KATHMANDU: The world’s highest mountain witnessed a traffic jam near the balcony area after more than 200 climbers attempted to reach the summit point of Mt Everest this morning.

According to Gyanendra Shrestha, a liaison officer at the Everest base camp, many climbers who reach above Camp IV early this morning complained of waiting more than two hours in queues at bottlenecks on their way to the summit point.

“Over 200 climbers including high-altitude climbing guides headed from the South Col to the summit point early this morning after they found a second weather window to attempt to stand atop the roof of the world,” Shrestha told THT from the base camp.

Many climbers shared that they had to wait for over two hours to cross the south summit, Shrestha quoted climbers as saying. “There’s a long queue of climbers above Camp IV,” he said, adding that over 200 have already made it to the summit point till this afternoon.

“Everyone seems in a hurry to reach the summit point when the weather is clear. The second summit window may last for the next two days,” he said. The climbers have now been descending to Camp IV after the summit, Shrestha added.

Earlier, the first two-day weather window was closed on April 16 after over 150 world climbers made it to the summit of Mt Everest. A team of rope-fixing Sherpa climbers had opened a climbing route to the top becoming the first team to stand atop the roof of the world on April 14.

According to the Department of Tourism, the government issued a record number of climbing permits to the mountaineers representing 44 teams this spring season - 381, the most since 1953 after the world’s highest peak was first scaled by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa. Along with the expedition members, more than 500 Sherpa climbers have also been accompanying the teams on Mt Everest this year.