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Trekkers have described facing "harsh" situations after an unseasonable blizzard during one of China's most crowded festive periods trapped hundreds of individuals on Mount Everest, sparking a massive rescue operation.

Evacuation Efforts Underway

Officials in China reported that approximately 350 people had made their way down but at least 200 were still trapped at the Everest Scenic Area, situated to the east of the mountain, on the Tibet side of the border.

Crowds of tourists had journeyed to the region for "Golden Week," an week-long holiday period in China. However, Chinese authorities, who administer the Tibetan Autonomous Region, said intense snow had affected the area on Friday and Saturday night, trapping hundreds of individuals at campsites at an elevation of more than 4,900 meters (16,000 feet).

"This was the harshest conditions I've ever faced in all my trekking adventures, without question," Dong Shuchang stated on Weibo, describing a "intense snowstorm on the eastern slope" of Everest.

"Glancing upward in the middle of the night and saw that the snow had almost buried the top," shared a hiker on Xiaohongshu. "It was the initial instance I genuinely experienced the terror of being buried alive."

Eyewitness Reports

One Chinese trekker said their party had been "too scared to sleep" on that night as accumulation quickly piled up around their shelters, forcing them to remove it every 90 minutes. They decided to descend on the next day as the weather deteriorated.

"During the descent, we encountered our guide’s parent who had searched for him. That's when we learned the snow was heavy 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 sites on the neighboring side of the border and attracts high numbers of tourists for easier trekking, without summiting the peak.

Visual Evidence

Photos and video shared on the internet showed shelters buried in snow and lines of hikers walking through waist-high drifts to descend the mountain.

"It was extremely thick, and the path very slick. Trekkers often slipped – some fell, some were jostled by pack animals," noted a trekker, who added that all safely descended and were transported by bus.

Latest Developments

By the weekend, approximately 350 individuals had arrived in Qudang, a small town roughly 50 kilometers away from the Tibet-side starting point of Everest, "safe and sound," state media announced.

At least 200 additional remained trapped but had been contacted, the updates said. Media outlets reported that hundreds of emergency workers had gone up the mountain to assist those trapped and clear snow from blocking the way out.

Officials provided minimal updates or updated information about the operation on the following day. Uncertainty remained if the storm had affected individuals on the northern side of Everest, also in Tibet. The area is strictly regulated by the authorities, and journalistic access is restricted. The weather also seemed to have disrupted local communications, with attempts to contact shops failing. A number of hikers reported electricity was cut in Qudang when they arrived.

Seasonal Context

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

"Our leader told us he had not experienced conditions like this in the fall. And it happened very abruptly."

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

Broader Effects

Adjacent nations were also hit by severe conditions. Torrential downpours triggered landslides and sudden flooding that have blocked roads, washed away bridges, and killed at least 47 people since the start of the weekend in the neighboring country.