Everest traffic jam

UK Daily Mail ^ | 06/02/2026 | Jada Bas

[DFG]

Mount Everest climbers were seen in a huge human traffic jam amid a record number of visitors to the major landmark.

Footage published on social media shows hundreds of people at a standstill slowly making their way up Hillary Step, a 40-foot vertical rock on the path of the mountain.

The caption of the video read: 'Nearly 3 hours to cross this area due to congestion and difficult movement conditions at high altitude.

'Is this serious? Spending all this money on carriers and guides just to get stuck in a traffic jam!'

Sitting at 8,790 metres above sea level on the southeast ridge, Hillary Step is halfway between the South Summit and the true summit.

It is located in the 'Death Zone', considered the most technically difficult part of the Everest climb and the last challenge before reaching the top of the mountain.

A record number of climbers reached the summit of Mount Everest in a single day from the Nepal side of the mountain, officials said.

An estimated 275 people scaled the 29,032ft peak on Wednesday, marking the highest ever number of single-day summits recorded from the route.

The milestone has surpassed the previous record set on May 22, 2019, when 223 climbers scaled Everest from its southern side in Nepal.

It has renewed fears about overcrowding on the world’s highest mountain, with huge queues of climbers snaking towards the summit during the narrow weather window.

Experts often criticise Nepal for allowing large ​numbers of climbers on the ​mountain, which sometimes leads to ⁠risky traffic jams or long queues in the area just below the summit, where the level of natural oxygen is dangerously below what is required for human survival.

Expedition organisers have acknowledged the dangers of congestion but say the risks can be managed.

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TOPICS: Outdoors
KEYWORDS: deathzone; everest; hillarystep; mounteverest; nepal

[minnesota_bound]

Today they can just take the back stairs or the soon to opened elevator.

[shaggy eel]

,,, saw Everest early morning when I was on a Munich to Hong Kong flight - unforgettable and a whole lot cheaper than being in line to climb it. Not that I’m into climbing mountains, it’s just that there’s so many more options to throw thousands of dollars at.