Everest: Providers Under Criticism

Never before have there been as many climbers climbing Mount Everest as this year. Nepal has issued more than 450 permits to climb the world’s highest mountain, the responsible tourism ministry in the capital, Kathmandu, announced in April.

With 17 known deaths, this year’s season was one of the deadliest since the first ascent 70 years ago. On May 25, five climbers are believed to have died in a single day. A Malaysian trekker was rescued by militants A video Shown a few days ago. A Sherpa carried a critically injured man on his back for nearly six hours in the death zone of Mount Everest and brought him to safety.

“A combination of carelessness and inexperience”

While in the deadliest season up to 2015, all deaths were linked to the devastating earthquake in the Himalayas, this year there have been mostly isolated cases. Most causes of death are high-altitude cerebral edema, i.e. brain swelling, illness and falls. Since 1992, there have been an average of 4.4 deaths per year on Mount Everest.

A number of individual cases have drawn harsh criticism from the mountaineering scene. “Some of these deaths are due to force majeure, but not all. Most people died due to carelessness and inexperience,” photographer Elia Saikali told Explorers Web. Officials blame climate change, but that’s nonsense, Saikali said.

“Some providers are killing their customers on this mountain,” says Saikali. “These providers should be brought to justice, but they always get away with it. They only blame their customers.

Inexperienced providers make the situation worse

New Zealand mountaineer Guy Cotter says there are too many inexperienced climbers on Mount Everest. Additionally, some providers have only been operating on Mount Everest for a few years and are inexperienced. Inexperienced hikers will encounter inexperienced providers. He points out that despite improved infrastructure, Mount Everest remains a very dangerous mountain. But many people don’t know about it.

Nepalese mountaineer Lakpa Sherpa 8K Expeditions admits his team will have to do more rescues than usual this year. “This year the number of climbers without the necessary experience has increased,” Lakpa Sherpa said.