It's rough enough that people have to experience traffic jams on roads, but it becomes downright excruciating when such jams are witnessed on mountain peaks. In this regard, a video has gone viral showing climbers getting stuck in long queues on the world's highest mountain above sea level, Mount Everest, which has been a popular climbing spot for ages.
The video rightly shows that climbing Mt Everest is no easy task, as many climbers experience the gruelling journey of making it to the top in extreme weather conditions, and many do not make it. While hundreds of climbers take on the challenge of climbing Mt Everest every year, it is highly unusual to witness such long queues at the summit, which is believed to have occurred after two climbers went missing and are presumed dead.
According to the New York Post, hundreds of climbers are stranded in the aftermath of an incident on Tuesday in which British climber Daniel Paterson, 39, and his Nepali guide Pas Tenji Sherpa, 23, fell down the side of the mountain after a chunk of snow fell over a cliff. Several social media clips have shown dozens of images of an apparent 'rush hour' as climbers sought to get to the highest peak in the world.
Paterson and Tenji were with a 15-person group that had reached the top of the world’s tallest peak at 29,032 feet. They were still unaccounted for as of Saturday, according to the report. In a separate incident, Kenyan climber Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui, 40, was found dead and his guide Nawang Sherpa, 44, remained missing after they vanished from the mountain on Wednesday.
Indian mountaineer Rajan Dwivedi captured the viral video of the long queues at the mountain, saying, "Mt Everest is not a joke and in fact, quite a serious climb." He highlighted that several climbers end up with frost bites, snow blindness and various types of injuries that are not counted in any database.
"This video captured shows what we face on one rope line and negotiating interchanges during the traffic for upstream and downstream!" he said. The video got more than 2.9 million views on social media platform Instagram and over 18,000 views. Dwivedi's video also evoked reactions of shock among the netizens.
"Most expensive circus in the world," wrote one user. "This is neither cool nor unique anymore. It’s depressing to see these images," another said. A netizen said, "The toughest part about climbing Everest is summiting and not telling anyone."
Another mountaineer, called the Northerner, called Everest the "highest, the dirtiest and the most controversial place on Earth". "Humans bypassing corpses, leaving people dying, ignoring help cries, making it dirtiest place with pollution & human wastes ; all for the glory of summit," he said on X.
Everest's popularity has not waned among mountaineers, although officials have raised concerns due to frequent accidents and deaths. According to the New York Times, at least five people have died and three others have gone missing since the beginning of this climbing season. At least 18 people died in last year's spring, as per the Himalayan Database.
ALSO READ | Woman dons lungi, walks in the streets of London, locals' reactions are epic in viral video! WATCH
