JOIN USThe ‘human traffic jam’ on Mount Everest, which has claimed the lives of 11 climbers, including four Indians, is a wake-up call for Nepal as well as the international mountaineering community. This climbing season has seen record numbers scale the summit with a whopping 200 climbers making it to the top on May 22 alone. Photographs taken by the climbers reveal a long queue of them waiting to make the final ascent. Several climbers can be seen in these pictures perched precariously at the top, even taking selfies of themselves at the summit and the ridge below it. Experienced mountaineers have pointed out that it is this crowding of the summit and not the Everest itself that should be blamed for the climbers’ deaths. The path to the top is said to be narrow and precarious. Additionally, there is little oxygen in the atmosphere at this height. This impairs judgement and clouds decision-making. Many climbers carry bottled oxygen. However, their supply got depleted as they had to wait for hours to make that final ascent or subsequent descent. Crowding of the summit caused more deaths than in a normal season.
At 8,848 meters, the Everest is the world’s tallest mountain. When Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary conquered the Everest in 1953, theirs was a lonely climb to the summit. Who would have thought that a few decades later, this peak would be besieged by hordes of climbers every climbing season? Over the last several years, the Everest has been mobbed. Many of the climbers lack the requisite experience but the adrenalin rush and the bragging rights that come with having ‘conquered the Everest’ seem irresistible. Such climbers put their own lives and those of others, especially those of the Sherpas, at risk. Nepal should put in place tighter rules for those aspiring to climb this mountain.
Climbing the Everest involves tens of thousands of dollars, with the government permit alone costing some $11,000. Profits have prompted the Nepal government to issue permits liberally. It is under pressure now to restrict the numbers. It is reportedly thinking of raising the cost of permits. This isn’t the right way to go about the problem as it will only make the Everest adventure even more of a rich, white man’s pursuit than it already is. Instead, only experienced climbers, perhaps only those who have scaled at least one other 8,000-meter peak should be issued permits. Crowds climbing the Everest are also damaging the fragile mountain environment. Environmentalists are pointing out that the Everest has become a garbage dump. Nepal should work with mountaineering federations to prevent the Everest from becoming a death trap.