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Hikers have described encountering "extreme" situations after an unseasonable blizzard during one of China's busiest holiday weekends trapped hundreds of individuals on Mount Everest, triggering a massive rescue operation.

Rescue Operations Underway

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

Large groups of visitors had traveled to the area for "Golden Week," an week-long holiday period in China. However, local officials, who administer the Tibetan Autonomous Region, said intense snow had affected the area on the weekend, stranding numerous of people at tent sites at an altitude of more than 4,900 meters (16,000 feet).

"It was the harshest conditions I've experienced in all my trekking adventures, undoubtedly," Dong Shuchang said on Weibo, detailing a "violent convective snowstorm on the east face" of Everest.

"I looked up in the late hours and saw that the accumulation had almost covered the top," shared another trekker on a social platform. "It was the initial instance I truly felt the terror of being buried alive."

Personal Accounts

A hiker from China mentioned their group had been "too scared to sleep" on Saturday as accumulation quickly piled up around their tents, compelling them to remove it hourly. They decided to descend on the next day as the weather worsened.

"During the descent, we met our guide’s parent who had searched for him. It was then we learned the snow was intense in the valley as well; locals, unable to reach their family on the mountain, were deeply concerned."

The north and east side of Everest is easier to reach than sites on the neighboring side of the border and attracts high numbers of tourists for less technical trekking, without summiting the peak.

Online Documentation

Images and footage posted online depicted tents buried in snow and rows of hikers walking through waist-high drifts to descend the mountain.

"It was very deep, and the trail very slick. Trekkers often slipped – some fell, others were bumped by yaks," said one, who added that all safely descended and were transported by bus.

Current Status

By the weekend, about 350 people had reached Qudang, a village about 30 miles away from the Tibet-side starting point of Everest, "in good health," official sources announced.

No fewer than 200 additional remained trapped but had been contacted, the reports said. Media outlets reported that scores of rescuers had gone up the mountain to assist those trapped and remove accumulation from obstructing the exit route.

There was minimal updates or new details about the rescue effort on Monday. Uncertainty remained if the storm had affected individuals on the northern side of Everest, within the same region. The region is tightly controlled by the authorities, and media entry is limited. The conditions also appears to have have disrupted phone services, with calls to local businesses failing. A number of hikers reported power was out in Qudang when they arrived.

Weather Patterns

Autumn is a peak season for the area, with usually clear and mild weather, but Chen Geshuang, among 18 members 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 conditions like this in October. And it occurred all too suddenly."

The regional travel department said admissions and access to the Everest Scenic Area were suspended from Saturday.

Regional Impact

Neighbouring countries were affected as well by extreme weather. Heavy rains caused mudslides and flash floods that have closed routes, destroyed crossings, and claimed the lives of at least 47 people since Friday in the neighboring country.