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Trekkers have recounted facing "extreme" conditions after an unexpected blizzard during one of China's most crowded holiday weekends trapped numerous of individuals on Mount Everest, triggering a large-scale rescue effort.

Rescue Operations In Progress

Officials in China reported that approximately 350 people had descended safely but at least 200 remained stranded at the Everest Scenic Area, situated to the eastern side of the mountain, on the Tibet side of the border.

Crowds of visitors had journeyed to the area for "Golden Week," an eight-day holiday period in China. However, Chinese authorities, who control the Tibetan Autonomous Region, confirmed heavy snowfall had affected the area on Friday and Saturday night, stranding hundreds of individuals at tent sites at an altitude of more than 4,900 meters (16,000 feet).

"This was the harshest weather I've experienced in all my trekking experiences, undoubtedly," Dong Shuchang stated on social media, detailing a "intense blizzard on the eastern slope" of Everest.

"Glancing upward in the middle of the night and noticed that the accumulation had almost buried the peak," said a hiker on a social platform. "It was the initial instance I genuinely experienced the fear of being engulfed by snow."

Personal Accounts

One Chinese trekker said their group had been "too frightened to sleep" on that night as snow quickly piled up around their tents, forcing them to remove it every 90 minutes. They decided to go down on the next day as the weather worsened.

"During the descent, we met our guide’s parent who had come looking for him. That's when we learned the snow was intense in the lowlands too; villagers, unable to reach their family on the mountain, were extremely worried."

The north and east side of Everest is easier to reach than locations on the neighboring side of the border and draws high numbers of tourists for less technical trekking, not requiring ascent of the peak.

Visual Evidence

Photos and video posted online showed shelters covered by snow and lines of hikers moving through deep drifts to descend the mountain.

"It was extremely thick, and the path very slick. Hikers often slipped – some fell, some were jostled by yaks," noted a trekker, who added that everyone made it down and were transported by bus.

Current Status

By the weekend, about 350 individuals had reached Qudang, a village roughly 50 kilometers away from the Tibetan base camp of Everest, "in good health," official sources announced.

At least 200 additional were still stranded but had been reached, the reports said. Media outlets reported that scores of rescuers had ascended the mountain to help people and remove accumulation from blocking the way out.

There was minimal updates or new details about the rescue effort on Monday. Uncertainty remained if the storm had impacted anyone on the north face of Everest, also in Tibet. The area is tightly controlled by the authorities, and media entry is restricted. The conditions also seemed to have disrupted phone services, with calls to local businesses not connecting. A number of hikers said power was out in Qudang when they reached the town.

Weather Patterns

Autumn is a busy period for the region, with usually calm and pleasant weather, but Chen Geshuang, among 18 participants of a hiking party that made it back to Qudang, said that the weather this year was "not normal."

"The guide told us he had not experienced conditions like this in October. And it occurred all too suddenly."

The regional travel department said admissions and access to the Everest Scenic Area were suspended from Saturday.

Regional Impact

Adjacent nations were also hit by severe conditions. Torrential downpours caused mudslides and flash floods that have closed routes, destroyed crossings, and claimed the lives of at least 47 people since Friday in the neighboring country.