SOLUKHUMBHU, April 20: The Department of Tourism (DoT) has issued the highest number of permits for mountaineering expeditions to the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, this season.
The DoT has issued permits to 365 members of 39 different expedition groups as of last Tuesday.
As April and May are the times when the weather condition is often at its best for expedition, more and more climbers are arriving at the DoT to obtain the permit to scale the 8,848- metre mountain, according to Information Officer at the DoT, Durga Dutta Dhakal.
“This is the highest number of climbing permit issued for the Everest Expedition since the first successful ascent of the Everest in 1953,” shared Information Officer Dhakal, adding that a total of 289 climbers from 34 groups had obtained permit in the same season last year.
Dhakal estimates that the number of climbers could surpass 365 as the permit could be obtained by the last of April.
Of those obtaining permit from the DoT, 294 from 31 groups were already on their way to the Everest base camp after receiving another permit from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) in Namche, the gateway to Mt Everest.
While most of the climbers opt for flight from Kathmandu to Lukla and trek from there to the Everest base camp, some adventurous enthusiasts tend to tread the traditional route- Jiri –Salleri-Everest base camp- chosen by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, the first humans to set their foot atop the Mt Everest.
With the increase in number of climbers, the world’s tallest peak is likely to witness traffic jam. To ease the congestion, the Nepal Mountaineering Association President Ang Tshering Sherpa assures that Association is working towards effective crowd management on Mt Everest.
He pledged, “We have paid special attention to the management side considering the greater number of the Everest climbers.” RSS