Spring Climbing Season: 198 receive permits to climb 29 peaks

KATHMANDU: The spring climbing season has begun in Nepal, with the Department of Tourism (DoT) issuing climbing permits for 29 peaks.

According to the DoT, 77 climbers from seven expedition teams, including 17 women, have received permits to scale Everest – the world’s highest mountain.

A total of 198 climbers have received permits to climb different peaks — 66 climbers from six expedition teams for Annapurna I, eight climbers from one expedition for Annapurna V, 15 climbers from one expedition for Makalu, and 15 from one expedition team to Lhotse.

The spring season, which begins in March and continues through May, is considered the most favorable time for mountaineering in the Himalayas due to stable weather and milder temperatures. Last year, the government issued permits to 421 climbers for Everest alone. The total number of climbers across all peaks exceeded 900 last year, according to the DoT.

Meanwhile, route opening works on the Khumbu glacier are currently underway on Mt Everest. So far, four ladders have been installed, and 12 anchors have been fixed in the treacherous Khumbu Icefall. “We need to establish a route stretching 2,200 meters from Base Camp to Camp II,” Liladhar Awasthi, a director at DoT, told the RSS news agency.  “As of now, 1,100 meters of the route have been completed.”

The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) has deployed a 10-member team of Icefall Doctors – seasoned mountaineers who open routes on Himalayan peaks – to open a safe path through the treacherous Khumbu Icefall known for its shifting ice and deep crevasses.

Once these icefall doctors open the route to Camp II, a rope-fixing team of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal (EOAN) will start rope fixing works. EOAN has awarded the contract to fix ropes to the 8K Expedition.