Melting ice making Mt Everest climb dangerous: Sherpas
By ANIWednesday, June 2, 2010
LONDON - Sherpas have warned that the fast receding ice cover on Mt Everest is making scaling the mountain very risky, as the melting ice was exposing bare rock faces, conditions that were extremely hard to negotiate.
The climb will become more perilous, they say, as the melting ice may loosen rocks and boulders, which could hit and kill mountaineers.
“When there’s no ice and only rock, metal objects don’t bite into rock, so you tend to slip and you be more clumsy on this,” the BBC quoted an expedition leader Dawa Stephen Sherpa, as saying.
“So when you’re up at 8,000m or higher you’re having a very awkward climb. It becomes dangerous, not just awkward,” he added.
Studies show that snow and ice levels on the mountain are rapidly depleting. (ANI)
