A brutal blizzard struck Tibet and Nepal on Friday evening, stranding hundreds of hikers near the eastern face of Mount Everest. While 350 have reportedly been brought to safety, more than 200 are still awaiting rescue as of Monday morning.
Chinese state-backed news site Jimu News reported the hikers were trapped at an elevation of more than 16,000 feet (4,900 meters), according to the Associated Press. That’s nearly halfway up the 29,035 ft (8,850 m) peak. On Sunday, state broadcaster CCTV said rescue teams had made contact with the remaining 200 hikers and evacuated the others to the small township of Qudang, roughly 30 miles from Everest’s Tibet-side base camp, Reuters reported.
An earlier report by Jimu News stated that hundreds of local villagers and rescue teams were deployed to help remove snow blocking access to nearly 1,000 hikers trapped on Mount Everest, according to Reuters. Gizmodo reached out to local rescue authorities to clarify this discrepancy in numbers, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
On Monday, CCTV reported that one hiker died of hypothermia and altitude sickness in Quinghai province, another mountainous region of western China affected by the blizzard, according to CBS News. 137 others were evacuated in the province’s northern region. The Nepal National Mountain Guides Association also confirmed that Tejung Park, 46, of South Korea, died on Mera Peak after going missing on Saturday amid worsening weather.
An unprecedented October blizzard
The storm struck as hikers flocked to the Tibetan side of Mount Everest during a weeklong national holiday in China. Snowfall intensified over the weekend, trapping hikers at campsites that quickly became buried.
Officials have not shared snowfall totals as of Monday morning, but survivors told Chinese and U.S. news outlets that the snow piled 3 feet (1 meter) high and was heavy enough to crush tents.
“It was the most extreme weather I’ve ever faced in all my hiking experiences, without question,” Dong Shuchang, a Chinese hiker who survived the ordeal, said on Weibo, according to The Guardian. Dong described a “violent convective snowstorm on the eastern slope” of Everest.
“It was so wet and cold in the mountains, and hypothermia was a real risk,” Chen Geshuang, another survivor, told Reuters. “The weather this year is not normal. The guide said he had never encountered such weather in October. And it happened all too suddenly.”
Early October is a favorable time to climb the world’s highest peak, according to the guiding company Himalayan Glacier. This window opens up after the summer monsoons recede, giving way to dry weather. Thus, the weekend blizzard marks a significant departure from typical October weather in the Himalayas, dumping heavy precipitation on climbers in a matter of hours.
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