Expensive rescue

“I am not in the government to wait and see”, Ananda Prasad Pokharel said in early November after his appointment as the new Nepalese Tourism Minister. “I am here to change.” However, one of his first initiatives concerning mountain tourism doesn’t testify his farsightedness but looks more like a crazy idea. Pokharel’s ministry plans to reduce the insurances for Nepalese staff on expeditions – by up to 60 percent on mountains that are lower than 6,500 meters. Thus mountain tourism should be stimulated again, it said. The visitor numbers in Nepal had slumped dramatically after the devastating earthquake in April and also because of the still existing blockade of the border with India.
Even many Nepalis shake their heads about the government’s plan. “As an owner of the agency Dreamers Destination Trek, I prefer reduction in every kind of insurance. It is good for my company and it is good for my clients”, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa writes to me. “But being myself a climber and born in a climber’s family, I wish an increment of insurances in favor of climbers.”

Barely able to make ends meet

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

The 29-year-old, who has already climbed seven eight-thousanders and recently made headlines by solo climbing the difficult West Face of 6685-meter-high Chobutse for the first time, describes his father’s fate: He had been a top climber at his young age, but in 1983 on Everest, he had lost eight fingers due to frostbite. Afterwards his father had never been given the opportunity to participate in big expeditions and to earn good money. He had been barely able to make ends meet. “Those people who make rules should better take these points into consideration.”

“This is nothing at present time”

Mingma on Chobutse

Mingma considers the insurances, which are paid in case of death to the families of the victims, to be much too low: for expeditions on mountains higher than 6,500 meters, 15,000 US dollars for high altitude porters and mountain guides and $ 8,000 for Base Camp staff. “This is nothing at present time”, says Mingma. He argues to raise not only these insurances but also those for helicopter rescue, rather than reducing it. $ 10,000 on high mountains are by far not enough to cover the costs incurred in case of an accident, he says. A rescue flight above 7,000 meters will cost significantly more than $ 15,000. During his descent on Chobutse, Mingma himself had got in trouble and been flown out by helicopter: “My rescue charge war $ 15,400. I hardly get $ 10,000 from the insurance company, the remaining amount I have to pay out of my own pocket.”

2016 will decide the future

There are significantly more effective means to boost tourism in Nepal than cutting insurances, says Mingma. So the government should “provide a stable political situation”. In addition they should extend the 2015 climbing permits for further two to three years: “There are some climbers who were in Nepal for climbing Everest and Lhotse in 2014 and 2015. They have spent lots of money and must be frustrated and hopeless because of those two bad years.”
The Tourism Ministry should focus on showing that Nepal is a safe travel destination in every respect, says Mingma. “If the year 2016 goes well, the upcoming years will be good by itself.”

Basecamp on the south side of Everest

One crisis meeting leads to another, at Everest basecamp at 5300 meters as well as at the seat of the Nepalese government in Kathmandu. It is still unclear whether there will be attempts to climb the highest mountain in the world via the Nepalese south side this spring. “Most teams are leaving the basecamp. They are afraid that something will happen (many avalanches are still coming down), but also that other Sherpas could punish them for going on”, German reporter Juliane Moecklinghoff, who accompanies the blind Austrian climber Andy Holzer, writes in her Everest diary. “There have been several meetings among the various team leaders, Sirdars and Sherpas but it remains unclear what the final decision will be”, reports Eric Simonson of the expedition organizer International Mountain Guides (IMG). Since the avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall last Friday killed 16 Nepalis, all mountain activities have been resting.

Fear of financial hardship

There are also discussions among the Sherpas about what to do. “The majority would rather not return to the mountain as there is an overwhelming sadness at the loss of so many members from their close knit community, and this is the sentiment expressed vocally at mass meetings by the younger sherpas”, writes David Hamilton, expedition leader of the British Jagged Globe team. “The older Sherpas are aware that without the wages from the Spring Everest season many of the climbing sherpas will experience financial hardship in the year ahead.” High porters can earn about US $ 5,000 in a climbing season on Mount Everest, Climbing Sherpas, who lead their clients to the 8,850-meter-high summit and get an extra bonus, even up to $ 10,000.

Some demands satisfied

“All climbing activities will surely resume in a day or two”, said Madhu Sudhan Burlakoti, Joint Secretary of the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, trying to spread optimism. The government has now satisfied some demands of the Sherpas. So it announced to set up a relief fund for victims of mountain accidents and their families, for which a part of the climbing royalties shall be used. In addition, the insurance payout for those killed on the mountain shall be increased from a million to 1.5 million rupees (about 15,000 $).

Transport flights with helicopters?

Rescue flight on Everest

This is obviously not enough for the Sherpas at basecamp. The government announced to send a high-level delegation to Everest for negotiations on Thursday. The Tourism ministry has decided to reconsider its stance on not to let helicopters land above the basecamp for transport. So far, only rescue flights are allowed. The Nepalese, who were buried by the avalanche, had been carrying material and food for the Western climbers to the high camps. But even without their heavy loads they would have had probably hardly a chance to escape the deadly ice. “The mountain has been deteriorating rapidly the past three years due global warming, and the breakdown in the Khumbu Icefall is dramatic, especially at the upper icefall”, reports Tim Rippel from Peak Freaks Expeditions. “Each day we sit and listen to the groaning and crashing of the glacier. Political grievances aside, we are not here to kill people.”

Treacherous labyrinth of ice

The very first climbers had respect for the Khumbu Icefall. This is underlined by the nicknames which the members of the successful British Everest expedition 1953 gave to the risky passages through the labyrinth of ice: “Hillary’s Horror”, “Mike’s Horror”, “Atom Bomb area”. The icefall was “the key to all attempts on the south side of Everest”, wrote Sir Edmund Hillary, the New Zealander, who, together with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, stood first on the 8850-meter-high summit. Since then about 40 climbers, most of them Sherpas, were killed in the Khumbu Icefall by avalanches from the west shoulder or collapsing seracs. In recent years, high temperatures have even increased the danger of avalanches. For this reason, the New Zealand expedition organizer Russell Brice had abandoned his expedition in 2012.

No hope for missing climbers

The disaster on Friday was the worst in the history of Mount Everest. By now 13 dead bodies have been recovered from the ice and snow. There was no more hope to find the three still missing climbers alive, said a spokesman of the Ministry of Tourism. All victims are Nepalis, most belonged to the ethnic group of Sherpas. They all were carrying material and food from basecamp to the camp above the icefall, when they were hit by the ice avalanche. They had no chance to escape.

Double tragedy

The families of the victims are hit twice. They have not only lost a relative but also a breadwinner. Porters on Mount Everest can earn about US $ 5,000 in a season. The average income in Nepal is only $ 692, thus it remains one of 20 poorest countries in the world. The Nepalese government has announced a relief of 40,000 rupees (about $ 400) for the families of the avalanche victims. This is hardly more than a drop in the ocean.

The expedition organizers are obliged to insure their Nepalese staff. Last summer, the government in Kathmandu had decided to almost double the mountaineering workers’ insurance at the beginning of 2014. Now in case of death the families of Sirdars (head of the local team staff), mountain guides and high altitude workers who are climbing higher than base camp are given one million rupees (about $ 10,000), the families of basecamp staff 500,000 rupees (about $ 5,000). The American Alpine Club has established a Sherpa Support Fund for the families of the Everest avalanche victims.