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Everest

Crazy situation though - who'd want to climb like that, virtually a non-stop queue all the way to the summit, and junk all over the place.
I'd like to see the whole mountain closed for a couple of years and cleaned up.. Not that I'm ever likely to go there.
 
I think that's the Hilary Step and if so it's a place where fixed ropes are needed, so people go up it single file and (especially due to the altitude) slowly. I've a read a few books about Everest and it's quite common to have delays there, with a knock-on impact on people summiting late and then getting into trouble on the way down. Some (sensible) groups have arrived, seen the queues, and turned straight back - but others (under pressure to get their charges to the summit) press on, which doesn't always end well.
 
I think you're right, that does look like the Hillary Step, and there are often queues.

You have to understand that mountain tourism is the only real source of income for Nepal, they have very little else and it's a poor country. There will always be a draw to the biggest, and the fact that Everest is technically easy makes it very attractive to people who are not necessarily very experienced mountaineers but who want to "climb the highest mountain". K2 carries far more mountaineering kudos, and it is far harder and more remote, making it a much more serious proposition only suitable for the most highly skilled climbers. As a result it sees much less traffic.
 
I bagged Snowdon a fortnight ago and Pen Y Fan a few weeks before that. Does that make me a mountaineer? I know it doesn't...
 
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