According to my own records of the 2019 season, there were no summits on May 26 due to high winds.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Not the first time<\/h3>\n
In 2016 Makalu Adventures<\/a> admitted they helped Indians Dinesh and Tarkeshwari Rathod alter their summit photos to show them on Everest\u2019s summit when in fact they never summited. \u00a0They were banned from climbing in Nepal for 10 years.<\/p>\n The spring 2019 climbing season on Everest has seen a record 77 climbers from India, up from 58 in 2018. Many hired low-cost Nepal guides that didn\u2019t provide the appropriate support for the limited experience level of their customers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Of the 11 deaths on Everest this spring, four were from Indian and all with low-cost guides that charged half of the median price or around $30,000. Similarly four of the\u00a0 <\/span>additional 10 deaths on other 8000-meter peaks including Makalu, Lhotse, Cho Oyu and Kangchenjunga were also Indian citizens.<\/p>\n Indian citizen, Amit Chowdhury, a veteran of numerous Himalayan mountaineering expeditions and received the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in 2014 for his lifetime contribution to Adventure Sports, was quoted on May 24, 2019 in The Times India<\/a> that there are too many incentives that are encouraging Indians to attempt Everest without the proper experience. He went on that:<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great to be garlanded in your local area by your local Member of Parliament, among a group of equally ignorant folks and show picture of you proudly standing on top of Everest and with the National Flag and perhaps land a Government job or get promoted from constable to a Sub-Inspector. If you are lucky and get some backing from a politician you could even land yourself an award or a plot of land. It\u2019s not cool, however, if you say you climbed a previously unclimbed route on 6,485 metre high Brammah II.\u201d<\/p>\n Oddly, the Nepal Ministry of Tourism said they had interviewed the three climbers and had accepted their summit claims and were preparing their summit certificates. The standard procedure is to produce a photograph of a climber standing on the summit with a clear view of their face. Apparently these three didn\u2019t have any proof and the Ministry simply took their word.<\/p>\n The government appointed \u201cliaison Officer\u201d who is charged with monitoring a team for rules compliance and to validate their summit was only at base camp for two days and was not there on their alleged summit date, yet he had authorized that they had summited.<\/p>\n It seems that India has a problem with those hoping to climb Everest. Perhaps it lies with incentives and the myth that they will become rich and famous.<\/p>\nLimited Vetting<\/h3>\n