Nepal urged to tighten climbing rules to cut Everest deaths

KATHMANDU – Weak climbers being led up Mount Everest by expedition operators with insufficient experience are causing problems, a veteran mountain guide said on Sunday, after

one of the deadliest climbing seasons in years

on the world’s highest mountain.

At least

12 climbers died and five are missing

and feared dead on the 8,849m Mount Everest during this year’s main climbing season that has just ended, the deadliest since an earthquake triggered an

avalanche that killed 18 people in 2015

.

“Weakest clients with less experienced operators is part of the problem,” Mr Guy Cotter, 69, a noted guide from New Zealand who has climbed Everest five times, said in Nepali capital Kathmandu.

“Clients should have minimum climbing standards with proven prior ascents before coming to Everest,” he added.

Three sherpa climbers were killed when ice came crashing down on them on the lower reaches of the mountain in April and the rest of those who died succumbed to illness or exhaustion, government and hiking officials said.

Nepal does regulate the climbing of Everest and its other Himalayan peaks, insisting that

everyone gets a permit

, for example. But Mr Cotter said the operators who guide clients up the mountain should meet minimum standards of equipment and staff.

“There are many operators who take clients to Everest but do not understand how to avoid incidents occurring and when things do go wrong, they do not have processes in place to address the problems,” he noted.

Mr Bigyan Koirala, an official with the Department of Tourism that oversees climbing, said the government is considering more regulations but did not give details.

Nepal issued

a record 478 permits for Everest

this year, and hundreds of people made it to the summit. REUTERS