Mount Everest claimed sixteen new victims in its deadliest ever day last week. 

At least observers can take comfort in the fact that the climbers seized a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity…

Oh, wait. For the sixteen Sherpa guides who perished, it was just another day on the job. 

Native to Nepal, members of the Sherpa ethnic group have long worked as guides for Westerners looking to scale the world’s highest peak. Sherpa guides usually make around $5000 USD per climbing season, many times greater than Nepal’s $230 per capita annual income. 

However, there is a dark side to this relatively lucrative profession: danger. Between 2004 and 2014, Sherpa guides experienced a death rate of more than 4,000 per 100,000 full time workers. In contrast, the most dangerous American job (lumberjack) had a death rate of just under 128 per 100,000. Even guides who survive can suffer climbing-related disabilities. 

In response to this latest disaster, Sherpa guides are threatening to boycott the mountain for the rest of the climbing season.

Their motivation for this action includes both economic demands as well as respect for their dead colleagues.

The Nepalese government is scrambling to end the walkout, fearing millions in lost revenue, and has already made some concessions. However, this does not necessarily mean it will be business as usual on Everest. In the words of guide Migma Sherpa,

“How can we walk through the same path where [our friends] have died?”