The Mount Everest spring climbing season has ended, mostly due to bad weather conditions as of May 31st. Leaving the death toll this season to cap at 11, almost two times the average per year.

This number of deaths is so worrisome not only because that is a lot of people, but also because all of the deaths occurred within one month.

One reason this death rate was so high was because the mountain was extremely overcrowded. Though this makes sense because the number of permits that were given out to people wanting to climb was higher than usual.

As photos of the mountain show, there was a lines going up the mountain and over peaks. These lines were dangerous because of the low oxygen levels in the air at the heights that the lines were at. Also most lines were on ridges where one wrong step could lead to a fall of thousands of feet

Though all of these deaths were sad most of the deaths occurred after the person reached the top of the mountain. Meaning they reached a goal, for some they reached the goal of getting into the 7 summits club, ‘a club’ of people who have climbed the highest mountains on all 7 continents.

The fact that most people had already reached the summit also meant that not many fell, most died from complications with oxygen and altitude levels and exhaustion.

One of the worst parts about deaths on a mountain so tall is that it can be extremely hard to get the bodies off the mountain. In fact, in most cases bodies at altitudes over 21,000 feet are left on the mountain, and because of the freezing temperatures, are accidentally preserved.

But, as global warming gets worse ice has started melting, and with that bodies have started surfacing from under the ice. There has been around 300 deaths on Everest within the past 6 decades. About 100 of those deaths have ended with bodies being left on the mountain. So now people are hiking up the mountain right next to frozen bodies. Giving the trek a sometimes gloomy feel.

As global warming progresses and more people decide to try to trek Everest the death toll will, almost certainly, rise. Hopefully by next year restrictions will be made about how many people can go up at a time and weather conditions will improve. If not, good luck to the future climbers.