Although no extensive research has been done looking at climate change and mountaineering risks in the Himalayas, climbers have reported crevasses widening, running water on previously snowy slopes, and increasing formation of glacial lakes
Nepal is home to the most popular Himalayan peaks. Between 1950 and 2021, 1,042 deaths were recorded there, 405 of them this century.
Image: Prakash Mathema / AFP
US climber Hilaree Nelson's death has brought home how treacherous the Himalayas are, dangers that guides and experts say are rising due to climate change and as more people seek high-altitude thrills.
Nelson, 49, was fatally swept down from close to the peak of the 8,163-metre (26,781-foot) Manaslu, the world's eighth-highest mountain that she and her partner were attempting to ski down. Her body was retrieved on Wednesday.
A third of deaths are caused by avalanches, according to the Himalayan Database, and a third by climbers falling. Many also die from mountain sickness and exhaustion.
The deadliest is 8,091-metre Annapurna massif, with 72 deaths for 365 ascents since the 1950s—or one for every five successful summits. Dhaulagiri and Kanchenjunga both have a death rate of over 10 percent.