Outcry over discount for climbers

NEPAL HAS slashed the price of scaling Mt Everest by more than 50 per cent, raising fears of a more crowded and deadlier climbing season than ever before.

Climbers this year will pay £6500 ( NZ$ 13,000) each for a permit, down from £ 15,000, in a move aimed at boosting revenue for the impoverished Nepal government.

However, Dil Bahadur Gurung, of the Kathmandu Environment Education Project, said that the decision could damage the fragile environment.

‘‘More climbers would naturally mean more negative impact on the mountains,’’ he said.

Last year was the most crowded in Everest’s history, with 810 climbers attempting to scale the peak from the Nepalese side, adding to the piles of garbage and oxygen canisters – and bodies – littering the slopes.

An estimated 225 climbers have died on Everest since 1953. Most of their bodies are still there. About 3700 people have stood on the summit.

Last season, overcrowding was blamed for a high- altitude fight between groups of European climbers and Sherpas – viewed by many as a watershed moment that should force Nepal to reassess the way the mountain is managed.

Joby Ogwyn, an American who plans to leap off the top wearing a wing-suit which he will use to fly down to base camp, is among those hoping to reach the summit this year.

However, the growing trend of ‘‘stunts’’ on Everest has prompted anger from many climbers. ‘‘Bad idea. It is just going to add to the circus atmosphere on the mountain,’’ Ellen Gallant wrote on an Everest blog in response to the price cut.

Some climbers have called for Nepal to close Everest for a few years in order to allow it to recover. Nepal has refused to do so. Total costs facing climbers range from £18,000 ($NZ36,000) to £60,000 ($NZ120,000), depending on the size of their group, and quality and number of support staff and guides.

Families of climbers who die on the upper slopes pay up to £18,000 to have the bodies of their loved ones dug out and ferried down by helicopter.

Over time, many become embedded in the ice, making recovery almost impossible. All climbers have to sign a form detailing how their body will be treated if they die on Everest; choosing to either be left in situ or evacuated.