AP PHOTOS: Hundreds scale Mount Everest in a weather-hit climbing season

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Hundreds of climbers and their Sherpa guides scaled Mount Everest this month in Nepal, struggling against harsh weather to make it to the summit of the world's highest mountain before the climbing season finishes at the end of May.

Though several climbers did manage to reach the summit in mid-May, weather conditions deteriorated for days, forcing a retreat to base camp for many, including Kami Rita Sherpa, who was attempting to break his own record by scaling the peak for a 31st time.

He did manage to scale the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak on May 27, but several climbers were not so lucky.

The route to the summit is equipped with ladders and ropes but these are removed at the end of May, marking an end to the climbing season before the monsoon brings heavy rainfall and bad weather.

According to Nepal's Department of Mountaineering, 468 foreign climbers from 57 countries were given permits to climb Everest by the end of May, along with a roughly equal number of Nepalese mountain guides.

Because of the limited windows of good weather near the summit, large numbers of climbers lined up, attached to the single safety rope, which is known as the “Everest traffic jam.”

“Overall on Everest, weather is the key and it was not same as the forecast. And secondly, it was crowded because both professionals and beginners were there at the same time," said Pasang Rinji Sherpa, a guide, adding that movement was slow because of some of the novice climbers.

Pasang Rinji has already climbed the peak twice but was forced to retreat this time because he got sick on the mountain.

He said there were many cases of flu and the “Khumbu cough,” named after a region on Everest, which affects climbers at high altitudes. Some climbers and guides abandoned or postponed their ascent, he said.

He said that only qualified climbers should be allowed to climb the peak to make the experience safer and easier.

“Right now there are beginners with no experience or knowledge and professionals at the same time, and this is causing the problem,” he said. “There should be basic knowledge for the climbers to use gear properly and be safe while climbing Everest.”

Six-time Everest summiteer Jenjen Lama said the weather the biggest challenge this year because it would change without warning.

“The weather was very difficult to predict and the forecast would be great for the following day, but on the day the weather would deteriorate every hour or so,” he said.

Thursday marked the 72nd anniversary of the conquest of Mount Everest by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.

Kami Rita Sherpa, third left, who holds the record for most ascents to Mount Everest, prays with other mountaineers at Everest Base Camp before beginning his ascent to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

A sherpa hands vodka, that was earlier offered to the Gods, to a climber after a ritual for a safe climb at Everest Base Camp before beginning his ascent to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers form a queue as they approach the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, May 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Kunga Sherpa)

Members of an expedition to the summit of Mount Everest stand by their tents at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Indian Army personnel take part in a training session at Everest Base Camp before beginning their ascent to Mount Everest in Nepal, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Oxygen cylinders are kept on a slope on the way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, May 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Kunga Sherpa)

Mount Pumori, center left, looms in the background as a mountaineer negotiates Khumbu Icefall to descend to Everest Base Camp, in Nepal, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers ascend to Camp 2 on their way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

The body of an unidentified mountaineer lies near Camp 4 on the way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, May 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jenjen Lama)

Members of an expedition to the summit of Mount Everest stand by their tents at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

A mountaineer takes part in a training session at Khumbu Icefall before beginning his ascent to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

An aerial view shows Everest Base Camp on the way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Indian Army personnel take part in a training session at Everest Base Camp before beginning their ascent to Mount Everest in Nepal, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Khumbu Icefall is visible between two peaks in the background at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

A mountaineer is silhouetted against Mount Ama Dablam on his way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

A climber rests early morning inside a tent at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers form a queue as they approach the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, May 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Kunga Sherpa)

Mountaineers take a group selfie after summiting Mount Everest in Nepal, May 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Kunga Sherpa)

Mount Thamserku rises above the town of Namche Bazaar in Nepal, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers queue up below Camp 4 on the way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jenjen Lama)

Garbage is piled up at a waste collection center at Everest Base Camp in Nepal, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers negotiate Khumbu Icefall as they ascend toward the summit of Mount Everest, Nepal, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mount Everest, right, is seen from the Khumbu region which lies on the way to the summit, in Nepal, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

A member of the kitchen crew of an expedition to the summit of Mount Everest collects ice for drinking water at Camp 1, Nepal, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

A mountain guide uses a radio at Camp 2 on the way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers ascend from Camp 2 to Camp 3 on the way to the summit of Mount Everest which is visible in the background, in Nepal, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

An aerial view shows Camp 1 on the way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

Mountaineers ascend to Camp 2 on their way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)

LONDON (AP) — With one puff of a cigarette, a woman in Canada became a global symbol of defiance against Iran's bloody crackdown on dissent — and the world saw the flame.

A video that has gone viral in recent days shows the woman — who described herself as an Iranian refugee — snapping open a lighter and setting the flame to a photo she holds. It ignites, illuminating the visage of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's highest cleric. Then the woman dips a cigarette into the glow, takes a quick drag — and lets what remains of the image fall to the pavement.

Whether staged or a spontaneous act of defiance — and there’s plenty of debate — the video has become one of the defining images of the protests in Iran against the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy, as U.S. President Donald Trump considers military action in the country again.

The gesture has jumped from the virtual world to the real one, with opponents of the regime lighting cigarettes on photos of the ayatollah from Israel to Germany and Switzerland to the United States.

In the 34 seconds of footage, many across platforms like X, Instagram and Reddit saw one person defy a series of the theocracy’s laws and norms in a riveting act of autonomy. She wears no hijab, three years after the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests against the regime’s required headscarves.

She burns an image of Iran’s supreme leader, a crime in the Islamic republic punishable by death. Her curly hair cascades — yet another transgression in the Iranian government’s eyes. She lights a cigarette from the flame — a gesture considered immodest in Iran.

And in those few seconds, circulated and amplified a million times over, she steps into history.

In 2026, social media is a central battleground for narrative control over conflicts. Protesters in Iran say the unrest is a demonstration against the regime’s strictures and competence. Iran has long cast it as a plot by outsiders like United States and Israel to destabilize the Islamic Republic.

And both sides are racing to tell the story of it that will endure.

Iranian state media announces wave after wave of arrests by authorities, targeting those it calls “terrorists” and also apparently looking for Starlink satellite internet dishes, the only way to get videos and images out to the internet. There was evidence on Thursday that the regime’s bloody crackdown had somewhat smothered the dissent after activists said it had killed at least 2,615 people. That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the mayhem of the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Social media has bloomed with photos of people lighting cigarettes from photos of Iran’s leader. “Smoke ’em if you got ’em. #Iran,” posted Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana.

In the age of AI, misinformation and disinformation, there’s abundant reason to question emotionally and politically charged images. So when “the cigarette girl” appeared online this month, plenty of users did just that.

It wasn’t immediately clear, for example, whether she was lighting up inside Iran or somewhere with free-speech protections as a sign of solidarity. Some spotted a background that seemed to be in Canada. She confirmed that in interviews. But did her collar line up correctly? Was the flame realistic? Would a real woman let her hair get so close to the fire?

Many wondered: Is the “cigarette girl” an example of “psyops?” That, too, is unclear. That’s a feature of warfare and statecraft as old as human conflict, in which an image or sound is deliberately disseminated by someone with a stake in the outcome. From the allies’ fake radio broadcasts during World War II to the Cold War’s nuclear missile parades, history is rich with examples.

The U.S. Army doesn’t even hide it. The 4th Psychological Operations Group out of Ft. Bragg in North Carolina last year released a recruitment video called, “Ghost in the Machine 2 that’s peppered with references to “PSYWAR.”And the Gaza war featured a ferocious battle of optics: Hamas forced Israeli hostages to publicly smile and pose before being released, and Israel broadcast their jubilant reunions with family and friends.

Whatever the answer, the symbolism of the Iranian woman's act was powerful enough to rocket around the world on social media — and inspire people at real-life protests to copy it.

The woman did not respond to multiple efforts by The Associated Press to confirm her identity. But she has spoken to other outlets, and AP confirmed the authenticity of those interviews.

On X, she calls herself a “radical feminist” and uses the handle Morticia Addams —- after the exuberantly creepy matriarch of “The Addams Family” — sheerly out of her interest in “spooky things,” the woman said in an interview with the nonprofit outlet The Objective.

She doesn’t allow her real name to be published for safety reasons after what she describes as a harrowing journey from being a dissident in Iran — where she says she was arrested and abused — to safety in Turkey. There, she told The Objective, she obtained a student visa for Canada. Now, in her mid-20s, she said she has refugee status in and lives in Toronto.

It was there, on Jan. 7, that she filmed what’s become known as “the cigarette girl” video a day before the Iranian regime imposed a near-total internet blackout.

“I just wanted to tell my friends that my heart, my soul was with them,” she said in an interview on CNN-News18, a network affiliate in India.

In the interviews, the woman said she was arrested for the first time at 17 during the “bloody November” protests of 2019, demonstrations that erupted after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear deal that Iran had struck with world powers that imposed crushing sanctions.

“I was strongly opposed to the Islamic regime,” she told The Objective. Security forces “arrested me with tasers and batons. I spent a night in a detention center without my family knowing where I was or what had happened to me.” Her family eventually secured her release by offering a pay slip for bail. “I was under surveillance from that moment on.”

In 2022 during the protests after the death of Mahsa Amini in custody, she said she participated in a YouTube program opposing the mandatory hijab and began receiving calls from blocked numbers threatening her. In 2024, after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash, she shared her story about it — and was arrested in her home in Isfahan.

The woman said she was questioned and “subjected to severe humiliation and physical abuse.” Then without explanation, she was released on a high bail. She fled to Turkey and began her journey to Canada and, eventually, global notoriety.

“All my family members are still in Iran, and I haven’t heard from them in a few days,” she said in the interview, published Tuesday. “I’m truly worried that the Islamic regime might attack them.”

A demonstrator lights a cigarette with a burning poster depicting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally in support of Iran's anti-government protests, in Holon, Israel Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

CORRECTS MONTH - A protester lights a cigarette off a burning poster of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a demonstration in Berlin, Germany, in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A protester burns an image of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with a cigarette during rally in support of the nationwide mass demonstrations in Iran against the government, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026 in Zuerich, Switzerland.(Michael Buholzer /Keystone via AP)