Virus fails to deter hundreds of climbers on Mount Everest

FILE- In this Nov. 12, 2015 file photo, Mount Everest is seen from the way to Kalapatthar in Nepal. A year after Mount Everest was closed to climbers as the pandemic swept across the globe, hundreds are making the final push to the summit with only a few more days left in the season, saying they are undeterred by a coronavirus outbreak in base camp. (AP Photo/Tashi Sherpa, File)

FILE- In this May 25, 2021, file photo, veteran Sherpa guide Kami Rita returns from the mountains on a helicopter after scaling Mount Everest in Kathmandu, Nepal. Since Everest was first conquered on May 29, 1953, thousands of people have scaled the peak and many Nepalese Sherpa guides have done it multiple times. Kami Rita scaled the peak a record 25 times this month. (AP Photos/Bikram Rai, File)

FILE- In this May 25, 2021 file photo, veteran Sherpa guide Kami Rita, center, returns from the mountains on a helicopter after scaling Mount Everest in Kathmandu, Nepal. Since Everest was first conquered on May 29, 1953, thousands of people have scaled the peak and many Nepalese Sherpa guides have done it multiple times. Kami Rita scaled the peak a record 25 times this month. (AP Photos/Bikram Rai, File)

FILE- In this Nov. 8, 2019, photo, Mingma Sherpa, owner of Seven Summit Treks speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Kathmandu, Nepal. "Even though coronavirus has reached the Everest base camp it has not made any huge effect like what is being believed outside of the mountain," said the biggest expedition operator on Everest. "No one has really fallen seriously sick because of COVID or died like the rumors that has been spreading." (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File)

FILE- In this March 19, 2021, file photo, a Nepalese health worker collects a nasal swab sample of Bahraini prince Mohamed Hamad Mohamed al-Khalifa to test for COVID-19 before he heads for an expedition to Mount Everest in Kathmandu, Nepal. A year after Mount Everest was closed to climbers as the pandemic swept across the globe, hundreds are making the final push to the summit with only a few more days left in the season, saying they are undeterred by a coronavirus outbreak in base camp. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File)

FILE- In this May 22, 2021, file photo, mountain guide Lukas Furtenbach speaks to The Associated Press in Kathmandu, Nepal. The prominent guide of Austria decided to halt his expedition this month and pull out his clients and his team because of coronavirus among this team members. Furtenbach on return from the mountain estimated more than 100 climbers and support staff have been infected by the coronavirus on Everest. (AP Photo/Bikram Rai, File)

FILE - In this May 27, 2019, file photo, birds fly as Mount Everest is seen from Namche Bajar, Solukhumbu district, Nepal. A year after Mount Everest was closed to climbers as the pandemic swept across the globe, hundreds are making the final push to the summit with only a few more days left in the season, saying they are undeterred by a coronavirus outbreak in base camp. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File)