Kathmandu: The effect of cyclone Tauktae, which has hit western India, has been felt on the world’s tallest mountain as the storm has blown off tents set up by climbers at Camp IV on Monday.
Following the incident, all the climbers have safely returned to Camp II as there is no possibility of summiting for the next few days, said Kul Bahadur Gurung, General Secretary at the Nepal Mountaineering Association.
“Currently, there are 300 climbers at Camp II of Mt Everest. The climbers will wait for a few days to resume the expedition as the weather is not suitable,” said Gurung.
Despite warnings from meteorologists not to climb the mountain, climbers had reached Camp IV (8,000 meters) to make it to the summit.
“There were predictions of bad weather, but the climbers wanted to return to Kathmandu before May 29 — celebrated as Mt Everest Day. However, meteorologists did not predict that weather would be this bad,” said an official at the NMA.
Despite warnings from meteorologists not to climb the mountain, climbers had reached Camp IV (8,000 meters) to make it to the summit.
According to a meteorologist Shanti Kandel, the effect of cyclone has been seen in Nepal, and the recent storm on Everest is also the effect of the cyclone. “The effect of the cyclone will be seen on Everest until Friday,” she said.
“All the climbers are safe as of Tuesday morning. They will start climbing the mountain right after the green signal from meteorologists. There is no risk of human casualty,” said Gurung.
Earlier, two climbers—Swiss and American—had died on Mt Everest this season due to exhaustion.
The government has issued permits to 408 climbers to climb the world’s tallest mountain for this spring season.
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