Huge chunk of glacier blocks Everest route in peak climbing season

A huge, unstable chunk of glacier is blocking the route up Mount Everest from Base Camp in Nepal just as peak climbing season gets under way in the Himalayas. "Icefall doctors" – who fix ropes and ladders on the lower part of the route up the world's highest peak - can find no way round the 100-foot-high (30m) block of ice just under Camp 1. They s...

A huge, unstable chunk of glacier is blocking the route up Mount Everest from Base Camp in Nepal just as peak climbing season gets under way in the Himalayas.

"Icefall doctors" – who fix ropes and ladders on the lower part of the route up the world's highest peak - can find no way round the 100-foot-high (30m) block of ice just under Camp 1.

They say the only option is to wait for the ice block, called a serac, to melt – which they hope will happen within days.

The delay means preparations are weeks behind schedule for the spring season when weather for Everest ascents is usually best, and fears are growing that climbers will be queuing to reach the summit again this year.