Chinese climbers get bulk of Everest permits as Nepal issues record 454 for season
- Climbers from China issued with 96 of the passes issued, US climbers get next most with 87
- Overcrowding blamed for deaths 4 years ago when a long queue on Everest forced teams to wait hours in freezing temperatures
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Nepal has issued a record 454 permits to climb Mount Everest this spring, officials said on Monday, four years after at least four deaths on the world’s highest peak were blamed on overcrowding.
Bigyan Koirala from the tourism department said it was the “highest number of permits” the department had issued, and added that numbers could rise further.
As most of these mountaineers will attempt to summit Everest with the help of a Nepali guide, more than 900 climbers will be heading for the summit in the next few weeks.
This could cause heavy traffic and bottlenecks en route to the summit if there is a shorter window period to reach it because of unfavourable weather.
In 2019, a long queue on Everest forced teams to wait hours in freezing temperatures, lowering depleted oxygen levels that can lead to sickness and exhaustion.
At least four of 11 deaths that year were blamed on overcrowding.
The highest number of climbers receiving permits this season were from China (96), followed by the United States (87).
Ang Tshering Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, told AFP that the high numbers this season were the result of many climbers being unable to travel to Nepal in recent years because of the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition, new rules on the Chinese side of Everest – requiring climbers to have scaled one other 8,000-metre peak first – were sending more Chinese to Nepal.
A team of professional mountaineers is currently preparing the route up to Everest and has already fixed rope up to Camp IV at 7,924 metres (25,997 feet).
Sherpa said recent snowfall had heightened the risk of avalanches on the mountains.
“Normally, it’s during the winter when there should have been a snowfall. But there was snowfall recently during the spring. The fresh snow remains soft which increases the risk of avalanche,” Sherpa said.
Three Nepali climbers went missing on Everest while crossing the treacherous Khumbu Icefall on April 12. Authorities called off the rescue after concluding it was not possible to retrieve their bodies from a deep crevasse.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks and foreign climbers who flock to its mountains are a major source of revenue for the country.
The government has collected a total of US$4.86 million from the Everest permits, charging US$11,000 per foreign climber.
