Stevie Haston Held To Ransom ...

A certain amount of confusion surrounds the 'holding to ransom' of controversial and self-styled 'best' British climber Stevie Haston in Nepal.

Inititial reports - like this item on the Cotswold web site - implied that the group had been effectively kidnapped, but more recent information suggest that the climbers were trapped on the mountain while heading back to base camp / or Kathmandu after summiting 22,000 feet (4.2 mile says the BBC) Ramtang-Chang or 'Wedge Peak' near the Tibetan border.

The Guardian says that the team were actually stopped while ascending the mountain and told they would only be allowed to continue if they agreed to pay the 'ransom' on the way down after climbing the peak.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like what has actually happened is that the climbing party, reluctant to encounter the rebels again, had simply holed up higher up the peak and are hoping to be airlifted out by helicopter rather than face the armed rebels.

"We are in a situation where we don't really want to go down the valley because we don't want to meet these chaps with guns ... we are kind of stuck here,' Haston reportedly told Radio Five Live yesterday.

BBC news story

Guardian news story

More Confusion

Other reports on Ananova yesterday claimed the climbers had escaped and are in hiding awaiting an army rescue bid to helicopter them to safety. The climbers apparently tricked their kidnappers, headed higher up the mountain then doubled back via another pass. Or did they.

Update - Friday

A few days later and thge group is now safe - see this Ananova story - after being airlifted from the village of Gunza. Haston was actually lifted out earlier with a sick climber due to his medical skills. Meanwhile the most comprehensible summary of the story we've seen is on the web site of the climber's sponsor, Lowe Alpine. How true is it? Apparently Haston is due back in Europe tomorrow, so expect a spate of dramatic meeja stories soon.

Lowe Alpine story

Background

It's sad but inevitable that a relatively minor incident involving one high profile western climbers garners more headlines in a week than the deaths of hundreds of Nepalis in recent disturbances. Let's get a sense of perspective, just yesterday, the army announced that they had killed 150 Maoists in Ropla and over 4,000 since last November.

Up till now, though there have been incidences of trekkers having cameras taken and being 'asked' to pay a contribution towards Maoist funds, the rebels have followed a strict policy of not targeting foreigners because of Nepal's dependence on tourism for income.

As the Cotswold article points out, this is the start of the winter trekking season, so the timing couldn't be worse for the beleagured trekking economy of the small Himalayan country.

The ongoing Maoist revolt in Nepal has rendered Kathmandu particularly hazardous with regular rebel bombings hitting the city. Major trekking routes have, up till now, been relatively unaffected, however there is a small danger of trekkers being caught up in clashes between Maoists and the army, who were called in to control the revolt earlier this year.

In recent weeks, there were moves towards negotiations, which seem to have petered out and both the Foreign Office and the US Government warn travellers to monitor the situation carefully particularly in certain areas. For a view of Nepali news from the country itself, see the Nepalnews web site.

For a grounds-eye view, take a look at Jamie McGuinness's Project Himalaya web site.

And Who Exactly is Stevie Haston?

'Basically he hates the media, however he has to pay the rent and his bar tab' - from www.steviehaston.com

Controversial Stevie is undoubtedly one of Britain's best all round climbers and mountaineers. For years he refused to court the climbing press while at the same time becoming involved in seemingly endless slanging matches over grading and climbing standards with other top climbers.

He's good though having climbed 8c on rock, free soloed the Walker Spur in winter and put up some insanely hard ice and mixed routes - up to M11 - as well as having snowboarded down Cho Oyu from an altitude of 7,200 metres.

Times have changed though and our Stevie - Malta via the East End - now has his own regular column in On The Edge Magazine as well as a slick web site at www.steviehaston.com and sponsorship from several top brands.