Eight Sherpas Build the Path Every Everest Climber Walks, and This Spring One Ice Tower Stopped Them for 19 Days
The Icefall Doctors fix the ladders and ropes through the Khumbu Icefall each spring, and in 2026 a 28-metre serac made it the latest route opening in years.
At a glance
- Published
- TopicRecords & People
- Verified againstThe Kathmandu Post
- Treks coveredEverest Base Camp Trek — 12 Days, Everest Base Camp Trek — 14 Days
Key facts
- 8 Icefall Doctors from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) build and maintain the Nepal-side route through the Khumbu Icefall
- The route opened on 28 April 2026, after a 19-day delay
- What blocked it: a serac about 55 m long, 37 m wide and 28 m high
- The glacier under the route advances about one metre every day
Almost everyone who has climbed Everest from the Nepal side walked through the Khumbu Icefall on a path they did not build. It was built weeks earlier by a small team of Sherpas, working on a glacier that will not stay still. This spring that team hit a problem that shut the mountain for close to three weeks.
Who the Icefall Doctors are
The Icefall Doctors work for the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which is based at Namche Bazaar. For spring 2026 the SPCC named Ang Sarki Sherpa as chief leader and Dawa Jangbu Sherpa as team leader. The team left Namche in early March and took refresher training at the Khumbu Climbing Center from 5 to 10 March. After a puja ceremony on 16 March they began work, and they expect to stay at Base Camp for about three months.
The job is to fix aluminium ladders across crevasses and run ropes up vertical ice walls. Then they keep it all safe. In the words of the team's own briefing, that means repairing ladders, adjusting ropes and rerouting sections when moving ice changes the landscape. The Khumbu Icefall advances about a metre a day, so a route that was safe on Monday can be wrong by the weekend.
The 2026 delay, step by step
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 16 March | Route preparation begins after the puja |
| 8 April | Passage secured up to the rockfall point; a cracked serac then blocks the way |
| 25 April | Helicopter inspection of the blockage |
| 26 April | Ground-level site visit |
| 28 April | Route declared open; fixing team reaches Camp I |
The Kathmandu Post reported that the serac had multiple cracks and could collapse at any time, so the team could not simply climb underneath it and carry on. The eight Icefall Doctors were joined by 16 mountain guides from expedition operators. Mingma G's team ran a separate effort. In the final push, drones delivered four aluminium ladders and five rolls of rope. Eight ladders now span three key sections, and the team expects to need more as crevasses widen with rising temperatures. As of 27 April, 425 Everest climbing permits had been issued.
Seven Summit Treks, Nepal's largest expedition operator, confirmed that as of 28 April the icefall route was officially open, with the fixing team having reached Camp I.
How unusual was it?
Alan Arnette's season reporting says the route normally opens between 2 and 16 April. Opening on 28 April was about twelve days after the latest date in that usual window. Ladder counts also vary widely: roughly 28 in 2013, as few as 5 in 2024, and eight so far this year.
The risk they carry
On 18 April 2014, at about 6:30 in the morning, an ice avalanche in the icefall at roughly 19,000 feet killed 16 Nepali mountain guides, most of them Sherpas, and injured nine. It was the deadliest single day in Everest's history. Afterwards a number of Sherpas boycotted the rest of the season, partly to honour the dead and partly to protest pay and treatment. The people who make the route safe for visiting climbers are the ones who spend the most hours in the hazard.
What this means for trekkers
You will not walk through the icefall on an Everest Base Camp trek. It hangs above Base Camp as part of the view. Its condition decides when climbers can go up, though, and this year's late opening explains the crowding you may read about. If you trek to Base Camp, look up at the ladders and ropes, and remember eight Sherpas made them.
Next steps
If you want to see the icefall from below, the classic route is our 12-day Everest Base Camp trek or the slower 14-day version, which gives your body more time at altitude. For the mess left on the mountain once the season ends, read our report on Everest's record season and 90,000 kilograms of trash.
Sources: The Kathmandu Post (29 April 2026); Alan Arnette, Everest 2026: Icefall Doctors Launched (1 March 2026); Tourism Info Nepal; HISTORY (2014 avalanche).
Cover photo: Sanjay Kodain Mountaineer via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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