Brit mountaineer warns of 'deadly consequences' if Everest ascents not curtailed

London, June 5 (ANI): A leading British climber, who reached the summit of Mount Everest for the tenth time last month, has called for limiting the number of people climbing the world's highest peak.

Kenton Cool, 38, said he was "blown away" by photographs that emerged last week showing queues of hundreds of paying tourists snaking up towards the summit.

According to The Independent, the climber reached the top of Everest days after a traffic jam and bad weather were blamed for the deaths of four climbers. Ten people have reportedly died on the mountain this year, which is the highest number of deaths for more than 15 years.

The paper said that guides offer inexperienced climbers a chance to climb Everest in return for up to 60,000 pounds, and adds that they are already planning for next season, the 60th year since Edmund Hillary first conquered the peak.

Cool said some teams on the mountain "offer things on a plate, to a certain extent, you just put one foot in front of the other."

"Without doubt the numbers of people didn't help what happened this year. I suspect we'll get together and say, we're the operators on the mountain, we understand how it works, and we're seeing that it's getting dangerous," he said.

Cool is co-director of Dream Guides, one of six firms who take customers up Everest. He said companies like his have a responsibility to limit attempts on Everest.ore than 3,000 people have climbed Everest since Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach its summit in 1953. At least 220 climbers have died attempting it, and about half of them in the past 20 years. (ANI)