As spring arrives in the Himalayas, villagers return to their home from the lower lands where they spend months to avoid freezing cold. Spring thaw start melting ice layers that cover the entire field during the winter. As people spruce up their homes, playful kids run along the streets and neighbors catch up with each other, preparation for spring plantation also begin. 

Ang Sarki Sherpa, however, prepares for a different kind of chore. As his neighbors and family once again resume village life in Thame (3,800m), 10 kilometers above Namche, he is preparing to climb higher up; all the way to Camp II of Mount Everest located at an altitude of 6400m above sea level. 

Ang Sarki is one of the lead icefall doctors, an elite group of Sherpa guides, responsible for fixing rope up to Camp II every spring. Every spring, the successful opening of the route through the Icefall makes climbing of Everest and Lhotse possible. Only highly experienced climbers are entrusted with the responsibility to open the route through the Icefall section. 

Fifty-three-year-old Ang Sarki has been working as an icefall doctor for nearly two decades now, often taking the lead in establishing the fixed route through the infamous ever-floating river of ice en route to Mount Everest. His main responsibility is to open and maintain a functional walking trail from the base camp to camp II through the monumental ice section in the Khumbu glacier. The fixed rope is the only lifeline through this treacherous path where all climbers need to take a leap of faith.

In his years working as icefall doctor, Ang Sarki has had to work through crevasses hundreds of meters deep and seracs as huge as small peaks, alongside the constant threat of avalanches from any direction. 

But this year has been extra hard. Sherpa says everything he has encountered till now pales in comparison to what they faced in the icefall this year.

"We had to work with blue ice this year as there was hardly any snow. This made our work more challenging and took much longer than it would in previous years," said Sherpa in an interview. Blue ice is often very old glacial ice buried deep within snow layers. To encounter exposed blue ice throughout the Khumbu icefall can mean that the snow layer here are melting and not being replenished quickly enough.

Sherpa and seven other icefall doctors worked for 36 days, starting halfway through March until the last week of April, before finally identifying a feasible route through the western spur of the glacier. "We abandoned three routes before settling on this one. Every time we made progress, we hit a snag and had to start all over again. It was one of the most demanding tasks of my career,” said Sherpa. 

This year’s route was longer, taking a minimum of one hour more than previous ones for even the most agile Sherpa guides. The trail has also come under scrutiny for being dangerous as it is situated near the route where an avalanche killed 16 Nepali guides in 2016.

Given the risks involved in crossing the stretch, climbers made fewer rounds during acclimatization, while operators decided to use helicopters to transport supplies instead of relying on Sherpas to ferry goods.

What Ang Sarki and his team faced this year is yet another proof of climate change making visible impact on Everest. This not only means physical change in the surface of Everest, but it also means depletion of water storage from the Himalayas, a more dangerous working environment for mountain workers like Ang Sarki, and a harsher livelihood for mountain people.

With temperatures rising, Mount Everest has become a ground zero for climate change. Recent scientific research shows that Everest's ice is melting faster than predicted.

A 2022 analysis of ice cores drilled from the South Col Glacier at an altitude of 8,000 meters revealed that ice that took 2,000 years to form has melted in around 25 years, as the Nepal side of the peak continues to lose decades' worth of ice annually.

Climbers and Sherpas are experiencing the effects firsthand. For example, this year, climbers are reporting constant rockfalls in areas above Camp 2, as these areas have also seen very little snow.

The climate crisis on Everest has also garnered global attention in recent years, prompting calls for action. Last year, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres visited Nepal, where he issued a strong call for Climate Action. "The world cannot wait!" the UN chief declared from the base of Mt. Everest, emphasizing the dire impact of the climate crisis on the Himalayas.

Some efforts have also been made to better understand the impact of climate change in the Himalayas and address its consequences. In 2019, two climate scientists, Tom Matthews and Baker Perry, installed the highest weather station in the world as part of a partnership between the National Geographic Society, Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal, and the Nepalese government.

In 2022, a Chinese expedition installed a similar meteorological monitoring station at three different points on the mountain from the northern side in Tibet – at 7028 meters, 7790 meters, and 8300 meters – with the goal of studying the impact of climate change in the Himalayas.

While the world fails to tackle climate change, it is people like Ang Sarki Sherpa who bears the brunt of its devastating impact. Sherpa said that the effects of climate change are becoming more pronounced with each passing year, making it increasingly challenging to work in the icefall. 

At least 64 climbers, most of them Sherpa, have died along the Khumbu icefall section, according to the Department of Tourism. While it is becoming harder to ensure a safe route for commercial climbers through the icefall, icefall doctors said that not many youths are interested in working at Khumbu glacier.  

“Not many want to work at icefall because the work is really hard,” said Ang Sarki. 

Pemba Sherpa, who is another experienced member of the icefall team with an expertise in making knots with ropes, is well aware about the lack of interest among youths. He himself got into climbing after 15 years of work at a government office. He believes that a trained workforce is becoming even more important for the safety of climbers. Besides doing the icefall work, he has also been working as a climbing instructor to train youths, passing on his knowledge and expertise to the new generation of climbers. 

"We make use of 16/17 types of knots, depending on the stretch we are working on, as the rope and correct knots are crucial for climbers' safety," he said.

Ang Sarki said that he took on the job out of necessity, as it was the only employment option available to someone without formal education or qualifications. The first from his family to take on mountaineering work, he said that it is his sole source of income to support his family and educate his two children. 

In his village, subsistence farming is often the only option for those who want to avoid mountaineering and the risks involved in the profession. "Last year, we were caught in an avalanche while working in the icefall. Fortunately, we managed to survive by fleeing in time, albeit with minor injuries. Such incidents have become increasingly common," he said.