Disasters, earthquake and avalanche fail to deter Everest mountaineers and trekkers
When Nepal was struck by an earthquake last year and thousands of tons of snow and ice and earth came crashing down the mountain, some feared the climbers might never return to Mount Everest.
They shouldn't have worried.
Despite back-to-back Everest disasters - the 2015 earthquake and a massive avalanche the year before - hundreds of mountaineers and thousands of trekkers have come back for a new season.
With them, they bring millions of dollars to this poverty-wracked nation.
Everest Base Camp has once again turned into a village of bright nylon tents and tea huts, buzzing with the commerce of mountaineers hoping to reach the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) Everest summit, as well as trekkers who stop here.
Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, an umbrella group, said he believed that this year will be a "good and successful season."
The government has issued 289 permits this year to foreign climbers, each of whom paid 11,000 US dollars for the chance to reach the summit.
They will spend around two months on the mountain, acclimatising at lower altitudes before making their final attempts to reach the top.
More than 250 people have died on the mountain, which was first summited by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary in 1953.
"We have learnt a lot of lessons from the disasters from previous years. Now our rescue teams are more alert and experienced," Tshering said.
The April 2014 avalanche, which killed 13 Sherpa guides and three other Nepali workers, was an immense blow to the Sherpa community who work as guides and porters.
Nearly all the surviving Sherpas refused to continue working that year, demanding, among other things, better working conditions, more insurance, and free education for the children of those killed.
The government met most of their major demands, including requiring expeditions to insure Sherpas for up to 15,000 US dollars, but the season was effectively cancelled.
Last year, Sherpas had already set up two camps above Base Camp when the earthquake struck, unleashing an avalanche that tore into the tent city, burying climbers and staff.
Nineteen people were killed, 61 were injured and the pre-prepared route of ropes and ladders was destroyed.
When the Sherpas refused to rebuild the route, the season was scrubbed.
There were no successful climbs in 2015.
"I don't even want to remember what happened last year. I still feel sad, I still feel scared when I think of what happened last year. It happened in 2014 and it happened again in 2015, and people still fear that that could happen again this year," said Temba Tsheri from the Sherpa Khangri Outdoors mountaineering agency.
Over the past two years the government has enacted a series of policy changes, from stationing officials at Base Camp to creating a welfare fund for the families of the Sherpa dead, in large part to convince climbers and trekkers to keep coming back to Everest.
They shouldn't have worried.
Despite back-to-back Everest disasters - the 2015 earthquake and a massive avalanche the year before - hundreds of mountaineers and thousands of trekkers have come back for a new season.
With them, they bring millions of dollars to this poverty-wracked nation.
Everest Base Camp has once again turned into a village of bright nylon tents and tea huts, buzzing with the commerce of mountaineers hoping to reach the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) Everest summit, as well as trekkers who stop here.
Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, an umbrella group, said he believed that this year will be a "good and successful season."
The government has issued 289 permits this year to foreign climbers, each of whom paid 11,000 US dollars for the chance to reach the summit.
They will spend around two months on the mountain, acclimatising at lower altitudes before making their final attempts to reach the top.
More than 250 people have died on the mountain, which was first summited by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary in 1953.
"We have learnt a lot of lessons from the disasters from previous years. Now our rescue teams are more alert and experienced," Tshering said.
The April 2014 avalanche, which killed 13 Sherpa guides and three other Nepali workers, was an immense blow to the Sherpa community who work as guides and porters.
Nearly all the surviving Sherpas refused to continue working that year, demanding, among other things, better working conditions, more insurance, and free education for the children of those killed.
The government met most of their major demands, including requiring expeditions to insure Sherpas for up to 15,000 US dollars, but the season was effectively cancelled.
Last year, Sherpas had already set up two camps above Base Camp when the earthquake struck, unleashing an avalanche that tore into the tent city, burying climbers and staff.
Nineteen people were killed, 61 were injured and the pre-prepared route of ropes and ladders was destroyed.
When the Sherpas refused to rebuild the route, the season was scrubbed.
There were no successful climbs in 2015.
"I don't even want to remember what happened last year. I still feel sad, I still feel scared when I think of what happened last year. It happened in 2014 and it happened again in 2015, and people still fear that that could happen again this year," said Temba Tsheri from the Sherpa Khangri Outdoors mountaineering agency.
Over the past two years the government has enacted a series of policy changes, from stationing officials at Base Camp to creating a welfare fund for the families of the Sherpa dead, in large part to convince climbers and trekkers to keep coming back to Everest.