author, mountaineering writer – books, blog, opinion
Tourism in Nepal has been hit hard by the earthquakes and border blockade, and tourist numbers have declined significantly. Against this backdrop, Nepal’s government continues to make announcements which damage its reputation as a tourist destination.
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The Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) has recently lost a significant part of its annual income. In this week’s post I look at the NMA’s work to see what programmes will be affected and what this change is likely to mean for mountain tourism in Nepal.
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With earthquakes, fuel strikes and vacuous announcements about Everest dominating the news agenda, an obscure but significant rule change affecting Nepal’s trekking peaks has largely gone unnoticed.
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Budget climbing on its way out, cried a headline in the Himalayan Times. Nepal has often been seen as a cheap destination for mountaineering, but this perception is changing. I look at the reasons, examine whether it’s true and make some predictions.
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There have been some strange names given to mountains over the years, often for very obscure reasons. Recently the Nepal Mountaineering Association has been applying more modern names, and has just given two peaks onomatopoeic titles that resemble the sound of somebody throwing up.
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In April government officials flew into Everest Base Camp to meet with Sherpas who had issued demands after a fatal avalanche. Afterwards they issued a press release about the meeting that was misleading in a number of ways. Here is my account of the events I witnessed that day.
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The International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) is considering a request from Nepal to reclassify five peaks within the country, and another in Pakistan, as 8000m peaks. But are they worthy of the name, and is there any point? Let’s have a look at the peaks in question.
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The government of Nepal is to set up an integrated service centre at Everest Base Camp to regulate mountaineering activities, the BBC reported last week. But is this necessary, practical or even true? Let’s delve into the story in more detail.
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I was thinking about this question last week, when a friend emailed me after returning from an expedition to Island Peak in Nepal to say he hadn’t been able to reach the summit because a section of ice climbing on
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