China to curtail Mt Everest climbers from Tibet side this year

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A file picture of mountaineers approaching the final climb before the peak of Everest. (Photo courtesy: AFP)

(TibetanReview.net, Jan22’19) – China has announced Jan 21 that it will cut the number of climbers permitted to attempt to scale Mount Everest from the north by a third this year as part of plans for a major cleanup on the world’s highest peak, reported the AP Jan 21, citing China’s official media. This was stated to mean limiting the number of climbers to less than 300 this year.

The cleanup efforts were stated to include the recovery of the bodies of climbers who died at more than 8,000 metres (26,246 feet) up the mountain.

Mr Everest (Jomolangma in Tibetan and Sagarmata in Nepali) tops at the border between Tibet and Nepal. The report said that each year about 60,000 climbers and guides visit the Tibetan side of the mountain.

The report noted that Mt Everest claims multiple victims each year, often in the “death zone” above 8,000 metres (26,246 feet), where the air is too thin to sustain human life.

A total of 648 people summitted the Everest, including 202 from the Tibetan side, in 2017, the report noted, citing the nonprofit Himalayan Database. It said six people were confirmed to have died on the mountain that year, one of them on the north side.

Apart from mining, tourism, and Tibetan Medicine, mountaineering is a major source of revenue in Tibet for the Chinese government.

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