Nepal marks first Everest ascent amid debate over permits

Published May 30, 2019
Kathmandu: Nepali Sherpa women dressed in traditional attire pose for pictures during the International Everest Day on Wednesday.—AFP
Kathmandu: Nepali Sherpa women dressed in traditional attire pose for pictures during the International Everest Day on Wednesday.—AFP

KATHMANDU: Nepal commemorated the anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest on Wednesday amid a climbing season marred by the highest death toll in four years and a debate on whether the government should limit permits to prevent dangerous overcrowding on the world’s highest peak.

Government officials said at an event in Kathmandu celebrating the successful climb of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953 that there were no plans to cap permits. Nepal, one of the world’s poorest countries, takes in $300 million each year from climbing.

A record number of 381 permits were issued this year. Eleven people have died on Everest, including nine in Nepal, likely due to altitude sickness, which is caused by low amounts of oxygen at high elevation and can lead to headaches, vomiting, shortness of breath and mental confusion.

Because of the altitude, climbers have just hours to reach the top before they are at risk of a pulmonary edema, when the lungs fill with liquid causing respiratory failure. Mountaineers described traffic jams caused by exhausted rookies in the “death zone,” the final phase of the ascent from Camp Four at 8,000 meters (26,240 feet) to the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak.

The nine deaths this year on Nepal’s side of the mountain included Don Cash, a sales executive from Utah, and Christopher Kulish, an attorney from Colorado, who both died on their way down from the summit.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2019

Opinion

Editorial

IMF scrutiny
Updated 11 Feb, 2025

IMF scrutiny

Strengthening foundations of the economic superstructure will help make the economy competitive and boost growth.
Shadow voices
11 Feb, 2025

Shadow voices

OVER the weekend, another ‘open letter’ addressed to the army chief and attributed to former prime minister ...
Paradise at a premium
11 Feb, 2025

Paradise at a premium

PAKISTAN’S recent triumph at the New York Travel and Adventure Show 2025, winning the Best Partner Pavilion Award,...
A positive note
Updated 10 Feb, 2025

A positive note

With govt unable to press growth accelerator without upending fragile recovery, sufferings of low-middle-income households are unlikely to disappear soon.
Justice for all
10 Feb, 2025

Justice for all

ALONG with his domestic agenda, Donald Trump is busy ripping to shreds the post-World War II ‘rules-based...
Held back
10 Feb, 2025

Held back

IT is a crying shame how women are conspicuously absent from Pakistan’s civil services. Despite comprising half ...