Nepal earthquake: Mount Everest climbs to resume next week

Climbing will reopen on Mount Everest next week after damage to routes caused by avalanches that were set off by a huge earthquake, one of which killed 18 climbers at base camp, senior officials said on Thursday.

"Next week, expeditions will continue," said Tulsi Prasad Gautam, chief of the mountaineering department at the tourism ministry.

At an informal meeting of officials and climbing groups, it was agreed that there was "no additional risk" to climbers as a result of the earthquake, which has killed thousands of people in Nepal.

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A team called the Icefall Doctors would within one week fix the route through the treacherous Khumbu icefalls, taken by climbers scaling the south side of Everest on Nepaleseterritory, Gautam told Reuters.

A massive avalanche unleashed by Saturday's 7.8 magnitude quake wiped out a swath of Everest base camp, killing 18 climbers and Sherpa mountain guides and injuring more than 60.

Many climbers have abandoned their ascent of Everest, the world's tallest peak at 8,850 metres (29,035 feet).

Others have, however, hunkered down in hope of pressing ahead despite the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Nepal, where more than 5,500 people have died in the quake and its aftermath.

Gautam said that 60 to70 foreign climbers remained at base camp, but expected climbers to regroup and more than 350 to try to reach the summit. With their local Sherpa mountain guides, some 700 would scale Everest in total, he said, a normal number for the spring season.

Gautam said that most of the ropes buried under avalanche snow on the Khumbu icefalls would be pulled out and used.

If it was not possible to use the old ropes, new ropes and ladders would be laid that have already been brought to Everest base camp.

The mountaineering department is also considering extending the season into early June for those holding 90-day permits to climb Everest. Typically the monsoon sets in on or after June 1, with heavy cloud cover making climbing impossible.

Ang Tshering Sherpa, head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, confirmed that the Icefall Doctors were working on the route up to the advanced camps from which climbers mount their final assault on the summit.