Source::The Kathmandu Post
Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, has been quite the sight and the hurdle for all the mountaineers in the world. But many dangers lie in the path to the top of the tallest mountain. The most famous is the Khumbu Icefall, one of the most notoriously dangerous places on the route to the top. But now, that might change as a Nepali-French expedition has claimed to find an alternative route around the dangerous icefall to the icefall.
The Khumbu Icefall is a river of ice that is a kilometre long at the height of 5,550-5,800 meters. For safety, the icefall can only be crossed in the middle of the night or early morning. During the day, the melting of the snow and glaciers cause the risk of an avalanche to escalate. This icefall alone has caused the death of 44 mountaineers from 1953 to 2016.
But according to a recent Nepali-French expedition, this dangerous part of the journey can be completely sidestepped through the new expedition route. After the route was surveyed aerially in the spring, the fieldwork and the planning started in November. A seven-member expedition was set out to find the alternative route. They set out on November 15 till the trial phase ended on November 21.
The original route takes about seven hours to cover a distance of 1000 meters from the base camp to Camp 1. The new route goes around the Khumbu Icefall by going through the Nuptse Ridge. The new route only covers 700 meters of 1,000 meters. The rest of the route was already in use in the original route.
But the expedition has said that there will need to be a lot of investment and equipment needed to make the new route commercially viable for new mountaineers. They have estimated that it might cost from 340,000 to 570,000 USD to permanently install metal hooks and rock pitons into the route. The leader of the expedition wants to name the route 'Sundare' to pay homage to a Sherpa guide that inspired him to climb Everest.
Photo Courtesy: [McKay Savage/Wikipedia Commons]
