China gains as Nepal slated for how it handles its prize asset
Print Edition
POOR regulation and overcrowding are pushing Mount Qomolangma climbers away from Nepal to China, which is investing in infrastructure vital for a safe ascent to the top of the world.
Veteran climbing outfits, fed up with what they regard as a lax attitude to safety on Nepal’s southern flank of the 8,848-meter peak, are starting to shift operations to Qomolangma’s north side in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.
“The south side is way too overcrowded with inexperienced people,” said Phil Crampton, a seasoned Qomolangma hand who announced last month his company Altitude Junkies would shift to China, the third such outfit to abandon Nepal in recent years.
A growing chorus of foreign-led Qomolangma operators in Nepal are demanding greater scrutiny of low-cost outfits that have mushroomed in recent years, offering cheap expeditions up the fabled summit.
These budget players are luring hordes of amateur climbers chasing the thrill of Qomolangma, also known as Mount Everest in the West, but also risking death and injury, experts say, warning that some expedition leaders are ill-equipped to tackle the peak.
Seven of the 10 climbers who died on Qomolangma’s south in the last two years were summiting with budget operators, according to information from the Himalayan Database.
“What has happened over the last few years on the south side is absolutely intolerable,” said Lukas Furtenbach, whose Furtenbach Adventures relocated to China last year citing safety concerns.
Those pushing for change want to see permit numbers curbed and greater oversight of guides and operators.
Nepal introduced new laws in late December barring solo climbers, blind mountaineers and double amputees from scaling Qomolangma, restrictions it said would make the peak safer. But many mountaineers say the rules miss the mark.
“Nepal needs mountaineering rules and regulations. But for the operators, not for the climbers,” said Furtenbach.
Nepal has been criticized as “reluctant” to introduce much-needed regulations because it fears harming an industry that spins money for the Himalayan nation.
Meanwhile, China is sending a message that Qomolangma’s north is open for business, investing in climbing infrastructure vital for a safe ascent to the summit.
It is building a mountaineering training center in Lhasa and plans to allow helicopter rescues on Qomolangma’s north from next year. Currently helicopter rescues are only possible in Nepal.
It also fixes ropes to Qomolangma’s summit at the beginning of each climbing season, an industry standard on most major peaks around the world — but missing on the southern face in Nepal.
“China is addressing the issues in a way that Nepal has just struggled to ... There is no system in place to actually enforce the rules,” said Adrian Ballinger, who was the first operator to move exclusively to Qomolangma’s north in 2015.
Until a decade ago, a roughly even number of climbers attempted the summit from the northern and southern sides of Qomolangma.
Ballinger expects more companies to move north in the coming years, especially as the Khumbu Icefall presents an increasingly avoidable danger on the south.
The icefall — a treacherous expanse of glacial ice that all climbers must cross to reach Qomolangma’s summit from Nepal — is becoming more unstable as temperatures warm due to climate change, and has claimed 23 lives in the past five years.
Nepal’s tourism department, which oversees the mountaineering industry, defended its position on Qomolangma safety.
“We cannot respond to every comment people make. Every year we have more people coming to climb Qomolangma,” said department head Dinesh Bhattarai.
Nepal remains the most popular choice — just 155 foreign mountaineers attempted to summit Qomolangma from China last year. Many Chinese adventurers also prefer Nepal as laws back home require they summit an 8,000-meter peak before trying Qomolangma from Tibet.
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