{"id":1310776,"date":"2019-05-28T15:00:25","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T21:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=979532"},"modified":"2019-05-28T15:00:25","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T21:00:25","slug":"deaths-rise-as-nepal-issues-more-permits-for-mount-everest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/deaths-rise-as-nepal-issues-more-permits-for-mount-everest\/","title":{"rendered":"Deaths rise as Nepal issues more permits for Mount Everest"},"content":{"rendered":"
In this photo made on May 22, 2019, a long queue of mountain climbers line a path on Mount Everest. About half a dozen climbers died on Everest last week most while descending from the congested summit during only a few windows of good weather each May.<\/strong>
Nirmal Purja\/@Nimsdai Project Possible via AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NAMCHE, Nepal (AP) \u2014 Scaling Mount Everest was a dream few realized before Nepal opened its side of the mountain to commercial climbing a half-century ago. This year the government issued a record number of permits, leading to traffic jams on the world\u2019s highest peak that likely contributed to the greatest death toll in four years.<\/p>\n

As the allure of Everest grows, so have the crowds, with inexperienced climbers faltering on the narrow passageway to the peak and causing deadly delays, veteran climbers said.<\/p>\n

After 11 people died this year, Nepal tourism officials have no intention of restricting the number of permits issued, instead encouraging even more tourists and climbers to come \u201cfor both pleasure and fame,\u201d said Mohan Krishna Sapkota, secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation.<\/p>\n

Nepal, one of the world\u2019s poorest countries, relies on the climbing industry to bring in $300 million each year. It doesn\u2019t cap the number of permits it issues or control the pace or timing of the expeditions, leaving that to tour operators and guides who take advantage of brief clear weather conditions whenever they come, leading to pileups near the peak.<\/p>\n

On May 22, a climber snapped a photo from a line with dozens of hikers in colorful winter gear that snaked into the sky.<\/p>\n

Climbers were crammed crampon-to-crampon along a sharp-edged ridge above South Col, with a 7,000-foot (2,000-meter) drop on either side, all clipped onto a single line of rope, trudging toward the top of the world and risking death as each minute ticked by.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were more people on Everest than there should be,\u201d said Kul Bahadur Gurung, general secretary of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, an umbrella group of all expedition operators in Nepal. \u201cWe lack the rules and regulations that say how many people can actually go up and when.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indian climber Ameesha Chauhan who survived dangerous overcrowding on Mount Everest checks her cell phone as she gets treatment at a hospital after she was rescued in Kathmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Seasoned mountaineers say the Nepal government\u2019s failure to limit the number of climbers on Mount Everest has resulted in dangerous overcrowding and a greater number of deaths.<\/strong>
AP Photo\/Niranjan Shrestha<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The death toll this season is the highest since 2015. Most of those who died are believed to have suffered from altitude sickness, which is caused by low amounts of oxygen at high elevation and can cause headaches, vomiting, shortness of breath and mental confusion.<\/p>\n

Once only accessible to well-heeled elite mountaineers, Nepal\u2019s booming climbing market has driven down the cost of an expedition, opening Everest up to hobbyists and adventure-seekers. Nepal requires climbers to have a doctors\u2019 note deeming them physically fit, but not to prove their stamina at such extreme heights.<\/p>\n

Because of the altitude, climbers have just hours to reach the top before they are at risk of a pulmonary edema, when the lungs fill with liquid. From Camp Four at 8,000 meters (26,240 feet) to the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak, the final push on Everest is known as the \u201cdeath zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conditions are so intense at such times that when a person dies, no one can afford to expend energy on carrying the body down from the mountain.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery minute counts there,\u201d said Eric Murphy, a mountain guide from Bellingham, Washington, who climbed Everest for a third time on May 23. He said what should have taken 12 hours took 17 hours because of struggling climbers who were clearly exhausted but had no one to guide or help them.<\/p>\n

Just a handful of inexperienced climbers, he said, is \u201cenough to have a profound effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deaths this year on Nepal\u2019s side of the mountain included Don Cash, a sales executive<\/a> from Utah, and Christopher Kulish, an attorney<\/a> from Colorado, who both died on their way down from the peak.<\/p>\n

Kulish, 62, had just reached the top with a small group after crowds of climbers congested the peak last week, according to his brother, Mark Kulish.<\/p>\n

He described his brother as an attorney who was an \u201cinveterate climber of peaks in Colorado, the West and the world over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just before he died, Kulish made it into the so-called \u201cSeven Summit Club\u201d of mountaineers who have reached the highest peaks on every continent, his brother said.<\/p>\n

Cash, 55, collapsed at the summit and was given CPR and massages by his two Sherpa guides. He got up only to fall again in the same way at Hillary Step, the first cliff face down from the summit. His body was left near there.<\/p>\n

Cash had said on his LinkedIn page that he left his job as a sales executive to try to join the seven summits club.<\/p>\n

Nepal doesn\u2019t have any regulations to determine how many permits should be issued, so anyone with a doctor\u2019s note can obtain one for an $11,000 fee, Sapkota said.<\/p>\n

This year, permits were issued to 381 people in 44 teams, the highest number ever, according to the government. They were accompanied by an equal number of guides from Nepal\u2019s ethnic Sherpa community. Some climbers were originally issued permits in 2014 that were revoked mid-season when 16 Sherpa guides died in an avalanche and other Sherpas, whose support as guides and porters is essential, effectively went on strike.<\/p>\n

Another factor was China\u2019s limit on the number of permits it issued this year for routes in its territory on the north side of Everest for a clean-up. Both the north and south sides of the mountain are littered with empty oxygen canisters, food packaging and other debris.<\/p>\n

Instead of the overcrowding, Sapkota blamed the weather, equipment and inadequate supplemental oxygen for this year\u2019s deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been concern about the number of climbers on Mount Everest but it is not because of the traffic jam that there were casualties,\u201d Sapkota said in Namche, the town that serves as the staging area for Everest trips.<\/p>\n

Still, he said, \u201cIn the next season we will work to have double rope in the area below the summit so there is better management of the flow of climbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mirza Ali, a Pakistani mountaineer and tour company owner who reached Everest\u2019s peak for the first time this month, on his fourth attempt, said such an approach was flawed.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody wants to stand on top of the world,\u201d but tourists unprepared for the extremes of Everest endanger the entire industry, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is not a sufficient check on issuing the permits,\u201d Ali said. \u201cThe more people come, the more permits, more business. But on the other side it is a lot of risk because it is costing lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indian climber Ameesha Chauhan, soaking her frostbitten toes in medicine at a hospital in Kathmandu, described the agony of turning away from the peak when she realized her supplemental oxygen supply was low.<\/p>\n

Two of her team members died on the May 16 ascent.<\/p>\n

She returned and scaled the peak a week later.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at it, the inexperienced climbers do not even know how to tie on the oxygen masks around their face,\u201d she said. \u201cMany climbers are too focused on reaching the summit.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press researcher Chonchui Ngashangva in New Delhi contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Gurubacharya reported from Kathmandu, Nepal, and Schmall reported from New Delhi.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this photo made on May 22, 2019, a long queue of mountain climbers line a path on Mount Everest. About half a dozen climbers died on Everest last week most while descending from the congested summit during only a few windows of good weather each May.Nirmal Purja\/@Nimsdai Project Possible via AP NAMCHE, Nepal (AP) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1310776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 05:02:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1310776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310776\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}