SA woman’s Everest bid off
THE expedition to get the first black South African woman to summit Mount Everest has been cancelled.
Climber Saray Khumalo, who is at an Everest base camp, said on Facebook yesterday: “It was not meant to be this year for us but I have definitely enjoyed the journey until now.”
Khumalo, who wanted to be the first black woman to reach the peak of Everest, said it was not safe to continue the expedition .
Thirteen Sherpa guides were killed by an avalanche last week. They were on the mountain preparing ropes for the climbing season. Three other men are still missing.
Sherpas, who guide climbers and carry their packs up the world’s highest mountain, have demanded better pay and much higher insurance payouts if they are disabled or killed on Everest.
Khumalo wrote: “Yesterday the minister of tourism and mountaineering bodies came to talk to the people on the mountain.
“The Sherpas presented their demands and at the end threatened to stone the minister if he did not sign their petition.
“Our expedition has officially been cancelled but we have been given an extension for our permit for five years.”
Khumalo said she and fellow South African mountaineer Sibusiso Vilane were undecided about whether to return home or climb another mountain in Nepal.
“We are well acclimatised and think it might be best for us to try another mountain,” she said.
Vilane got to the summit of Everest in 2003.