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Nepal bans solo mountain climbs

December 30, 2017

New safety measures in Nepal will ban solo climbers and people with some disabilities from scaling the country's mountains. More than 290 people have died attempting to scale Everest, the world's highest mountain.

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Mount Everest
Image: Getty Images/AFP/R. Schmidt

As of Monday, foreign climbers in Nepal — including those scaling Mount Everest — must be accompanied by a guide, and people who are blind or double amputee will not be able to climb at all, following a revision of the country's mountaineering regulations.

It is unclear whether the government will allow foreign guides with a climbing license to make solo bids or act as a climbing guide, according to The Kathmandu Post newspaper.

Read more: Mount Everest — All inclusive to the summit

Nepal's Tourism Secretary Maheshwor Neupane said the law had been revised to make climbing safer and decrease the number of deaths. More than 290 people have died while attempting to scale Everest, the world's highest peak.

Read more: Nepal quake kills hundreds, sparks Everest avalanche

Experienced Swiss climber Ueli Steck lost his life in April this year when he slipped and fell from a steep ridge during a solo acclimatization climb to Nuptse, a peak neighboring Everest.

"We have also adopted a strict provision to check the medical certificate of the climbers to determine whether they are physically fit to climb the mountains," Neupane told The Kathmandu Post.

Read more: Sherpas abandon Everest climbing season after deadly avalanche

Human rights concerns

The ban is likely to anger elite solo mountaineers, who enjoy the challenge of climbing alone, even without bottled oxygen, and who blame a huge influx of commercial expeditions for creating potentially deadly bottlenecks on the world's tallest mountain.

Mountaineers walk past the Hillary Step on the way up Mt. Everest
More than 290 people have died climbing EverestImage: Getty Images/P.D.Sherpa

Some officials have expressed concern that imposing the ban on people with disabilities could qualify as discrimination, the Post reported.

New Zealander Mark Inglis, who lost both his legs to frostbite, became the first double amputee to reach the top of the 8,848-meter (29,029-foot) peak in 2006.

Blind American Erik Weihenmayer scaled Everest in May 2001 and later became the only visually impaired person to summit the highest peaks on all seven continents.

Thousands of mountaineers flock to Nepal — home to eight of the world's 14 peaks over 8,000 meters — each spring and autumn when clear weather provides good climbing conditions.

Read more: Record number of climbers to attempt scale Everest

Almost 450 climbers, 190 foreigners and 259 Nepalis, reached the summit of Everest from the south side in Nepal last year.

law/cmk (AFP)