A raft of new regulations from the Nepal government include one that could ban the young and the old from the world's highest peak
Everest may be getting its own age of consent if a new proposal
from Nepal's Department of Mountaineering becomes law.
Ganesh Raj Karki, chief of the department, reportedly plans to
introduce a minimum age of 17 for climbers on the mountain above base
camp, we think. The measure, which would need to be approved by the
cabinet, is a response to the concern over the ascent of the mountain
last year by 16 year old Sherpa Temba Tsheri. He succeeded on his
second attempt, but during a failed first try lost five fingers to
frostbite.
Youngsters are more susceptible to altitude sickness and are also
less likely to have sufficient mountain experience. Apparently the
ministry is also planning to ban 'old climbers' for 'health and
security reasons'. Bad news for Chris Bonington then...
As part of the same package of measures, Nepalnews.com
says that the peak permit system is being revised, but what on earth
it all means, we have no idea: 'Several other changes in the
mountaineering regulations have also been made. The provision before
was that climbing permits were only given during the autumn and
spring seasons. But from now onwards permits will be issued not on
the basis of seasons but on the basis of the height of the mountains,
the Ministry said.'
For fingers on the pulse stuff, the excellent Everestnews
site says:
'The Ministry of Tourism of Nepal also made some changes to the
fee charged, previously a team had to pay $70,000 US for a team up to
seven climbers. Under the new rules, a one climber expedition fee
would be $25,000. Two members $40,000 US, 4 climbers $56,000, five
climbers $60,000 and seven climbers will still be $70,000. We doubt
this will change much the way things really work on Everest, in that
commercial and privateexpeditions will still save money if they buy a
full permit and sell slots for climbers...'
They also point out that Temba Tsheri Sherpa actually climbed the
mountain from the Tibetan side, so the new regs would have made not a
blind bit of difference.
