9 dead, 3 seriously injured after avalanche on Mount Everest - CNN

Climbers and guides were preparing for the spring climbing season.

• The deadliest year on Mt. Everest was 1996, when 15 people died


• More than 300 climbers have been given permission to tackle Everest this spring


• About 400 Sherpas will help them


• Climbers and guides had been preparing the route to the summit

(CNN) -- Nine Sherpa guides were killed and three others were seriously injured Friday after a high-altitude avalanche on Mt. Everest, officials said.

Others were missing, but their numbers were not immediately known.

A group of about 50 people, mostly Nepali Sherpas, were hit by the avalanche at more than 20,000 feet, according to Tilak Ram Pandey, with the mountaineering department of the tourism ministry.

The avalanche took place just above base camp in the Khumbu Ice Fall.

The climbers were accounted for, Pandey said. "Rescue teams have gone ... to look for the missing."

Readying for climb

Between May 15 and 30 is usually the best window for reaching 29,028 foot peak.

Climbers and guides had been setting the ropes for the route, acclimating to the climate, and preparing the camps along the route, said Janow.

Climbers arrive in April to acclimate to the altitude before heading toward the summit of the world's highest mountain.

Ethnic Sherpas acts as guides for the mostly-foreign clients.

Busiest season

The spring climbing season is the busiest of the year.

Some 334 foreign climbers have been given permission to climb Everest over the next couple of months, with an estimated 400 Sherpas helping them, mountaineering official Dipendra Poudel said.

Until the late 1970s, only a handful of climbers reached the top each year. The number topped 100 for the first time in 1993. By 2004, it was more than 300. In 2012, the number was more than 500.

The deadliest year on Everest was 1996, when 15 people died. Another 12 climbers were killed in 2006.

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