Lines of people on Everest causing deadly ‘traffic jams’

If there’s one place you’d bet on being safe from crowds of tourists, it’s up near the summit of Mount Everest. Sadly, it seems everyone had the same idea, leading to scenes of long lines of people waiting to ascend the world’s highest mountain. Such is the gridlock up there that experts believe overcrowding could have caused a recent collapse near a precipice, which led to the disappearance of two climbers. Footage shows hundreds of people snaking up Everest’s Hillary Step, the crowding exacerbated by the summit only being reachable during brief periods of clear weather. Deaths and accidents in recent years have prompted the Nepal Mountaineering Association to say that there are ‘more people on Everest than there should be,’ and this influx doesn’t look like it is slowing down any time soon.