Remaining Trekkers Rescued from Mount Everest after Snowstorm

The Washington Post

13:41 JST, October 9, 2025

The final group of 15 hikers stranded on the Chinese side of Mount Everest have been rescued from the world’s tallest mountain, China’s state broadcaster reported Wednesday night, bringing to an end a holiday adventure gone badly wrong.

Almost 1,000 people got stuck after a weekend of heavy snowfall that made swaths of Mount Everest impassable. Many of the people had taken advantage of the mid-autumn festival, a string of holidays lasting more than a week, to make the journey.

Some 580 hikers had been rescued from the snowstorm by Tuesday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported, in addition to over 300 local guides, yak handlers and other workers assisting trekkers in their ascent up Mount Everest.

But some 15 other trekkers were still making their way down the mountain with help from rescuers, it added.

The final group safely reached Qudang township Wednesday night, where local rescue teams provided food, medicine, heating and oxygen equipment, and warm clothing, CCTV reported.

More 900 personnel – including police, firefighters, medical workers and local residents forming yak transport teams – were involved in the rescue, the state broadcaster reported.

Search-and-rescue teams, including some equipped with horses and drones, launched a days-long effort to get the hikers to safety, according to state media, with villagers also assisting with oxen and horses.

Local outlets were reporting that the hikers were trapped partway up the mountain at an elevation of about 16,400 feet, mostly at tourist campsites. The summit of Mount Everest has an altitude of some 29,000 feet.

One of those trapped, 41-year-old Eric Wen, recalled trekking for 12 miles through mostly heavy snow on his descent. “Thankfully, some people ahead of us were breaking trail, leaving footprints we could follow – that made it a little easier,” he told Reuters. “Otherwise, it would’ve been impossible for us to make it out on our own.”

One part of Everest is in Nepal and the other part is in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. Nepalese authorities told the Kathmandu Post that no climbers or tourists were trapped in the recent weather on the Nepalese side.

A large number of Chinese tourists had flocked to the area – a designated scenic site – because of the holiday period.

The full ascent to Mount Everest’s peak can take about two months, including the time taken to acclimatize to the extreme altitude. The increasing popularity of the climb with tourists, leading to traffic jams on some of its paths, has pushed Nepal to move to restricting permits to more experienced hikers.

While more than 6,000 hikers have successfully ascended Everest, hundreds have died on its slopes.