Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak at 8,848.86 meters, is defined by ice and snow, yet the answer to “how deep is the snow?” is complex. The mountain’s extreme altitude and weather systems prevent a single, static measurement. The depth of snow is constantly shifting, varying dramatically by season, altitude, and even the hour of the day. Determining the true snow depth requires distinguishing between temporary layers and the ancient, permanent ice structure that forms the bulk of the mountain.
The Variable Nature of Snow Depth
The amount of snow covering the mountain is subject to intense, rapid changes caused by time-based and density-based factors. Snowfall largely occurs during the summer monsoon season from June to September, which is when the mountain gains most of its mass. The primary climbing season in the spring, however, often occurs after a long period of dry, cold conditions.
During the non-monsoon months, high-altitude snow accumulation is offset by intense wind action and a process known as sublimation. High winds, often exceeding 100 miles per hour, scour snow from exposed ridges, relocating it into sheltered gullies or stripping it entirely. This wind-driven redistribution creates significant variability, where one spot may be bare rock or ice and an adjacent area may hold several feet of drift. The density also varies from fresh, soft powder to highly compacted, wind-packed snow, which feels more like concrete underfoot.
Permanent Ice vs. Seasonal Snowpack
To understand the depth of snow, a distinction must be made between temporary accumulation and the mountain’s permanent, frozen mass. The deepest layer is glacial ice, a dense, centuries-old structure that is a permanent part of the mountain. When the overlying snow is removed, this ice often appears as hard, blue ice, which is difficult and dangerous to climb.
Sitting atop this glacial ice is the seasonal snowpack, a layer that changes yearly. A middle layer in this transition is firn, which is snow that has survived at least one melt season and has become partially compacted into a granular substance, a stage between fresh snow and glacial ice. The “depth of snow” for a climber typically refers to the depth of this seasonal layer, which protects the permanent ice below. The loss of this seasonal snowpack exposes the underlying permanent ice to higher levels of solar radiation, accelerating the melt process.
Depth by Altitude: Key Climbing Zones
Snow and ice conditions change predictably across the mountain’s major climbing zones. At Everest Base Camp, situated around 17,500 feet, the seasonal snow depth is often minimal during the peak climbing season, having largely melted or been compacted. The area receives most of its precipitation during the monsoon, and occasional large winter storms can deliver a meter or more of snow, but this often clears before the spring climbing window.
Moving higher into the Western Cwm, the broad valley between Camps I and II, the landscape is a massive, relatively flat glacier that acts as a major snow accumulation area. Here, the snowpack can be deep—often several feet—but it rests directly on the Khumbu Glacier, which is subject to intense solar heating due to the surrounding, reflective valley walls.
Above 26,000 feet, in the area known as the Death Zone, the intense jet stream winds drastically reduce the snow depth. High ridges, like those near the South Summit and the Summit Pyramid, are typically stripped bare, revealing exposed blue ice or covered by only a few inches of rock-hard, wind-packed snow.
The Forces Shaping Everest’s Surface
The dynamic changes to Everest’s surface are governed by extreme winds and the unique atmospheric process of sublimation. Sublimation occurs when ice or snow turns directly into water vapor, skipping the liquid phase entirely. This process is accelerated by the cold, dry air and high winds at extreme altitudes, leading to a significant loss of snow mass without visible melting.
This mass loss, combined with accelerated glacial melting due to regional warming, is causing the exposure of centuries-old ice. Scientists have observed that the highest glaciers are now losing decades of accumulation annually, fundamentally changing the mountain’s surface composition.