KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 19
A total of 472 mountaineers have received climbing permits to scale 10 mountains this fall season, accumulating a total of Rs 54.5 million in royalties. Of the total royalties collected, Rs 46.2 million was collected from issuing permits to Mt Manaslu alone. As many as 354 male and 118 female climbers are set to scale various mountains across the country this fall.
As of Friday, the Department of Tourism had issued 34 permits for Mt Dhaulagiri (8,167 metres), two for Mt Dhaulagiri II (7,751 metres), six for Mt Chandi Himal (6,096 metres), four for Mt Ganchempo (6,378 metres), seven for Mt Himlung Himal (7,126 metres), four for Mt Kumbhakarna (7,710 metres), five for Mt Nuptse (7,855 metres), five for Mt Everest (8,848.86 metres), one for Mt Saribung (6,346 metres) and 404 for Mt Manaslu (8,163 metres).
"The increase in the number of climbers heading to Mt Manaslu can be attributed to the recognition of the mountain's true summit last year, which was reached for the second time since 1976 by Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, and the closure of China for mountaineers who would otherwise head to Mt Cho Oyu (8,201 metres) and Mt Shishapangma (8,027 metres) during the autumn season," Thaneswar Gurgai, manager at Seven Summit Treks shared.
Despite battling terrible weather at Manaslu, the Elite Exped rope fixing team managed to set the line to the true summit of the mountain on September 15 under the management of Expedition Operators Association (EOA); opening up the route for the climbing season mountaineer Nirmal Purja (Nimsdai) had shared through his Facebook.
"Although the lines have been set, the current weather at the mountain has affected the climbers' summit push. Also, with the huge line of people at Manaslu this year, climbers could face some challenges. The mountain which was considered easy to climb could prove to be a bit technical and challenging for some climbers with the introduction of a new route to the true summit of Manaslu, but it may still be far from the spectrum of risk or dangers," Gurgai said.
Similarly, Niresh Karki, co-founder of Pioneer Adventure Pvt Ltd, complained that the weather conditions have not been favourable for a summit push. :The climbers are still clearing the paths covered by an avalanche that occurred yesterday around Camp 2. So far, the rope fixing team members are the only climbers who have reached the summit. Our team is looking to push for the summit on September 22 if there is an open window. However, the weather has not improved," Karki said.
As many as 12 foreign climbers will be guided to the summit of Mt Manaslu by the expedition leader and co-founder of pioneer Mingma Dorchi Sherpa this climbing season.
Likewise, 100 foreign climbers will push for the summit following the improvement in weather with the seven summit teams. "Our teams are currently at Camp 2 and Camp 3. The team at Camp 3 is looking to push for the summit along with 13 foreign clients, followed by rest of our team and clients respectively," Gurgai informed.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 20, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
