The ban on inexperienced climbers attempting Everest came four days after the film opened in cinemas worldwide. What a coincidence. Or perhaps not, writes Suman Ghosh.
The Nepalese government is to limit access to Mount Everest to experienced climbers only.
The inexperienced, old, infirm and those considered too young will be prevented from attempting to scale what still remains the ultimate mountaineering achievement, 63 years after the first successful human ascent by Tenzing and Hillary in May 1953.
The announcement came four days after the disaster film Everest was released in theatres across the world.
If this is a coincidence, then it is certainly a curious one. Future research may or may not uncover direct correlations, but the Nepal government’s announcement voices concerns similar to some of the key themes in the film, which is based on the 1996 Mount Everest disaster in which eight climbers died in a single day.
Chief among these themes is the issue of “overcrowding”, caused allegedly by “amateur” climbers like the Texan millionaire Beck Weathers played by Joe Brolin in the film. His story is narrated as being “typical” of the dangers faced by relatively inexperienced climbers in their search of adventure and glory by paying large sums of money to a tour company.
As Mohan Krishna Sapkota, the joint secretary of Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism, clarified: “The glory of Everest climbing — is a matter of adventure and competence, not a matter of luxury.”
See full report in Mail & Guardian
