The government of Nepal agreed to meet some of the compensation demands from Mount Everest’s famed Sherpa guides, days after the single deadliest avalanche on the world’s highest mountain killed at least 13 guides. 

Nepal released video of the avalanche, captured by one of the surviving mountain guides.  The Tourism Ministry will raise the minimum insurance cover for Sherpas on Everest to about A$16,000 and will establish a relief and education fund for the welfare for the families of fallen Sherpas.  But the guides wanted A$21,000 in coverage. 

An American climber at base camp said the guides had voted to head down and were packing up.

“In addition, the famous Lama Geshe told his people that they should not go to the summit because more will die,” wrote Ed Marzec in an email to supporters.  Lama Geshe is a revered Buddhist cleric who gives his blessing to Everest climbers.  Marzec says some climbers are growing impatient with the Sherpas’s hesitance, even as the grieving families hold funerals and cremate their dead.

“Things are getting pretty ugly and we have a lot of young climbers keen to summit going from tent to tent, trying to convince people to put pressure on the Sherpas so they don’t cancel,” Marzec said.

Another veteran climber confirmed Marzec’s account.

“Sherpa guides are heating up, emotions are running wild,” wrote Tim Rippel on his blog.  “Things are getting very complicated and there is a lot of tension here and it’s growing.”

Climbers pay tens of thousands of dollars to climb Everest and come back home with bragging rights.  Sherpas earn between $3,000 to $6,000 a season, and their insurance cover is almost always inadequate when accidents happen.