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As Mount Everest season opens, climber is 'concerned but confident' about reaching the summit

Climbers from the Mounain Professionals team staying fit and practicing skills at basecamp during the wait for the route to open. (Courtesy of Ryan Waters/Mountain Professionals)
Courtesy of Ryan Waters/Mountain Professionals
Climbers from the Mounain Professionals team staying fit and practicing skills at basecamp during the wait for the route to open. (Courtesy of Ryan Waters/Mountain Professionals)

Here & Now‘s Scott Tong speaks with American mountaineer Ryan Waters on Mount Everest and mountaineering journalist Angela Benavides about this year’s climbing season on the world’s highest peak, which, until Tuesday, was imperiled because of a huge and unstable ice block that was preventing climbers from making it to Camp 1. Sherpas have found a way around it.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2026 WBUR

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