Kathmandu, April 16

As of today, 649 mountaineers have received permission to scale various mountains, including Mt Everest, for the spring season of this year.

According to the Department of Tourism (DoT), 76 teams have received the permission for altogether 649 mountaineers to climb various mountains this spring season - March to May.

Among those that have received the climbing permits were four Nepali teams comprising of a total 20 members to scale Mt Everest (8848m), informed Dinesh Bhattarai, director general of DoT.

“Just today, we issued climbing permits to nine teams comprising a total of 64 individuals to climb various peaks for this season,” said Bhattarai, adding that the deadline for seeking climbing permits is expiring in two weeks.

According to DoT, a total of 36 teams of 336 mountaineers have been granted the permission to climb Everest this season. In the spring season of 2017, 107 teams comprising 834 climbers had taken the permit for climb mountains. Of them, 42 teams with 375 climbers had taken the permission to climb Mt Everest.

As per Bhattarai, DoT charges $11,000 per international climber and Rs 75,000 per Nepali citizen to scale Mt Everest. “The climbing permit fee varies for other mountains depending on their height and location,” he added.

Till date, the permit-seekers include nationals from China, India, the United States, United Kingdom, Thailand, Myanmar, Norway, Russia, Poland, Australia, Switzerland, among others.