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Trekkers have recounted encountering "extreme" situations after an unseasonable blizzard during one of China's most crowded festive periods trapped hundreds of people on Mount Everest, sparking a large-scale rescue effort.

Rescue Operations Underway

Chinese authorities reported that around 350 individuals had made their way down but at least 200 remained stranded at the Everest Scenic Area, located to the east of the mountain, on the Tibetan side of the border.

Crowds of visitors had journeyed to the area for "Golden Week," an week-long festive break in China. However, Chinese authorities, who control the Tibetan Autonomous Region, said intense snow had hit the area on the weekend, trapping numerous of individuals at campsites at an elevation of more than 4,900 meters (16,000 feet).

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

"I looked up in the middle of the night and saw that the accumulation had almost covered the top," shared another trekker on Xiaohongshu. "It was the first time I genuinely experienced the fear of being buried alive."

Personal Accounts

A hiker from China said their group had been "too frightened to sleep" on Saturday as snow rapidly built up around their shelters, forcing them to remove it every 90 minutes. They decided to descend on the next day as the conditions worsened.

"During the descent, we encountered our guide’s parent who had searched for him. That's when we discovered the snow was heavy in the lowlands as well; locals, unable to reach their children on the mountain, were deeply concerned."

The north and east side of Everest is more accessible than locations on the Nepal side of the border and attracts large crowds of visitors for easier hiking, not requiring ascent of the peak.

Visual Evidence

Images and footage shared on the internet showed shelters buried in snow and lines of hikers moving through waist-high snowbanks to get down the mountain.

"It was extremely thick, and the path very slick. Hikers stumbled frequently – a few tumbled, others were bumped by pack animals," noted a trekker, who clarified that everyone made it down and were picked up by bus.

Latest Developments

By the weekend, approximately 350 people had arrived in Qudang, a small town roughly 50 kilometers away from the Tibet-side starting point of Everest, "safe and sound," official sources reported.

At least 200 more were still stranded but had been contacted, the reports indicated. Media outlets reported that hundreds of emergency workers had gone up the mountain to help people and remove accumulation from obstructing the way out.

There was minimal updates or new details about the operation on Monday. It was also not clear if the weather had impacted individuals on the north face of Everest, within the same region. The area is tightly controlled by the Chinese government, and journalistic access is limited. The conditions also appears to have have disrupted phone services, with calls to local businesses failing. Several trekkers said power was out in Qudang when they arrived.

Weather Patterns

October is a peak season for the region, with typically clear and mild conditions, but Chen Geshuang, among 18 participants of a hiking party that made it back to Qudang, said that the climate this year was "not normal."

"Our leader told us he had not experienced conditions like this in October. And it happened very abruptly."

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

Broader Effects

Adjacent nations were affected as well by extreme weather. Torrential downpours triggered landslides and flash floods that have closed routes, destroyed crossings, and killed at least 47 individuals since the start of the weekend in Nepal.