This spring, coronavirus leaves Mount Everest out of bounds for mountaineers

KOLKATA: Expedition dreams of scores of mountaineers from Bengal and other parts of India have come to a grinding halt after Nepal government suspended all permits for missions to Mount Everest and other peaks for this season in the wake of the worldwide nCoV outbreak.

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In a notification issued on Friday afternoon, the mountaineering section of Nepal’s tourism department stated: “This is to notify that climbing permits for expeditions that have already been issued or to be issued for the Spring Season 2020 have been halted at present.”

The decision, first in recent memory, left mountaineers like school teacher Rumpa Das in a fix, who had been saving for the last two years and had taken a personal loan of Rs 10 lakh, along with training herself rigorously, to leave for the expedition in three weeks.

“It’s like there has been a sudden halt in everything I have done over the years. I still can’t believe it. But there is nothing we can do in situations like these where global safety is the priority. But I will not back down and would continue to train myself harder to either leave for the expedition on August this year or during this time next year,” said Das, who teaches English at a Krishnagore school.

Veteran Everester Debashis Biswas, too, had planned an expedition next month to celebrate 10 years of his first feat and this time, he had planned to climb from the China end of the mountain. “Since last month, climbers had started opting out of the expedition on account of worldwide regulations on coronavirus. I was mentally preparing myself for the worst and on Thursday night, I was informed that my permit was officially cancelled,” said Biswas, who now plans to climb the Shishapangma mountain in China some time between August and October if the situation becomes better by that time.

Mount Everest lies on the border between Nepal and China-controlled Tibet. On Thursday, the Chinese government had announced that no expeditions would be allowed to run on the Tibet side.

According to climbers, this year will be the quietest on the mountain since 2015, when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake had struck the region just as climbers were settling down at Base Camp. But this year, the climbers have been stopped even before setting foot, the first time since 1974. Nepal’s economy depends heavily on the tourism industry. According to an estimate, Everest permits earn the government around $4 million each year.

“The cancellation will have a huge impact on the tourism industry in Nepal. It is a testing time for us. Sherpas and other people involved with this industry wait for the entire year for these two months and if there is no expedition, their entire family income is at stake. Even if the government allows permits post May, we can conduct some short expeditions and treks but an Everest expedition is not possible this year,” said Keshab Paudyal, the director of Peak Promotional Hiking agency in Nepal.


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