Piles of rubble where Langtang Village was

About 100 seconds were enough to transform Nepal from a dreamland to a nightmare country. The earthquake on 25 April left a trail of devastation. In some mountain regions the quake triggered avalanches of debris, mud, ice or snow that razed entire villages to the ground. According to the Nepalese government, about 500,000 houses were completely destroyed by the main earthquake and numerous aftershocks. The authorities registered to date more than 8,600 deaths. Five German tourists were among the victims, four others are still missing, a spokesman of the Foreign Office in Berlin confirmed to me today. Many dead, buried deep under piles of rubble, will probably never be recovered. What a tragedy.

More than one million jobs in tourism

“The world must go on”, said Ganga Sagar Pant, CEO of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN). “The tourism products are still there — mountains, flora and fauna, jungles, trails.”

On the Annapurna Circuit

In Nepal, one of the 20 poorest countries in the world, tourism is one of the main sources of income. More than one million jobs depend on it directly or indirectly. The German Foreign Office is currently advising against “non-essential traveling to Nepal as infrastructure and supplies are still overloaded as a result of the earthquake. This is especially true for trips to the Langtang Valley and to the area around Annapurna, which are persistently threatened by further landslides or avalanches.”

Government: Major destinations “safe and intact”

The government in Kathmandu has launched a campaign to avoid that tourism will collapse completely. In view of the next fall season, the Tourism Ministry “used its resources to assess the conditions of major tourism products of Nepal”. They were “safe and intact”, the Ministry informed. That included the most popular trekking routes like the Annapurna Circuit and the Everest trek. “We encourage all tourists to visit Nepal and through this to help Nepalese people who are in trouble in this devastation.”

Most routes are passable

Living in ruins

“We tend to be more discriminating, we assess each single region and route”, Manfred Haeupl, head of German trekking and expedition operator “Hauser Exkursionen” wrote to me. “You can not just say: Nepal is safe and intact – the damage is too great. However, some reports are exaggerated. The degree of damage at the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Nepal reportedly varied from 25 to 70 percent. Which report should we trust?” Dominik Mueller, head of the German operator Amical alpin, refers to information from Nepal, according to which only two of the 35 most popular trekking routes were impassable after the quake. One of them was in the particularly hard-hit area of Langtang, Dominik told me. He was not yet quite sure which was the other route: “I’m still waiting for a reply from Nepal.” Two leading representatives of the German operator DAV Summit Club are staying in Nepal in order to get an idea of the earthquake damage. In early June, Summit Club would inform its customers, Christoph Schnurr, director of product management, wrote to me.

So far, few cancellations

The heads of Hauser and Amical assume that they will be able to realize most of the planned treks they offered for next fall – if not too many customers cancel their bookings. Just now there is no such trend. “We have only a few cancellations. Many are still waiting how the situation develops in the region they want to travel to”, Manfred Haeupl, the owner of Hauser, wrote. There were also new bookings with explicit reference of the customers that they wanted to prove their solidarity with Nepal, said Manfred, adding however, that most customers would not book before summer. “In recent days, our office has got more and more requests”, said Dominik Mueller, head of Amical. “There are divided opinions. Some say that they don’t want to spend their holidays in a country where people suffer. Others – and this is the greater part – want to travel to Nepal in any case, next fall and in the future too. I personally think that the best way to help Nepal is by realizing the planned trips in fall. Doing this, you give the people in Nepal a new task and new hope. And last but not least you directly pay the man on the street.”

Rescue after Saturday’s avalanche triggered from Pumori

Business as usual on Mount Everest very soon after the devastating earthquake that hit Nepal? The government of Nepal seems to be determined to continue the climbing season on the highest mountain on earth despite the chaotic situation all over the country. “The ladders (on the route through the Khumbu Icefall) will be repaired in the next two to three days and climbing will continue, there is no reason for anyone to quit their expeditions,” tourism department chief Tulsi Gautam told the French news agency AFP. Gyanendra Shrestha, another official of the Nepalese Tourism Ministry confirmed: “We have not called off the expeditions. A couple of teams have told us they still want to go ahead.” If the route from Base Camp to Camp 2 is restored, teams who want to can attempt the climb, he said. “Adventure is like that”, Shrestha said. “It is full of the unknown. You have to be safe on your own. The government can’t prevent disasters.”

As reported yesterday, among others the expedition team of the New Zealand operator Himalayan Experience wants to stay in Base Camp for the next few days. “Talking to Phurba (the sirdar of the Sherpas) he tells me that the Sherpas are ready to go back to BC and to assess the conditions in a few days time and will then make a collective decision”, Russell Brice, head of Himex, wrote in his newsletter.

For me, no way!

But should mountaineers really start to climb again on Everest? After Saturday’s avalanche that killed 19 people in Base Camp? While across Nepal every help and all equipment is needed, while thousands of injured have to be treated, while entire regions are still cut off? Can climbers really fade out all this? For me, no way! I would find it bordering on the cynical. For sure, Sherpa people need their jobs in order to feed their families. But there should be other ways to ensure that instead of climbing Everest this spring. The expedition members could, for instance, donate money to those who were hit the hardest. They could stay in Khumbu or other regions for days or weeks, lending their helping hands to rebuild the destroyed homes and providing their tents for local people who lost the roof over their head. And they could return next year to climb Everest. The mountain doesn’t run away. And Nepal will stay dependent on tourism, even more in the years after the earthquake catastrophe.

South side of Mount Everest

This decision was really overdue. The Nepalese government finally decided that the permits to climb Mount Everest in 2014 remain valid until 2019. Shortly after the avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall on 18 April 2014 that had killed 16 Nepalese climbers, the spring season de facto had been terminated. More than 330 foreign climbers left the highest mountain in the world, without having set foot on it. Even then government officials in Kathmandu announced that the permits for the 39 expedition groups would retain their validity for five years. However, the words were not followed by deeds. Instead, there were rumors about government plans to extend the permits only for groups. The climbing scene was outraged rightly. If in this case e.g. only one climber would have used the permit of 2014 to climb Everest in 2015, the other group members not in attendance would have been empty handed. Now, this regulation is apparently off the table.

Cheaper? No way!

Everest base camp

The climbers who had to leave Everest last year, could “come back with any company they want over the next five years”, said Nepalese Tourism Ministry spokesman, Mohan Krishna Sapkota. It seems unlikely that many Everest aspirants from last year will travel to Nepal to join the next spring season that will start in one and a half week. I think many awaited the government’s decision regarding the permits. Finally they had paid per person $ 10,000 for 2014. In any case, they’ll have to pay $ 1000 in addition now, because the government specified the fee for each Everest climber, regardless of whether he is traveling alone or in a group, at $ 11,000 form 2015 onwards. The authorities in Kathmandu sold the new regulation as discount, many media followed and spoke of “dumping prices” for Everest expeditions. This may be true for solo climbers, because they paid $ 25,000 so far. However, for groups of more than seven participants, and that’s the rule on Everest, it is more expensive since this year: $ 1000 more per member, as mentioned before.

Waiting for decision on helicopter flights

Also referring to the back and forth of the Nepalese government on the issue of the permits, the operators Peak Freaks from Canada and High Adventure Expeditions from the USA had canceled their Everest expeditions 2015. The US operator Alpenglow Expeditions switched from the Nepalese south side to the Tibetan north side of Mount Everest. Last year, the organizers had also requested to be allowed to use helicopters to transport materials to Camp 1 or 2. So far, the government has remained silent. “My feeling is that they will say no”, Guy Cotter, head of the New Zealand expedition operator Adventure Consultants, wrote to me.

Everest basecamp

The base camp on the Nepalese side of Mount Everest is getting empty. Government officials denied that the climbing season on the highest mountain in the world was officially ended. “The ones who want to leave will leave and those who want to continue climbing would not be stopped or threatened,” said Tourism Minister Bhim Acharya after a crisis meeting at the basecamp, where he had tried to convince the teams to continue the expeditions. The Sherpas had assured him that there would be no trouble, he said.

Threats of a small group of Sherpas

Previously, there had been reports of threats of some Sherpas. “The ambience at basecamp is becoming increasingly tense. There is a small group of renegade Sherpa from peripheral teams who are threatening violence towards anyone who chooses to stay and climb”, wrote Monica Piris, expedition doctor in the team of Alpenglow, that had declared its expedition ended before the arrival of the government delegation. Similar comments were made by the German reporter Juliane Moeckinghoff in her Everest diary. She is accompanying the blind Austrian climber Andy Holzer.

Other teams cancel their expeditions 

International Mountain Guides (IMG), Adventure Consultants, RMI Expeditions, Jagged Globe and Peak Freaks also abandoned their Everest expeditions. All show their compassion with the Sherpas on the death of 16 Nepalis in the avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall last Friday. At the same time they point to the organizational difficulties that have arisen because many Sherpas have already left the basecamp or refuse to return to the mountain.

Too few Sherpas left

“The Icefall route is currently unsafe for climbing without repairs by the Icefall doctors, who will not be able to resume their work this season”, Eric Simonson wrote about the reason to end the IMG expedition. “We have explored every option and can find no way to safely continue the expedition.” David Hamilton and Tom Briggs of Jagged Globe argued the same way: “We are cancelling the expedition as there is no prospect of replacing our Sherpas and because there aren’t now sufficient Sherpas in basecamp to fix ropes on the mountain and make it safe to climb.” According to the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism the climbing permits of the teams to leave, remain valid for five years.

Update April 25: Obviously, Himalayan Experience and Altitude Junkies have meanwhile cancelled their Everest expeditions too. Asian Trekking is also going home. “We have also decided to leave base camp”, writes Dawa Steven Sherpa to me. “ We are amongst the last left in base camp.”

Economic factor Mount Everest

Nepal sees his mountain luck run out. “The government must frame policies to gain a competitive edge”, a report by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said which was quoted in the “Himalayan Times”. The neighbouring countries had started aggressive campaigns to attract more climbers. India had offered a discount of 50 per cent on climbing fees, Pakistan had waived off royalties for all peaks below 6500 meters, the report said. Nepal is charging fees for mountains which are much lower, e.g. for 5500-meter-high Chhukung Ri, a popular trekking peak in the Khumbu region.

Online visa applications

Last year 298 expeditions came to Nepal, twelve less than in 2012. The revenue from climbing fees fell by more than seven per cent to 3,91 million US-Dollar. Ang Tshering Sherpa, former long-time president of the Nepalese Mountaineering Association, sees the reason for this in the parliamentary elections last November. The tour operators were fearing strikes or even violence that might leave their clients stranded for days, Ang Tshering said. The government in Kathmandu has just made a first step to friendliness towards customers by launching an online application system for Nepal.

Everest makes the cash tills ringing

The data of the tourism ministry show how much the country is depending on expeditions to Mount Everest. The permit fees for the highest mountain on earth made 80 per cent of the revenue. There was a large gap to the 8000ers Lhotse (4,5 per cent) and Manalsu (4,2 per cent) in second and third place. Considering the outstanding importance of Everest it is little wonder that all discussions in Nepal about stricter rules for climbers have fizzled out.

6000er before climbing Everest

Recently, Ang Tshering Sherpa said in an interview with the German newspaper „Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung“, there would be almost no changes for foreign climbers on Everest in 2014. They would only have to get a special permit by the tourism ministry if they want to make a record attempt on Everest. That was recommended by a commission with Ang Tshering. Furthermore it had proposed that mountaineers from Nepal should have climbed at least a 6000er before getting a permit for the highest mountain. In recent years there have been complaints about poor climbing skills of some Sherpas on Mount Everest.