KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 28

Fourteen Summits Pvt. Ltd today formally asked the Nepal Mountaineering Association to cancel a summit certificate which was awarded to Abdul Rahim Al-Arjan saying he provided a fake photo of the Mera peak summit.

Submitting a written clarification to NMA secretariat, Subin Thakuri, Managing Director at Fourteen Summits, admitted that Al-Arjan, a climber from Jordan, had fabricated a summit photo without reaching the summit of Mera peak last October.

THT's investigation has revealed that Al-Arjan, who claimed to have scaled Mera peak honouring the Jordan monarch, presented a fake summit photo while he never reached above the high camp last October.

NMA's General Secretary Mohan Lamsal had issued a summit certificate to Al-Arjan on December 6 endorsing his fake claims. Al-Arjan told NMA that he stood atop Mera Peak (6,470m) on 26 October 2023 being part of an expedition managed by Kathmandu-based Fourteen Summits Pvt. Ltd.

'This unfortunate situation has arisen due to the actions of another company – Adventure Magic Treks Pvt. Ltd – with whom we helped on sharing the climbing permit facilitation,' Thakuri said. Al-Arjan was a client of Adventure Magic Treks but shared a climbing permit with Fourteen Summits.

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Upon conducting a thorough investigation and engaging in discussions with the founder Shankar Pandey from Adventure Magic Treks and his client, it has been revealed that Al-Arjan and his Sherpa guide who provided a summit photo, didn't belong to them, according to Thakuri.

'It has become evident that the summit photo submitted alongside the certificate has been fabricated, featuring the ascent of different climbers than the certificate holder's actual ascent,' Thakuri said, requesting the NMA to cancel Al-Arjan's certificate and take further action to responsible individual members.

NMA's President Nima Nuru Sherpa said that it would initiate the necessary process to cancel Al-Arjan's certificate at the earliest.