The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Everest crackdown spells end to base camp luxury
THE days may be numbered for the giant dome tents, massage parlours, yoga areas and en-suite toilets at Everest Base Camp as Nepalese authorities vow to crack down on the sprawling luxury setups that are clogging up the site.
Wealthy climbers have been able to enjoy increasingly lavish facilities at Base Camp, paying tens of thousands of pounds for expeditions that promise large tents equipped with comfortable beds, armchairs and even flat-screen televisions. Mountaineering companies have competed to offer their wellheeled clients ever more luxurious facilities.
It is a far cry from when Everest was first climbed by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953, with the wiry New Zealander lamenting that “when you’re climbing at high altitudes, life can get pretty miserable”.
Nepalese officials said the whole thing has got out of hand and have drawn up new rules which will crack down on the more luxurious end of the mountaineering market, and are particularly focusing on the size of tents that are permitted.
The regulations have been drawn up by local people from the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu municipality, which has jurisdiction over Everest Base Camp and many other camps in the region.
They want to limit the size of tents that are permitted, in particular the huge communal dining tents and toilets attached to individual tents.
The number of tents that expedition companies can erect will also be reduced to try to shrink the size of Base Camp, a huge settlement which sprawls across rock, snow and ice.
Dawa Steven Sherpa, a British-educated sherpa, environmental activist and expedition leader, told the adventure website ExplorersWeb: “I share the locals’ concern for the future of the Everest region. [They] are trying to rein in the extravagance at base camp.”
Locals also want to curb the use of helicopters to fly in supplies and climbers, not just to Base Camp but to Camps 2 and 3, which lead up to the 29,032ft (8,848m) high summit of Everest.
Under the new rules, helicopters will only be allowed for rescues of stricken climbers and the emergency evacuation of those suffering from altitude sickness or injury. Officials hope that by restricting flights, expeditions will have to revert to the old method of humping supplies up into the mountains: yaks.