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Hikers have recounted encountering "harsh" situations after an unseasonable blizzard during one of China's most crowded holiday weekends stranded hundreds of people on Mount Everest, sparking a large-scale rescue operation.

Evacuation Efforts Underway

Chinese authorities reported that around 350 individuals had descended safely but at least 200 were still trapped at the Everest Scenic Area, located 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 festive break in China. However, Chinese authorities, who administer the Tibetan Autonomous Region, confirmed intense snow had hit the area on Friday and Saturday night, stranding hundreds of individuals at tent sites at an elevation of more than 4,900 meters (16,000 feet).

"This was the harshest conditions I've ever faced in all my hiking experiences, undoubtedly," Dong Shuchang stated on social media, describing a "violent convective blizzard on the east face" of Everest.

"Glancing upward in the middle of the night and noticed that the snow had almost covered the peak," said another trekker on a social platform. "It was the first time I genuinely experienced the fear of being engulfed by snow."

Eyewitness Reports

One Chinese trekker mentioned their group had been "too scared to sleep" on Saturday as accumulation quickly piled up around their shelters, forcing them to remove it every 90 minutes. They decided to go down on Sunday as the conditions deteriorated.

"During the descent, we encountered our guide's father who had come looking for him. It was then we discovered the storm was intense in the lowlands as well; villagers, unable to contact their children on the mountain, were extremely worried."

The north and east side of Everest is more accessible than locations on the neighboring side of the border and attracts high numbers of visitors for less technical hiking, not requiring ascent of the peak.

Visual Evidence

Photos and video shared on the internet showed tents buried in snow and lines of trekkers moving through waist-high snowbanks to descend the mountain.

"The snow was extremely thick, and the path extremely slippery. Trekkers often slipped – a few tumbled, others were bumped by pack animals," said one, who added that all safely descended and were picked up by bus.

Latest Developments

By Sunday afternoon, about 350 people had reached Qudang, a village about 30 miles away from the Tibetan starting point of Everest, "safe and sound," state media reported.

No fewer than 200 more were still stranded but had been contacted, the reports indicated. Media outlets reported that hundreds of rescuers had gone up the mountain to help people and remove accumulation from obstructing the exit route.

Officials provided minimal updates or new details about the rescue effort on the following day. Uncertainty remained if the storm had affected individuals on the north face of Everest, also in Tibet. The area is tightly controlled by the Chinese government, and journalistic access is restricted. The weather also seemed to have affected phone services, with calls to local businesses failing. Several trekkers reported power was out in Qudang when they reached the town.

Weather Patterns

Autumn is a busy period for the region, with typically calm and pleasant weather, but Chen Geshuang, among 18 members of a trekking group that made it back to Qudang, said that the climate this year was "unusual."

"Our leader said he had not experienced such weather in October. And it happened very abruptly."

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 extreme weather. Torrential downpours triggered mudslides and sudden flooding that have closed routes, washed away bridges, and killed at least 47 people since Friday in the neighboring country.