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In all, 580 hikers and more than 300 guides, yak herders and
other workers were stranded. About 350 hikers were able to
descend by noon Monday and the rest had arrived by Tuesday,
state media said, citing the local government.
Some hikers reportedly had hypothermia, and the official Xinhua
News Agency said about a dozen of them were escorted to a
meeting point by teams with food, medicine, heating and oxygen
supplies.
The scenic area at Mount Everest in China's Tibet region has
been temporarily closed. The 8,850-meter (29,000-foot) peak, the
world's highest, straddles the border with Nepal.
The storm struck during a weeklong holiday that ends Wednesday.
Many Chinese travel at home and abroad during the holiday, which
marks the anniversary of the start of Communist Party rule in
China on Oct. 1, 1949.
In Nepal, a South Korean climber died in a weekend storm near
the summit of Mera Peak, a 6,476-meter (21,250-foot) Himalayan
mountain south of Everest.
Early-season snowstorms hit at least two other areas in western
China over the weekend, killing one person and stranding
motorists on an icy and snowy highway near a scenic hiking spot.
More than 200 people were evacuated from a remote and rugged
valley in the Qilian Mountains in Qinghai province. One person
died of hypothermia and altitude sickness.
The area is undeveloped, and authorities later warned people
against entering without permission, citing the difficult
terrain, unpredictable weather and an average altitude of more
than 4,000 meters (13,000 feet).
In northwest China's Xinjiang region, the Kanas scenic area was
closed after a snowstorm Sunday that stranded motorists on a
nearby highway. The road had been cleared by Monday, state media
said.
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