A Giant Ice Block Just Put Everest’s Spring Climbing Season on Hold

Hundreds of climbers and guides are stuck at Mount Everest’s base camp after a massive block of ice made the route ahead too dangerous to cross. The unstable serac sits on the Khumbu Icefall, the treacherous stretch between base camp and Camp One, and officials say it could pose a serious risk to anyone trying to pass.

“The ice is unstable and risky for climbers,” said Himal Gautam of Nepal’s Department of Mountaineering on Friday, confirming that crews are working with expedition organizers to figure out a safe path forward. As of now, everyone is waiting.

Nepal has issued climbing permits to 410 foreign mountaineers for the spring season, which runs through May. But before anyone can make a summit push, the route through the Khumbu Icefall must be secured. That job usually falls to the “icefall doctors”—elite guides who set ropes and aluminum ladders across crevasses each year. They normally finish by mid-April. This year, they can’t even start.

The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which oversees the route-laying, plans to assess the serac from the air. Chair Lama Kazi Sherpa said the risk of avalanche is high, so they’re waiting for the ice to melt enough to be safe.

The Khumbu Icefall is notorious. It shifts constantly, with crevasses and overhanging ice the size of ten-story buildings. In 2014, a chunk broke off and triggered an avalanche that killed 16 Sherpa guides—one of the deadliest days in Everest history.

Despite the delay, hundreds of climbers and roughly the same number of Nepalese guides are still hoping to make their summit attempts next month, when weather windows briefly open. The 8,849-meter peak was first conquered on May 29, 1953, by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. More than 6,000 people have followed them since—but only if the ice lets them.