A team of icefall doctors, tasked with opening up the Everest climbing route through Khumbu icefall, have completed laying down ladders and ropes up to Camp II for this spring, said Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC). 

"The team safely arrived back to base camp on Thursday after completing their task," said Tshering Tenzing Sherpa, Base Camp Manager of SPCC. The team of icefall doctors comprise of Ang Sarki Sherpa, Chhewang Nuru Sherpa, Dawa Jangbu Sherpa, Dawa Nuru Sherpa, Mingma Temba Sherpa, Pemba Tshering Sherpa, Sonam Tshering Sherpa and Tenzing Dorjee Sherpa. 

The SPCC is responsible for clearing the route through Khumbu icefall, the most treacherous section of the Everest climb, while other expedition operators fix the climbing ropes after camp II up to the summit. 

This year, Imagine Nepal Trek and Expedition has been assigned to fix the climbing rope to the summit. According to Mingma Gyalje Sherpa aka Mingma G, Managing Director of the company, his rope fixing team is set to start the task beginning Monday (April 10). 

Heavy snowfall made the rope fixing difficult this season. However, the team cleared the route as scheduled. The Nepali mountains received snowfall only in March after a long spell of extremely dry winter throughout the country with no rain and snow in sight. Tshering said that the icefall doctors had tough time navigating the route through mounds of fresh snow.

Bad weather has also halted all climbing attempts of Manaslu and Annapurna. Continuous snow triggered avalanches in these mountains. Some climbers are still waiting at the base camp waiting for a better weather window, while many others have returned to Kathmandu and Pokhara. 

The Everest region remained tense last week for another reason -the arrangement of transporting goods to the base camp. Local authority issued a ban on cargo helicopters to Everest base camp and asked the expedition operators to use porters and yaks instead for transporting expedition supplies above Syangboche (3,800m). 

Expedition operators insisted on the use of helicopters citing that there was not enough yaks and porters to carry thousands of tons of goods. This has caused a delay in supplies reaching the base camp which could have an adverse effect on the upcoming expeditions. 

The local autonomous authority, Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, insisted that this was an earlier agreed upon pact and that the operators should have started transporting their load from the previous month. Asian Trekking started transporting loads using yaks two months before the season. However, most of the expedition companies started stockpiling rations and equipment only after the start of the season. 

"This is an old agreement reached among national park authorities, expedition operators, helicopter companies and the locals. In fact, only its implementation was delayed by several years," said Mingma Chhiri Sherpa, chairperson of the Municipality, under which Khumbu and Everest region falls.

He said that residents of the Municipality and even Sagarmatha National Park expressed concerns over the use of helicopters in the region. "Khumbu gets only noise pollution and leftover garbage after expedition," said Laxman Adhikari, Chairperson of Ward 4. 

Of late, there has been a dramatic rise in the use of helicopters to transport loads to the base camp. It is also because of the rise in luxury expedition -which includes heated tents, an expansive menu and oxygen. Some companies even use helicopters to fly their clients, not just supplies, to the base camp. Climbers, who acclimatize at home in hypoxic tent that mimics the thin air at high altitude, fly directly to the base camp these days. Residents of Khumbu region feel cheated by expedition operators and helicopter companies as they are being skipped over.

After Expedition Operators Association Nepal (EOAN) reached out to Department of Tourism, for mediation, the local body have allowed cargo helicopters to carry items weighing above 120 kg. "For instance, dome tent weighs 120 kg, which yaks cannot carry. But all other items should be transported by yaks and porter," said Adhikari. 

For this season, the EOAN estimates there will be 400 climbers for Everest alone, and another 100 climbers for Lhotse and Nuptse. Above 2,000 mountain guides and supporting staff will accompany them. Their stay at the base camp is generally around two months long.