JAKARTA - A team of 10 veteran Sherpas on Wednesday opened a climbing route to the summit of Mount Everest for the 2026 Spring expedition season.
The team reached the peak of the mountain at 8,848.86 meters (29,031 feet) at 10.25 a.m. local time after completing the rope-laying route, according to Khim Lal Gautam, coordinator of the Everest Base Camp Field Office, as reported by Anadolu (15/5).
With the opening of the route, 492 climbers who have received permits for this season, along with their guides, are expected to begin moving towards higher camps in preparation for summit attempts on the world's highest mountain.
This year's summit climb was opened five days later than in the spring of 2025, when the Sherpas completed the work on May 9.
Traditionally, the Nepal Expedition Operators Association is responsible for installing ropes from Camp II to the summit, while the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee cleans the route from Everest Base Camp to Camp II.
This year, veteran Sherpas known as "Icefall Doctors," who work for the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, were forced to suspend operations for two weeks after a giant serac - a massive block or wall of unstable glacier ice - collapsed on the route to Camp I.
The team is waiting for the ice mass to melt before installing ladders across the gap and reopening access to Camp I through the dangerous Khumbu Icefall section.
Data collected by Nepal's Department of Tourism shows that three mountain guides involved in the Everest expedition have died since the climbing season began in March.
The department said a record 492 climbers obtained permits for this spring's Everest expedition despite the government raising climbing fees.
Under the revised fee structure, foreign climbers now have to pay 15,000 US dollars for an Everest climbing permit.
Dambar Parajuli said the highest number of permits issued from the Nepali side occurred after China stopped commercial expeditions on the mountain.
Mount Everest, which straddles the border between Nepal and China, attracts hundreds of climbers each year during the spring climbing season, with climbing routes available from both sides of the mountain.
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