Monday’s order also banned “non-essential social gatherings” where physical distancing of six feet could not be maintained. Oregonians may leave their houses, and engage in exercise and outdoor recreation, but only if the same physical distancing was possible. Related: Trump signals change in coronavirus strategy that could clash with health experts Disobeying the laws will be a misdemeanor offense. Brown had been the subject of criticism and incredulity from health authorities and other elected officials – many fellow Democrats – after she failed last week to follow the lead of states such as California and New York in enforcing strict physical distancing. Over the weekend, when Portlanders flooded small beachside communities in warm spring weather, the criticism became even more pointed. On Sunday, Brown was given an unprecedented ultimatum by the mayor of Portland to shut the state down.

In this May 27, 2019, file photo, birds fly as Mount Everest is seen from Namche Bajar, Solukhumbu district, Nepal. The closure of Mount Everest will have significant financial ramifications for the local Sherpas, cooks, porters and other personnel who make their living during this short climbing window. It also affects the clients who paid big money and expedition guides who are still on the hook for expenses. They all agree it was the right decision in light of the coronavirus.

Apa Sherpa knows firsthand all the risks of climbing Mount Everest. He's been to the summit 21 times.

The potential for a COVID-19 outbreak at base camp had him just as fearful as a blizzard or cracking ice.

The 60-year-old mountaineer from Nepal who now lives in Salt Lake City applauded the decision to shut down the routes to the top of the famed Himalayan mountain over concerns about the new coronavirus.

That meant Sherpa didn't have to worry about the health of anyone on the mountain, including his niece, nephew and cousin as they follow in his Everest-climbing footsteps.

In this May 9, 2019, file photo, Apa Sherpa gestures while walking with members of his foundation in Kathmandu, Nepal. The 60-year-old mountaineer from Nepal who now lives in Salt Lake City applauded the decision to shut down the routes to the top of the famed Himalayan mountain over concerns about the new coronavirus. That meant Sherpa didn't have to worry about the health of anyone on the mountain, including his niece, nephew and cousin as they follow in his Everest-climbing footsteps. Now, he has another fear: How will those who work in the shadow of Everest make ends meet?

Now, he has another fear: How will those who work in the shadow of Everest make ends meet?

The closure has significant financial ramifications for the local Sherpas, cooks, porters and others who make their living during the short climbing window.

"I just feel bad," said Apa Sherpa, who established a foundation to help Nepalese students with their education. “For everyone.”

Phurba Ongel was all set for spring work guiding western climbers to the 29,035-foot (8,850-meter) Everest summit when he heard the news nearly two weeks ago. He has already scaled Everest nine times and makes about $7,000 per season.

That was money he desperately needs for his two sons' school, rent and groceries.

In this Friday, April 10, 2015, file photo, a porter carries crates containing oxygen tanks, with Mt Lingtren seen behind left, and Mt. Khumbutse, right, on his way towards Everest Base Camp, at Lobuche, Nepal. China shut down the northern route through Tibet due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 12. A day later, expeditions to the Nepal side were closed, too. The closure of Mount Everest will have significant financial ramifications for the local Sherpas, cooks, porters and other personnel who make their living during the short climbing window.

“Now," Ongel said, "I don't have much.”

Also losing money are clients, who dole out anywhere between $35,000 to $85,000 to be led up the mountain, and expedition operators who have expenses to pay despite the closure.

"It is devastating for the tourism industry in Nepal and abroad," said Lukas Furtenbach, a mountaineering guide and founder of Furtenbach Adventures. “Many businesses will not survive this.”

China s hut down the northern route through Tibet due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 12. A day later, expeditions to the Nepal side were closed, too. Everest straddles the border between Nepal and China and can be climbed from both sides.

By shutting down the passage through the south route of Everest, the Nepal government stands to lose some $4 million in permits alone. There are thousands of people who depend on the money spent by climbers in Nepal.

"They have no income right now. Nothing," Apa Sherpa said. “But the government made the right decision. The lives are more important.”

According to Ang Tshering, a mountaineering expert in Nepal, the mountaineering industry brings in about $300,000 annually — and most of it during the spring climbing season that begins in March and ends in May.

“The closure of the mountains has made thousands of people jobless in the mountaineering community," Tshering said. 

In this Tuesday, March 24, 2015, file photo, porters with supplies for trekkers head towards Namche, in Zamphute, a village in Nepal. The closure of Mount Everest will have significant financial ramifications for the local Sherpas, cooks, porters and other personnel who make their living during the short climbing window.

It's setting up a potentially risky proposition in 2021 — overcrowding on the mountain. There will be a backlog of clients eager to make the trek, along with a new batch of climbers.

Last May, a climber snapped a memorable photo from a line with dozens of hikers in colorful winter gear that snaked into the sky. Climbers were crammed along a sharp-edged ridge above South Col, with a 7,000-foot (2,133-meter) drop on either side, all clipped onto a single line of rope, trudging toward the top of the world.

In this Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015, file photo, porters rest carrying the load of trekkers making their way back from Everest Base Camp, near Shomare, Nepal. The closure of Mount Everest will have significant financial ramifications for the local Sherpas, cooks, porters and other personnel who make their living during this short climbing window.

“It would be very important that Nepal puts reasonable regulations in place for operators and climbers," said Furtenbach, who resides in Austria and spends time at Lake Tahoe. "Otherwise, I see that risk for a total mess next year.”

For the Sherpas, it's about finding a way to hang on after their source of income was halted. They're the backbone of an expedition — the first to reach Everest each climbing season and the last to leave. They set up the camps, carry the equipment and cook the food for climbing parties. They fix the ropes and ladders over the crevasses and ice-falls that enable mountaineers to scale the peak.

In this March 28, 2016, file photo, a porter walks with a massive load towards Everest Base camp near Lobuche, Nepal. The closure of Mount Everest due to the coronavirus will have significant financial ramifications for the local Sherpas, cooks, porters and other personnel who make their living during the short climbing window. There are thousands of people who depend on the money spent by climbers in Nepal.

Generally, a Sherpa can earn $10,000 or more should they summit. Porters or cooks at the mountaineers' camps average between $3,000 and $5,000 during their three months of work. That's a significant amount compared with Nepal's $1,035 annual per capita income.

But it's treacherous work.

That's why Apa Sherpa started his foundation -- to give young kids another route.

Born into poverty and with a modest education, he had no choice but to climb. By the age of 12 he was working on climbing expeditions. At age 30, he summited Everest for the first time. He had earned the nickname “Super Sherpa” before retiring in 2011.

His organization — the Apa Sherpa Foundation — attempts to provide hot meals to students at the Ghat School in the Khumbu region. It also pays the salary of six teachers in Thame and provides school supplies such as computers. He's hoping to expand the foundation's reach into other schools in Nepal.

“If I'm still in Nepal, I have no choice. I would have to climb,” said Sherpa, who moved to the U.S. in 2006. “I have a choice here in America. I don't have to take a risk. I'm just trying to help."

The climbing community has seen an interruption on Everest before: An earthquake-triggered avalanche killed 19 at the base camp in 2015 and another avalanche over the dreaded Khumbu Icefall in 2014 killed 16 Nepali workers.

Apa Sherpa shuddered at the thought of anyone being at base camp in the midst of the coronavirus. He has plenty of family that still serve as mountain guides.

For most people, COVID-19 causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, with the vast majority recovering in about two weeks. But anything respiratory can have dire consequence at base camp, where there are climbers scattered around in tents as they acclimate.

"At high altitude our respiratory systems are incredibly distressed and challenged," said Adrian Ballinger, t he founder of Alpenglow Expeditions. “We do know the coronavirus, which affects the respiratory system and can lead to pneumonia, would absolutely be much more serious and lead to potentially serious consequences and fatalities much more quickly at altitude.”

Ballinger had 11 clients scheduled for the summit team to the Tibet side of Everest, along with seven foreign mountain guides and 18 Sherpas.

He's trying to lessen their financial hardships as best he can. Same with Garrett Madison, a guide based out of Seattle who was scheduled to lead his 14th Everest expedition.

“This is a tough time for sure. Thankfully we've saved up a rainy day fund to weather the storm,” Madison said. “With Everest canceled (our largest program of the year), as well as all other programs in jeopardy because of travel bans, we don't know when we can resume normal operations of our programs.”

To celebrate recently turning 50, Graham Cooper of Piedmont, California, planned to summit Everest from the Tibet side with Ballinger. It was a bucket-list item for Cooper.

To prepare, he slept in an oxygen tent to simulate the thin air. He also ventured to Lake Tahoe, where he trained by hiking up the snow-packed slopes and skiing down.

Then, he received the text he was fearing: No trip. The mountain was closed.

Sure, he was disappointed. But he also understood.

"It's not the end of the world," Cooper said. “There's always next year.”

After Deadly Jam on Everest, Nepal Delays New Safety Rules

Mount Everest in February. Nearly 400 climbing permits were issued last year, a record.

 NEW DELHI — The images shocked and angered the world: hundreds of climbers trapped near Mount Everest’s summit, hooked to a single safety line on a ridge with a several-thousand-foot drop, their oxygen cylinders emptying until a few people died from exposure.

The traffic jam during last spring’s climbing season, one of the deadliest on the planet’s highest mountain, underlined what veteran alpinists have been saying for years: Ego, inexperienced climbers, big payouts and chronic mismanagement — including the dangerous practice of cutting corners on vital safety equipment — have turned Everest into a circus at 29,000 feet.

After the season ended, Nepal’s government announced robust safety rules intended to weed out inexperienced climbers, reduce the number of people on Everest and prevent another pileup, which was blamed for some of the 11 deaths in 2019.

People climbing Everest last May. Eleven people died during a season that was characterized by crowds and unruly behavior.

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But now, the government says the new rules will not be imposed for the coming climbing season, which begins in April and lasts through May. Despite international scrutiny and intense pressure from climbing groups to tighten operations on Everest, officials say the rules need further review before they can be put in place.

Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, the secretary of Nepal’s tourism ministry, said the rules, which were introduced last August, had yet to receive approvals from several government offices, including the defense, law, finance and forest ministries.

He said officials also needed to see whether Nepali expedition operators “were OK with some of the restrictions,” though mountaineers say the companies’ involvement in negotiations should be limited because of their financial stakes.

Santa Bir Lama, the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, an independent climbing group that manages Everest and helped draft the new safety regulations, said Nepal’s financial desperation was one major reason behind the delay.

Bags of garbage and recycling collected from Mount Everest.

He said that officials could approve the new measures in a couple of weeks if they wanted, but that government climbing permits — which cost $11,000 per person for Everest — provide crucial cash flow for Nepal, one of Asia’s poorest countries.

“If something goes wrong, the tourism minister should be personally responsible,” Mr. Lama said. “Nobody wants to come to Nepal to die.”

On the northern side of the mountain, which falls in China, stricter safety regulations are in place. But there are few limits on who can get a permit to climb Everest from Nepal, where most ascents occur.

Some operators in Nepal have been accused of taking practically anybody up the mountain, regardless of skill. Expedition teams are free to set their own dates for a climb. Many choose a narrow window each May to avoid the mountain’s otherwise extreme weather and high winds, contributing to the crowding.

But restricting the number of climbing permits, Mr. Adhikari said, is among the measures that are off the table for now. Last year, officials granted a record 381 permits, a figure that did not include hundreds of Nepali support staff.

Members of the Nepali Army carrying empty oxygen cylinders collected from the top of Mount Everest last year.

That number has gone up steadily nearly every year since the 2000s, leaving Everest clogged and unruly, many mountaineers say. Officials said they expected to issue more than 400 permits this season.

“Let’s hope there’s no traffic jam this year,” Mr. Adhikari said.

Officials did not give a timeline to adopt the other proposed rules either, including a requirement that clients of Everest climbing companies prove that they have high-altitude experience, or that they have paid at least $35,000 for their expedition. That amount ensures, to some degree, that climbers have enough oxygen cylinders and mountain guides for the journey, though some veteran mountaineers said the regulation was still imperfect.

Climbers said law and order had gradually eroded on the mountain.

How tall is Mount Everest?

While Nepal pegs the height of the mountain to be 8,848 m (29,029 ft), China, till 2010, claimed it to be 8,844 m (29,016 ft). The difference was due to China’s earlier refusal to consider the ice at the top of the mountain while calculating its height. Following several rounds of talks between the two countries, the official height was designated as 8,848 m. Interestingly, in 2009, a GPS device was placed below the summit by American Millennium Expedition and the findings readjusted the height to 8,850 m (29,035 ft).

Over the years, as Everest commercialized, expeditions morphed from tiny, country-specific teams to larger groups of cash-flush foreigners, some so inexperienced that they did not know how to put on crampons, the clip-on spikes that improve traction on ice.

Budget climbing operators have mushroomed in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, offering deep discounts but cutting corners by bringing fewer oxygen cylinders for their clients to Everest, where the air is so thin that nearly every climber depends on supplemental oxygen to reach the top.

Tourists in Kathmandu’s Thamel neighborhood in 2018. Government climbing permits — which cost $11,000 a person for Everest — provide a crucial cash flow for Nepal.

Last year, government investigators and news outlets raised questions about the safety of recycled oxygen cylinders used on Everest. Many cylinders were found to be filled on the black market or were so old that they leaked through their valves, putting climbers at heightened risk for cerebral edema, a deadly buildup of fluid in the brain and one of the top killers on Everest.

Practically every season, publicity stunts have also come to dominate headlines. In 2018, Ukrainian climbers sponsored by a European social networking site left cryptocurrency worth around $50,000 at the top of Everest and offered it to anyone “brave enough” to retrieve it. On the way down, one of their Sherpa guides died.

Accomplished mountaineers complain that a growing crowd of Instagram-conscious adrenaline junkies, many of them with little to no climbing experience, are putting at risk the lives of Nepali support staff, who typically come from the Sherpa ethnic group.

“The screw needs to be tightened,” said Kami Rita Sherpa, a Nepali climber who has reached Everest’s summit 24 times, a world record. “Inexperienced climbers should be barred from the mountain.”

Amid the heightened focus on safety, some climbing companies said they would take stricter measures regardless of whether the government mandates them.

Mingma Sherpa, the chairman of Seven Summit Treks, said his company would require climbers to prove that they had scaled at least one other peak higher than 6,000 meters (about 20,000 feet) before attempting Everest.

But Lal Bahadur Jirel, a Nepali climbing guide, said incremental steps were not enough to fix an increasingly perilous situation on Everest, where summertime temperatures routinely dip below zero degrees Fahrenheit.

Last May, Mr. Jirel and his 11-person team were caught in the traffic jam on Everest. On a clear morning, hordes of climbers took advantage of the good weather to make a push for the top.

The situation quickly became a free-for-all.

Climbers pushed and shoved one another to take selfies at the summit, which is about the size of two Ping-Pong tables and where oxygen levels are only a third of those at sea level. With so many climbers clipped to a single safety line, some were unable to descend in time before they ran out of oxygen. They collapsed on the ridge.

After reaching the top, Mr. Jirel realized that his oxygen was running dangerously low. On the way down, a journey that was delayed by four hours because of the crowds, he removed his gloves to replace the cylinder.

By the time he reached safety a few hours later, two of his fingers were completely numb. A few days later, he lost them to frostbite.

Mr. Jirel said the memories of climbers aggressively pushing past him — with no concern for his safety or his life — encapsulated how chaotic the mountain had become.

“There is so much stupidity on Everest,” he said. “And sadly, the government is doing nothing. They just issue permits and collect royalties.”

Kai Schultz reported from New Delhi, and Bhadra Sharma from Kathmandu, Nepal.

Fresh avalanches in Nepal halt search for missing climbers

Nepal’s Annapurna Range

Further avalanches on a popular trekking route in Nepal have forced rescuers to halt their search for four South Korean trekkers and three Nepali guides who were believed to have been swept away by a snowslide.

Some 200 climbers have been rescued from other parts of the trekking trail and flown to safety by helicopters over the weekend, the Department of Tourism said.

It said fresh smaller avalanches had made it dangerous for rescuers to approach the area where the missing trekkers were last seen.

A second search mission is being planned for the missing South Koreans and local guides but it would have to wait for snow and ice to stop falling before the operation resumes.

The Friday avalanche hit along the popular Mount Annapurna circuit trekking route following rains and snow earlier in the week.

The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the avalanche hit at an altitude of 3,230 meters (10,600 feet). It said five other South Korean members of the same team were safe and taking shelter in a lodge.

The missing trekkers – two women in their 30s and 50s and two men in their 50s – were teachers who were staying in Nepal for volunteer work, according to the Yonhap news agency.

The agency said South Korea has dispatched an emergency response team to Kathmandu to assist in the search operations.

The South Korean consul based in the Nepalese capital departed for the accident site to call for the continuation of the rescue operation, Yonhap reported.

South Korean president Moon Jae-in vowed the upmost efforts to find the missing trekkers in a Facebook message posted on Sunday.

Nepal faces mountainous challenge identifying Everest bodies

More than 300 people have died on Everest since expeditions to reach the top started in the 1920s

The bodies of four climbers who failed their Everest challenge and left little clue as to their identity have thrown up a new challenge for Nepalese authorities who control the world's tallest peak.

Worn by the wind and cold to near skeletons, the remains have been in a Kathmandu morgue since they were brought back from the slopes two weeks ago with nearly 11 tonnes of trash.

Police and government officials admit they face a huge challenge putting names to the dead climbers and sending them back to their home countries.

They cannot even be sure how long the corpses had been among scores waiting to be found on the slopes.

Graphic showing South Col summit route on Mount Everest, plus a chart showing the number of deaths since 2004.

A government-organised clean-up team retrieved the bodies between the Everest base camp and the South Col at 7,906 metres (25,938 feet) this climbing season.

Since the early 1920s, the mysterious Mount Everest has attracted mountaineers and scientists from across the globe. Hundreds have lost their lives while making attempts to conquer the tallest peak in the world, yet the fascination continues. The month of May, also called 'the window,' is considered to be the ideal time to scale Mount Everest; the weather is stable and winds speeds are favourable for the climbers. As the climbing season nears, let’s take a look at some interesting facts related to Mount Everest.

How old is Mount Everest?

The rock at the summit is made up of marine limestone and it is estimated that the rock was deposited at the seafloor around 450 to 500 million years ago.

 "The bodies are not in a recognisable state, almost down to their bones. There is no face to identify them," senior police official Phanindra Prasai told AFP.

"We have directed the hospital to collect DNA samples so they can be matched with any families who come forward."

Everest afterlife 

Nepalese police are going through administrative processes so they can make an appeal for help and inform foreign diplomatic missions about the bodies. But some fear the mystery could take years to solve.

"It is a difficult task," said Ang Tsering Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

"They need to share more information about the bodies, especially the locations of where the bodies were found, and reach out to expedition operators."

More than 300 people have died on the 8,848-metre (29,029-feet) high mountain since expeditions to reach the top started in the 1920s.

Officials unload bodies of Everest climbers who died in previous seasons. It is not known how many bodies are still hidden in the ice, snow and deep crevasses

It is not known how many bodies are still hidden in the ice, snow and deep crevasses.

The body of George Mallory, the British climber who went missing during a 1924 attempt on the summit, was only found in 1999. The remains of his partner Andrew Irvine have never been found. And it is still not known if they reached the top.

Some bodies, still in colourful climbing gear, have become landmarks on the way up to the summit, earning nicknames such as "Green Boots" and "Sleeping Beauty".

"Green Boots" is believed to be an Indian climber who died during a 1996 expedition. The body was believed to have been moved away from the main path in 2014."Sleeping Beauty" is said to be Francys Arsentiev, who was the first American woman to reach the summit without bottled oxygen in 1998, but who died on the way down.

El Capitan

Highest point: 7,569 feet (2,307 metres)

Her husband died trying to save her and a 2007 expedition buried the "Sleeping Beauty" on the mountain.

The retrieval of corpses at high altitudes is a controversial topic within the climbing community.

It costs thousands of dollars as up to eight sherpas are needed and it puts the life of rescuers in danger. Some families prefer to let the body of their loved one rest in the mountain.

Global warming means that sometimes, the mountain itself brings back the dead, as shifting glaciers or melting snow reveal bodies that have been lost for years.