A flying drone filmed the looming tower of ice that threatens the route through the Khumbu Icefall. The serac has prevented officials from opening Mount Everest to climbers.
Updated April 27, 2026 04:10PM
The drama around deadly towers of ice on Mount Everest continues.
As Outside reported last week, the climbing season on Everest is delayed by three weeks. The culprit is a massive wall of crumbling ice in the Khumbu Icefall that could collapse at any moment. The Icefall Doctors, the team that each year builds the route through the icefall, has been unable to complete the pathway. That’s because the route would need to pass directly under one of the biggest ice towers. If it fell, it would kill anyone walking below.
On April 26, two different teams of guides and glacier specialists ventured into the Khumbu Icefall to assess the danger. A 17-member squad comprised of members from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) and the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal, hiked to the area around the serac determine whether or not it will fall. The team expressed caution in its communication, advising climbers in Base Camp that the SPCC intends to wait for the serac to fall before completing the route.
“The condition is very worse at the moment, though the SPCC pre-assumed the seracs would collapse within ten days,” wrote Milan Rai, a guide with 8K Expeditions, who was part of the team. “The big wall of seracs on the north Lolha to South Nuptse face is very unstable. So this year there is no other alternative route for Everest until the seracs collapse.”
Another team, comprised of five guides and climbers, attempted to chart a route through the Khumbu Icefall that sidesteps the dangerous area. According to a Facebook post by Imagine Nepal, an expedition operator that helped with the reconnoissance mission, the five found an alternative pathway.
“They found the route far safer than it is being talked about,” the post said. “All climbers who have been above the ice blockage think the route is safe.”
As of April 27, officials on Everest are still waiting for the wall of ice to crumble before sending route builders through it.
On April 26, pilots from the aerial company Airlift Technologies flew a drone over the Khumbu Icefall to analyze the deadly serac from different angles. You can watch the video ab They also completed a three-dimensional digital map of the glacier. The video, shown above, gives the clearest view yet of the dangerous obstacle that’s preventing Mount Everest season from kicking off.
Ben Ayers contributed to this report.
