New Delhi, India

Avalanches in the Himalayas have led to an increase in the number of deaths and have also threatened the safety of climbers, suggests research.

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The experts warn that global heating is aggravating the risk of high-altitude mountaineering during the climbing season in the Himalayan mountain range.

Over the past 50 years, at least 564 people lost their lives due to avalanches while climbing peaks above 4,500 metres (14,770ft) in the Himalayas, as per a recent analysis. Capping the data to the 14 peaks above 8,000 metres and a few other major climbing peaks above 6,000 metres in the Himalayas, at least 1,400 people have died during high-altitude mountaineering between the years 1895 and 2022. Out of these 33% of the deaths were because of avalanches.

Deadly avalanches on famous peaks including Everest, Ama Dablam, Manaslu and Dhaulagiri were not a current consequence, "mountains will avalanche. They have been doing it for decades,” The Guardian quoted mountaineer Alan Arnette as saying.

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The climbing season in the central Himalayas, where the majority of peaks that are popular amongst climbers are located, has been before the onset of monsoon season in India, which is from March to May and then from September to November. 

“The highlands of the Himalayas are generally protected from the impacts of cyclones originating in the Indian Ocean as the cyclones lose energy as they travel across the landmass,” Arun Bhakta Shrestha, a climate scientist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development was quoted as saying by The Guardian. 

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“However, occasionally cyclones do impact the interiors of Himalayan highlands causing excessive snowfall and even causing loss of lives,” Shrestha added.

Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, said: “In response to the rapid warming in the Indian Ocean, the monsoon has become more erratic, with short spells of heavy rains and long dry periods, and the cyclones in the Arabian Sea have increased in frequency, intensity and duration and they are intensifying quickly both in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal,” according to The Guardian.

With the significant impact of climate change, which is being witnessed by the globe, there has been a sharp change in the patterns of monsoon precipitation and the frequency of cyclone formation. This has led to disruptions in the climbing season which was earlier predictable.

“In 1996, when we had that disaster on Everest [in which eight climbers died in a blizzard], it just absolutely cemented the fact that you have to consider what’s happening in the Bay of Bengal. If there’s a cyclone there, you have to watch it,” said Chris Tomer, a meteorologist and weather forecaster for mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas.

“In the last five years, four out of the five years we had to worry about something in the Bay of Bengal during the peak climbing season on Everest.”

Tomer, who has been forecasting for nearly two decades, said: “Not that the weather wasn’t challenging 20 years ago, but it’s really been something to see the amount of snow on Manaslu and Dhaulagiri the last couple of years. They stand out with some of the most extreme weather over the last few years,” as per The Guardian.

The study was published in European Geosciences Union.

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