Kathmandu [Nepal], February 5 : Nepal has officially banned solo expeditions to all mountains above 8,000 meters, including Mount Everest, by amending its mountaineering regulations, according to the government publication, Nepal Gazette.
The Sixth amendment of the mountaineering regulation was released late on Tuesday evening after which climbers were banned from solo expedition in all the 8000ers peaks.
As per the new regulations, every two members of a mountaineering team must be accompanied by at least one altitude worker or mountain guide. This rule applies to all mountains above 8,000 meters, including Mount Everest.
"When climbing a mountain peak with an altitude of more than eight thousand meters, every two members of the mountaineering team must be accompanied by at least one altitude worker or mountain guide, and when climbing other mountains, the mountaineering team must take at least one mountain guide with them," the lately introduced provision states.
This new provision now is applicable for all the mountains above 8000 meters including the Highest Peak- Mount Everest.
With new regulation in effect, solo climbing era on the peaks has formally ended with government determined to not let anyone regardless their experience to go solo to the mountain. This now will be applicable for alpine-style or the expedition-style climbers as well.
The lately adopted changes also has formally publicized the hike in royalty fee for the foreign climbers attempting to summit Mount Everest from the standard south route in spring to 15000 USD per person.
The spring season expedition which sees high influx of climbers in the Himalayan Nation from the month of March to May previously used to be 11,000 USD. The new regulation also has increased the climbing royalty for the autumn season, running from September to November to 7,500 USD from existing 5,500 USD.
Similarly, the Winter expedition which runs from December to February and monsoon from June to August also has been revised to 3,750 USD from existing 2,750 USD.
The updated provision also has incorporated the revised fees for other 8000ers. The royalty of spring expedition has increased by nearly two folds from 1800 to 3000 USD. The autumn fee now stands at 1500 USD from existing 900 USD while the winter and monsoon expedition has become dearer as it has been revised from 450 USD to 750 USD.
In regards to Nepali climbers, the royalty for normal route in spring season has doubled from Nrs. 75,000 to 150,000. Nepal in the year 2015 had revised the royalty fee by switching from a group-based system to a uniform fee of USD 11,000 per climber for Everest's spring season via the normal route.
In regards to the slew changes that the Himalayan Nation has adopted lately, the family members of the climbers, guides and high-altitude base camp workers are also banned from the base camp. In case of prior approval from the tourism department, the family members can be exempted for a stay at the base camp not exceeding two days, the new regulation states.
In addition, the new regulatory measures also have assigned the high-altitude guides to "self-declare" their clients successful summit of the peak. To prove the successful summit, the expedition organizers and liaison officers has been mandated to submit original photo showing the climber's face clearly.
In order to establish the authenticity of the successful summit, the photo must bear mountain ranges in the background, which is the new eligibility criteria to receive an Everest Climb certificate.
Apart from the climbers the revised regulatory provision has increased daily allowance for liaison officers, daily wages of high-altitude guides, and base camp workers paid by climbers. Liaison officers' daily wages have increased from Rs500 to Rs1,600. Sirdars (lead Sherpas) will now receive Rs1,500 daily, up from Rs500.
In a similar vein, high-altitude guides' wages have jumped from Rs 350 to Rs 1,200 per day. Base camp workers' daily wages have increased from Rs300 to Rs1,000.
In an attempt to curb pollution in high mountains, the climbers from this year's spring mandatorily have to bring their waste, including human waste, back to base camp for proper disposal. Climbers are required to carry biodegradable bags for waste collection in the upper reaches.
Nearly 8,900 people have summited the world's highest peak from Nepal's side since 1953.
The new provisions would come into effect from 1st of September this year with the start in the spring expedition.
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