{"id":805182,"date":"2020-03-12T17:11:01","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T23:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=380421"},"modified":"2020-03-12T17:11:01","modified_gmt":"2020-03-12T23:11:01","slug":"guides-say-china-is-shutting-everest-due-to-coronavirus-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/guides-say-china-is-shutting-everest-due-to-coronavirus-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"Guides say China is shutting Everest due to coronavirus fears"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
A long queue of mountain climbers line a path on Mount Everest just below camp four in May 2019. Expedition operators on Mount Everest say that Chinese mountaineering officials will not allow spring climbs from their side of the mountain due to fears over the coronavirus.<\/strong>
Rizza Alee \/ AP file<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

KATHMANDU, Nepal \u2014 Expedition operators on Mount Everest said Thursday that Chinese mountaineering officials will not allow spring climbs from their side of the mountain due to fears of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

On the others side of the mountain in Nepal, operators say cancellations for the popular spring climbing season have been pouring in despite the mountain being open for business.<\/p>\n

Dawa Shepra of Kathmandu-based Climbalaya Treks and Expeditions said officials told them they could not risk bringing foreign climbers into the country despite the virus getting under control in China.<\/p>\n

He said the conversation with the China Tibet Mountaineering Association officials was over the phone and no official emails, faxes or messages were sent.<\/p>\n

Jiban Ghimire of Shangrila Nepal Trek also said he spoke on the phone with Chinese officials who said there would be no climbing on Everest during this year\u2019s popular spring climbing season.<\/p>\n

Climbers using the northern route in China generally use operators based in Nepal to equip and manage the expeditions.<\/p>\n

Although China has canceled most sporting events for the foreseeable future, Zhang Mingxin of the Tibetan sports administration said it was still monitoring the situation and had yet to make a decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been maintaining contact with overseas organizers of the mountaineering teams to get updated information. It depends on the development of the epidemic situation and the ability of our providing services,\u201d Zhang told The Associated Press on Thursday.<\/p>\n

In Nepal, the mountaineering season began last week, and Everest was still open for climbers.<\/p>\n

Officials and mountaineering expedition operators, however, said they fear there will be a significant drop in the number of climbers this year. That could reduce government revenue and affect the thousands of workers who depend on the climbers for their livelihoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis season is not very encouraging for the mountaineering industry in Nepal,\u201d said Surendra Thapa, the director at Nepal\u2019s Department of Tourism.<\/p>\n

Operators said though climbers generally arrive in April so they can attempt to scale the peak in May, they were getting many cancellations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are getting flooded with postponements. They all want to hold on their climb and shift to 2021 season,\u201d said Jiban Ghimire of Shangrila Nepal Trek.<\/p>\n

Pemba Sherpa of Xtreme Climbers Treks, said all of the cancellations were going to be a big setback for Nepal\u2019s mountaineering industry.<\/p>\n

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

A long queue of mountain climbers line a path on Mount Everest just below camp four in May 2019. Expedition operators on Mount Everest say that Chinese mountaineering officials will not allow spring climbs from their side of the mountain due to fears over the coronavirus.Rizza Alee \/ AP file KATHMANDU, Nepal \u2014 Expedition operators […]<\/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":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-805182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-19 09:34:29","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":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}