Due to the Nepal earthquake, the Mount Everest climbing season is closed.

According to several media outlets, climbers on the North Side of Mount Everest and all other mountains in Tibet have been told the season is closed by the head of the Tibetan Mountaineering Association.

The death toll due to the tragedy in Nepal has already climbed to more than 5,200, including at least 18 climbers on Mount Everest. Most climbers from the Nepalese side had already departed following a massive avalanche associated with the quake.

About 300 people from 25 teams were preparing for climbs on the North side of the mountain when the closure was announced.

Alpenglow Expeditions, which guides climbers up the North Side, reported: “Expressing the events of the last few days in a way which does justice to the magnitude of the tragedy that has hit Nepal whilst also sharing our own journey, our experiences and our emotional responses is not an easy task.”

This was written by Alpenglow Expedition Doctor Monica Piris on the company’s blog. “Hopes of continuing the climb gradually morphed into a strange emotional limbo of conflicting desires and the realization that extraneous forces would probably call the last shot…The CTMA has officially announced that the climbing season of all 8000m peaks in Tibet has been cancelled.”

Piris continued, “Thoughts and energy now shift to organizing the not-so-straight forward exit from China where red tape and bureaucracy could probably make a pile bigger than Everest itself.”

You can find many ways to help with donations to relief efforts for Nepal here.