Star Metro - Nepali climbers open Everest summit for the season

Every year, the first summit of Everest is by a team from one of Nepal's expedition organising companies, who prepare the way for paying clients to follow.

"The rope-fixing team reached the summit this evening," said Chhang Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks, which led the team, told AFP.

A statement issued from the field office of Nepal's tourism department at the Everest base camp said that the team reached that summit at 8:15 pm (1430 GMT).

"Other teams are already moving... many are at Camp 2 to catch the first window" said Khim Lal Gautam, chief of the base camp field office.

"A good weather window has been predicted until May 14, it is possible we will see over a hundred summits by then."

Nepal has issued 414 permits to mountaineers for this year's spring climbing season, which runs from April to early June.

Most Everest hopefuls are each escorted by a Nepali guide, meaning more than 800 climbers will tread the same path to the top of the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) peak in the coming weeks.

This year, China reopened the Tibetan route to foreigners for the first time since it closed in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The northern summit route opened Monday, according to social media posts by expedition organisers.

Nepal is home to eight of the world's 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring, when temperatures are warm and winds are typically calm.

Last year, over 600 climbers made it to the peak of the highest mountain in the world.

It also became the deadliest season on the mountain with 18 deaths.

A boom in climbers has made mountaineering a lucrative business since Sir Edmund Hillary and sherpa Tenzing Norgay made the first ascent in 1953.

S.Belanger--SMC