NEPAL has drafted a new law that will vastly reduce the number of people receiving permits to climb Mount Everest.
Authorities in the Himalayan nation propose to issue permits only to experienced climbers who have successfully reached the peak of at least one of the region’s 7,000-metre mountains. Everest itself stands at 8,849 metres.
Nepalese lawmakers say the new ruling would go a long way to reduce overcrowding and improve safety – two areas where the country has attracted a great deal of criticism over recent years.
A heavy reliance on tourism on Everest has seen snaking queues of mountaineers waiting in the ‘Death Zone’ just below the summit where oxygen levels are notoriously low. This overcrowding has been cited as a contributing factor in the deaths of several climbers.
There were 12 confirmed deaths and five climbers unaccounted for in 2023 – a year when 478 permits were granted.
The new draft legislation will require permit requests to be accompanied by verified evidence of scaling a 7,000-metre summit in Nepal. The proposed law will also insist the mountain guide leader – the ‘sardar’ – must be a citizen of Nepal.
However, the potential law – which is due to be put before the upper house of Nepal’s parliament, the National Assembly – has been heavily criticised by some expedition operators keen to see the bill accept any 7,000-metre peak, rather than only ones in Nepal.
Austria-based Furtenbach Adventures, lead by hugely experienced climber Lukas Furtenbach, has said the move wouldn’t make any sense.
“And I would also add mountains that are close to 7,000 meters to that list and that are widely used as preparation, like Ama Dablam (Nepal), Aconcagua (Argentina), Denali (USA) and others,” he said, adding that there simply weren’t enough qualified mountain guides from Nepal.
“It is important that mountain guides have a qualification like IFMGA (International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations), no matter what nationality they are. We do also welcome Nepali IFMGA guides to work in the Alps in Europe.”
According to the data of Nepal’s own tourism department, the country is host to some 400 mountains, with 74 of them above 7,000 metres.
We’re building an outdoors community on Reddit. Come join us here… r/outdoorsnews.
Find us on Facebook… www.facebook.com/everwildoutdoors
You can follow Ever Wild Outdoors on Twitter… @EWO_tweets
And if Instagram is your thing, we’re there too… www.instagram.com/ever_wild_outdoors/
Check out our YouTube channel… Everwild Outdoors – YouTube
