Tourists return to Mount Everest after deadly earthquake

Following a severe earthquake in the Tibetan highlands around Mount Everest at the beginning of the year, authorities have reopened the area around the world's highest mountain to the public.

China's official news agency Xinhua reported that at the start of March, eight vehicles with 19 visitors drove back into the area. Before this, authorities had examined the area in order to rule out safety risks such as glacier fractures or avalanches.

On January 7, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake killing 126 people when it shook Dingri County in the Chinese region, an important transit point on the route to the 8,849-metre-high summit of Mount Everest.

The authorities subsequently closed the national park located in the earthquake zone, which is also home to a base camp.

Mountaineers usually choose either the northern route via Tibet or, more frequently, the standard route via Nepal to climb the world's highest peak.

Although the northern route has logistical advantages, it also harbours more dangers or risks of failure on the ascent to the summit due to the weather conditions there.

Despite costing tens of thousands of dollars to climb, Mount Everest continues to attract climbers from around the world. In the spring of 2024, Nepal issued 419 permits for Everest’s southern route, while in 2023, a total of 478 permits were granted, excluding local guides, according to Department of Tourism data.

Since the first successful ascent by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary in 1953, more than 12,000 summits have been recorded, according to the Himalayan Database.