Why is the Khumbu Icefall referred to as a toll road?

Why is the Khumbu Icefall referred to as a toll road?

• A. The teams that had established a route through it were paid $2,200 by other teams to pass through.
• B. It has official toll booths set up at the base camp.
• C. It is a nickname from ancient traders in the region.
• D. It is a route reserved for guides only.

Answer: (A)

The idea here is that the Khumbu Icefall became a paid shortcut through a brutally dangerous section. Teams that had already established and maintained a safe route—fixing ladders, ropes, and a path through the shifting ice—could charge others a fee to use that route. The payment, about $2,200 in the account, was essentially a toll for the service of providing safer passage and saving time and risk for someone else. It isn’t about official toll booths, ancient traders, or a restriction to guides; it’s a practical arrangement where climbers pay for the value of the established, safer way through a notoriously hazardous part of the route.

The idea here is that the Khumbu Icefall became a paid shortcut through a brutally dangerous section. Teams that had already established and maintained a safe route—fixing ladders, ropes, and a path through the shifting ice—could charge others a fee to use that route. The payment, about $2,200 in the account, was essentially a toll for the service of providing safer passage and saving time and risk for someone else. It isn’t about official toll booths, ancient traders, or a restriction to guides; it’s a practical arrangement where climbers pay for the value of the established, safer way through a notoriously hazardous part of the route.