NEPAL-EVEREST-AVALANCHE-MOUNTAINEERING-LEISURE

In this photograph taken on April 18, 2014, survivors (C) work to dig free and assist the injured following an avalanche that killed sixteen Nepalese sherpas in the Khumbu icefall. Immediately above them on west shoulder of Mount Everest is the glacier where the avalanche began. Dreams shattered and counting their losses, many foreign climbers -- from a veteran mountaineer to a epileptic teenager -- say they might never return to Nepal to climb Everest, upset by ugly scenes at base camp and the government's mismanagement of the peak. Climbing Everest from the Nepalese side -- the easiest and most popular route up the world's highest peak -- has been effectively closed this season after the worst ever accident on April 18, 2014. Sixteen Nepalese sherpa guides died in an avalanche, sparking a labour dispute between them and the government and a boycott that left foreign expeditions no choice but to abandon their plans. AFP PHOTO / ROBERT KAY (Photo credit should read ROBERT KAY/AFP via Getty Images)