Dal Bhat

The fact that this news pops up every year is almost as certain as the lentils in the Nepalese national dish Dal Bhat: The government in Kathmandu wants to change the mountaineering rules on Mount Everest. The emphasis is on “wants to”. In the end, there is always nothing more than this statement of intent, because the proposed amendment gets stuck in any department – or the current government is replaced by a new one. The Ministry of Tourism is now announcing for the umpteenth time that the rules for granting Everest permits will be tightened.

Déjà-vu

Erik Weihenmayer, who in 2001 was the first blind climber on Everest

The Kathmandu-based newspaper “The Himalayan Times” reports that “people with complete blindness and double amputation” should no longer be allowed to climb the highest mountain in the world – nor “those proven medically unfit for climbing“, whatever that means. These reform proposals were already on the table in 2015 and in 2016 and fizzled.

Summit certificates again for Sherpas?

South side of Mount Everest

New age limits for Everest summit aspirants are reportedly not planned. So it would remain the ban for under 16-year-olds. For seniors, there would be no restrictions – unless they are “proven medically unfit for climbing”? After all, it is allegedly to be established in the “Mountaineering Expedition Regulation”, which is in force since 2002, that in the future, every Sherpa who reaches the summit will receive a summit certificate of the government. These certificates were denied for the first time in 2016, because, as it was said then, within the meaning of the law Climbing Sherpas who fix ropes on the route or support clients up to the summit were no expedition members.

According to the “Himalayan Times”, the amendment now has still to pass a finance and infrastructure committee (why?) before the cabinet (supposedly) wants to take the final call. My recommendation: Wait and eat calmly Dal Bhat! The next announcement is certain to come.