19,869 feet (6,056 meters) and hangs directly over a critical section of the southern approach.
“The serac is huge and it’s directly above a key section of the route. Any vibration or shift could trigger an avalanche.” – Rishi Bhandari, general secretary of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal, told the Kathmandu Post.
The route typically opens by the third week of April. Reuters reported that Garrett Madison of U.S.-based Madison Mountaineering, currently leading a team of international climbers on his 16th Everest ascent, described the situation as an impasse.
“It looks likely to fall imminently, however, it could take some time.” – Garret Madison
Nepal’s Department of Tourism spokesperson Himal Gautam confirmed the government convened a multi-stakeholder meeting Thursday, bringing together officials, expedition operators and technical experts. The group agreed to deploy national and international specialists for aerial and ground inspections of the ice formation.
What that plan might entail remains uncertain. Some guides have proposed installing additional ladders to bypass the most exposed section though even that approach carries substantial risk. The Icefall’s geography doesn’t leave much room for safe detours.
According to the Kathmandu Post Nepal has already issued 410 climbing permits this season at $15,000 each, generating $5.98 million in fees. That figure puts 2026 within range of the all-time record of 479 permits issued in 2023. Reuters noted that China’s closure of the Tibetan approach for unknown reasons has pushed additional climbers to the Nepali side, with 98 Chinese nationals among those currently waiting at base camp.
A prolonged delay threatens to compress the viable summit window into a shorter period in mid-May, a scenario that experts warn could recreate the dangerous crowding seen in recent years near the death zone above 8,000 meters.
On April 18th, 2014, a collapsing serac in the Khumbu Icefall triggered an avalanche that killed 16 Sherpa guides, one of the deadliest single accidents in Everest’s history. The Kathmandu Post reports that a similar ice formation encountered in 2019 took nearly two years to fully melt.
