Nepal issues record number of permits to climb Mount Everest

CNN — Nepal has issued permits for a record 463 climbers so far for this spring season’s expeditions to Mount Everest even as experts worry about dangerous overcrowding at the summit. Spring is the prime time to climb Mount Everest, although some mountaineers might climb in the less favorable autumn season. The climbers, along with staff members and Sherpa guides, would spend nearly two weeks hiking to the Everest base camp, which sits at an altitude of around 17,000 feet. He told CNN at the time that there were roughly 320 people in the queue to the top in an area known as the “death zone.” The more than 460 climbers who have received permission to climb this spring will be accompanied by more than 1,500 Nepali Sherpas and other staff at the base camp and above.