Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Tackle the Traffic Problems on Mount Everest' that was published in Newsband

Tackle the Traffic Problems on Mount Everest

Too many bodies are piling up on the world’s highest peak. Authorities should screen climbers and limit the numbers. Many trekkers are yearning to scale Mount Everest, with all the romance, danger and spirit of exploration. The need to reach the highest point on the planet is instinctive, a part of man’s desire to conquer the universe. The conquest, however, has turned out to entail a landscape littered with tons of plastic bottles, food tins, excrement, ropes and tents and scores of oxygen-starved tourists lining up to take a selfie on the summit.

Many focus on the loose standards set by the government of Nepal and the proliferation of dubious expedition companies. China also runs expeditions from its side of the mountain, but fewer use that route and the controls are said to be tighter. On the Nepal side, anyone can pick up an Everest permit for $11,000, and the total package, with guides, equipment, food and lodging for a six-week expedition can easily exceed $50,000. In one of the world’s poorest countries, that’s a flow of money the government is loath to reduce.

Nepalese officials are belatedly considering setting proficiency standards for climbers and limiting the numbers on the mountain to reduce congestion and garbage at the summit. But however disturbing the deaths and the queues, Everest still poses one of the greatest physical and mental challenges our planet has to offer, and trying to deny it to people is futile

Many of the deaths were needless, veterans say, and the increasing number of rookie climbers who try to tackle Everest have made it more dangerous for everyone.

Nepal said that they were analyzing what had happened and leaning toward requiring all climbers to submit proof of mountaineering experience and a verifiable certificate of good health.

Mount Everest is a huge block of ice and rock along the Nepal-China border. China also runs expeditions to the top, but on the Chinese side it appears to be less of a free-for-all. There have been two deaths this year on the Chinese side out of about 300 climbers, compared with nine in Nepal, though almost 800 people climbed from the Nepal side.

Several mountaineers described a ruthless pursuit of the summit in which other climbers refused to share the essentials of life — water and oxygen. The rules on some other mountains empowered guides to stop a climber from ascending if the guide felt the climber might not make it or was behaving badly. At Everest, it is not the same — you can hire a Sherpa on the streets of Kathmandu, or your travel agent says, ‘Here is your Sherpa,’ that’s it. There is no way to know whether that Sherpa can judge and determine the capability of the person who is climbing.

Nepal is one of Asia’s poorest countries, and even Everest, the jewel of its tourism economy, has been marred by corruption scandals and scams.