In the spring of 2019, Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak at 29,032 feet, became a deadly bottleneck, claiming 11 lives in just nine days during what many call the mountain’s most tragic climbing season, per New York Times (May 26, 2019). Overcrowding, fueled by a surge in permits and inexperienced climbers, turned the “death zone” into a traffic jam of horror, captured in haunting photos that went viral, per ABC News (May 29, 2019). With climbers waiting hours in sub-zero temperatures for their turn on the summit, the season’s toll reached 18 deaths overall, surpassing the infamous 1996 disaster...
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