Solukhumbu: Ten Sherpa climbers known as ‘icefall doctors’ for their role in fixing ropes for the expedition teams reached atop the world's highest peak Mt Everest late Friday, opening the route for other climbers.    

With the fixing of the ropes, the expedition to Mt Everest has formally opened this year, Khimlal Gautam, chief of the Field Office of the Department of Tourism, told the state-owned RSS.    

According to Gautam, the rope fixing team reached the top of Mt Everest at 8:15 pm on Friday.

"Now, the route to Mt Everest is open for this season. Other climbers will scale Mt Everest following the successful summit of the peak by the Sherpa members," Gautam said.   

According to RSS, the members of the rope fixing team include Dendi Sherpa, Tenzing Gyalzen Sherpa, Pemba Tasi Sherpa, Lakpa Sherpa, Dawa Rinze Sherpa, Dawa Sherpa, Pam Dorjee Sherpa, Suk Bahadur Tamang, Namgyal Dorjee Tamang and Lakpa Rinze Sherpa.    

Meanwhile, AFP also confirmed that the icefall doctors climbed Mt Everest citing Chhang Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks, which led the team.

"A good weather window has been predicted until May 14, it is possible we will see over a hundred summits by then," AFP quoted Gautam as saying.

The Government of Nepal has issued 414 permits to mountaineers for this year's spring climbing season, which runs from April to early June.

Most Everest hopefuls are each escorted by a Nepali guide, meaning more than 800 climbers will tread the same path to the top of the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) peak in the coming weeks, the French news agency further reported, adding, “This year, China reopened the Tibetan route to foreigners for the first time since it closed in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.”

Nepal is home to eight of the world's 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring, when temperatures are warm and winds are typically calm. Last year, over 600 climbers made it to the peak of the highest mountain in the world. It also became the deadliest season on the mountain with 18 deaths, added AFP.

“A boom in climbers has made mountaineering a lucrative business since Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay made the first ascent in 1953.”