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Everest Sherpas divided over call to halt climbs after fatal avalanche Everest Sherpas divided over call to halt climbs after fatal avalanche
(about 3 hours later)
Everest expeditions could be curtailed or limited this year as several Sherpa guides openly call for a moratorium on climbs as a mark of respect for those killed in last week's avalanche, the deadliest accident on the mountain. The Nepalese government is considering cancelling all expeditions to the summit of Mount Everest for the rest of the year as rescuers abandoned their search for three Sherpas believed to be among 16 people killed in an avalanche on Friday.
Sherpas are divided over what action to take following Friday's avalanche that killed at least 13 of their number. "I would feel better if all the expeditions for this year are cancelled," one guide, Jyagba Sherpa, told Reuters. "It would be in respect for them. If all the climbing Sherpas were to do this, it would solve the problem. Plus the Nepal government should try to convince the expedition team and trekking teams as well." The avalanche has raised concerns in Nepal about the scale of the climbing business and the dangers to the Sherpa guides. This year, 334 climbers from around the world were given permits, costing $10,000 (£5,958) each, to climb Everest. Filming permits and other fees bring in more money to the government in Kathmandu. If the expeditions are cancelled the government will have to refund the fees.
Bhim Paudel, of Himalayan Guides, a company that provides local logistics to foreign climbers and that lost six Sherpas in the avalanche, said not all the guides agreed. "[Some] feel that Everest should be given rest this year while others want to continue. No decision has been taken yet," Paudel said. "This is an unprecedented situation," the tourism ministry spokesman Madhu Sudan Burlakoti told journalists. "We do not know what to do if they want their tax back. We will hold further discussions before deciding anything on this issue."
Some Sherpas oppose closing Everest this season because the expeditions are their main livelihood, helping them make up to $5,000 a year in a country with an average annual income of $700. The government, for which expeditions are a main source of income, said it was up to the Sherpas to decide. Sherpas have also been angered by the government offering families of the victims $400 (£238) which will only cover funeral costs.
"We have issued climbing permits. So we can't ask anyone not to climb. Likewise we cannot force anyone to climb," said Tilakram Pandey, a tourism ministry official. The government has issued 734 permits to climbers, including 400 guides, this year. Expedition leaders, politicians and leading Sherpas have agreed to lobby the government to improve compensation for guides. Sherpas feel they do not get a fair share of climbing royalties but are expected to take a disproportionate amount of the risk and demonstrations are planned before the funerals take place this week.
The disaster underscores the huge risks borne by local guides who ascend the icy slopes, often in pitch-dark and usually weighed down by tents, ropes and food for their foreign clients, who pay tens of thousands of dollars to climb Everest. Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summits Treks warned that there would be no Sherpa involvement in mountaineering in the future if their social security concerns were ignored. "Sherpas are the backbone of Mount Everest expeditions but the government neglects them," he told the Himalayan Times. "We the Sherpas strongly urge the government to immediately act to support the families of deceased Sherpas. A permanent mechanism at government level is required."
"The mountains are a death trap," said Norbu Tshering, a 50-year-old Sherpa and mountain guide who now lives mostly in Kathmandu. "But we have no other work," he told AP, "and most of our people take up this profession, which has now become a tradition for all of us." Sherpas are an ethnic group in Nepal and have helped foreigners climb the country's towering peaks since before Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Sir Edmund Hilary became the first to reach the top in 1953.
Some Sherpas who had passed the point where the avalanche hit remain stranded above the collapsed icefall, waiting until a new trail can be dug and new ropes fixed, said Ang Tshering, of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. It was unclear how long that would take, but Tshering said the group had tents and enough food to last for days. The high numbers of climbers has led to tensions on the slopes. Following an attack on three European climbers last year, the tourism ministry established a government post with liaison officers and security personnel to keep the peace.
Climbing has been halted amid a search operation to locate bodies buried under snow, but the operation was suspended Sunday afternoon due to bad weather and it was unclear whether it would resume on Monday. Sherpa anger at their exploitation, particularly among the young, is straining relationships with foreign commercial expedition leaders. Among those killed on Friday was Dorje Khatri, a campaigner for Sherpa rights who had previously carried the flag of a porter's union to the summit.
More than 4,000 climbers have reached the top of Everest since 1953. In that time, 300 people, most of them local guides, have died on the mountain. The previous worst incident was in 1996 when eight people were killed during a storm. With the working conditions of high-altitude workers in the forefront of the public's mind, organisations representing them have been quick to add to the pressure on the government.
This year Nepal began stationing officials and medical personnel at Everest's base camp to better monitor the flow of climbers and speed up rescue operations during the March-May climbing season. In addition to the $400 offered by the government, the families of Sherpa guides killed will receive $10,000 from mandatory insurance policies. Those working as cooks and other staff will get $5,000.
Ben Ayers, the Nepal country director for the dZi Foundation and a longtime advocate for trekking porters' rights, said that fees should be increased to ensure Sherpas are properly insured: "If the lives of Sherpas were insured at a comparable rate to foreign climbers, that might change the way people think about the risks they face on the mountain. That would be a start. It would increase the cost of climbing Everest by a few hundred dollars but so what? If that meant fewer people on the mountain that would be a good thing, too."