Mountain guides decide to stop climbing this year in honour of 16 colleagues killed in worst-ever accident on peak 
 
 Nepalese guides on Mount Everest have decided to abandon this year's climbing season, to honour 16 colleagues killed in an avalanche last week. 
 
 The decision throws the plans of hundreds of foreign mountaineers into chaos, with many of them waiting in base camp after paying tens of thousands of dollars to scale the world's highest peak. 
 
 The Sherpas perform essential tasks on the 8,848-metre (29,029ft) mountain, carrying equipment and food, as well as repairing ladders and fixing ropes to reduce risks for their clients. 
 
 "We had a long meeting this afternoon and we decided to stop our climbing this year to honour our fallen brothers. All Sherpas are united in this," one local guide, Tulsi Gurung, told AFP from base camp. 
 
 "Some guides have already left and others will take about a week to pack up everything and go," said Gurung, whose brother is among those missing after an avalanche last Friday killed 13 Sherpas and left three missing, presumed dead. 
 
 Another guide, Pasang Sherpa, said: "Sixteen people have died on this mountain on the first day of our climb. How can we step on it now?" 
 
 The guides had threatened to cancel all climbing on Mount Everest, and issued an ultimatum to the government demanding higher compensation, an agreement to revise insurance payments and a welfare fund by next Monday. 
 
 Maddhu Sudan Burlakoti, the head of the Nepalese government's mountaineering department, said all of the demands would be discussed and a recommendation made to the government. The decision to abandon the season appeared to pre-empt the outcome of the talks. 
 
 High-profile western mountaineers headed to the capital, Kathmandu, on Tuesday afternoon to seek a resolution to the crisis. 
 
 "They have decided that compensation is not the only issue, they feel like they have to close down Everest this year as a memorial to those who died," said Ed Marzec, an American climber who spoke to AFP from base camp. "They also want to stage a protest next month in Kathmandu and they say they can't do that if they are on the mountain." 
 
 Marzec, a 67-year-old retired lawyer who hoped to become the oldest American to climb Everest, said the atmosphere at base camp was souring fast, with some climbers putting pressure on Sherpas so they would stay on and help them reach the summit. 
 
 Since Friday's avalanche, expedition teams have declared a week of mourning with no trips to the summit. Ang Tshering, of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said about 400 foreign climbers from 39 expedition teams were on the mountain with an equal number of Sherpa guides, along with support staff such as cooks, cleaners and porters in the base camp. 
 
 If the Sherpas boycott the season, many of the climbers would have to forfeit most or all of the money they have spent to climb Everest, which can amount to $90,000 (£53,000). 
 
 Those climbing Everest have long relied on Sherpas for everything from hauling gear to cooking food to high-altitude guiding. Some guides had already left the mountain by Monday, either joining the boycott or mourning their friends and colleagues. 
 
 The avalanche caused the most deadly recorded climbing accident in Everest history. At least 13 Sherpas were killed when a block of ice tore loose from the mountain and triggered a cascade that ripped through teams of guides hauling gear. 
 
 Three Sherpas missing in Friday's avalanche are presumed dead. Authorities say it is unlikely that their bodies – believed to be covered in snow and ice – will be recovered. 
 
 The Sherpas want the minimum insurance payment for those killed on Everest to be doubled to 2m rupees (£12,370), and a portion of the climbing fee charged by the government to be reserved for a relief fund. The government has agreed so far to just one demand – building a monument in Kathmandu in memory of those killed. 
 
 Pasang Sherpa, of the National Mountain Guides Association, said his group had signatures from more than 350 Sherpas from the base camp. "They all support the demands, and work will not continue unless the government agrees to our demands. When the avalanche hit and rescue help was needed, there was little support from the government available at the base camp." 
 
 Hundreds of people, both foreigners and Sherpas, have died trying to reach the summit, and about a quarter of the deaths occurred in avalanches, climbing officials say. The previous worst disaster on Everest was the deaths of eight climbers in a fierce blizzard on 11 May 1996. That expedition was memorialised in the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. 
 
 More than 4,000 climbers have reached the summit of Everest since 1953, when the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first to achieve the feat. ||||| NEW DELHI — The government of Nepal has agreed to create a relief fund for Sherpa mountain climbers who are injured or killed in accidents and to make other concessions to the Sherpas, according to an official at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. The official, Sushil Ghimire, said some of the revenue the government gets from expeditions to Mount Everest would be set aside for the fund. 
 
 The announcement came a day after some Sherpa guides threatened to cancel expeditions up Mount Everest over the issue of adequate compensation for the families of the Sherpas who were killed last week in an avalanche. The government had earlier promised to pay each Sherpa’s family 40,000 rupees, or about $413. 
 
 Thirteen Sherpas are confirmed to have died in the avalanche, which occurred on Friday, and three more are missing and are unlikely to be found alive, officials have said. It was the worst single-day loss of life since climbing expeditions began on the mountain, and it underscored the disparity in risks faced by the Sherpas and by their mostly foreign clients. 
 
 Mr. Ghimire said on Monday that the government also had agreed to provide pensions for older Sherpa climbers and educational assistance for Sherpa children, two concessions that Sherpa representatives demanded at meetings on Sunday and Monday at an Everest base camp. 
 
 Mingma Sherpa, 27, a climber who works with two trekking companies, Asian Trekking and Himalayan Ascent, said on Monday that the threatened work stoppage was “not a protest.” “We are doing this in honor of our friends and Sherpas who died,” he said. “How can we walk through the same path where they have died?” 
 
 Ang Tshering Sherpa, the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said after meeting with ministry officials that “climbing will be resumed.” 
 
 A funeral procession was held on Monday for six of the Sherpas who died in the avalanche and whose bodies were flown to Katmandu, the capital, from the base camp over the weekend. The procession, attended by hundreds of people, began at the Sherpa Gumba, a monastery in Katmandu, and continued to various cremation sites. Most Sherpas adhere to Tibetan Buddhism and perform prayer ceremonies for 49 days after a death; after that time, they believe, the deceased person’s spirit is reborn. 
 
 Monks joined the procession offering prayers for the dead, and families and friends displayed banners with photos of the deceased Sherpas. 
 
 Chhechi Sherpa, an 18-year-old daughter of one of the climbers who was killed in the avalanche, said that she wanted the government to provide assistance to her family for her education. “My brother and sisters are very small,” she said. “Being the oldest daughter in the family, all the responsibility will depend on me.” 
 
 Mr. Ghimire, the ministry secretary, was present at the procession. Afterward, he said that the government would meet on Tuesday with the Nepal Mountaineering Association to sketch out concrete plans to meet the Sherpas’ demands. ||||| KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Most Sherpas mountain guides have decided to leave Mount Everest, a guide said, confirming a walkout certain to disrupt a climbing season that was already marked by grief over the lives lost last week in Everest's deadliest disaster. 
 
 Relatives of mountaineers, killed in an avalanche on Mount Everest, cry during the funeral ceremony in Katmandu, Nepal, Monday, April 21, 2014. Buddhist monks cremated the remains of Sherpa guides who... (Associated Press) 
 
 Earlier Tuesday, Nepal's government appeared to have agreed to some of the Sherpas' demands in the threatened boycott, such as setting up a relief fund for Sherpas who are killed or injured in climbing accidents, but the funding falls well short of what the Sherpas wanted. 
 
 The Nepal National Mountain Guide Association in Katmandu would try to negotiate with the Sherpas and the government because a total boycott would harm Nepal's mountaineering in the long term, the group's general secretary, Sherpa Pasang, said. 
 
 After a memorial service at base camp on Tuesday, the Sherpas in the camp discussed their options, said guide Dorje Sherpa, who attended. He said most of them were planning to pack and leave as early as Wednesday. 
 
 "It is just impossible for many of us to continue climbing. While there are three of our friends buried in the snow, I can't imagine stepping over them. We want to honor the members we lost and out of respect for them we just can't continue," he said. 
 
 Last Friday, several Sherpa guides were hauling climbing gear between camps when a chunk of ice tore loose and triggered an avalanche. Thirteen bodies were recovered and three Sherpas still missing are presumed dead. 
 
 At the base camp memorial service, Buddhist lama, or priests, read religious scripts, and Sherpas and foreign climbers burned incense butter lamps and prayed for the dead. The victims' bodies were cremated on Monday. 
 
 After the avalanche, the government quickly said it would pay the family of each Sherpa who died 40,000 rupees, or about $415. The Sherpas said they deserve far more — including more insurance money, more financial aid for the families of the victims and new regulations that would ensure climbers' rights. 
 
 The Everest climbing season provides livelihoods for thousands of Nepali guides and porters. Climbers have long relied on Sherpas for everything from carrying gear to cooking food to high-altitude guiding. Without them, reaching the summit would be almost impossible. 
 
 Most attempts to reach the summit are made in mid-May, when weather is most favorable. If the Sherpas boycott the season, many of the climbers would have to forfeit most or all of the money they have spent to go up Everest, which in some cases adds up to $90,000. 
 
 At least one expedition company has canceled the 2014 attempt for its six-member team. 
 
 "Our team members have empathy for the Sherpa community and we wish for everyone to be able to mourn their lost family and friends in peace," the Adventure Consultants Everest Expedition 2014 Team said on its website. 
 
 The Ministry of Tourism said in its statement the government had agreed to the following: 
 
 — A relief fund to help Sherpas injured in mountaineering accidents and the families of those killed, and to pay for rescue during accidents on the mountain. 
 
 — The government said it will stock the fund every year with 5 percent of its earnings from Everest climbing fees — well below the 30 percent the Sherpas are demanding. Nepal earns some $3.5 million annually in Everest climbing fees. 
 
 — Nepal will increase the insurance payout for those killed on the mountain to 1.5 million rupees ($15,620), up from the current 1 million rupees. The offer falls short of the Sherpas' demand for 2 million rupees ($20,800). 
 
 — The government will build a memorial to the men killed in Friday's avalanche. 
 
 — The government also will pay additional money to help rehabilitate the injured. 
 
 Since the avalanche, expedition teams have declared a week of mourning. About 400 foreign climbers from 39 expedition teams were on the mountain with an equal number of Sherpa guides, along with many more support staff such as cooks, cleaners and porters in the base camp. 
 
 More than 4,000 climbers have reached the top of the world's highest mountain since 1953, when it was first conquered by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Hundreds of people have died trying.
– After an Everest avalanche killed a reported 16 Sherpas, Nepal officials are coming around to the idea of coughing up some cash. Following two days of meetings with Sherpa representatives, the government says it will establish a relief fund for Sherpas wounded or killed in mountaineering accidents, the New York Times reports. The government will divert a portion of its receipts from Everest climbs to the relief fund. Elderly Sherpa climbers will receive pensions, while children have been promised educational funding, a culture ministry official tells the paper. Some Sherpas had threatened a strike after the avalanche, which killed 13 (three more are still missing), prompted a government pledge of $413 for each affected family. Following the meetings, the Nepal Mountaineering Association president, Ang Tshering Sherpa, said climbing would be "resumed." But many Sherpas say they won't be participating anymore this season, the AP reports. "It is just impossible for many of us to continue climbing. While there are three of our friends buried in the snow, I can't imagine stepping over them," says one. Hundreds of foreign would-be climbers are thus stuck at base camp, the Guardian notes. For Jon Krakauer's fascinating backstory on the Everest disaster, click here.