Massive Glacier Blocks Everest Climbing Route Amid Peak Season

Thu Apr 23 2026 19:03:56 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

A colossal glacier block is obstructing the route to Mount Everest just as the prime climbing season begins. With climbers facing delays, concerns about potential traffic jams at the summit grow.

A 100-foot serac has obstructed the Mount Everest climbing route, causing significant delays in preparations for the climbing season. Icefall doctors are currently unable to find a workaround and expect to wait for the glacier to melt. With favorable weather fleeting, a narrow summit window may lead to crowded conditions for climbers at the peak. Efforts are underway to explore options, including airlifting teams to secure routes above the blockade.

A huge, unstable chunk of glacier is blocking the route up Mount Everest from Base Camp in Nepal just as peak climbing season gets underway.

Icefall doctors – who fix ropes and ladders on the lower part of the route up the world's highest peak - can find no way around the 100-foot-high (30m) block of ice just under Camp 1.

They say the only option is to wait for the ice block, called a serac, to melt – which they hope will happen within days.

The delay means preparations are weeks behind schedule for the spring season when weather for Everest ascents is usually best, and fears are growing that climbers will be queuing to reach the summit again this year.

Purnima Shrestha, a prominent climber and photographer from Nepal, is currently acclimating to summit Everest for the sixth time.

We usually climb between Camp I, Camp 2, and Camp 3 back and forth during this acclimating process. Delays in the opening of the route have added concerns of possible 'traffic jams' to the peak this year, she told the BBC from Base Camp.

The icefall doctors work for the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) that is responsible for securing ropes as far as Camp 2 on Everest, which stands 8,848.86m (29,031 feet) above sea level. They reached Base Camp three weeks ago.

By this stage in April, they would normally have fixed the route as far as Camp 3, but are still blocked by the chunk of glacier about 600m below Camp 1. We haven't found artificial ways to melt it so far, so we don't have any options other than to wait for it to melt and crumble itself, SPCC base camp coordinator Tshering Tenzing Sherpa said.

Nepal's Department of Tourism is exploring different options, including airlifting teams to Camp 2. We are thinking about airlifting the rope-fixing team and their logistics to Camp 2 by helicopter, so they can open the route above that altitude for now, said Ram Krishna Lamichhane, the department's director general.

If the ice does not melt soon, the narrow climbing window could reduce the number of climbers safely summiting this year.