Safety a high priority in the mountains

Concerned stakeholders have agreed to conduct all climbing activities in spring of this year by giving high priority to the safety of the mountaineers and all the workers in the field of mountaineering.

The agreement was reached at a meeting of the Mountaineering Monitoring and Facilitation Committee held at the base camp of the world's highest peak, Mount Everest, today. The meeting was attended by representatives of all the agencies that reached the base camp for the ascent.

 The participants in the meeting agreed that the rules related to mountaineering in the mountains should be fully complied with, the climbers should go on foot and return on foot, and other activities should not be allowed in the mountains.

Likewise, the meeting also emphasized on giving high priority to the Clean Mountain Campaign, organizing garbage collection and living up to the motto: "I will clean up the garbage in a meaningful way".

The officials of the agencies at the Everest base camp were invited to participate in the meeting. Similarly, the liaison officers who reached the base camp were present.

Teams going to Mount Everest, Lhotse and Nupse are at the Everest Base Camp.

Director of the Mountaineering Section of the Tourism Department Shurya Prasad Upadhyaya informed that a meeting of the facilitation committee will also be held in Kathmandu.

At present, climbers from 74 different countries will be climbing 25 different mountains of Nepal. A total of 113 teams are involved. According to the Ministry of Tourism, there are 918 climbers in the teams overall, including 718 men and 200 women. Most of those climbers are Americans - 136 in number.

This season, climbers from 58 different countries will be climbing the world's highest peak, Mount Everest. A total of 316 people, including 243 men and 73 women, will be climbing Mt. Everest.