Videos of the seemingly unending line of climbers heading up Mount Everest are stirring controversy and conservations online. The virality of the clips is juxtaposed with news of deaths at Everest, missing persons, and a new summit record being broken.
On TikTok, social media users have recently discussed the ethics of climbing Everest. In the comments of footage from the landmark shared by Brut America, online users condemned what climbing the mountain has seemingly become. Notably, the world’s highest summit is 29,032 feet high.
One person wrote, “Climbing Mt. Everest has become unethical!!!” Meanwhile, another said, “Waiting in line [for] Mt. Everest is crazy.”
What’s Happening This Climbing Season on Mount Everest?
The global landmark’s climbing season usually runs from March through May. Talk surrounding Everest’s overcrowding is amid several reports of dead or missing people late last month, toward the end of the season.
According to a Nepali official, a British climber, Daniel Paul Paterson, 40, and his local Sherpa, Pas Tenji, 23, fell from “a very high altitude” earlier this month. The Associated Press reported that the two were declared missing on May 21.
The BBC’s reporting on May 30 shared that family members of Kenyan climber Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui wish to leave the 40-year-old’s body on Mount Everest, where he died this month. Relatedly, the sherpa that accompanied Kirui up the mountain, Nawang Sherpa, is still missing.
On May 29, CNN reported that climber Phunjo Lama of Nepal became the world’s fastest woman to ascend Everest. It is her second time breaking the record.
Lama accomplished her latest feat on May 24 — trekking to the top in 24 hours and 26 minutes without sleep. The reported fastest male climber, a Nepali named Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa, broke his record in 2003. He reportedly ascended to Everest’s summit in an astounding 10 hours and 56 minutes.
