Two Climbers Are Missing After a Disaster on Mount Everest

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Two climbers are presumed dead and several others are lucky to be alive following a terrifying disaster near the summit of Mount Everest.

The accident happened on Tuesday, May 21 at 7 A.M. near the section of the route formerly called the Hillary Step, a steep, razor-thin ridge of rock and ice located at 28,839 feet, just a few hundred feet from the top. Guides told Outside that a large traffic jam formed as climbers returning from the summit met a line of others heading for the mountain’s highest point. As the groups navigated the bottleneck, the ice ledge they were standing on broke free and tumbled down the peak’s northern side.

Eyewitnesses told Base Camp officials that six climbers fell on the mountain’s sheer Kangshung Face, which towers over Tibet. Four were saved by a rope.

“Three or four people were left hanging on the safety rope and our team helped bring them back to safety,” Nga Tenji Sherpa of Summit Force Expeditions said. “They didn’t know it at the time but two people went missing.”

Nga Tenji was not on the peak, but the scene was relayed to him by guides and Sherpas working for his outfit. He said the climbers who were clipped into safety ropes dangled some 35 feet below the route on the exposed slope. Guides from Summit Force Expeditions and other companies worked together to pull them to safety. After those climbers were saved, guides realized that two climbers fell down the peak. Whether or not they were connected to the rope is not known.

“There were many other people and climbing Sherpas that assisted,” he said. “But in the accident there were definitely two deaths—they were returning from the summit.”

On Wednesday, The Himalayan Times reported that the missing men are Daniel Paul Peterson, 40, from the United Kingdom and Pas Tenji Sherpa,23, from Nepal. They two were climbing with guiding company 8K Expeditions, and both had reached the summit of Mount Everest at approximately 4:40 A.M. on Tuesday, Nepali officials confirmed. After the disaster, six guides were dispatched by 8K Expeditions to search for the missing climbers. “Additionally, all other expedition team members are requested to assist in the search and rescue operation,” the Neapali tourism department said in a statement.

On Wednesday, a representative from 8K Expeditions told Outside that the search had come up empty.

The two missing climbers’ chances of survival are slim, officials told Outside. The Kangshung Face on Everest’s northern side plunges 11,000 vertical feet down to a glacier. Officials have yet to declare the two men dead—their deaths would represent the fourth and fifth on the peak this year. Last week two Mongolian climbers died at 27,000 feet after descending from the top. On Monday, May 20, a Romanian climber named Gabriel Tabara was discovered dead in his tent at Camp III.

The disaster came amid a busy period on the world’s highest peak, as hundreds of climbers and guides ascended from Nepal and made their pushes for the summit. Officials have net to confirm the number of climbers to reach the summit during the two-day period starting on Sunday, May 20. ExplorersWeb estimates that between 150 and 200 people reached the top. On May 19, The Himalayan Times reported that 100 people reached the top that day alone. From May 19-22, multiple expedition operators posted updates online about their respective teams.

“100 percent success rate for all of our Everest south side teams,” wrote Furtenbach Adventures. 8K Expeditions listed 17 clients and 21 Sherpas who reached the top in an Instagram post. Nepali company 14 Peaks Expeditions named 17 climbers and guides who reached the top. Climbing The Seven Summits listed 14 clients and guides who were part of the company’s third wave to push for the summit.

“59 total Everest summits for CTSS this season—woohoo!” the company wrote on Instagram.

The disaster again raises questions about the potential for overcrowding on the world’s highest peak, and the dangers that arise from traffic jams along the route. The Hillary Step and summit ridge are often the site of traffic jams during busy times on the mountain. In 2019 a dramatic photo of a traffic jam along this section of the route circulated online.

Ben Ayers and Tulsi Rauniyar contributed to this report. 

This is a developing story. Stay tuned to OutsideOnline for updates.