Kathmandu, Nepal • Chatur Tamang was on his way to the roof of the world when he hit a traffic jam.
Ahead of him, on the final ascent to Mount Everest, he saw more than 100 people bunched together on the narrow ridge that leads to the summit — a place so high that it is known as the “death zone,” where the human body has trouble functioning.
Some of those descending from the summit pleaded desperately with those ascending to clear a way for them to pass since they had run out of oxygen.