Hong Kong ( CNN ) -- An avalanche , such as the one that killed at least eight climbers in Nepal this weekend , is known in mountaineering circles as an objective hazard -- a risk that you can not control and one all climbers must accept . But with Mount Manaslu playing host to some 231 mountaineers from 25 teams this season -- an unusually large number for the world 's eighth largest peak -- the natural disaster is likely to revive concerns about whether the Himalayan mountains favored by commercial expeditions are becoming too crowded . The avalanche was triggered by a huge piece of ice that fell from a glacier . It destroyed some 25 tents at one camp and survivors spoke of being swept hundreds of meters down the mountainside . Read More : Search for survivors resumes in Nepal . Manaslu had proved particularly popular this year after Chinese authorities restricted tourist visas , making access to Cho Oyu or Shishapangma , two 8,000m ( 26,000 ft ) peaks on the border with Tibet , difficult , said Grayson Schaffer , senior editor at Outside magazine . `` The devastation of the avalanche was certainly magnified by the number of people that were in its way , '' he told CNN . Ang Tscherting Sherpa , the former head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association , said that avalanches on this scale were relatively rare on Manaslu , which was regarded as one of the easier 8,000m peaks to surmount . He said the accident was not connected to the number of climbers . `` Such avalanches are hard to predict . It all depends on the snow fall and how warm the ground is . '' Read more : Avalanche strikes climbers in Nepal . The problem of over-crowding is most stark at Mount Everest , the world 's highest peak , which attracts hundreds of climbers each year eager to take a shot at the 8,848m ( 29,029 ft ) summit . In May this year , climbers spoke of `` traffic jams '' as more than 150 climbers waited their turn to summit the mountain during a window of good weather . The consequences were deadly as some climbers ' air supplies began to run out and frost bite began to set in . Six climbers died in the space of two days . Leanne Shuttleworth , a British woman who made a successful summit on May 20 , said there were bodies attached to fixed lines and she had to walk around them . `` There was a couple who were still alive , '' she told Britain 's Daily Mail . `` Our Sherpa helped one of the people but a couple were so far gone they did n't even know we were there . It was the most horrendous thing to see . '' A total of 10 climbers died on Everest in April and May , making it the third deadliest spring season on record after 12 people perished in 1996 and 11 in 2006 . Schaffer , who spent April and May at Everest base camp , attributes the high death toll to thrill-seeking amateurs , who are actively courted by cut-price outfitters . `` If you really want to climb one of these mountains , you can pay someone to take you regardless of your experience level , '' he said . `` In the past 10 years , it 's gone from almost unheard of to happening more often . '' Nepal has eight of the 14 highest peaks in the world and tourism is a big earner for the landlocked country 's economy . September marks the beginning of the fall climbing season , which runs through November . Unlike the spring season , which comes after a dry winter , the fall season follows the wet monsoon , coating the mountains in a lot more snow . This attracts mountaineer skiers like Glen Plake , who survived Sunday 's avalanche . The extreme sports celebrity had planned to ski down the mountain without the aid of oxygen . Manesh Shrestha in Nepal contributed to this report .
Avalanche kills trees on Nepal 's Mount Manaslu . Natural disaster revives concerns about safety on Himalayan peaks . Mount Everest ' ' snow jams '' in May this year . Big glacier attracting more inexperienced climbers .