Deaths on Everest are inevitable, but more can be done

In 2012, the Swiss scaled Everest without oxygen. In 2015, he climbed all 82 Alpine peaks over 4,000 meters in 62 days. But he perished on Everest, the first casualty on the world’s highest mountain in 2017.
It has reignited the age-old debate about great adventures: how do we strike a fine balance between the eternal human quest for newer frontiers and personal safety? Yet again, we are reminded that challenging the limits of human endurance can have unpredictable and dangerous consequences, and climbing Everest has its pitfalls. This was a solo climb – even more dangerous since the mountaineer is all alone to negotiate the elements.
This year, again, Nepal’s Department of Tourism has collected royalties worth millions from climbing permits to 796 mountaineers attempting to scale different mountains. 
For Everest alone, the government has issued permits to 367 mountaineers. Add to this the number of high altitude Nepali workers accompanying the climbers, and you get the scale of the footfall on the slopes of the mighty mountain
And while the swell in numbers is an indicator of the dramatic turnaround that the tourism sector and mountaineering has experienced since the twin disasters of the earthquakes and the crippling transit embargo in 2015 and 2016, there are considerable threats accompanying such extreme feats. In 2014, an avalanche above the Everest base camp killed 16 Sherpa guides. In 2015, 19 climbers died and 61 were injured by an avalanche triggered by the earthquake.
Over 4,000 climbers have summited Everest since Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary’s historic ascent in May 1953. But more than 300 have died making the attempt. While mountain sickness, snow blindness, frost bite, oxygen deficiency and freak weather conditions present obvious dangers, the rising number of climbers aspiring to climb Everest is another concern.
Mountaineering officials realise that the large number of climbers could lead to long queues in the mountain’s “Death Zone”. Without proper coordination and appropriate safety measures, the number of casualties could go up. Pushing one’s limits may be an eternal human desire, but there are times when certain pursuits have to be curbed. It was for this reason that the Nepal Mountaineering Expedition Regulations were introduced under the Tourism Act. In effect since 1978, these regulations were most recently amended in 2002. In 2016, the Department of Tourism released an amended draft of the regulations which, among other propositions, seeks to ban the blind, double amputees, inexperienced climbers, solo climbers, and people over the age of 75 from climbing Everest.
Though concerns about human rights and ageism may arise as a result of prohibiting the physically challenged and the elderly from attempting to summit Everest, barring inexperienced and solo climbers is a good initiative to reduce casualties. But these new regulations still need to be enforced, both by a legal amendment to the regulations as well as in practice.
Nepal’s great Himalaya will continue to be a Mecca for mountaineers, and hardened pros and amateurs will continue to test the limits of human endurance. But it is our responsibility to ensure their safety.