While tents were being blown around at Camp 2, the Nepal Supreme Court issued a series of well-intended vague rules that potentially will join a long list of ignored rules. The largest and most well-connected operators have long learned that doing whatever they want has no consequences other than making more profit.
I applaud the authorities for the WAG bag experiment this season and their RECCO program, even if they did not think through it. Also, the Supreme Court ruling effort is well-intended and may be the start of meaningful changes to enhance safety and environmental protection.
The Ruling
What appears to be the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, the Nepal Supreme Court issued a slew of regulations that had already been announced, but almost none have been enacted.
According to details first reported in the Kathmandu newspaper, MyRepublica, the Supreme Court was reacting to a petition filed by Attorney Deepak Bikram Mishra in 2019. Here is the actual Supreme Court document in Nepali.
Let’s start with one mandate that has tremendous potential but not the way it’s written and reported – to limit the number of climbers on their peaks. The SC ruled,
… justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Sushma Lata Mathema has ordered the government to issue climbing permits only after specifying the number of climbers and the capacity to accommodate the climbers.
“… specifying the number of climbers and the capacity.” What does this mean? Why didn’t they set a specific number as China has with a cap of 300 climbers each season? In any event, once again the mainstream press parrots this story with misleading headlines like, “Nepal’s top court orders limit on Everest climbing permits.”
Moving on, they also required that all mountain climbing team members compile a comprehensive list of items they plan to take with them. The list should be recorded at the departure point before the ascent begins and upon their return. All items brought back from the climb must be noted at the arrival point. Does this mean their gear list? Will they count how many carabiners they left Kathmandu with and how many they returned with? But there are teeth to this one; “deposits” should only be refunded upon verifying that climbers have returned all items. This line makes zero sense to me. The only deposit a team makes is a trash bounty of $4,000 that is returned upon taking a government member to a nice lunch. Most teams return their tents, stoves, other gear, and carabiners. To be fair, occasionally, a team will cut off their logo on their tents and leave them at the South Col, not wanting to pay a Sherpa to carry the load down.
They added a few more one-liners with no context, like, “The SC has urged the government to focus on mountain protection and cleanliness.” The order did stipulate:
In this context, it appears imperative for the state to undertake special care and protective measures in response to the impacts of climate change on the mountains and glaciers. This also aligns with the constitutional responsibility of the state towards the environment and its citizens.”
The SC did acknowledge a real problem on many of their mountains–preventable deaths– but focused on body retrieval, not preventing deaths in the first place. They demanded:
coordinate garbage and corpse management in mountainous areas, establish a monitoring team (ranger) comprising experienced mountain climbers, and ensure adequate wages, accident insurance, and compensation for individuals engaged in the cleaning campaign.
Several media outlets reported in February that Rakesh Gurung, the Director of Adventure Tourism and Mountaineering Division, informed operators they must submit a letter to the Ministry stating, “Mountaineering companies will commit to bringing back the bodies of climbers who have encountered accidents or fatalities in the respective mountains.”
Noting the trash at Sagarmatha National Park, Kanchenjunga, Langtang, Machhapuchhare, Makalu, and their respective base camps, the SC issued six orders to the government for mountain cleanup efforts and all three levels of government to allocate sufficient funds for the implementation of the waste management strategic plan. Note that this effort has been underway for years under the control of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, SPCC, so why did the court feel it had to repeat this effort?
Second Verse, Same as the First
For those keeping score at home, back in February of this year, the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, the governing body that is charted with managing Nepal’s Everest Base Camp (EBC), announced new rules with no warning or apparently investigation into their feasibility:
- Climbers would be required to haul their feces off of the peak using WAG bags
- Size limitations on square (box) and dome tents, plus no attached toilets
- No business, e.g., massage services, bakeries, stores and the sort
- helicopters are banned from ferrying gear to camp,
- Visitors and trekkers are banned from sleeping at EBC camp
- Every climber is required to carry down at least eight kilograms (17.6 pounds) of garbage from the mountain
Wait, there’s more. Rakesh Gurung, director at the Department of Tourism, garnered global headlines that read, “Tracking chip now mandatory for Everest aspirants.” As I detailed in this post, the device they suggested is made by RECCO and is neither a “chip, nor uses GPS.” It’s a reflector that requires a special laptop-sized detector to work. This system has saved many lives in ski resorts but most people are skeptical it will work in mountainous terrain like on the high slopes of Everest.
Supreme Court Reverses Disabality Rule
The Nepal Supreme Court has done good work with respect to climbing, such as in 2016 when they struck down a new rule to ban climbers above 75 years of age, double amputees, and the visually impaired. This ruling appears to have been implemented.
New Rules
I’ve been tracking these rule announcements for over ten years, and it’s fascinating to see repeats, but the common theme is virtually none are ever enacted or enforced because of the instability of the Nepal government and the revolving door of Ministers who run the Ministry of Tourism. This eye chart shows the ones announced and often promoted by the mainstream press; however, virtually none of them were ever enforced. I have a reed check by the ones I belive were implemented. Click the chart to enlarge it.
My Proposed Rules
First, I applaud the authorities for the WAG bag experiment this season and their RECCO program, even if they did not think through it. Also, the Supreme Court ruling effort. All of it is well-intended and may be the start of meaningful changes to enhance safety and environmental protection.
There are obvious ways to address safety that would have little impact on revenue. Modeling best practices from other mountains like Alaska’s Denali or Argentina’s Aconcagua, safety could be drastically increased and lives potentially be saved by stationing a permanent rescue team at Camp 2 for the entire season, as they do Denali. Also, rotating “rangers” at South Col to watch for theft and serve as a deterrent to potential bad actors while being available for rescues.
Nepal has previously suggested stronger experience requirements for permit seekers, noting that perhaps part of the reason for deaths and missing climbers was partly because of inexperience. So maybe it’s time to institute a requirement that every Everest aspirant has summited at least a 7000-meter (23,000-foot) peak. China requires any Chinese citizen to have summited an 8000-meter peak and, for foreigners, a 7000-meter peak before trying Everest from Tibet.
Another safety measure would make permanent the 2024 exception that allows helicopters to ferry fixed rope supplies, but not climbers, to C2, thus reducing the number of trips through the Icefall for the Sherpas. Three Sherpas died in 2023 carrying gear to fix ropes higher on the mountain. Their lives could have been saved by using helicopters.
Also, it requires every foreigner and Sherpa to carry a true GPS tracking device like a Garmin InReach, SPOT tracker or, at minimum, avalanche beacons for ALL climbers. Any of these would make finding them faster and safer for rescuers.
Reducing the number of permits would directly reduce potential crowds and trash but would reduce revenue, so it is unlikely to occur. Similarly, reducing the number of Sherpas allowed to support each climber would reduce mountain traffic and encourage more self-sufficient clients. However, operators would argue that more Sherpas make climbing safer for their clients.
Nepal has a medical requirement, but it’s unclear how effective or enforced it is. Requiring a complete physical, including a stress test, for every climber over fifty could help find potential health issues.
Teams To the Tibetan Border
Adrian Ballinger of Alpenglow is stoked:
Today’s the day. We’re all packed, @alpenglowexpeditions has all our permits and we’re on our way to China and will cross the border to Tibet on May 7th. It’s been five long years of waiting, and the time has finally come. Stoked is an understatement. Here we go!! Let the Everest season begin!!!
Nepal Permits
It looks like the permits have stabilized. As of April 29, Nepal has issued 390 climbing permits for Everest to 37 teams representing 60 countries. The United States has the most climbers, with 70, followed by China with 65.
Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything
Podcasts
You can listen to #everest2024 podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Breaker, YouTube, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Anchor, and more. Just search for “alan arnette” on your favorite podcast platform.
Everyday Everest
Next drop on May 3, 2024
A new 16-part podcast series during the Everest 2024 climbing season.
Based on my Fictional 2020 Virtual Everest series, I’ll have a twenty-minute updated episode of the story a few times a week for the next two months. Everyday Everest follows a fictional team of nine climbers and their personal Sherpas from leaving home, trekking to base camp, acclimatizing, and finally, on their summit push. The story’s protagonist, Harper, sets the tone for the story when she tells her husband, Marc, “Honey, I’m going to climb Everest.”
You can listen to Everyday Everest on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Breaker, YouTube, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Anchor, and more. Just search for “alan arnette” on your favorite podcast platform.
Previous Everyday Everest Episodes
- Everyday Everest Podcast Series Part 12–Summit Plan for the Team
- Everyday Everest Podcast Series Part 11–First Summits
- Everyday Everest Podcast Series Part 10–Climbing the Lhotse Face
- Everyday Everest Podcast Series Part 9–Summit Date Planned
- Everyday Everest Podcast Series Part 8–Suffering at Camp 2
- Everyday Everest Podcast Series Part 7–Into the Cwm
- Everyday Everest Podcast Series Part 6–Into the Icefall
- Everyday Everest Podcast Series Part 5–Arrival At Base Camp
- Everyday Everest Podcast Series Part 4–Blessing in the Khumbu
- Everyday Everest Podcast Series Part 3–The Trek Begins
- Everyday Everest Podcast Series Part 2–Hello Kathmandu
- Everyday Everest Podcast Series Part 1–Welcome and Part 1
Preparing for Everest is more than Training
There are five Summit Coach clients on Everest in 2024
If you dream of climbing mountains but are unsure how to start or reach your next level, from a Colorado 14er to Rainier, Everest, or even K2, we can help. Summit Coach is a consulting service that helps aspiring climbers worldwide achieve their goals through a personalized set of consulting services based on Alan Arnette’s 30 years of high-altitude mountain experience and 30 years as a business executive. Please see our prices and services on the Summit Coach website.
