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Renowned Everest summit feature may have crumbled


Hailey Montgomery
Digital Reporter

Tuesday, May 23, 2017, 5:08 PM - Local Sherpas are challenging a British mountaineer who says Mount Everest’s uppermost rock face has collapsed.

On his Facebook page “Everest Expedition”, experienced climber Tim Mosedale described in detail the climb during which he made the discovery. A photo of the uppermost peak of the mountain, along with two individuals ascending with fixed ropes, is captioned:

“It's official - The Hillary Step is no more. Not sure what's going to happen when the snow ridge doesn't form because there's some huge blocks randomly perched hither and thither which will be quite tricky to negotiate.” 

The Hillary Step is a 12-metre rock face which is the last technical obstacle of the Southeast Ridge of the Nepali side of the mountain. It is named after Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to summit Everest with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Those who attempt Everest often use fixed ropes to scale it. 

The claim has been denied by multiple Nepali Sherpas, or experience mountain guides, including an early student of Edmund Hillary’s Khumjung School.

Nepali native Tserhing Sherpa, chairman of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, told the Associated Press that the rock face is “still in its original position”, covered in heavy snow.

Climbing on Everest halted for a year after the devastating 7.8-Magnitude Nepal earthquake of 2015, which killed 9,000 people and injured thousands more. The tremor resulted in an avalanche on Everest which killed 22 people at Base Camp. 

The Hillary Step is a major milestone for climbers because of its difficulty, and the fact that it is a landmark of the final stretch of Everest. 

After passing base camp IV, climbers enter a “death zone” – deemed so due to its high altitude that results in extremely low oxygen levels. This portion leads toward the South Summit, sitting at 28,700 ft. Almost 1,000 ft. higher lies the steep Hillary Step, the final 12 metres of the almost 30,000 ft journey.

Below: Mount Everest avalanche caught on camera

Everest summitteer and author Mark Hornell explained in a blog post that Mexican climber David Liaño also posted “before and after” photos of the top of Everest from a climb on May 12, agreeing that Hillary Step did in fact look changed. 

The blog continues to explain that the photo also appeared on mountaineer Alan Arnette’s blog, along with Italian newspaper La Gazette dello Sport. Hornell agreed that based on the photos, the rock face did look transformed.

Mosedale is an accomplished mountaineer who has lead commercial expeditions to summit Everest, and has summited surrounding peaks in Nepal for fifteen years. He has ascended Everest by both its south and north ridges. 

Below: 86-year-old dies climbing Mount Everest

He deemed the May 16 portion of the climb between The Balcony (about 27,500 ft) and the true summit “reasonably uneventful”. It is at this point in his Facebook post that he mentions “shock horror, there’s no Hillary Step.”

This weekend, four climbers died attempting to summit Everest. Unfortunately, the four join a long list of climbers who did not return from an expedition on the world’s highest peak.

Still, over 4,000 people have ascended Everest, and the rate of climber fatality has dropped on average in the last 50 years. 

Check back for updates.

Below: Couple weds on Mount Everest with epic photo shoot

Sources: BBC News | Mark Horrel | The Associated Press | [Thumbnail Credit]

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