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It’s the photo that’s been everywhere recently. A shot beyond belief – it looks like it could even be Photoshopped.
And, judging by the photo, it’s easy to see why 11 climbers have died on Mount Everest in the past week alone.
The photo was posted on Facebook by Nirmal Purja on May 23, 2019, and it shows a traffic jam of epic proportions at the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal.
An estimated 320 people were trying to make their way to and from the summit of the mountain on this particular day, and Purja had the good sense to capture the moment – already iconic – that sums up this year’s deadly climbing season on the tallest mountain in the world.
The photo went viral in a huge way and highlights what many see as the overcrowding of Mount Everest, which is leading to ever more dangerous conditions for climbers who attempt the peak. Here’s another shot that shows just how many climbers are on the mountain this climbing season.
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByFTNnsB2pC/
This year marks the most deaths on Mount Everest since 2015. One of the reasons the mountain is so overcrowded this year is because there doesn’t seem to be a limit on how many permits the Nepalese government issues for access to climb the mountain. This year, Nepal issued 381 permits for 44 climbing teams.
Veteran climber Jim Davidson, who has twice reached the summit of Mount Everest, said, “I think that they should restrict it some, especially based on experience. It’s hard to set an exact number, but if you keep letting more people come it’s going to get worse every year.”
