Dhaulagiri

The first summit success this spring on an eight-thousander is reported from Dhaulagiri, the seventh-highest mountain on earth. “We made the summit of Mt Dhaulagiri on Sunday”, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the expedition operator Dreamers Destination, wrote on Facebook, “on the same day, one of the best soloist died, very sad to hear this news today. RIP Ueli (Steck).” According to Mingma, he reached the highest point on 8,167 meters along with two clients and two other Sherpas. For the 31-year-old Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, Dhaulagiri was the ninth eight-thousander he has summited so far.

“Ignorance of the government”

Mount Everest

Meanwhile, several hundred Sherpas gathered in the Base Camp at the feet of Mount Everest to protest against the goverment of Nepal, reports the newspaper “Himalayan Times”.  The Sherpas dunned the government for their Everest summit certificates, which have been withheld since spring 2016. “The government’s ignorance is highly deplorable and intolerable,” the Sherpas stated in a letter which was sent to the Ministry of Tourism. The Director General of the Ministry, Dinesh Bhattarai, said the process to amend the controversial rule would be expedited. In the future, Climbing Sherpas should also be recognized as expedition members and receive summit certificates.

Second-class climbers?

Last year the Ministry had refused for the first time to issue certificates to Climbing Sherpas who had summited Everest or other mountains in Nepal higher than 6500 meters – referring to the “Mountaineering Expedition Regulation” which took effect in 2002. It says that “every member of a successful expedition team” is entitled to get a summit certificate. Within the meaning of the law Climbing Sherpas were no expedition members, the government argued at that time. A slap in the face of the Sherpas.

Mount Everest

There are things that simply cannot be understood. Like the recent decision of the Nepalese Tourism Ministry. According to the Kathmandu-based newspaper “The Himalayan Times”, the Ministry refused to issue the compulsory summit certificates to all Climbing Sherpas who scaled Mount Everest this spring season.

No expedition members

The authority refers to the “Mountaineering Expedition Regulation” which took effect in 2002. It says that every member of a successful expedition team is entitled to get a summit certificate. 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 and therefore did not receive any certificates, said Laxman Sharma, Director in the Ministry of Tourism, to the “Himalayan Times”. This spring on Everest, more than 250 Sherpas had reached the highest point at 8,850 meters. They are now to be left empty-handed as well as the Climbing Sherpas on all other mountains of Nepal which are higher than 6,500 meters.

Second-class climbers?

It is the first time that Sherpas are denied the summit certificates, although the law is already 14 years old. It’s beyond me what the Government is intending. They set a bad signal. It’s a slap in the face of the Sherpas. Do those responsible in Kathmandu consider them as second-class climbers? Do they want to punish the Sherpas for earning money on Everest? In this case, the Ministry should no longer issue summit certificates to western mountain guides too.

South side of Mount Everest (l.) at first light

Bad news is good news, learns every prospective journalist. But actually it also can be good news, if there is no bad one. This spring, this applies particularly to Mount Everest, after the disasters of the past two years. In spring 2014, the season on the Nepalese side ended prematurely, after an ice avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall had killed 16 Nepali climbers. 2015 even turned out to be a year without summit success on both sides of the mountain due to the devastating earthquake in Nepal. On the south side, 19 people lost their lives, when the quake triggered an avalanche that hit the Base Camp. Later all climbers departed. On the north side, the Chinese authorities closed all eight-thousanders after the earthquake in the neighboring country. This year, in my view, the Everest season is running so far largely normal.

Rope-fixing team soon on the top?

North side of Everest in the last daylight

On the Nepalese side of Everest, Climbing Sherpas have prepared the route up to a point just below the 7,900-meter-high South Col. They had to interrupt their work because of smaller avalanches in the Lhotse flank. Some commercial teams have meanwhile stayed overnight in Camp 3 at about 7,000 meters for further acclimatization. On the Tibetan north side, the rope-fixing team of the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA) has reached an altitude of about 8,200 meters on the Northeast Ridge. The team “hope to go to the summit on the 5th”, American climber Adrian Ballinger wrote on Instagram yesterday. On the south side, it’s expected by next week that the rope-fixing Sherpas will reach the summit.

Not unusual

Anything else? The Nepalese newspaper “The Himalayan Times” reports that so far 17 foreign and ten Nepalese mountaineers had to be flown out from Base Camp because they showed symptoms of HAPE and HACE. These figures seem to be spectacular at first glance, but are likely to be on average of a normal Everest season. On the south side, there are some complaints about the work of the Climbing Sherpas, but this also happens time and again. Lastly, the media excitement about helicopter tourist flights over the Khumbu Icefall is understandable and justified. But that the topic receives so much attention at all, shows that the real climbing season on Everest has been running so far without major incidents. And that’s good news, right?