Hundreds of trekkers stranded on Everest in shock snowstorm

Trekkers have described facing “extreme” conditions after an unseasonable snowstorm during one of China’s busiest holiday weekends stranded hundreds of people on Mount Everest, prompting a massive rescue effort.

- Helen Davidson

Chinese authorities said about 350 people had made their way down but at least 200 remained stranded at the Everest Scenic Area, to the east of the mountain, on the Tibetan side of the border.

Tourists had travelled to the region for “Golden Week”, an eight-day holiday in China. But Chinese authorities, who control the Tibetan Autonomous Region, said heavy snowfall had hit the area on Friday and Saturday night, trapping hundreds of people at campsites at an elevation of more than 4,900 metres (16,000ft).

“It was the most extreme weather I’ve ever faced in all my hiking experiences, without question,” Dong Shuchang, a Chinese trekker, said on Weibo, describing a “violent convective snowstorm on the eastern slope” of Everest.