Mt Everest's Hillary Step potentially collapsed in earthquake

Left the Hillary Step this year, right the Hillary Step as it was prior to 2014. Photo / Facebook

The hardest part of the Mt Everest climb seems to have disappeared, leaving mountaineers a leisurely stroll to the top.

Mountaineer blogger Mark Horrell wrote that the iconic Hillary Step may have collapsed in last year's earthquake.

The 12m vertical climb on the South-East Ridge is the final obstacle before reaching the summit.

Mt Everest wasn't climbed from the Nepalese side for two years due to the avalanche in 2014 and the 2015 earthquake.

But climbers this year have been posting before and after photos of the step showing the diminished obstacle. Horrell said some climbers think the rocky face has collapsed while others think there is just more snow that makes ascent easier.

Mountaineer David Hamilton said traveling over the step only took half an hour.

"In a 'normal' season this section is mostly a rock climb, but this year it was entirely on snow. The 'Hillary Step' was unrecognisable, buried beneath deep snow."

Sir Edmund Hillary made it up by leaning back on hardened snow and edged his way up with his feet, a hazardous maneuver that could have thwarted his effort for the top.

Climbing the step, which becomes a bottleneck when the mountain is busy, was made easier with fixed ropes for climbers to haul themselves up.

Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquered Mt Everest in 1953.

Left the Hillary Step this year, right the Hillary Step as it was prior to 2014. Photo / Facebook

A snowy Hillary step, for the first time in years the step itself wasn't climbed rather the snow on the right pic.twitter.com/biQpILqzaI

— Kenton Cool (@KentonCool) May 20, 2016