Mount Everest's photogenic weather during the post-monsoon

Mount Everest, known locally as Sagarmatha or Qomolangma, is the world's highest (8849m), and arguably most iconic, peak. That allure draws large numbers of tourists to Nepal every year with hopes of seeing or climbing the famed mountain. Importantly, the large tourist presence has wide ranging environmental (Napper et al., 2020; Aubriot et al., 2019; Semple et al., 2016; Faulon and Sacareau, 2020; Miner et al., 2021; Byers, 2005), cultural (Rai, 2017; Nepal et al., 2020), societal (Pallathadka, 2020; MOFA, 2021) and economic (Nyaupane, 2015; Mu, 2019) implications for the Khumbu Region of Nepal. Using data from a new array of automatic weather stations (AWSs) installed as part of the 2019 National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition (Matthews et al., 2020a,b) showed that seasonal variations in the weather on Mt. Everest modulates the timing of optimum climbing conditions for mountaineers. However, the influence of seasonality on the likelihood of visitors' ability to view the famed summit from Mt. Everest's (Nepalese) Base Camp has not been assessed. Here, we utilize previously unpublished photos taken twice-daily by an automatic camera at the Base Camp AWS (Figure 1), alongside meteorological data, to examine the impacts of weather on the visibility of this iconic peak that draws visitors from all over the world.