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Trekkers have described encountering "extreme" conditions after an unseasonable blizzard during one of China's most crowded holiday weekends stranded numerous of people on Mount Everest, sparking a massive rescue effort.

Evacuation Efforts Underway

Chinese authorities reported that around 350 individuals had made their way down but at least 200 were still trapped at the Everest Scenic Area, situated to the eastern side of the mountain, on the Tibet side of the border.

Crowds of tourists had journeyed to the region for "Golden Week," an week-long holiday period in China. However, Chinese authorities, who administer the Tibetan Autonomous Region, said intense snow had hit the area on Friday and Saturday night, trapping numerous of people at campsites at an altitude of more than 4,900 meters (16,000 feet).

"This was the most extreme weather I've experienced in all my trekking adventures, without question," Dong Shuchang stated on Weibo, detailing a "violent convective snowstorm on the eastern slope" of Everest.

"Glancing upward in the late hours and noticed that the accumulation had almost buried the peak," shared a hiker on a social platform. "It was the initial instance I truly felt the fear of being engulfed by snow."

Eyewitness Reports

One Chinese trekker mentioned their party had been "too frightened 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.

"On the way, we encountered our guide’s parent who had come looking for him. That's when we discovered the snow was heavy in the valley as well; locals, unable to reach their children on the mountain, were extremely worried."

The north and east side of Everest is more accessible than sites on the neighboring side of the border and draws large crowds of tourists for easier hiking, without summiting the peak.

Visual Evidence

Images and footage posted online showed shelters buried in snow and lines of trekkers walking through waist-high drifts to get down the mountain.

"The snow was extremely thick, and the path extremely slippery. Hikers 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.

Current Status

By Sunday afternoon, about 350 individuals had arrived in Qudang, a village about 30 miles 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 stated that scores of rescuers had ascended the mountain to help people and clear snow from obstructing the exit route.

Officials provided little official reporting or new details about the rescue effort on the following day. Uncertainty remained if the storm had affected anyone 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 affected phone services, with attempts to contact shops failing. A number of hikers said electricity was cut in Qudang when they reached the town.

Seasonal Context

Autumn is a busy period for the area, with usually clear and mild weather, but Chen Geshuang, among 18 participants of a trekking group that made it back to Qudang, said that the weather this year was "unusual."

"Our leader told us he had not experienced such weather in the fall. And it occurred very abruptly."

The local tourism authority said admissions and entry to the Everest Scenic Area were suspended from Saturday.

Regional Impact

Adjacent nations were also hit by extreme weather. Heavy rains caused mudslides and sudden flooding that have blocked roads, washed away bridges, and killed at least 47 people since the start of the weekend in Nepal.