"This scale of snow storm is very rare this time of the year for Mount Everest, even my local friends haven’t seen that for years," a 27-year-old hiker said, per ABC News.

Rescuers were helping hundreds of hikers trapped by heavy snow at tourist campsites on a slope of Mount Everest in Tibet, Chinese state media said.

Hundreds of local villagers and rescue teams had been deployed to help remove snow blocking access to the area, according to an earlier report by state-backed Jimu News.