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So far, this season has seen 12 people die and five others are missing.
Expedition organisers have warned that a combination of extreme weather, corner-cutting on safety, and inexperienced and "impatient" foreign climbers have resulted in one of the peak's deadliest mountaineering seasons.
As the last search and rescue teams hang up their boots and the tent city at base camp packs up for the year, expert climbers say several of the 17 people killed or missing and presumed dead this season could have avoided disaster.
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15:52 - 04.06.2023
MOUNTAIN CLIMBING Nepali guide 'abandons' client to rescue climber stranded at Everest death zone
The client was required to pay at least $45,000 (Ksh 6,188,364) to attempt Everest including a permit fee of $11,000 (Ksh1,512,711).
"This season was very bad overall. The main reason is that the weather was extremely cold... but there was also carelessness," said expedition organiser Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, as quoted by AFP.
Higher death numbers were recorded in past seasons, but those tolls included several killed in single large-scale disasters. In 2014, 16 Nepali guides were killed by an avalanche, with climbing closed for the season thereafter.
The deadliest season was in 2015 when at least 18 people died in an earthquake that also killed nearly 9,000 people across Nepal. So far, this season has seen 12 people die and five others are missing.
Around five climbers die each year on the oxygen-starved paths to the 8,849m icy peak. Nepal issued a record 478 permits for foreign clients this season, with around 600 climbers and guides reaching the top, prompting some to suggest there is a need to cut numbers.
The tough guides say the mountain was the coldest they have ever experienced, with freezing temperatures far lower than usual adding to the danger.
"It should already have been warm, around minus 28 degrees Celsius. This year it was even down to minus 40 degrees," Sherpa added.
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14:20 - 02.05.2023
MOUNTAIN CLIMBING Death toll increases as a US mountaineer dies on Everest
On average, around five climbers die every year on the world's highest peak.
Climate change is dramatically altering weather patterns and causing extreme fluctuations in temperature, but scientists caution against linking individual events directly to global heating without evidence.
Three of Sherpa's route-opening team died after dropping off ropes at Camp 2 when a serac ice block fell and buried them in the Khumbu icefall. As the season progressed, more climbers died or were reported missing in the icy heights.
Several others suffered frostbite and infections related to high-altitude pulmonary edema when liquid accumulates in air spaces of the lungs.
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12:30 - 18.04.2023
MOUNTAIN CLIMBING No legs, no problem for veteran out to show that disability is not inability
If successful, the expedition will make him the first double above-the-knee amputee to see the world from the 8,849m peak.
Sherpa said the freezing weather and high winds meant many Nepali guides and porters suffered frostbite early in the season.
Meanwhile, Lukas Furtenbach, of Austria-based Furtenbach Adventures, said that a majority of the deaths could have been avoided "with mandatory safety standards".
"This, in combination with the fact that oxygen cylinders have been stolen from several teams, including ours, shows one of the main problems this season -- oxygen logistics and safety standards," Furtenbach said.
Many climbers dropped out this season, even after paying a non-refundable Ksh 1,532,300 for a permit and at least Ksh 4,179,000 more for the expedition.
But the season took a heavier toll on Nepali guides, usually ethnic Sherpas from the valleys around Everest, who are considered the backbone of the climbing industry and bear huge risks to carry equipment and food, fix ropes, and repairing ladders.
Mountain guide Gelje Sherpa, 30, made headlines after he abandoned his client's Everest bid to rescue a Malaysian climber from the "death zone" above 8,000m, carrying him down on his back when he couldn't be dragged.
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