Climbers attempt to be first to scale Everest during winter in 27 years

Five-strong group already at base camp awaiting good weather

Mount Everest is seen from Namche Bajar, Solukhumbu district, Nepal (AP)

Five climbers are plotting an attempt to be the first group to scale Mount Everest in winter for decades.

The daredevil feat has not been achieved since 1993 – 27 years ago. The first person to manage it did so in 1980.

Three Spaniards and two Germans have decided to eschew the usual tactic of climbing during the short spring season in April and May in order to undertake the rare challenge.

They are already at base camp, where they are acclimatising to the altitude and waiting for good weather, according to Meera Acharya from Nepal’s Department of Mountaineering.

Sherpas are expected to accompany them, though no decision has yet been reached on how many of the Nepalese guides will undertake the daunting climb.

While rules do not prevent a winter summit attempt, few have ever managed to reach the 8,850m mark at this time of year.

Nepalese officials signalled last year that they planned to impose stricter rules on who can ascend, blocking those with too little experience.

“Everest cannot be climbed just based on one’s wishes,” Yogesh Bhattarai, the tourism minister, said in August.

It followed a string of deaths in 2019 blamed at least in part on human traffic jams near the summit.

Photographs showed dozens of climbers crowded onto a razor-thin ridge, while some people reported having to step over corpses to complete their climb.

One said in May: “I cannot believe what I saw up there. Death. Carnage. Chaos. Lineups. Dead bodies on the route and in tents at camp four.

“People who I tried to turn back who ended up dying. People being dragged down. Walking over bodies. Everything you read in the sensational headlines all played out on our summit night.”

In June 2019, a clean-up expedition removed nearly 11 tons of litter from the mountain including food wrappers, empty gas cylinders and bottles.

Additional reporting by agencies