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Trekkers have described encountering "harsh" situations after an unseasonable blizzard during one of China's busiest holiday weekends stranded hundreds of individuals on Mount Everest, sparking a large-scale rescue effort.

Evacuation Efforts Underway

Officials in China stated that around 350 people had made their way down but at least 200 were still trapped at the Everest Scenic Area, located to the east of the mountain, on the Tibetan side of the border.

Crowds of tourists had journeyed to the area for "Golden Week," an week-long festive break in China. However, local officials, who administer the Tibetan Autonomous Region, confirmed intense snow had affected the area on Friday and Saturday night, trapping numerous of individuals at tent sites at an altitude of more than 4,900 meters (16,000 feet).

"It was the most extreme weather I've ever faced in all my trekking experiences, without question," a Chinese trekker stated on Weibo, detailing a "violent convective blizzard on the east face" of Everest.

"I looked up in the middle of the night and noticed that the snow had almost buried the peak," shared a hiker on Xiaohongshu. "It was the initial instance I truly felt the terror of being buried alive."

Personal Accounts

A hiker from China mentioned their group had been "too frightened to sleep" on Saturday as accumulation rapidly built up around their tents, forcing them to clear it hourly. They decided to go down on Sunday as the conditions worsened.

"On the way, we met our guide’s parent who had searched for him. It was then we learned the snow was intense in the lowlands too; villagers, unable to contact their children on the mountain, were deeply concerned."

The northern and eastern side of Everest is more accessible than locations on the neighboring side of the border and attracts high numbers of visitors for easier hiking, not requiring ascent of the peak.

Online Documentation

Photos and video posted online depicted shelters covered by snow and rows of trekkers walking through waist-high snowbanks to descend the mountain.

"The snow was extremely thick, and the path extremely slippery. Hikers often slipped – some fell, some were jostled by yaks," noted a trekker, who clarified that all safely descended and were picked up by bus.

Latest Developments

By the weekend, approximately 350 people had arrived in Qudang, a village roughly 50 kilometers away from the Tibetan starting point of Everest, "in good health," official sources announced.

No fewer than 200 more remained trapped but had been reached, the updates said. Local news reported that scores of emergency workers had ascended the mountain to help people and remove accumulation from obstructing the way out.

Officials provided minimal updates or new details about the rescue effort on the following day. Uncertainty remained if the weather had affected individuals on the northern side of Everest, within the same region. The area is tightly controlled by the Chinese government, and media entry is limited. The weather also seemed to have disrupted phone services, with calls to local businesses failing. A number of hikers said power was out in Qudang when they arrived.

Weather Patterns

October is a busy period for the area, with usually calm and pleasant conditions, but one trekker, among 18 members of a trekking group that made it back to Qudang, commented that the weather this year was "not normal."

"The guide told us he had never encountered such weather in October. And it happened all too suddenly."

The local tourism authority announced ticket sales and access to the Everest Scenic Area were halted from Saturday.

Broader Effects

Neighbouring countries were affected as well by extreme weather. Torrential downpours caused mudslides and flash floods that have blocked roads, destroyed crossings, and claimed the lives of at least 47 individuals since Friday in the neighboring country.