INCREASING VIOLATIONS OF HIGH ALTITUDE RULES PROVOKED THE CLOSURE OF THE MAIN TOP OF THE WORLD AND OTHER 8,000 MEASURES FOR CLIMBERS AND MOUNTAIN TOURISTS AT LEAST UNTIL THE END OF AUTUMN 2017
Outraged by the increasing cases of disregard for the rules of high-altitude climbing, the Chinese government has officially announced the closure of Everest and other eight-thousanders in Tibet for the coming fall. So many climbers and mountain tourists will have to abandon their plans.
The official reason for the closure was “a number of problems in mountain tourism and disregard for the rules of high-altitude climbing, such as the illegal crossing of the Tibet-Nepal border through the top of Everest by the Polish climber 49-year-old Janusz Adam Adamski,” an official source from 4sport.ua quotes.
The Tibetan Mountaineering Association confirmed that it would stop issuing climbing permits, clarifying the information in a press release: “The actions of the Polish climber on Everest force us to review and improve the rules for mountaineering.”
The Napal Tourism Department noted that Chinese authorities have expressed concern about the fact that a photograph of the Dalai Lama and the flag of free Tibet, which were raised to the top of the world in May 2017, were placed on the summit of Everest. China regarded these actions as malicious and detrimental to the relations between China and Nepal.
In addition, there was information that the Chinese authorities want to bring to justice the famous Spanish skyrunner Kilian Jornet, who completed two high-speed races to the top of Everest in a week. Officials are currently checking whether Kilian had two permits for the climbs, or whether he used one permit for both runs.
The global mountaineering community is extremely concerned about the actions of China, which, in addition to Everest, also closed Cho Oyu and Shishapangma to climbing this year.
WHAT DID THE POLISH CLIMBER DO?
According to 4sport.ua, the famous Polish climber, 49-year-old Janusz Adam Adamski, climbed to the top of Everest along the northern face from Tibet, and then descended to the southern side from Nepal. According to the climber himself, it was a solo climb without the use of oxygen cylinders and without the help of Sherpas.
The ascent to the summit took place on May 21 and on the same day Adamsky began his descent to base camp from the opposite side. Thus, Janusz became the first Pole and the 15th climber in the world to complete such a traverse.
Already on the way from Lukla to Kathmandu, Janusz noted: “I only used oxygen cylinders during the last stage of the descent: from the third high-altitude camp and below to the base camp.”
However, Janusz’s unique rise in the 2017 season eventually turned into a scandal. According to the rules for climbing Everest, if a climber is going to traverse the peak, he must obtain a separate permit for this route - in addition to the permit for the ascent. Janusz did not have a permit for the traverse.
POLE TRAVERSE ROUTE
Employees of the Tibetan Mountaineering Association began a search operation to determine the whereabouts of Janusz as early as May 21, because he seemed to be the only climber who did not descend to the base camp along the same path that he ascended.
“According to our information, Janusz only had permission to ascend, but not to descend on the other side, therefore Janusz’s actions are, from our point of view, illegal,”– reported the Tibetan Mountaineering Association.
For his part, Dinesh Bhattarai, Director General of Nepal's Department of Tourism, said that if the fact of illegally crossing Everest is confirmed, Janusz will face punishment in accordance with the country's Immigration and Tourism Law. And while the proceedings are ongoing, Janusz is prohibited from flying from Kathmandu to his homeland.
It is noteworthy that Janusz had already climbed to the top of Everest in 2006 and could not have been unaware of the receipt of an additional permit to cross the summit.
Tellingly, a week before Janusz, another “illegal” was caught - South African citizen Ryan Sean Davey, who tried to climb to the top of Everest without a permit. Ryan was threatened with a fine of $22,000 and a 10-year ban from entering the country, but in the end the guest from South Africa got off with a symbolic bail of $10.
COST OF PERMITS TO EVEREST
Let us remind you that ascents are divided into the following categories:
- Climbing alone (solo)
- Independent ascent (including in a group), including assistance in transporting equipment and provisions to the base camp and work on the Sherpa route;
- Climbing as part of a commercial expedition
For ascents from the North (Chinese) side:
- For a team of 4 or more climbs - $9,950 each.
- For a team of 1-3 climbers $19,500 each. The price includes: transportation from the starting point to the base camp, hotels, a liaison officer, garbage fees, five yaks for the trek to the base camp and four yaks for the trip from the base camp.
- There is also an additional fee – $200 per day per person- for the time spent in Lhasa. If you want to take a Nepalese Sherpa, you need to pay extra $3,300 for a “work permit” for each Sherpa, plus pay for their work - another $5,000.
- With all these options the cost of an expedition to Everest will cost $28,000 – $85,000.
- An individual expedition to Everest with a personal Western guide (certified by a professional - not from Nepal or China) will cost $114 000-$115 000 .
CLIMBING FROM NEPAL (SOUTH) SIDE
Independent climbers bear the following expenses:
- purchasing air tickets to Kathmandu;
- payment for permits (permission to climb from the authorities of Nepal (or China))
- purchase of provisions for at least 6 weeks of expedition
- flight to Lukla or Lhasa
- hiring porters and Sherpas to transport cargo to base camp
- installation and equipment of your base camp
- self-cooking
- independent provision of weather forecast
- independent equipment of high-altitude camps
- renting existing, hung railings (or installing your own)
- independent transfer of necessary equipment to high altitude camps
- purchase (rent) of oxygen cylinders and regulators
- After the ascent, hiring porters to transport goods back from base camp
So, those who want to climb Everest will have the following expenses:
Personal expenses for travel to Nepal from $9000 – $16500, including:
Flights: from $1,000 – $7,000 depending on the class and route of the flight, as well as excess baggage.
Transport from Kathmandu to Lukla: $325 roundtrip per person. Cost of trekking from Kathmandu to base camp (takes about a week) – from $400 to $1000(including overnight stays, meals and assistance from porters along the route).
Accommodation and meals in Kathmandu and Luklu: from $300 to $700
Nepal visa: $100
Medical vaccinations: $200
Personal equipment (equipment, clothing, sleeping bags, etc.): up to $7,000
Road to Base Camp: $1250 – $1800, including:
Transportation of cargo by yak and/or from base camp: $40 for one yak for one day of travel - the price is for 70 kg of cargo. Minimum hire for a team – 4 yaks for 4 days – or $640. (On the Chinese side, the cost of a yak: $340 per yak per day).
Transportation of cargo by Sherpa porters and/or from the base camp: $20 for one porter/sherpa per day – price for 27 kg of cargo. The minimum hire for a team is 3 porters for 6 days - or $360.
Tips and food during the transition to Base Camp: $20 – $100 per person per day. For 7 days of trekking: $140 – $700.
National Park fee: $100 per team.
Everest Climb Price: $18,000 – $23,000, including:
Liaison officer participation: $3,000 per team(usually included in the cost of travel agency services).
Tuition operator service fee – $2,500 from the team (usually included in the cost of travel agency services) Change in 2017.
Mandatory participation of one mountain guide-Sherpa in the ascent of each climber — $4,000 per climber.
Base Camp Medical Service Fee: $100 per person
Climbing permit: $11,000 per person per team– regardless of the number of participants.
Environmental deposit fee: $4,000 per team(returns (but not always...) after the team removes its expedition debris from Everest).
Sherpa work at the Khumbu Icefall (Icefall Doctors team): $2,500 per team or $600 per person.
Sherpa work laying railings above the Khumbu Icefall: $150 per person
Weather forecast: from zero to $1,000
Sacred Puja ceremony (prayer for successful ascent): $300
High altitude camps: from $3,800 to $8,800 including:
Arrangement of high-altitude camp tents (bed, kitchen, toilet, warehouse): 4 high-altitude camps for 3 people: $3,000
Chef with assistants for 6 weeks: $5,000
Food and burner fuel for 6 weeks: $800 per person
Climb: $2,200 to $14,000 including:
Oxygen system: $50 to $550 per cylinder(the ascent requires at least 5 cylinders = from $250 to $2,500) — the price does not include the delivery of oxygen cylinders by Sherpas to high-altitude camps.
Oxygen mask: $440
Oxygen regulator: $500
High altitude Sherpa as personal escort: $5,000
Delivery of oxygen points by Sherpas along the ascent route: $2,000
Payment for Sherpas in case of their ascent to the top of Everest from $250 (small training on the route), to $2,000 (for one person when a Sherpa climbs to the top)
First aid kit for climbing: $500-$2000
Force majeure expenses: from $8,500–$33,000, including:
Helicopter evacuation from Base Camp on the South Face of Everest: $5,000 to $20,000– depending on the evacuation altitude and landing location. There is no helicopter available on the North Face of Everest!
Evacuation without the use of a helicopter: from $70 to $500.
Medical insurance: $500.
Insurance in case of expedition cancellation (for any reason: from medical to force majeure situations) - $3,000
Satellite phone (personal): $1,000-$3,000– depending on the model.
Payment for communication services: $1,000
Payment for equipment for Sherpas: $0 - $2,000.
Unfurling commercial flags on Everest: $2200 – for 1 sq m of canvas.
Insurance for Sherpas participating in the expedition: from $1000
TOTAL: Independent climbing of Everest for experienced climbers: $70,000, for inexperienced participants in group ascents: $45,000 - $60,000 per person.
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The first humanitarian expedition to the highest mountain in the world is completed
For more than 60 years, climbers - professional and amateur - have been climbing the highest peak on Earth. During this time, Everest collected a rich “tribute” from its conquerors: more than 280 people died on its sky-high slopes. They all still remain up there, unburied. However, they decided to break this gloomy tradition. The first ever Russian humanitarian expedition to a record-breaking eight-thousander has just ended. Its participants set themselves the task of climbing Everest to “encapsulate” the bodies of the dead there.
“In the base camp, where more than 600 people gathered in the short season when it is possible to climb Everest, virtually no one believed that these “crazy rushes” would be able to carry out their plan,” say climbers Oleg Savchenko and Alexander Sidyakin, participants in the ascent. – Indeed, in our case the famous principle “if there was no happiness, but misfortune would help” worked. A single safety rope is laid to the top of the mountain on “our” side, which is used by all groups when ascending and descending. That is, the traffic is very intense, and it is unlikely that we would have met with understanding from commercial climbers if we had occupied this rope for the 20-30 minutes required to “encapsulate” at least one body of the deceased. However, a whim of nature helped. Having started our ascent, we discovered that one group after another was descending from above - the Japanese, the Chinese... They looked at us in surprise: “Where are you going? Storm warning received. According to weather forecasts, a real hurricane will begin soon above!” As a result, the mountain was empty that day, and only our team of three people still dared to try their luck.
As a reward for our risk, we received a real “exclusive”: we ended up at the top alone, with no one “stepping on our heels.” And the time for carrying out the humanitarian action we had planned was also not limited by anyone except ourselves...
In fact, this can be called the highest altitude funeral in the history of mankind - a funeral in the “death zone”. This is what climbers call heights over 8300 meters.
– There the human body dies every second. The brain simply refuses to perceive the conditions of the environment and issues commands that contain a direct path to death, explains Oleg Savchenko. – You need to break yourself, act contrary to the commands of your “inner voice.” Otherwise - death.
Members of the Russian expedition, having barely begun their descent from the summit, stopped at an altitude of 8,700 meters near one of the bodies lying here. And instead of quickly ending up below, where a person can live and breathe normally, they spent about 20 minutes in the scorching cold and with a strict limit on the consumption of oxygen from the cylinders they had taken with them, “encapsulating” the corpse.
“We wrapped it in a special durable fabric. They wrapped them tightly with cords and secured their ends. The ice screws intended for the role of such fasteners did not want to be screwed into the ice, so we had to look for suitable cracks in the stones and fix these fastening devices in them. Some of the manipulations had to be done with bare hands. It was impossible to protect them in such cold and wind: the fingers froze quite badly.
Working up there, we didn’t even know who he was – this dead climber. Only later, at the base camp, after analyzing the position of the deceased’s body in video footage taken by the third member of the group, professional climber Sergei Larin, they established that it was Slovenian Marko Litenecker. He died in 2005 while descending from Everest. As eyewitnesses said, he gave part of his oxygen supply to another person who became ill. However, the experienced Slovenian climber was unlucky. Most likely, an accident intervened in the situation, which is not uncommon among climbers: in the cold, an ice plug formed in the tube leading from the cylinder to the mask, or some valve failed... As a result, the strong young guy died. We contacted the Slovenian Embassy with a request for help in finding Marko Litenecker's relatives. I really want these people to know that the body of their loved one, which has lain “homeless” on the slope for 12 years, is now placed in a fabric “sarcophagus”, secured, and is not in danger of being thrown into the abyss by a hurricane gust. But so far we have not received a response from the embassy.
Having finished “encapsulating” Marco, we tried to reach another body, which lay a few meters down the slope. This is an Irish climber who died here 15 years before Litenecker. However, alas, there was no time to deal with it: the supply of oxygen was significantly used up, a storm was beginning... In such conditions, the living must take care of their own salvation.
Upon returning to the base camp, the participants of the Russian expedition became real heroes among its inhabitants. Climbers from different countries and local Sherpa guides praised our guys.
“We handed over the remaining piece of special fabric to Mingma Sherpa, the official representative of Everest Base Camp. I would like to believe that our high-mountain humanitarian action will have followers. It is possible that already next season this initiative will be taken up by a Chinese expedition.
Alas, the serious “moral and ethical” problem of the current Everest is that climbing this peak has turned into a very profitable commercial project. And people who have paid a lot of money behave purely rationally. They don’t care about those who once died and remained lying on the slope: the main thing is to quickly climb to the “point” of 8848 meters and quickly descend from there to comfortable living conditions. Therefore, it is not surprising that the bodies of Everest victims are often used as landmarks during the ascent, and some of them, which interfere with movement along the trail, are cynically thrown into the abyss. – Business, nothing more!
“Mad” money also leads to a constant increase in the number of victims among climbers. During our expedition alone, a Swiss climber died on the slope of Everest. Those who organize commercial “tours” to the highest eight-thousander are ready to “drag” anyone there who pays well and signs the appropriate receipt of voluntary consent to risk. And no serious health check is required. Among today's climbers there are a variety of characters. It is not uncommon for a person to actually condemn himself to death. We were told, for example, about a man with cancer: he specifically went to Everest to die “beautifully” there. And not so long ago, an 85-year-old man died at the base camp, who wanted to conquer the highest peak on Earth at such an old age and thereby set a world record.
In such conditions, it should be recognized that the primary task is not to “encapsulate” all the bodies lying on Everest, but to stop the increase in the number of victims during attempts to conquer this peak.
Everest (Qomolungma, Sagarmatha) is the highest peak on Earth (8848 m). Climbing Everest takes about two months, including acclimatization. The best time for climbing is May, when there are no monsoons, they climb both the southern and northern slopes of the mountain. Before the first ascent, which took place on May 29, 1953, many expeditions took place, for example, in 1922, British climbers George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce reached a height of 8320 m, using oxygen for the first time. George Mallory and Andrew Irwin climbed above 8600 m, and according to one version, they managed to climb to the top and disappeared while descending the mountain.
June 1924. British climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine prepare for their climb at base camp in Nepal. Both took part in the 1922 and 1924 Everest expeditions.
This is the last photo of Mallory and Irwin taken before they both disappeared without a trace on Everest.
June 26, 1953. New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay at the British Embassy in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu demonstrate the equipment they used to climb the highest peak on the planet - Everest.
Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest on May 29, 1953, becoming the first people to reach the world's highest point.
May 21, 1978. Reinhold Messner, 33, and Peter Habeler, 35, climbers from the Austrian Tyrol, at New Delhi airport on their way back to Europe after the first ever ascent of Everest without oxygen equipment
View of Everest from Nepal.
In the entire history of climbing Everest, more than seven thousand climbers have reached the summit.
November 1, 2005. Japan's Junko Tabei, the first woman to climb Everest, waves the flags of Japan and Nepal as she celebrates the 30th anniversary of her summit in Kathmandu.
May 29, 2007. In this photo from China's Xinhua news agency, a Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon participant runs in Solukhumbu, Nepal, at an altitude of 4,500 m.
The Tenzing-Hillary Marathon is the highest altitude marathon in the world and is held annually to commemorate the historic ascent of Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953.
Bad weather conditions forced three Sherpa brothers to abandon their plan to set a new world record by spending 24 hours in the “death zone” on top of a mountain. Pemba Dorje Sherpa, 30, and his two younger brothers reached the summit on May 19 but were forced to begin their descent two hours later, Pemba told AFP after returning to Kathmandu
Preparation for climbing the highest peak on Earth takes three months and begins in March. After the terrible disaster in 2014, when 16 Sherpa guides died in an avalanche on Everest, more than 300 climbers have already climbed the mountain
Thousands of climbers gathered in Kathmandu to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953.
Many teams delayed their ascent due to bad weather, but some still managed to reach the summit. The first group to reach the summit of Everest this season was a military team from India and Nepal.
In 2003, many climbers celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of the world's highest mountain, made by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Nepalese guide Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953.
May 28, 2014. Members of the Nepal Mountaineering Association light candles in front of a monument to Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on the eve of the anniversary of their ascent in memory of their comrades who died in an avalanche on Everest on April 18, 2014.
Since Hillary and Tenzing's first ascent, thousands of climbers have reached the summit of Everest.
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Numerous positive
According to estimates, over the entire history of climbing this peak, almost three hundred people lost their lives. Their bodies are still in the so-called “death zone” above 8 thousand meters. It will not be possible to bring the dead down to the foot of the mountain, but climbers know how else to take care of them.
Mr. Paljor's green boots have been the main reference point for every Everest conqueror for more than 20 years. From the body of the Indian climber to the top of the “mother of the world” is a couple of hundred meters.
The remains of the Irish teacher David Sharp, who rests nearby, cut-off at 8.5 km. And even the 90-year-old mummy of the first victim of Chomolungma is a signpost on the way to the highest point of the planet. Those who were never able to come down from heaven to earth today help desperate extreme sports enthusiasts.
Climbers counter accusations of cynicism: mountains have their own laws. It is impossible to lower the bodies to the ground from where even helicopters do not fly. You cannot lift 100 kilograms of weight in freezing conditions and lack of oxygen. And many victims were frozen forever in the ice. But what seems impossible now is quite possible in the future, thought Russian Everest conqueror Oleg Savchenko. If only to preserve what was left of its predecessors.
Oleg Savchenko, head of the special operation “Everest 8 300”: “More than 280 bodies only according to rough estimates and only official statistics rest on the slopes of this mountain.”
Already in May, Savchenko’s group will climb Everest with the sole purpose of encapsulating the remains of those to whom Everest never conquered.
The encapsulation process is as follows: the climber’s body is covered with a special heat- and frost-resistant fabric and attached to the rock with special ice screws. Each operation requires a lot of effort, is performed slowly and can take up to several hours. In this way, the body can be preserved for hundreds of years until technology allows it to be brought down to earth.
The special operation of Russian climbers is unique. Most Everest conquerors are afraid to help even living partners. By spending what little energy you have left on rescue, you risk staying in the mountains forever.
Ivan Dusharin, Vice-President of the Russian Mountaineering Federation: “Working for many years in an international mountaineering camp, working on the Peak of Communism, we have repeatedly filmed foreigners from a height of 7 thousand meters and above. The foreigners were shocked. They say: “Only Russians do this.”
Russian climbers will have to work at an altitude of 8.5 km. In such conditions, the body stops recovering. There is cold and terrible overload all around. Every meter is given with great difficulty. But Savchenko promises: no matter how difficult it is, he will encapsulate at least eight bodies of his predecessors.
