Single-day quest: 150 climbers reach Mt Everest summit

Aided by improved weather, over 150 climbers, including a team from the Indian Army, today successfully scaled Mt Everest, crowding the world's highest peak in Nepal since natural disasters forced mountaineers to abandon their expeditions for two years.
According to an official of the Tourism Ministry, the climbers included a team of army personnel from the UAE and another from the Indian Army.
The official said that many other mountaineers on the expedition were on their way to the summit.
The climbers were stopped yesterday due to high winds but a clear weather from early morning today helped them conquer the peak.

It is not unusual for a large number of climbers to reach the summit on a single day as harsh weather in the mountainous region enables a window of only two to three days in May.
Although the expedition to the world's highest peak opened on May 11, the expedition came to a halt for two days on Tuesday and Wednesday due to bad weather.

The weather today was favourable however, and many mountaineers were returning safely to the lower camps.
During the past six days the expedition was opened, 88 climbers including foreigners have scaled Mt Everest, the tourism department said.

Nine Nepalese Sherpas successfully scaled the Everest on May 11, for the first time in two years since expeditions were allowed because of a series of deadly disasters.
In 2015, an avalanche triggered by a powerful earthquake killed 19 climbers and injured 61 others at the base camp. A year before that, 16 sherpa guides were killed by an avalanche above the base camp.
The recurring disasters on the mountain and deadly earthquakes last year had led to fears that climbers would be driven, but thousands of foreign trekkers returned this spring to Nepal, which has eight of the highest mountains in the world.

Nepal has issued 289 permits to mountaineers for this year's spring climbing season, which runs from mid-April to May end.