Uncertainty has wrapped Tata Steel Adventure Foundation's upcoming Mount Everest expedition.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which has made a comeback to the world, has forced officials of the premier Jamshedpur-based adventure outfit, to keep fingers crossed when it comes to the expedition scheduled in May this year.

Everest-bound Asmita Dorjee, a senior instructor at the TSAF who has been preparing for the 29,029 ft lofty challenge in the Garhwal Himalayas for the past four months, is returning to Jamshedpur on Sunday.

Sources in the know said Everest expedition presently looks a non-starter and officials have no other option than to wait and watch."The pandemic has obviously made the expedition uncertain. Let's see how the situation pans out in the coming months," one of the sources said on condition of anonymity.

Hemant Gupta, head of TSAF, said the Nepal government was yet to issue any Covid-related guidelines but there is a slight uncertainty over the expedition. "The future of the Everest expedition depends entirely on how the situation turns out in the coming months. We send our Everest-bound candidates in March-end or April. The expedition starts in May. But nothing can be as of said now. There is a slight uncertainty over the expedition," he added.

Gupta, an Everester, said it is possible the Nepal government may allow expeditions when climbers produce Covid-19 negative reports and double vaccination certificates. "The Nepal government did this (Covid negative reports) last year. Like I said, it is too early to make any prediction about the expedition," he added.

The 37-year-old Asmita has been training in UttarKashi for the past four months. The Everest-bound Asmita had been climbing mountains, running and stretching exercises at a height of 4,500 ft above sea level during her preparations in Kaflon, the base camp of TSAF in Uttarakhand. Legendary climber Bachendri Pal had been giving her confidence boosting talks as part of preparations.

Asmita, daughter of Sherpa Ang Dorjee who was part of Pal’s Everest expedition in 1984, trained alone at Kaflon by climbing nearby mountains with a load of 20 kg, running and a bit of stretching exercises. She also sweated out by climbing peaks at Leh and Ladakh as part of a pre-Everest expedition earlier last year.

She has been part of summer and winter outdoor expeditions in the Garhwal Himalayas. She was also one of the members of an all women team comprising employees of Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) which went for an expedition to Kedarkantha (12,500 ft) in Garhwal Himalayan range of Uttarakhand in early March, 2020.

She was also a part of an expedition to Leh-Ladakh organized by TSAF in 2018.

So far, 11 TSAF candidates have climbed Mount Everest. They include Bachendri Pal, Premlata Agarwal, Rajender Singh Pal, Binita Soren, Meghlal Mahto, Susen Mahto, amputee Arunima Sinha, Hemant Gupta, Sandeep Tolia, Swarnalata Dalai and Poonam Rana.