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He said the traffic jam of climbers going up and down the same icy trail makes it hazardous, especially with climbers already exhausted from having climbed all night from the last camp, at 8,000 meters (26,246 feet). "And having to wait for extra hours and the delays only makes the situation worse," Apa said. Ghimire said it is up to the climbers and their teams to assess the conditions and safety. "We have officials at the base camp, but beyond that it is mostly up to the climbers," Ghimire said. He said that eventually, the government plans to set up a seasonal office at the base camp equipped with doctors, weather experts and security personnel. Ghimire said they also have plans to give each climber a tracking device. More than 3,000 people have climbed Everest since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to do so in 1953. Some 225 climbers have died attempting it. The deadliest day was May 10, 1996, when eight people were killed. The main reason was said to be that climbers who started their ascent late in the day were caught in a snowstorm in the afternoon and lost their way. The climbing season normally runs from late March to the first week in June, but this year the season's first clear conditions were on Friday and Saturday. A windstorm hit the higher altitudes by Saturday afternoon.
[Associated
Press;
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