Four climbers dead on Everest, 'mountain of extremes': VIDEO
Four climbers dead on Everest, 'mountain of extremes'
How hard is it to climb Mt. Everest?
By Phurba Sherpa and Sugam Pokharel, CNN
Updated 0212 GMT (1012 HKT) May 24, 2016
(CNN)Danger has long been part of the allure of climbing the world's highest peak.
Avalanches killed 35 climbers on Mount Everest the past two years -- including 16 in one devastating day in 2014. At least one person has died climbing the mountain in Nepal every year since 1900.
And now the 2016 climbing season has claimed its first victims.
Since last Thursday four people have died on the 29,035-foot peak, including a Sherpa. Rescue efforts are ongoing for two other missing climbers.
"Everest is a mountain of extremes," said Jon Kedrowski, a geographer and climber who summited Mount Everest in 2012, when 10 climbers died. "At altitude, the body deteriorates on a certain level.
The recent deaths -- coming so quickly on the heels of one another -- have rattled climbers who are beginning their descent as the Everest climbing season nears its end. April and May are the most common months to attempt a climb because there tends to be less wind. Regardless, the climate on the mountain is brutal. Temperatures range from -31 to -4 Fahrenheit.
April was the first month of climbing since all ascent was halted after the catastrophic earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015 and a deadly avalanche that killed 16 Sherpas in one day in 2014. More than 200 climbers have died since Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made the first official ascent in 1953.
And yet the hopefuls keep coming. More than 400 people have attempted the Everest climb this season, including 288 foreigners and more than 100 Sherpas and guides, said Sudarshan Dhakal, director of the Nepal Tourism Department. That's more than the average for previous seasons, he said.
Everest summit reached for first time after two years
Here's a closer look at the recent fatalities.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/22/asia/everest-climbing-deaths
