Dangerous Human Traffic Jam on Mount Everest Takes Another Life.
BOLDUAN: A tragic traffic jam on the top of the world. A second American climber has now died on Mount Everest. Nepal officials tell CNN 62-year-old Christopher Kulish, of Colorado, died Monday after reaching the summit. He's now the 11th death in just over a week. That mountain has always been a dangerous and hostile place for climbers but with pictures now coming out with some of these we're showing you, one veteran climber is now calling it a death race.</s>MOUNTAIN CLIMER: Loads of people died this year, everyone knows, and it's been a carnage. And I should say it has become a death race there. Because there was a massive traffic jam and people are pushing themselves, who are not even capable of doing it. They do it, they try to summit, and then, instead of summiting, they kill themselves.</s>BOLDUAN: CNN's Arwa Damon went to the Everest base camp and sent back this report. Watch.</s>ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We have just arrived to Everest base camp. And I have to say, even at this altitude, even without being anywhere near to the summit, you really feel the impact of the decreased oxygen levels. The scenery here is absolutely spectacular. You really understand what the draw and appeal is. That's the ice fall that is so famous. It's what the climbers first have to go through to get to camp one. And then of course, as they move on up through the different camps and the different stops, trying to reach what is the one main goal that unites everybody here. And normally this entire area at the peak of the season is covered in tents. What you have right now behind me is just a few tents that have been left. There are cleanup crews. There's still a handful of climbers that are down there, some of the last ones to come down from the summit on what has been an especially devastating hiking season for the summit of Everest because of the level of fatalities and because of the issues that arose from all of this backlog that took place. The photographs of the long lines of people waiting inside the death zone call that because the levels of oxygen there are so low. Every breath you take in the death zone only gives you a third of the oxygen that you would get at sea level, so you have to be climbing with oxygen tanks. And so these long waiting hours may have contributed to the deaths that we did see, at least to most of them. And a lot of these climbers aren't dying on the way up. You can make it to that goal, you can make it to that summit. It's when you come back down, that's when people's bodies tend to succumb to altitude sickness. A lot of debate right now as to whether or not Nepal needs to be doing more to regulate the number of permits, to regulate who goes up, what level of experience they have. There's been a lot of criticism about inexperienced climbers going up but there's also a burden of responsibility on the individual. Yes, this is such a challenge. It is such a goal that is really going to push you mentally and physically to the limit. But all of the climbers we're talking to are saying you really need to know how to listen to your body. And just being here right now, one really feels the effect of the lower levels of oxygen. Arwa Damon, CNN, on the Nepalese side at Everest base camp.</s>BOLDUAN: Arwa sending us that report from Everest base camp. Arwa, thank you so much. Canadian filmmaker, Elia Saikaly, is working on a documentary called "The Dream of Everest." He just completed his third climb to the summit. And Elia Saikaly is joining me now from Katmandu. Elia, thank you so much for being here. You posted on Instagram the following just so our viewers know it, you posted this after -- about your latest climb: "I cannot believe what I saw there. Death, carnage, chaos, lineups." Can you describe for us what was it like this time? What did you see? Elia, it's Kate Baldwin, can you hear me? All right. We're going to try to reconnect with Elia. We'll be right back after this.