“We are extremely pleased to make a joint announcement (with China) of the new height of Mt. Everest, that is 8,848.86 meters,” said Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali during a live press conference organized at the Department of Survey.

“China-Nepal relationship would strengthen further in the days to come,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during the conference.

Department of Survey Team

The new announcement has put an end to all the speculations by geologists that the height of the world’s tallest mountain has changed due to possible shifts in the tectonic plates during the 2015 earthquake.

This is the first time Nepal has measured the height of Mt. Everest on its own. The Survey Department used the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology to measure the height. The department started re-measuring the tallest peak in 2017. The team scaled the mountain on May 22, 2019, and installed the GPS equipment and ground-penetrating radar at the peak. The spending on measuring the mountain stood at NPR 130 million.

Nepal and China announced the new height of Mt. Everest NEW HEIGHT: 8848.86M

Likewise, China measured Mt. Everest from the northern side in 2019.

For the joint announcement of the new height, the Nepali and Chinese Governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2019.

Mt. Everest’s height (8,848 m) was last calculated in 1954 by the Survey of India using the trigonometry method.

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According to the Department, the fieldwork was completed and the task of data processing is in the final stage.

The Nepali Government has planned to organize an international seminar to announce the height of Everest. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a spanner in the plans.

Now, the government is planning to announce the new findings in a few months.

ALSO READ: Nepal Sets ‘Guinness Record’ for Highest Altitude Fashion Show

Before initiating the measurement of the third pole in December 2017, the Department had collected suggestions from the experts of various countries including China, India, the USA, Bangladesh, New Zealand, and the UK.

The current official height of Mount Everest is 8,848 meters. An Indian Survey established this measurement in 1955.

ALSO READ: Mount Everest Records 200 Climbers in 24 Hours!

However, Nepal has decided to measure the height of the Mt. Everest with its resources to determine if the April 2015 earthquake affected the height of the mountain.

Meanwhile, China has also started measuring Everest from the northern slopes.

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After the 2019 season, the Nepali Government announced robust safety rules intended to address the deadly human traffic on Mount Everest.

Some of the proposed rules include

• The climbers should have climbed mountains higher than 21,300 feet
• The tourism companies should have at least 3 years of experience in organizing high-altitude expeditions
• The clients of expedition companies should pay at least USD 35,000 for the expedition

However, the Nepali Government has announced that the new rules will not be implemented in the upcoming 2020 climbing season from April to May.

Despite the growing pressure from the global countries to tighten regulations on Everest, the Nepali Government claims that the rules need further review before implementation.

“The rules, which were introduced last August, had yet to receive approvals from several government offices, including the defense, law, finance and forest ministries,” said Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, Secretary of the Nepal Tourism Ministry.

Moreover, the new rules may limit the climbing permits, which costs USD 11,000 per person, and impede the crucial revenue for Nepal.

So, Nepal’s financial desperation was another major factor that delayed the approval of new regulations.

On the other hand, the coronavirus outbreak has further added complications to the upcoming Everest climbing season.

The Nepali Government has already suspended visa-on-arrival for citizens from France, Germany, Spain, China, South Korea, Japan, Iran and Italy.

Moreover, the country has already witnessed a drastic drop in foreign tourist arrivals due to the growing fears of deadly contagion.

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According to Spanish ultra-runner Kilian Jornet, he left his climb to the summit of Mt. Everest midway after he reached the final point on South Col at 8,400 m. Jornet and his team members had planned to scale Mount Lhotse as well.

“All climbers today gave up their attempts to climb Mt Everest and Mt Lhotse in the autumn season,” said Iswari Paudel, Managing Director at Himalayan Guides.

According to the expedition organizers, even Polish climbers such as skiing expert Andrzej Leszek Bargiel decided to leave their climb to Mount Everest halfway this autumn season.

Likewise, famous American climber Garrett Madison and fellow climbers Zac Bookman and Kristin Bennett also left their climb after a serac blocked their path to the summit of Mt Everest and Mt Lhotse this season.

Out of the 10 members who took climbing permits for the autumn expedition, three climbers including Mountain Hardwear Brand President Joe Vernachio, Polish climber Rafal Maciej Fronia, UK’s Tim Emmett abandoned their attempt to scale Mt Everest.

The post World Giants Mt Everest and Lhotse Remain Unclimbed As Popular Climbers Withdraw appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The Google doodle features Tabei scaling different mountains peaks.

Tabei became the first woman and 36^th person to reach Mount Everest’s summit. She’s also regarded as the only woman who reached mountaintops in 76 different countries.

About Junko Tabei

Junko Tabei was born in the Japanese town Miharu in the Fukushima prefecture on September 22, 1939.

Several years later, Tabei’s school trip to Mount Nasu had instilled the joy of climbing in her at a very young age.

While she was still 30 years, she created history by founding Japan’s first Ladies Climbing Club in 1969, despite the Japanese mindset that women should remain at home and clean it.

As part of her adventures, Tabei scaled Nepal’s Mountain Everest in 1975 along with 15 climbers and 6 sherpas. Despite the setback of an avalanche which buried her camp for three days, Tabei was successful in completing her climb to the world’s highest peak on May 16, 1975.

Tabei was happy about her climb, the fact that she was the 36^th person to reach the peak did not deter her climbing spirit.

“I did not intend to be the first woman on Everest,” she said.

Tabei climbed 69 major mountains across 60 countries in her lifetime. Even after being diagnosed with cancer in 2012, she continued to conquer the various world mountains.

Mountaineer Tabei passed away on October 20, 2016 at the age of 77 years.

Junko Tabei is a true inspiration to all women around the world.

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The DoT said that it was seriously concerned on the dissemination of false news, which talked about prohibiting mountaineering on the 414 mountains including Mount Everest.

Issuing a press release on July 10, 2019, DoT explained that discussions on the said issue have not even been informally discussed at the department.

The Department has asked stakeholders to not give into such false news and believe such rumors.

Furthermore, he assured that the Department will be collaborating with the stakeholders to make mountaineering well-managed and safe.

The Department also said that a committee has been formed to study issues related with mountaineering in Nepal and suggest ways of dealing with these problems with the ultimate goal of establishing systemized and safe mountaineering tourism.

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The world is watching Nepal this spring season, majorly because of the hundreds of climbers planning to climb the peak before the end of Spring 2019.

According to the Department of Tourism, a total of 75 climbers have already scaled the peak so far in this spring, while the official confirmation is still awaited.

Director at the Department of Tourism Meera Acharya informed that the expedition will resume from tonight.

Gyanendra Shrestha, the government liaison officer from the Everest Base Camp (EBC), informed that most of the climbers have already crossed Camp II.

Kami Rita Sherpa, who completed her 23^th summit to Everest, is currently on mission for the 24^th ascent.

Meanwhile, several other climbers have also ascended other peaks Makalu, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Annapurna and others.

A total of 868 people from 113 teams of 48 countries including Nepal received the permits for climbing various 28 peaks in Nepal, including the Everest, during this spring.

381 of 44 teams have submitted to climb the Everest, while 7 are domestic teams.

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This might be the case for common public, but not for the climbers!

Striking against the chilling Himalayan temperatures, a 8-member team of Nepali climbers summitted the world’s tallest Mount Everest on May 14, 2019.

Their summit marked the first-ever entry to the Mount Everest peak in this spring season.

The climbers reached the peak at around 1:45 pm, opening ways for other climbers about to visit the peak this season.

Led by Siddhi Bahadur Tamang, the team had Pasdawa Sherpa, Ang Phurba Sherpa, Dawa Nurbu Sherpa, Dorji Gyaljen Sherpa, Pasang Dawa Sherpa, Ming Dorchi Sherpa and Sangbu Bhote.

Climbers next, get ready for your turn!

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A 13-time Everest Climber Phurba Tenzing Sherpa is launching a special tourism drive by hoisting a flag atop the world’s highest peak.

The drive, set to begin this spring season, will promote the ‘Mero Gaun Mero Thau’ (My Village, My Place) campaign.

Handing over the drive flag to Sherpa, National Assembly member Komal Oli said the video challenge part of the campaign will help in promoting Nepal tourism potential and urged all the tourism community to participate.

On the occasion, Sherpa pledged to hoist the flag at the top of Mt Everest i.e. at 8,848 metre height to raise tourism awareness.

Mero Gaun, Mero Thau

We Will Rise Foundation (WWRF) launched the campaign on January 01, 2019 in coordination with the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and other organizations working for the Visit Nepal Year 2020 campaign.

The campaign aims to shed light on unexplored destinations, indigenous communities, local culture & tradition, art & craftsmanship, and other tourism-related activities through the videos submitted to WWRF.

Visit Nepal 2020 campaign coordinator Suraj Vaidya also expressed hope that the campaign would add to the government’s plans to achieve 2 million tourist arrival target through the Visit Nepal Year campaign.

Nepal Tourism Board CEO Deepak Raj Joshi, Ultra-runner Meera Rai, former national footballer Raju Kaji Shakya, artistes and mountaineers were among other key participants at the event.

The competition will last until May 31, 2019.

Showcase the Talent!

The video submissions for the campaign has the following rules:

• HD quality videos not exceeding five minutes
• Videos can be shot using smartphone or digital camera
• More than one video with different themes can be submitted
• Any individual, group or organizations can participate
• Winners will be selected from the Top-10 selected videos. First prize winner will get
  NPR 100,000 cash prize, while the second will get NPR 50,000 and NPR 25,000 to the third.
• Video that gets good social media traction (Fb and YouTube) will get the ‘Mero Gaun Mero Thau People’s Choice Award’ along with NPR 100,000 cash prize
• Videos with the best editing and best script shall receive NPR 25,000, each
• More details of the competition can be found at wwrf.org.np

What are you waiting for? Get your cameras ready to capture the best things around!

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This spring, the Nepal Tourism Department has granted climbing permits to a total of 75 expedition teams.

According to Director General Danduraj Ghimire, the Department has earned over NPR 450 million royalty from these permits so far.

The teams consisting of 667 members have taken permits for 20 mountain peaks. Out of these, 31 teams (the highest) with 339 members will be scaling Mount Everest- the world’s highest peak.

The Department has said that climbers have started reaching climbing destinations and the number is expected to go up this time as they are likely to keep arriving until May first week.

During the same period last year, the Tourism Department collected royalty of NPR 412.88 million for climbing permits issued to 107 expedition teams. The maximum amount NPR 350 million was collected from 31 teams for climbs to the Everest.

File Photo: 2018 Mount Everest Season

In another update on Mount Everest, the project to measure the height of Mount Everest will take off soon. The Nepal Government announced that it will be sending a team of appointed climbers to remeasure the height of the tallest mountain.

The country aims to address speculations stating that the height of the mountain has reduced after the earthquake struck the rocky terrain of Nepal in 2015.

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