To limit traffic jams on the roof of the world, as the spring ascent season begins, the Supreme Court of Nepal ordered the government to limit the number of permits issued for climbing Everest and other Himalayan peaks. “She ordered to limit the number of mountaineers” on the world’s highest mountain, which rises to an altitude of 8,850 meters, said Deepak Bikram Mishra, a lawyer who had filed a petition in this regard.
Nepal currently grants permits to anyone who wants to climb Everest and is willing to pay $11,000 (a little over 10,200 euros). Four hundred and seventy-eight were granted last year, a record. The carrying capacity of mountainous areas “must be respected” and an adequate maximum number of permits must be determined, ruled the Supreme Court, according to a summary of its decision which does not provide any figures on this subject. The decision by Nepal’s highest court was handed down at the end of April, but the summary was only made public this week.
Deepak Bikram Mishra explained to Agence France-Fresse that the Court had thus responded to the population’s concerns regarding the protection of nature in Nepal, which is home to eight of the ten highest peaks on the planet. In addition to limiting the number of mountaineers, she recommended “measures for waste management and environmental preservation” in mountainous areas, the lawyer stressed. “We are putting too much pressure on the mountain and we need to give it a little breathing space”estimated Deepak Bikram Mishra.
Traffic jams at the top
Every spring, when temperatures are milder and winds generally weak, Nepal welcomes hundreds of people in search of adventure to its mountains.
A massive human traffic jam in 2019 forced expedition members to wait for hours on Everest in freezing temperatures. At least four of the eleven deaths recorded that year were attributable to overcrowding.