Mt Everest is always open for expedition: DoT

The Department of Tourism (DoT) has said that Mount Everest (8,848m) will always be open for expeditions.

Since there have been rumours doing rounds on social media about Mt Everest being closed for expeditions for a certain period of time, the tourism department issued a statement on Monday stating that those messages were baseless and that Mt Everest would not be closed for expeditions.

The statement further mentions that along with Mt Everest, none of the other 414 mountains that are open for expeditions will be closed in the next season or for any short-term period for any reason whatsoever.

It also mentions that a committee has been formed to collect recommendations from concerned stakeholders to sort out issues related to Mt Everest.

“At a time when we have formed a committee to sort out issues regarding Mt Everest, it is not appropriate to spread a rumour about closure of the mountain,” said Meera Acharya, director of Mountaineering Department of DoT. Such rumours will have a negative impact on the mountaineering sector of the country, she added.

Several voices have been raised on social media to clean up Mt Everest and also to give it rest for some time.

“The spring season of 2019 has recently concluded with record number of expeditions.

Amidst this, several issues have been raised related to Mt Everest that we are trying to sort out,” Acharya said.

“We are putting our effort to make this industry more managed and secure.”

Considering the rumours that have spread, DoT recently forwarded letters to various stakeholders, including Nepal Mountaineering Association and Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal seeking their suggestions, she informed.

Soon after the spring season ended, the DoT along with other stakeholders had conducted Mt Everest cleaning campaign.

This spring season, the DoT had issued expedition permits to a total of 381 climbers for Mt Everest.

Among them, 14 were for Nepalis. The DoT this spring season collected expedition royalty worth Rs 442 million from Everest climbers.