If the first week is bad, Pratt said, some will wait to climb until the second week, he said.
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But climbers face many challenges, most notably altitude sickness. This season, 11 people have died trying to reach the summit, which stands 29,000 feet above sea level.
More people this year have also tried to climb Everest, whose summit can be reached from Nepal or China.
Nepal issued a record 381 permits to climbers this year, 35 more than last season, the Associated Press reported. On the other hand, China decreased the amount of permits it handed out this season to climb through Tibet.
“Anytime that somebody tells you, referring to the overcrowding, that all you have to do is reduce the number of climbers, it would take a reduction by a fraction to do something,” Pratt said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
When Pratt summited Mount Everest in May 2012 in sub-40 degree weather and biting winds, he did so via the Northeast Ridge from Tibet. When he was climbing in the death zone, Pratt said, he saw dead bodies.
“When you encounter that in the dark, from the light of your headlamp, it’s a little unnerving,” he said.
Some who died on Everest this year did so on their descent. Many people are so exhausted from the trek, they can’t make it safely down the mountain, Pratt said.
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“They underestimate the difficulty of getting down, and if you’ve completely spent yourself just to touch the summit, you put yourself in a real compromised situation,” he said.
Other factors, such as unskilled guides and climbers contribute to the high number of deaths, Pratt said. Unfortunately, he said, deaths are to be expected when climbing the world’s tallest mountain.
“You got a rough environment and a lot of people pursuing it, and as unpalatable as it might be, it’s going to happen,” Pratt said. “If it was made completely safe, somehow, it wouldn’t be Mount Everest.”
Material from Globe wire services was used in this report. Breanne Kovatch can be reached at breanne.kovatch@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @breannekovatch.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/05/29/man-who-climbed-mount-everest-says-weather-plays-part-overcrowding/xY8vgmKUw5K4HPAmD0XWpO/story.html
2019-05-30 14:37:30Z
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