Nepal has banned solo climbers from scaling its mountains, including Mount Everest, in a bid to reduce accidents.<\/p>\n
The new safety regulations also prohibit double amputee and blind climbers from attempting to reach the summit of the world’s highest peak without a valid medical certificate.<\/p>\n
A tourism official said the law had been revised to make mountaineering safer and to decrease deaths.<\/p>\n
A record number of climbers have tried to climb Everest this year.<\/p>\n
But among the record-breaking attempts, there has been the familiar tally of casualties.<\/p>\n
The death toll so far this season stands at six, including 85-year-old\u00a0Min Bahadur Sherchan, who died attempting to reclaim his title\u00a0as the world’s oldest person to reach the top.<\/p>\n
World-renowned Swiss climber Ueli Steck, who was known as\u00a0the “Swiss Machine”, also died during a solo climb to a peak neighbouring Everest.<\/p>\n
Under the new regulations, foreign climbers will have to be accompanied by a guide. The authorities hope this new rule will create more job opportunities for Nepali mountain guides.<\/p>\n
The government’s decision to ban double amputees and visually impaired climbers was criticised by some, but was later clarified to prohibit only those without medical dispensation.<\/p>\n
In a Facebook post, aspiring Everest climber Hari Budha Magar, who lost both his legs when he was deployed in Afghanistan, said the move was “discriminatory” and an “injustice”.<\/p>\n
“I will be climbing Mt. Everest whatever the cabinet decides. Nothing Is Impossible,” he said.<\/p>\n
More than 200 people have died on Everest since 1920, with the vast majority of those deaths taking place since 1980.<\/p>\n
Mountaineers on Everest die for a number of reasons – more than 20% are killed by exposure or acute mountain sickness.<\/p>\n
According to statistics given to the BBC by the Himalaya Database in 2015, by far the highest number of people who died did so because of avalanches (29%), with falls being the next largest cause of death (23%).<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nepal has banned solo climbers from scaling its mountains, including Mount Everest, in a bid to reduce accidents. The new safety regulations also prohibit double amputee and blind climbers from attempting to reach the summit of the world’s highest peak without a valid medical certificate. A tourism official said the law had been revised to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":387478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[15752,15754,15753],"yoast_head":"\n