Everest Route to change after 2014 disaster

Khumbu icefall, Mount Everest. Image by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / CC BY 2.0

Following last year’s Everest disaster, where 16 Sherpa guides died on the Khumbu icefall, the trekking authorities in Nepal have agreed to change the route used by climbers. For the 2015 season, climbers will follow a new route up the centre of the icefall, avoiding the unstable edges of the glacier, where seracs (towers of ice) can collapse with little warning. Although safer, the new route is technically more difficult and slower to climb, but the risk of avalanches is much lower. Read more: bbc.co.uk