Sixty major avalanches have been recorded in Nepal’s mountains over the past century, most of them in the Everest region.

Studies show these incidents were directly related to climate change and increasing human activities. The makeup of Everest is changing—and fast.

“Over the years, I have witnessed many glacial streams form and crevasses grow wider in the Everest region,” mountaineer Onchhu Sherpa says. “The base camp itself is riddled with holes and fissures.”

Global warming has increased the risk of avalanches in Nepal’s mountains in recent decades. The study ‘Glacial Hazards and Avalanches in High Mountains of Nepal’s Himalaya’ suggests that climate change and human activities have added to the challenges of preserving Everest.

Sherpa says these changes are unnatural and deeply troubling, but Nepal is still not doing enough to stop the impending disaster.

The consequences of these changes will mostly affect the life and livelihood of people residing in the lower Everest regions.

“We don’t know when a devastating avalanche will hit the area. It is the locals who will bear the brunt because tourists and mountaineers visit the region only during the climbing season,” says Sherpa.

The Everest basecamp is also not safe anymore and the government is planning to move its starting point around 200 meters below the current site.

“The current basecamp located close to the Khumbu glacier is getting increasingly unstable. By relocating the basecamp, we hope to lower the melting process of the glacier,” says Taranath Adhikari, director-general of the department.

The Everest basecamp is located at an altitude of 5,364m. Nearly 1,500 people camp up there during the climbing season. Discarded food packets, climbing gear and other solid waste litter the place, which is also a cause for concern.

“How can the basecamp remain intact when you have hundreds of people camping there for days?” asks Lamakaji Sherpa, a tourism entrepreneur based at Namche.

Karma Sherpa, a tourism expert, says there used to be a time when mountaineers and their guides had to remove a thick cover of snow at the basecamp to set up camp. “It isn’t so these days. These days the basecamp is largely naked and full of holes,” he says.

Scientists say while avalanches are caused by various natural factors like snowstorms and heavy snowfalls, there is no doubt that climate change and human activities have increased their frequency.

Between 1922 and 2020, a total of 372 people lost their lives in mountain avalanches in Nepal, and of them 324 were in the Everest region.