• SPRING CLIMBING SEASON UPDATE
KATHMANDU, MARCH 30
The Department of Tourism (DoT) has issued climbing permits to 142 mountaineers to scale 12 mountains, including Mt Everest, in this spring season so far.
According to the department, as of today, 19 expedition teams have received the permission for altogether 142 mountaineers to attempt to scale various mountains this spring season.
Among those that have received the climbing permits are four Nepali teams comprising a total of 23 members to scale Mt Everest (8849m), informed Surya Prasad Upadhyay, director of DoT.
"Among the permit recipients in the Nepali teams, 19 are men and four are women," Upadhyay added.
Likewise, 25 climbers have received permits to climb Mt Annapurna I, 23 for Mt Ama Dablam, 16 for Mt Himlung, 17 for Mt Nuptse, 11 for Mt Dhaulagiri, eight for Mt Kangchenjunga and Mt Bhemdang Ri, Five for Mt Lhotse, four for Thapa Peak (Dhampus), and two for Mt Gangapurna.
The DoT has collected $372,600 in revenue so far from issuing the spring climbing permits.
The escalation of Russia-Ukraine conflict in the recent days has exacerbated the woes of COVID-battered mountaineering sector and will affect the number of climbers in the spring climbing season, said Vishma Bhattrai, section officer at the DoT.
"Russians and Ukrainians used to be major climbers scaling Nepal's peaks with up to 15 nationals from these countries participating in one expedition team. Due to the escalating war between Russia and Ukraine, we expect climbers from these and other European countries to fall this spring season."
DoT record shows that there were 742 foreign climbers who had obtained climbing permits in the last spring season, with 408 receiving permits for Mt Everest.
Among the foreign climbers, 14 from Russia and 12 from Ukraine had scaled various mountains last spring season, according to the Himalayan Database.
Amid the war, Ukraine has requested Nepal to ban Russian mountaineers from scaling Nepal's peaks. Issuing a diplomatic note on March 21, the Ukrainian Embassy in New Delhi had requested the Embassy of Nepal in India to ban Russian mountaineering teams till the end of Russian invasion into Ukraine by taking into consideration that several international sports federations have banned and excluded Russian players from participating.
"Their presence in Nepal will not be welcomed by the teams from other countries," read the note. "Moreover, hoisting the Russian flag - a symbol of the state directly responsible for mass ruthless killings in Ukraine - over the sacred and divine Nepali mountains is a matter of deep moral concern."
However, Nepal has given permits to nine Russian mountaineers in this spring so far.
DoT has issued climbing permits to one Russian to scale Mt Annapurna while eight have received permits from the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA).
According to NMA President Santabir Lama, the association has issued permits to two Russians for Chulu East West Peak and to six of them for the Island Peak.
According to Bhattarai, DoT has not received any official order from the line ministry to ban Russian mountaineers.
"So we will issue permits to Russians unless we receive an official notice from the government telling us not to do so," he said, adding that no Ukrainian mountaineer has sought climbing permit for the spring season.
Meanwhile, NMA President Lama argued that politics should be kept separate from mountaineering. "Besides, we have not yet received any official notice from the government stating we shouldn't issue permits to any Russian citizens."
A version of this article appears in the print on March 31, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
