The climbing season in Nepal encountered massive disaster for the second straight year, as 18 people died in an avalanche at Mount Everest Base Camp triggered by the April 25 earthquake. Eighteen mountaineers also died on Everest in an avalanche on April 18, 2014, 16 of them Sherpa guides.
The twin disasters have cast doubt over another season on the highest peak. It is still unclear how the government will react. Officials are busy dealing with the larger disaster of the earthquake that caused over 8,600 deaths nationwide.
After the 2014 avalanche, the government extended climbing permits for the next five years. But, over a month since the disaster in April 2015, there was no word on the permits.
“I’m very unhappy about how the Nepal government handled the situation,” said Damien François, an author, climber and cultural anthropologist from Belgium. It was clear after the earthquake that
the icefall could not be reopened, but the government did not make a clear decision on it, even as China extended permits for five years on the other side of Everest.
“They tried to put up a show so they don’t have to extend the permits,” Francois said. “Because that would mean that they lose out on money. The Brahmins in Kathmandu don’t care what happens up there in the mountains.”
Tension within the mountaineering fraternity has also been high as the tour operators push for the expeditions to happen, while many among the Sherpa community that form the backbone of climbing in Nepal withdrew over safety concerns.
The government collects revenue for mountaineering permits, but the Sherpas are the load-bearers, carrying supplies and guiding climbers, laying out ropes and ladders on the mountains ahead of the climbing season.
“The government doesn’t understand that there needs to be people in Base Camp to coordinate and organise. But the people concerned only collect the money— often into their own pockets,” Francois
said. “There has to be an end to only collecting money, collecting money, and if something like the avalanche happens, there is nobody we can turn to.”
Climbing has turned increasingly commercialised, mainly on Everest, as the lure of mountain tourism grows. “There are also a lot of people from Malaysia, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries wanting to climb Everest. They don’t know the mountains and don’t want to learn about the mountains either. They sit in their tents with their iPods,” Francois said. “For them, the pictures of themselves in the snow are the most important thing. That’s totally different from the European mountaineering tradition.”
For the professional Nepali climbers, pleasing clients is a top priority. “Nowadays, there are very few traditional climbers. Now people take selfies because everyone has the gadget to do it,” expedition operator Temba Tsheri Sherpa said. “I’m an organiser, so it’s my job to give the best service. It’s competitive, too. Some companies charge more and some less. Lower prices could mean the
climbing Sherpas are less skilled. And if there is a natural disaster, you can’t do anything to prevent it. But experience might still help you act better.”
Sherpa said expedition operators compete to provide the best tents, food, 24- hour WiFi, battery chargers and gas heaters, along with oxygen and other heavy climbing gear. In the meantime, some Nepali porters are paid a pittance.
“But they would still go just so that they can get an experience at climbing and can get a job later,” Sherpa said. Porters must go up and down Everest several times, as they prepare the ladders and ropes on the mountain for clients, each lugging food and oxygen and tents each time they so do.
