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Sherpas Cross Icefall, Open Route for Climbers to Move up on Everest

Mount Pumori, center left, looms in the background as a mountaineer negotiates Khumbu Icefall to descend to Everest Base Camp, in Nepal, May 4, 2025. (AP)
Mount Pumori, center left, looms in the background as a mountaineer negotiates Khumbu Icefall to descend to Everest Base Camp, in Nepal, May 4, 2025. (AP)
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Sherpas Cross Icefall, Open Route for Climbers to Move up on Everest

Mount Pumori, center left, looms in the background as a mountaineer negotiates Khumbu Icefall to descend to Everest Base Camp, in Nepal, May 4, 2025. (AP)
Mount Pumori, center left, looms in the background as a mountaineer negotiates Khumbu Icefall to descend to Everest Base Camp, in Nepal, May 4, 2025. (AP)

A group of Sherpa climbers have opened the route to Mount Everest that had been blocked for two weeks by chunks of ice and a giant serac, allowing mountaineers to make attempts to reach the summit, officials said on Tuesday.

The annual climbing season for the 8,849-m (29,032-ft) peak runs from April to May, months which offer the best weather conditions in which to reach the windswept summit.

But a massive 100-ft (30-m) serac, or ‌column of ice, ‌had blocked the path above base camp this month. ‌Parts ⁠of it have now ⁠melted and broken away, allowing Sherpa climbers, called the icefall doctors, to fix ropes, place ladders and carve a safe route through the treacherous Khumbu icefall to Camp I located at 6,060 meters (19,880 ft).

Lhakpa Sherpa of the 8K Expedition hiking company, who is coordinating the opening of the route, said 19 Sherpa climbers had crossed the difficult portion of the icefall and reached the site of Camp I.

“They are expected ⁠to fix ropes to Camp II, which is not difficult,” ‌Sherpa told Reuters from the base camp. ‌Camp II is located at about 6,400 meters (21,000 ft).

Hundreds of mountaineers from different countries have ‌been stranded at the Everest base camp for more than two weeks ‌ahead of making summit attempts next month.

Department of Tourism official Nisha Thapa Rawal said climbers could now begin to climb from the base camp.

Some climbers said they hoped to complete their expedition in time despite the delay.

“I think there is some hope ... But such a ‌delay will push summits back and possibly create crowding in the icefall and maybe the summit as teams try to ⁠make up ⁠for lost time,” said British climber Kenton Cool, who is trying to climb the peak for the 20th time, the most by any foreigner.

Authorities have issued 425 Everest permits so far this season, at a cost of $15,000 each. Another 153 climbers to neighboring Lhotse and Nuptse peaks also share part of the same route.

There is no limit on how many permits are issued, which has led to criticism in the past from mountaineering experts about the risk of long queues forming in what is known as the death zone because the air is dangerously thin.

American climber Garrett Madison of the Madison Mountaineering company said despite the opening of the route the area was still challenging.

"It’s not easy going around the serac, and perhaps a little bit dangerous," said Madison, 47, who is trying to make his 16th ascent.

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Giant Wind Turbine Rises in Germany amid Far-right Headwinds

Conventional wind turbines are seen behind houses in Schipkau, eastern Germany on May 13, 2026. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)
Conventional wind turbines are seen behind houses in Schipkau, eastern Germany on May 13, 2026. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)
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Giant Wind Turbine Rises in Germany amid Far-right Headwinds

Conventional wind turbines are seen behind houses in Schipkau, eastern Germany on May 13, 2026. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)
Conventional wind turbines are seen behind houses in Schipkau, eastern Germany on May 13, 2026. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)

A wind turbine billed as the world's tallest is rising in eastern Germany, winning praise as a beacon for a clean, green energy future and headwinds from the far-right AfD party.

The giant structure -- set to dwarf the Eiffel Tower at 365 meters (1,200 feet) once completed -- is going up in the former coal-mining region of Lusatia in Brandenburg state, said AFP.

Once its huge rotor blades start spinning in the steady high-altitude winds before the end of the year, it is expected to generate enough electricity to power 7,500 households.

"We're achieving the same performance levels as an offshore wind farm, which means double the output compared to standard wind turbines," Jochen Grossmann, founder of the Dresden-based developer Gicon, told AFP during a visit to the site in a forest near the town of Schipkau.

As workers braved a cold rain, the structure doubled in height within a matter of hours, as 350 tons of steel were hoisted into place by huge yellow construction cranes.

The project is financed to the tune of 20-30 million euros through a government agency that sponsors cutting-edge tech, and seen by promoters as a new milestone in Germany's decades-old energy transition.

Europe's top economy has shuttered its nuclear plants and is phasing out coal while subsidizing renewables, which last year generated almost 59 percent of electricity, about half of it through wind.

Grossmann sees such projects as the way forward if resource-poor Germany wants to meet its emissions targets and wean itself off fossil fuels from conflict-torn regions.

"For the time being, our only options are solar and wind power," he argued.

"Coal reserves are running out, and nuclear power has been phased out. We have only limited supplies of natural gas and oil.

"And at the moment, with the situation in the Strait of Hormuz and everything else, it's clear that we're also not independent when it comes to natural gas and oil."

- 'Windmills of shame' -

Not everyone shares Grossmann's enthusiasm.

The project is located in a stronghold region of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), whose climate-sceptic leaders have decried the smaller "windmills of shame" that already dot the Schipkau area and much of Germany.

The loss of coal mining jobs has only fue led local support for the AfD, which won nearly half the vote there in last year's parliamentary elections.

Birgit Bessin, an AfD member of the regional parliament, told AFP that turbines had effects on the local wildlife and suggested that nuclear energy would be a better alternative for emission-free power.

"When there are such fundamental impacts on residents, they should be consulted," she said, citing opposition from hunters and a local airfield.

The AfD also points to microplastics given off by wind turbines, although scientific studies have found no impact on human health.

- 'Get the public on board' -

While the AfD is adamantly opposed to wind power, Germany's year-old government under conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz has also been less enthusiastic about renewables than the previous ruling coalition that included the Greens party.

Economy Minister Katherina Reiche has promised a wave of new gas power plants to compensate for renewables' intermittency, arguing this will help bring down German energy costs, among the highest in the world.

The German economy has been flatlining for years, in part because of soaring energy prices in the wake of Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the US-Israeli conflict with Iran that started in late February.

Outside the fences guarding the Schipkau site, local citizens sometimes come to have a look, some voicing anger about the project, Gicon staff said.

Klaus Prietzel, Schipkau's independent mayor, has floated the idea of the town taking over the turbine in the future to lower residents' energy bills.

Local authorities already share some of the gains from the existing windfarm, paying each resident 80 euros ($92) a year, usually just before Christmas.

"Our idea was that every citizen living in the municipality of Schipkau who can see the wind turbines should also benefit from them," said the mayor.

The AfD's Bessin dismissed such payments as "bribery", but Prietzel argued they are a useful.

"Around four million euros have already been paid out as part of a so-called acceptance-promoting measure," he said. "You have to get the public on board."

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Vietnam Auctions Convicted Tycoon's Luxury Handbags for Over $500k

Vietnamese real estate developer Truong My Lan in court (AP file photo)
Vietnamese real estate developer Truong My Lan in court (AP file photo)
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Vietnam Auctions Convicted Tycoon's Luxury Handbags for Over $500k

Vietnamese real estate developer Truong My Lan in court (AP file photo)
Vietnamese real estate developer Truong My Lan in court (AP file photo)

A pair of luxury Hermes handbags that once belonged to a jailed Vietnamese property tycoon sold at auction for more than $500,000, state media reported, as the government seeks to recover funds linked to a $27 billion fraud.

Property developer Truong My Lan was convicted in 2024 of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), which prosecutors said she controlled, AFP reported.

She was initially sentenced to death in one of Vietnam's biggest corruption cases, but now faces life in prison after Hanoi abolished capital punishment for some crimes.

A confiscated Hermes bag with white gemstones sold Thursday at the Ho Chi Minh City Asset Auction Service Center for 11.6 billion Vietnamese dong ($440,000), state media reported. A second Hermes bag sold for 2.5 billion dong ($95,000).

The disgraced tycoon had asked a court to return the rare albino Birkin bags, saying she had purchased one in Italy and received the other as a gift.

They were "mementos" she wanted returned to her family, state media reported.

Tens of thousands of people who invested their savings in Saigon Commercial Bank lost money, shocking the communist nation and prompting rare protests from the victims.

Lan was ordered to compensate victims and has paid more than 12 trillion dong ($455 million) to bondholders so far, according to a statement on the government's website.

Three cars once belonging to Lan -- a Maybach, a BMW and a Lexus -- are set to be auctioned Friday.

Varieties

British Climber Summits Everest for Record 20th Time, 2 Die on Mountain

Climbers walk in a long queue as they head to summit Mount Everest in the Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, May 18, 2026. REUTERS/Purnima Shrestha
Climbers walk in a long queue as they head to summit Mount Everest in the Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, May 18, 2026. REUTERS/Purnima Shrestha
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British Climber Summits Everest for Record 20th Time, 2 Die on Mountain

Climbers walk in a long queue as they head to summit Mount Everest in the Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, May 18, 2026. REUTERS/Purnima Shrestha
Climbers walk in a long queue as they head to summit Mount Everest in the Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, May 18, 2026. REUTERS/Purnima Shrestha

A Briton improved his own Everest record on Friday and notched his 20th ascent to the world’s highest peak, as two Indian climbers died on the mountain, taking the season's toll to five, hiking officials said.

Kenton Cool, 52, climbed the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak before dawn and was descending to lower camps. He was expected to reach the base camp over the weekend, his expedition organizers said, according to Reuters.

An Indian climber died at Camp II and another at the Hillary Step, Nivesh Karki of their expedition organizing company Pioneer Adventure said. Both had climbed the summit on Thursday but ⁠died during descent, ⁠he said on Friday.

Hillary Step is located below the summit in the "death zone", so called because of the dangerously low level of natural oxygen.

Details of their deaths were not available.

"One body is at very high altitude and we are trying to bring the second body from camp II," Karki told Reuters.

Cool, the ⁠British climber, is “quietly rewriting the record books,” said four-time Everest climber and expedition organizer Lukas Furtenbach of the Austria-based Furtenbach Adventures company.

“More Everest summits than any non-Sherpa ever... and still making it look like just another walk in the hills. Absolute legend," Furtenbach told Reuters from the base camp. Cool climbed with one of Furtenbach's teams.

Cool, who first climbed Everest in 2004 and has since repeated the feat every year except some years when authorities closed the mountain due to various reasons, said scaling the height of Everest was ⁠not routine.

“It ⁠never gets any easier or any less frightening. It’s the tallest mountain in the world and with it comes an incredible sense of majesty,” Cool said in a statement.

“I rely on every bit of experience I have to move safely in this environment. Standing on the summit for the twentieth time is incredibly special.”

The record for the highest number of summits at Everest is held by a Nepali Sherpa, Kami Rita, at 32.

Everest has been climbed by more than 8,000 people, many of them multiple times, since it was first scaled by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.