In light of a virulent incident last yr at Mount Everest , Nepalese guides have chart a modify route to reduce avalanche risk of exposure . worry is , it will expose climbers to some super challenging – and potentially deadly – terrain .
On April 18 , 2014 , a block of ice weigh as much as 657 passenger buses drop nearly half a km , triggering a deadly avalanche that killed 16 guides . It was the single deadly day in Everest ’s history .
On that black twenty-four hour period , the guides were following a democratic road along the far northern edge of the icefall . This minimized their chance of getting impinge on by ice , but it exposed them to the steep gradient of Everest ’s western shoulder , thus increasing photograph to a likely avalanche . hold out up the centre is no safer , as collapsing seracs — monolithic block or columns of glacial ice — are common .
The best alternative , say the Nepali “ Icefall Doctors , ” is to hike along the northern sharpness . This will reduce avalanche danger , but it will let on climbers to chaotic terrain , including gaping crevasse and extremely dangerous — and potentially deadly — towering seracs .
So it look like Everest will will proceed to pose a challenge to climbers , particularly in this era of climate alteration . As University of Arizona glaciologist Jeffrey KargeltoldNASA ’s Earth Observatory :
As long as glacier exist on Everest , crevasses and chicken feed fall are always going to be a feature film of the landscape . Baron Snow of Leicester avalanche , similarly , occur with or without climate change , and in fact they will surely occur after the glaciers evaporate totally . However , with mood warming and the glacier thin , we can expect that ice avalanche and rock avalanches will occur in spots where previously they did not .
Readmoreat NASA ’s Earth Observatory .
Image credit : Gregory Leonard , University of Arizona , based on ASTER GDEM2 and data provide courtesy of Digital Globe and Mark Fahey at the U.S. Geological Survey .
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