KATHMANDU, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Mountaineers will have to use licensed mountaineering guides to climb the Himalayan Mountains from Nepal's side after the Nepali government decided early this week to issue such a license.
It is the first time that the Nepali government is preparing to issue licenses to mountaineering guides. To date, based on the recommendation of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, an institution comprising several stakeholders in the mountaineering sector, the Nepali government has been allowing the guides to travel with the mountaineers.
"We are issuing the licenses to the mountaineering guides for the first time," Meera Acharya, undersecretary at Nepal's Department of Tourism, which issues mountaineering permits, told Xinhua on Friday. "The licensed guides will be responsible for helping the mountaineers to climb the country's mountains."
She said that a notice will be issued regarding the criteria to obtain a license in the next few days. "The policy will be implemented right after the notice is issued," she said.
According to Ang Tshering Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, there are over 8,000 mountaineering guides in Nepal.
After receiving names of potential mountaineering guides from expedition agencies, the association recommends the names to the Nepali government for approval to work as guides for expeditions. Most of the mountaineering guides are from Nepal's Sherpa community, which is world-famous for mountain climbing.
Mingma Sherpa, the chairperson of Seven Summit Treks, one of the leading mountaineering expedition companies in Nepal, said that the Nepali government needs to issue different categories of licenses based on the experiences and expertise of the climbing guides.
"Issuing the same licenses to all the mountaineering guides would not be practical as a guide who has climbed Mt. Qomolangma several times and one who has not climbed any tall mountains, could not be compared," he said.
According to Nepal's Department of Tourism, it issued permits to 2,166 climbers to summit mountains in Nepal in 2019, and 985 had succeeded in climbing them successfully. Mt. Qomolangma is a shared treasure between Nepal and China. Enditem
