Old, disabled may be banned from Everest

Nepal is considering banning severely disabled climbers and those deemed too old from Everest and other mountains in an attempt to improve safety, the head of its tourism department said Monday.

“Such a rule is going to be introduced to maintain the glory of Everest“, said Mohan Krishna Sapkota, acting secretary of the ministry of tourism.

Mr Karki also said the government was considering only issuing permits to climbers who have already scaled another mountain above 6,500m (21,300ft).

The regulations could have a negative effect on a major source of revenue for the impoverished country, which generates millions of dollars through selling climbing permits. “We want to make the mountains safer for everyone, so we have to insist on a few rules”.

“That the world’s highest peak and an object of religious significance to Nepalese people could become an open cesspit is a sad indictment of how commercialisation is destroying the environment of the mountains”, climber Paul Hart wrote in an op-ed for the United Kingdom newspaper The Telegraph in March.

In previous years, hundreds of “tourist climbers” attempted to scale Everest, much to the concern of experienced mountaineers.

Kripasur Sherpa, the country’s tourism minister, said he hoped to implement the rules before spring: “We can not let everyone go on Everest and die”.

The film Everest, a thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Josh Brolin, in which a group of climbers are engulfed a blinding blizzard, is now in the top five at the North American box office. Now people under 16 are not allowed to climb Everest, but there is no upper age limit. Disabled, old and very young people also face bans.

Last week Junko Tabei, who became the first woman to scale the mountain in 1975, Nepal needed to control the number of climbers attempting to reach the peak, according to the local press.

But Everest has in recent years drawn multitudes of climbers wanting to overcome their disabilities and achieve the formidable feat.

The president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association said he doubted the plans would be implemented.