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Hopes for an Everest season unaffected by the pandemic dimmed last week��when the first member of an expedition at Base Camp tested positive for COVID-19, according to a source at camp��who asked to remain anonymous.

The infected patient was originally thought to be suffering from high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE)��and was evacuated by helicopter to a hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. Upon arrival, the person��tested positive for��COVID-19. The rest of their��expedition team then began quarantining at Base Camp.

While only a single case of COVID-19 has been identified here so far, an outbreak would have disastrous consequences.��“When you’re sitting at Everest Base Camp at 17,600 feet, your immune system gets compromised because of the lack of oxygen,” �����ԹϺ��� Everest correspondent Alan Arnette told us��last spring, when the virus cut the season short before it even started.��“Even a small cut on your finger doesn’t heal until you get back down to an oxygen-rich environment. I think the risks are really high, and people are taking a gamble if they climb.”

The virus threatens the summit aspirations of climbers, the economic security of Sherpas, and the health of both.��

“Of course we are worried,” says Dr. Sangeeta Poudel, a volunteer at the Himalayan Rescue Association, a nonprofit that works to reduce deaths from acute mountain sickness in the Nepalese��Himalayas. If there was an��outbreak at Base Camp, Poudel says, “it would be an earthquake-like �����ٳܲ��پ��Dz�.”

The high elevation of Base Camp is particularly worrisome, as the virus could��be masked by, or mistaken for, symptoms commonly caused by extreme altitude.��

“With HAPE and COVID-19, we have a diagnosis dilemma, because they share symptoms,” says Dr. Suraj Shrestha, another Himalayan Rescue Association volunteer. Ambiguous symptoms include cough, a loss of appetite, and shortness of breath,��all commonly experienced at high elevation.��

Doctors at Base Camp have already arranged seven emergency evacuations, including��some��for multiple cases of HAPE. But because they aren’t able to test for COVID-19 at Base Camp, they don’t always feel certain in their diagnoses.��

As of now, the teams on the mountain��are feeling cautious but unfazed by a single positive test result��and are going forward as normal. While some initially expected a quieter climbing season this year, the government has��issued 338 permits,��almost as many as usual. Masks are worn sporadically��at��Base Camp, and social-distancing protocols vary widely among expedition companies, with a few��imposing strict isolation and others more or less carrying on like a normal year.

“The camp is as big as 2019, there is no difference,”��says Noel Hanna of Northern Ireland, who is at Base Camp for his third time. “Everything seems to be the same.”

Most foreigners had to present a negative COVID��test��result��upon arrival in Nepal. The government also requires a quarantine period and a second negative test after arrival, but these rules appear to be largely self-enforced. Many individuals and expedition companies seem to have followed the rules, albeit some more seriously than others. A fair share of the foreigners claim to��have received a vaccination, allaying concerns to an extent, but most Sherpas,��who travel��down the mountain and to Kathmandu more frequently, have not.

Luckily, Nepal has seen��a relatively low COVID��infection rate since early January. In Kathmandu, many people wear masks, and life mostly goes��on as usual. However, cases are starting to trend upward. Particularly worrisome is the skyrocketing number of cases in India, which shares an open border with Nepal.

Yet there is a fair amount of optimism for a successful climbing season. Doctors and expedition leaders hope that the single known case has been contained. And at the end of the day, for many summit��hopefuls, the coronavirus is just one more danger on a dangerous mountain.��

Says Hanna: “The way I look at COVID,��if I get it, I get it. It’s just the gamble you take.”