Climbing Mt. Everest Just Got Harder—Nepal Plans Crackdown Amidst Overcrowding, Deaths
If you want to climb the world's tallest mountain, Nepal wants to see your résumé first. Turns out experience matters and for Nepal it looks like 7,000 meters.
In a bold move aimed at improving safety and reducing the deadly traffic jams on Mount Everest, Nepal is drafting a new law that would require climbers to first summit at least one 7,000-meter (22,965 ft) peak within the country before receiving a permit for Everest. The law, which has been submitted to the National Assembly where the ruling coalition holds a majority, marks the toughest restriction yet on who can attempt the 8,849-meter (29,032 ft) giant.The proposed rule is a response to mounting criticism over overcrowding on the mountain. We've all seen the long lines leading to Mt. Everest. This is especially true in the notorious 'Death Zone' near the summit, where the lack of oxygen and long delays have proved fatal, leaving hikers to die numb from frostbite in the subzero conditions. In 2023 alone, Nepal issued 478 Everest permits, and at least 12 climbers died while five more went missing. That's an increase from eight in the previous year.
Under the draft law, permits would only be issued to climbers who can show proof of a successful summit of a 7,000-meter peak in Nepal. Additionally, both the expedition's sardar (head of local staff) and its mountain guide must be Nepali citizens — a provision already raising eyebrows in international guiding circles.'
International expedition operators disagree to the new proposed law and have urged Nepal to allow any 7,000-meter peak, not just those in the Himalayan nation, for the Everest permit. Lukas Furtenbach, an Austria-based expedition organizer from Furtenbach Adventures who is currently leading an Everest expedition, told Reuters, that there simply aren't enough qualified Nepali mountain guides to meet the demand. 'What matters is that guides have top-tier credentials, like IFMGA certification — no matter where they're from," he added.
Garrett Madison, founder of U.S.-based Madison Mountaineering, echoed concerns to Reuters over accessibility, arguing that requiring a Nepal-based 7,000-meter peak is too narrow. 'A 6,500-meter climb anywhere in the world would make more sense,' Madison said.
Nepal is home to over 400 climbable peaks, 74 of which rise above 7,000 meters. But according to officials, very few of those are popular with climbers. 'Only a handful of the 7,000-meter mountains actually attract expeditions,' said Tashi Lhakpa Sherpa of the 14 Peaks Expedition, who has summited Everest eight times.
Still, the intent behind the legislation is clear: weed out unprepared climbers and prevent the kind of high-altitude gridlock that turns Everest into a life-threatening bottleneck. For those serious about reaching the Roof of the World, it's time to earn your vertical stripes first and create a life line of experience for yourself.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
28 minutes ago
- The Hill
Private prison operator blocked from housing ICE detainees at shuttered facility
A judge in Kansas issued a Wednesday ruling determining that a private prison operator could not use its shuttered facility to house detainees from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Leavenworth County Judge John Bryant granted a temporary restraining order blocking CoreCivic from housing individuals in the custody of ICE. The order was issued after a March lawsuit was thrown out in May on technical grounds, according to the Associated Press. CoreCivic did not immediately reply to The Hill's request for comment on the ruling. Earlier this year, executives applied to use their 1,033-bed facility to help the Trump administration facilitate removals in its crackdown on illegal immigration. CoreCivic said it would lose $4.2 million each month it wasn't open, according to legal files reviewed by AP. The company applied for a permit to use the grounds for ICE operations but withdrew its application in May alleging it didn't need permission from the city to determine which detainees to house. 'It became clear to CoreCivic that there was not a cooperative relationship,' said Taylor Concannon Hausmann, an attorney for the private prison operator, speaking in court, as reported by the AP. However, city attorney Joe Hatley urged the company to 'follow the rules' and obtain the proper permit for operations. The CoreCivic property is located 10 miles away from the Kansas City International Airport and has previously worked with federal officials to house pre-trial detainees, according to the AP. In 2021, the Tennessee-based company stopped working for the U.S. Marshals Service after former President Biden urged the Justice Department to cease contracts with private prison operators. Multiple inmate violations were flagged in addition to reported suicides and killings. The Trump administration has been working with the private sector to undertake deportation efforts, including the GEO Group, which is planning to reopen New Jersey's Delaney Hall to hold individuals awaiting removal. Democrats have protested the use of the facility for federal purposes citing concerns about federal operations within Newark, a designated sanctuary city.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Germany assures Israel of support, but not without criticism
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday assured his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar of continued weapons deliveries, while calling for increased humanitarian aid for Gaza and slamming Israel's settlement policy in the occupied West Bank. "Germany has an obligation for the security and existence of the state of Israel and Germany is also committed to international law. These are two sides of the same coin," Wadephul said during a meeting with Saar in Berlin. Israel was under attack from terrorist organizations and Iran, meaning it was self-evident that the country must be able to defend itself, Wadephul said, adding that this was the reason why "Germany will continue to support Israel by supplying weapons." At the same time, Wadephul said the humanitarian aid reaching the Gaza Strip at the moment was "too little." He reiterated an "urgent request to allow humanitarian aid for Gaza in accordance with the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence and without restrictions." Second meeting in a month Wadephul last met Saar in Israel on May 11 during his first official visit after taking office. The meeting in Berlin came after Wadephul on Wednesday pledged further German arms deliveries to Israel during an address to parliament. Germany's top diplomat had caused concern within the German government for earlier comments to a newspaper in which he said arms deliveries to Israel were dependent on a legal review of Israel's military conduct in the Gaza Strip. On Thursday, however, Wadephul assured his Israeli counterpart of Germany's unwavering support. The German foreign minister even welcomed plans for the new aid distribution system operated by the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to be expanded and combined with the functioning distribution mechanism involving the UN and other international aid organizations. Saar called on Germany to be open to the new distribution mechanism, which has come under increasing scrutiny as it bypasses international aid organizations including UN efforts and faces accusations of endangering civilians. "This effort has the potential to release the Palestinian population from the chokehold of [Palestinian group] Hamas and to enable the end of this war," the Israeli minister said. There have been Palestinian reports that people looking to receive aid at the new centres were killed by Israeli shelling. The Israeli military and the US-based GHF have denied the accusations. While critics have accused the GHF of endangering civilians who have to make their way through the embattled Gaza Strip to reach the distribution centres, Saar said the new system allows aid to reach Gazans directly, without Islamist Hamas militants being able "to take advantage of the aid." "We believe that expanding it will help shorten the war," Saar said. Wadephul criticizes West Bank settlement policy Wadephul also found sharp words for Israel's expansionist settlement policy in the West Bank, calling the government's recent decision to approve another 22 settlements in the Palestinian territory "a violation of international law in this form." The German minister said the move obstructs the path to a two-state solution which envisions Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in two separate states, a vision that both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas reject. Wadephul also said calls from within the Israeli Cabinet for the annexation of the West Bank posed a "considerable risk for Israel's reputation." Visit to Holocaust memorial Earlier, the two ministers laid a wreath at the Holocaust memorial in central Berlin, which commemorates the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazi regime across Europe. "The fight against anti-Semitism, standing up for Jewish life in Germany and the commitment to the security and peaceful future of the state of Israel is and will remain our obligation," Wadephul said. The memorial "reminds us Germans to remember the victims, to honour the survivors and to learn the lessons from the crimes against humanity of the Shoah," he said. For his part, Saar said that 80 years after the end of the Holocaust, "the lessons seem to have been forgotten." "In Germany, there's an anti-Semitic incident once every hour," said Saar, referring to a report published by a monitor on Wednesday. Wadephul said he was "deeply" ashamed that the number of anti-Semitic offences in Germany has reached a new high, that Jewish residents no longer feel safe in the country and that they are advising their children not to speak Hebrew on the street. "And that is why the federal government will oppose all forms of anti-Semitism with clarity, rigour and consistency," he added.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Supreme Court strikes down Mexico's lawsuit against US gun manufacturers
The United States Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit from the government of Mexico that argued American gun manufacturers like Smith & Wesson failed to prevent illegal firearm sales to cartels and criminal organisations. In one of a slew of decisions handed down on Thursday, the top court decided that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act shielded the gun manufacturers from Mexico's suit. The court's decision was unanimous. Writing for the nine-member bench, Justice Elena Kagan explained that even 'indifference' to the trafficking of firearms does not amount to willfully assisting a criminal enterprise. 'Mexico's complaint does not plausibly allege that the defendant manufacturers aided and abetted gun dealers' unlawful sales of firearms to Mexican traffickers,' Kagan wrote (PDF). 'We have little doubt that, as the complaint asserts, some such sales take place — and that the manufacturers know they do. But still, Mexico has not adequately pleaded what it needs to: that the manufacturers 'participate in' those sales.' The Mexican government's complaint, she added, 'does not pinpoint, as most aiding-and-abetting claims do, any specific criminal transactions that the defendants (allegedly) assisted'. The case stems from a complaint filed in August 2021 in a federal court in Boston, Massachusetts. In that initial complaint, the Mexican government — then led by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador — argued that the sheer volume of firearms illegally smuggled into its country amounted to negligence on the part of gun manufacturers. Those firearms, it said, had exacted a devastating toll on Mexican society. The country has some of the highest homicide rates in the world, with the United Nations estimating in 2023 that nearly 25 intentional killings happen for every 100,000 people. Much of that crime has been credited to the presence of cartels and other criminal enterprises operating in Mexico. The Igarape Institute, a Brazil-based think tank, estimated that Mexico's crime cost the country nearly 1.92 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) from 2010 to 2014. The US is the largest arms manufacturer in the world — and also the largest source of illegally sourced firearms. The stream of firearms that pour into Mexico and the broader Latin America region, for instance, has been dubbed the 'iron river'. Nearly 70 percent of the illegal guns seized in Mexico from 2014 to 2018, for instance, were traced to origins in the US, according to the Department of Justice. That has led countries like Mexico to demand action from the US to limit the number of firearms trafficked abroad. In its lawsuit, Mexico targeted some of the biggest names in gun manufacturing in the US: not just Smith & Wesson, but also companies like Beretta USA, Glock Inc and Colt's Manufacturing LLC. But the firearm companies pushed back against the lawsuit, arguing they could not be held responsible for the actions of criminals in another country. The Supreme Court itself cast doubt on some of Mexico's arguments, including the idea that the gun manufacturers designed and marketed their products specifically for cartel buyers. 'Mexico focuses on production of 'military style' assault weapons, but these products are widely legal and purchased by ordinary consumers. Manufacturers cannot be charged with assisting criminal acts simply because Mexican cartel members also prefer these guns,' Justice Kagan wrote. 'The same applies to firearms with Spanish language names or graphics alluding to Mexican history,' she added. 'While they may be 'coveted by the cartels,' they also may appeal to 'millions of law-abiding Hispanic Americans.'' On Thursday, an industry trade group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), celebrated the Supreme Court's decision as a 'tremendous victory' against an unfair charge. It had filed an amicus brief in support of the defendants in the case. 'For too long, gun control activists have attempted to twist basic tort law to malign the highly-regulated U.S. firearm industry with the criminal actions of violent organized crime, both here in the United States and abroad,' the group's senior vice president, Lawrence G Keane, said in a statement. Keane added that he and others in the firearm industry felt 'sympathetic to plight of those in Mexico who are victims of rampant and uncontrolled violence at the hands of narco-terrorist drug cartels'. But he said the issue was about 'responsible firearm ownership', not the actions of gun manufacturers.
