Covid on Mt Everest: a recipe for disaster
Does coronavirus truly know no bounds? Clearly not, as a case was recently confirmed on the slopes of Mt Everest in Nepal
A Norwegian mountaineer was among two members of a climbing party that tested positive for Covid-19 in April. The other party member was the Sherpa, according to Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
Following this news, which was reported by the likes of the BBC and Al Jazeera, concerns grow that these cases could mean a blow to tourist numbers on the mountain this year – it’s near impossible to get helicopters to evacuate travellers that have made it over 8,000 metres above sea level to hospitals should they fall ill with Covid. And Covid respiratory issues, which are deceptively similar to symptoms of altitude sickness and the dreaded ‘Khumbu cough’ caused by the low humidity and temperatures associated with high altitudes, will be doubly as deadly.
Conditions that are ripe for spreading Covid
Further to that, the conditions at Mt Everest base camp, which include ‘crowded camps and a rotating crew of porters and yak drivers’, provide ‘the perfect setup for a super-spreader event’, Adrian Ballinger, Founder of Alpenglow Expeditions was quoted as saying in an article by media outlet Stuff. Indeed, The New York Times reported that there had been multiple climbers who tested positive after being flown out of base camp during the most recent Spring climbing window, although none of these have been officially confirmed.
Various news outlets also report that Nepal has issued 377 permits this year to climb the mountain, similar to the numbers issued in 2019, when issues of overcrowding at its summit were linked to a string of what many believe were avoidable deaths in 2019.
But, as many are aware, Nepal is particularly dependent on the tourism that its misty mountain brings in. Will officials make plans to reduce climber numbers further this year? While rumours like these should put people off making the already-perilous trek, those that make plans to scale Mt Everest are often driven by motivations that deem risk an inherent part of the adventure.