KATHMANDU, MAY 10 The Spring 2026 Everest climbing season claimed its second life on Sunday when Bijay Ghimire Bishwakarma, a veteran climber and Youtuber from Solu Dudhkunda Municipality of Solukhumbu district, died in the Khumbu Icefall while ascending from Base Camp toward the high camps. Ghimire, who had summited Everest four times previously, is the first from Dalit community to scale the world's highest peak. He was part of an expedition managed by TAG Nepal Treks and Expeditions. Initial reports indicate he died of cardiac arrest. His body was recovered and airlifted by Altitude Air to Lukla. According to Lukla police, Ghimire reportedly fell ill at around 4:00 am on Sunday at Camp I and breathed his last while being brought down to Base Camp. His body is being sent to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) in Kathmandu for post-mortem, after which it will be handed over to the family, Lukla police said. The death came days after rope-fixing teams finally completed the route to Camp IV at the South Col on May 8, bringing summit bids within reach. A 10-member Sherpa team under the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal (EOAN), led by Migma Dorchi Sherpa, fixed ropes to the South Col at 7,906 metres by 7:15 pm on Thursday. Load ferry operations, oxygen cache drops, and climber rotation procedures were set to begin from Saturday, with EOAN expecting to complete the final push to the summit within a week, weather permitting. That milestone was the product of weeks of sustained high-altitude work following a prolonged and tense delay. An unstable hanging serac in the Khumbu Icefall had blocked the route well past the point it would normally be open, typically the first week of April, preventing acclimatisation rotations and compressing the summit window. Expedition operators warned of mounting financial losses and formally requested the government to allow helicopters to airlift logistics and rope-fixing Sherpas directly to Camp II, with a seasonal extension beyond the usual May 29 closing date also under active discussion. Acting on a ministerial-level decision, the Department of Tourism granted EOAN special authorisation to supplement the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee's (SPCC) Icefall Doctors with skilled mountain guides from member agencies. After aerial and ground assessments concluded the serac remained too dangerous to cross directly, an independent group of climbers from Imagine Nepal, Elite Expeditions, and Altipro, joined by Polish mountaineer Bartek Ziemski, entered the contested section without coordination on April 26, fixed ladders and ropes toward Camp I, and retreated just short of it in a whiteout. The joint team reviewed their line and returned on April 28, with 13 mountain guides from EOAN joining eight SPCC Icefall Doctors to successfully break through to Camp I, eight days later than the previous year. The route to Camp II was completed thereafter and formally confirmed open by the Department of Tourism on April 29. The SPCC cautioned at the time that the serac, roughly 55 metres in length, 28 metres in height, and 37 metres in breadth, with multiple cracks, remained a live hazard, urging climbers to move quickly and carry minimal loads through the section, warning the ice formation could collapse at any time. With the icefall open, rope-fixing teams pressed steadily upward. By May 6, the joint team had laid ropes approximately 350 metres above Camp III, with lead guides Kilu Sherpa and Pasang Ngima Sherpa pitching tents there for acclimatisation rotations. The South Col was reached two days later, setting the stage for summit bids projected to begin by the end of the second week of May. On May 5, the serac the SPCC had warned about made good on that threat. A collapse in the Khumbu Icefall struck a group of climbers moving toward Camp II at around 5:45 am, injuring Pemba Tenduk Sherpa, 44, a mountain guide with Seven Summit Treks, and Nimish Kumar Singh, 40, an Indian climber with Pioneer Adventure. Both were evacuated by helicopter and admitted to HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu. Their conditions are not life-threatening. The incident came at a moment when the drones deployed by Airlift Technology Pvt Ltd in partnership with Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality and the SPCC to ferry supplies and collect garbage from the high camps had been grounded. The Ministry of Home Affairs had suspended Airlift's operating permit on April 30 without citing specific reasons, leaving its rapid logistics capability unavailable during the icefall emergency. The ministry lifted the ban on May 4, and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation issued formal clearance on May 8, allowing the drone to resume operations. Three days before the injury incident, on May 3, the Nepal Mountaineering Association announced the recovery of an unidentified body discovered by Icefall Doctors during routine route management between Base Camp and Camp I. Partially buried under ice and positioned directly on the primary climbing path, the body was recovered on April 29, transported to Lukla on May 1, and brought to Kathmandu on May 2, where it was handed over to Teaching Hospital. DNA testing is expected to confirm the identity. Ghimire's was the second death of the season. The first came on May 4, when Lakpa Dendi Sherpa, 52, of Gudel, Solukhumbu, died after falling while hiking from Gorakshep to Everest Base Camp as part of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Everest Expedition 2026. His body was returned to his home village. The season is shaping up to be the busiest in Everest's recorded history. The Department of Tourism has issued 492 climbing permits for the world's tallest peak this spring, surpassing the previous record of 479 set in 2023, generating royalties of USD 7.19 million, equivalent to over Rs 1.07 billion. Permits were issued to climbers from 55 countries across 50 teams. Across all 30 permitted peaks, Nepal issued a total of 1,134 climbing permits this season, collecting total royalties of approximately Rs 1.24 billion between March 1 and May 8. To regulate the season, the Department of Tourism deployed a five-member temporary field office at Everest Base Camp, led by coordinator Khimlal Gautam. The office has directed that no photo or video content may be published from Base Camp and above without prior departmental approval, and that all incidents must be reported to the field office before any public announcement. Among the season's most closely watched personal bids, veteran Sherpa climber Kami Rita, 55, is attempting what he says will likely be his 32nd and final ascent of Everest, supporting 14 Peaks Expedition at Base Camp before his own summit push in mid-May. Kami Rita holds the record for the most Everest ascents as well as the most ascents of 8,000-metre peaks overall, with 44 summits. He first summited in 1994, and his most recent climb was his 31st ascent on May 27, 2025. With the icefall open and summit ropes in place, the season's attention has turned from whether Everest would open at all to whether a mountain carrying a record number of climbers can be managed safely through the weeks ahead.