The good weather came and Everest began another intense mountaineering season

At more than 5,000 meters of altitude, the slopes of Everest these days observe how their white color is replaced by the warmer shades of tents where hundreds of climbers are waiting to be crowned the highest top of the planet, some of them have the goal of breaking new records.

After several days of acclimatization waiting for mountain conditions to perfect, the first expeditions plan to start attacks on the summit tonight, according to Efe Mingma Sherpa, general director of Seven Summit Treks, the largest operator. of Nepalese expeditions.

record after record

Earlier, as part of the team in charge of preparing the ground for foreign climbers by arranging ropes, Nepalese Kamil Rita Sherpa achieved a new success, when she climbed the highest mountain in the world. two days ago for the twenty -sixth. time.

So Rita Sherpa broke her own record, as a preview of a full series of records set to be completed in the coming weeks, including perhaps a new attempt by this mountaineer to crown Everest with one of her clients as a guide.

Another absolute record for women’s climbing to the top of the world is what Nepalese mountaineer Lhakpa Sherpa, who aims to reach her tenth summit this year, wants to complete since she first stepped on Everest in 2000, when he was a 26 -year -old.

Both included in the wait hundreds of other mountaineers eager to finally find this Monday a window of good weather conditions that would allow them to begin climbing to the top of Everest, and while waiting to base camp, calming their nervousness by dancing among the colorful tents.

These adventurers include 70-year-old French veteran alpinist Marc Batard, who aims to be the oldest person to climb Everest this year without using supplemental oxygen.

A goal he proposes to accomplish while crossing a safer alternative route to the traditional route that avoids going through the dangerous Khumbu icefall, the Frenchman said recently in Efe, a critical point of Everest that registers many accidents each year. .

But this route will certainly be different from the previous descent from the summit of Australian Ken Hutt, who hopes to be the oldest man, at age 62, to paraglide down the mountain alone.

“Everyone helped raise funds to eradicate polio once and for all,” Hutt said on his Facebook page.

Before him, only Frenchman Jean-Marc Boivin, in 1988, and the duo formed by Sanobabu Sunuwar and Lakpa Tshiri Sherpa, in 2011, completed this aerial descent.

In addition to reaching new records, this Everest spring season, which ends this May, will be used by other mountaineers to send a message of hope to minorities, or in favor of peace in battle. in Ukraine.

message of hope

This is the case of Nepalese goldsmith Sagar Bishwakarma Sunar, who, at a height of 1.13 meters and with various malformations that make it difficult for him to walk, plans to become the shortest person in the world to climb Everest.

An attempt in which he will defend equal rights and freedoms between people of different abilities and the rest of society.

Another expedition made up entirely of African-Americans for the first time, and led by Californian climber Phillip Henderson, will launch another message of hope, promoting racial equality in the world by climb it.

“We think our project is to encourage people of color to not only dream big, but just get out there,” Henderson told the media, before leaving Kathmandu for Everest.

And with Ukraine in suspense in suspense, Ukrainian climber Antonina Samiolova will continue to crown the summit with a flag of her country to call for peace and end Russia’s aggression.

Afluence Drop

Despite so many of these challenges, Nepal has seen a sharp decline in the issuance of ascent permits this year.

On Everest alone, where this year 316 permits were issued compared to 408 – an absolute record – last spring, this decrease was “almost 25%,” the president of the Association of Expedition Operators explained to Efe. Nepal, Dambar Parajuli.

A record set was reached in 2021 despite the covid pandemic and the quota finally imposed by the authorities on the arrival of mountaineers.

So far this year, the Nepal Tourism Department has issued climbing permits to 918 people for this spring to climb 26 mountains, it said in a statement.

The decline in these numbers is “due to the fact that China has not opened its borders, allowing its citizens to travel outside the country, and the war in Ukraine, which partially affected the movement of mountaineers in Nepal, “Parajuli lamented.

With information from EFE