Joburger bust on Everest

ON A GOODWILL MISSION: DIDN’T HAVE CLIMB PERMIT COSTING R148 377

He wanted to find fulfilment by helping somebody – and Everest is a trouble zone.

ASouth African caught attempting to climb Mount Everest without an $11 000 (R148 377) permit said yesterday he couldn’t afford the hefty fee but had always planned to turn himself in and serve jail time as punishment.

Ryan Sean Davy was arrested on Tuesday after handing himself over to authorities in Kathmandu, a week after he was found hiding in a cave near Everest base camp without a permit.

In a police detention centre, he said he knew he would have to eventually turn himself in and likely face jail time because he wanted to release a film and book about his Everest adventure.

“I realised that I would have to turn myself in to make it all legal, do the jail time because I can’t afford the permit,” said the 43-yearold, who now faces a $22 000 fine.

Davy, who has no prior mountaineering experience, was attempting to scale the world’s highest peak alone and with limited equipment – and hoped to save the lives of other climbers along the way.

Before he was caught he had climbed as high as camp one at an altitude of 6 000 metres, despite not having all the proper equipment.

To get there he had to cross the treacherous Khumbu icefall, a huge stretch of glacier containing deep crevasses that must be crossed by ladder.

“I had some of the gear, not all of it, so there were some really interesting, scary parts,” he said.

Davy recently hit a low point in his life after ploughing all his savings into two feature films that never got off the ground, but felt he could pick himself up if he was able to help someone else.

“I just really wanted to find