<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba7409c7e80680e07376fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="754"/><figcaption>The Houston-Westland flown by Douglas Douglas-Hamilton and Stewart Blacker approaching Mt Everest. Photo by S R Bonnett taken on 19 April 1933 from a chase plane. 1</figcaption></figure>The early 1930s were an era of aviation achievements when Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic, Richard E Byrd reached the poles and Amy Johnson flew solo from London to Australia. Experimental flights were attracting not only swashbuckling, pioneering pilots, but also nationalistic sponsors keen to advance technology and force new scientific frontiers.This month a new biography is published about Lucy Lady Houston, a former chorus girl notorious as the richest woman in England who brushed aside scandal to become the patriotic financier of the first flight over Mount Everest, backed secret military research, and funded the creation of the Spitfire aircraft.Still nobody had flown over the highest point on earth, and the British were galvanised into action to beat their European rivals. Supported by the Royal Air Force, Britain had the advantage of a newly developed supercharged engine (the Bristol IS3 Pegasus) in a uniquely modified aircraft with an open cockpit they named the Houston-Westland, recommended by the RAF as the fastest-climbing two-seater aircraft ever tested. Douglas Douglas-Hamilton Marquis of Clydesdale (later 14th Duke of Hamilton) was appointed chief pilot, seconded by Flt Lt David McIntyre, each accompanied by an observer cameraman.Shipped by sea in crates to Karachi then reassembled, the two small Westland biplanes flew to the expedition base at Lalbalu airfield near Purnia in Bihar, due south of Biratnagar and some 160 miles southeast of Everest. The team was joined by three De Havilland Moths which had taken one month to fly out from UK, and large amounts of support equipment.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba7439c7e80680e073770jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="869"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>After all the preparation, by 3 April 1933 the clouds had dispersed and they were ready to meet the unknown challenge of flying over Everest. Climbing from the plains of India to an altitude of 34,000 feet over Nepal, the tiny planes’ double wings delicately bound together with struts and stays were dwarfed by the towering Himalaya. Buffeted by severe wind currents and air bumps, blown sideways off course, dogged by downdrafts and faulty oxygen flows, then saved from collision with icy rock faces by fortuitous updrafts, the two aircraft eventually scraped over the top of Everest, before circling safely back to Purnia.Lord Clydesdale would never say how close he came to hitting the mountain other than to admit that it had been “cleared by a more minute margin than I cared to think about, now or ever.”But the first ever Everest flight had failed to collect the expected survey data and film footage because the photographer was unconscious with hypoxia, slumped on the open cockpit floor when his air hose split. After a test flight around Kangchenjunga, one aircraft got lost and was forced to land at a busy railway station to ask for directions home.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba7459c7e80680e073771jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="884"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Determined to complete their mission, a second Everest flight was made two weeks later on 19 April 1933 to collect the missing data. It had to be undertaken in great secrecy by the defiant aircrew, as it was expressly against the orders of the team leader, sponsor Lady Houston and insurance company who all felt enough had already been risked.Despite so many close calls, the expedition was hailed as a resounding scientific and technical success, although they failed to detect any traces of disappeared climbers Mallory and Irving. Having captured the first images of the roof of the world with several passes over the peak, their closely guarded pictures helped inform British Everest endeavours, culminating in Tenzing and Hillary attaining the summit 20 years later.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnK_GJf_q6wThe story is told in a couple of black and white documentaries <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zK4WblHxkI" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D9zK4WblHxkI&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598243357985000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHm_NrXEBvFoW_7bep2aIVHI4zDIw">Wings Over Everest </a>in all its colonial, pith-helmeted splendour, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnK_GJf_q6w" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DAnK_GJf_q6w&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598243357985000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHDDavghl4wE2RfbpbpJY9fJ2lJkQ">First Over Everest</a>, giving due credit to ‘His Highness the Maharaja of Nepal within whose territory Mount Everest stands’.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zK4WblHxkIEighty years later Douglas<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Overflying,288" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Overflying,288&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598243357985000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFUv5jXB_f6ZSx7Ls0j9FSqPelrHg">-Hamilton’s grandson, Charles, retraced the maiden trip</a> – we marked the neglected anniversary with a ceremony at the Nepal Tourism Board in 2013. The BAe Systems official who came with Charles confirmed that the ground-breaking 1933 Everest flight “had led directly to refinements in aviation technology that allowed high altitude flights”.******A couple of generations later, cameraman Leo Dickinson is another adventurer who likes to push the limits, pitting a fragile flying machine against the mighty mountains, and specialising in ‘filming the impossible’.He also enjoys a good joke. Short, bearded and sprightly, Leo danced around the Pilatus Porter plane, a tangle of celluloid film at his feet: “Quick, quick, kick it into the shade before it gets overexposed” he joked. Another one was “On this expedition we are experimenting with freeze dried water.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba7489c7e80680e073772jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="906"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>This 1991 expedition was aiming to fly a balloon over Sagarmatha, and we were tasked with helping with their Nepal support logistics. The four members consisted of adventure afficionados led by Leo with pilot Andy Elson, mountaineer Eric Jones and stroppy Aussie veteran balloonist Chris Dewhirst. They remain the first and only hot-air balloons to have flown over Mt Everest.Chris and Leo had made an earlier unsuccessful attempt to balloon over Everest in 1985 with an unruly bunch that had led to near-disaster. The team trained in skydiving in case of having to bail out, sought astrological predictions and practiced with flights at Bhaktapur and Bodnath.On the actual flight, they used fuel too fast, failed to gain more than 26,500 feet altitude and were forced to abort ten miles short of Sagarmatha. One balloon crash-landed into a tree and the other spread across a hillside before catching fire. Still, it stood as the highest alpine ballooning flight in history at that time.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba74b9c7e80680e073773jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="582" height="363"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>A crew of three Japanese attempted to fly over Everest from the north side in 1990 but smashed their balloon into the side of a cliff, lucky to escape with their lives.Leo and Chris were keen to complete their abandoned traverse of the world’s tallest mountain. The logistics to fly from the Khumbu over Everest to the Tibetan plateau were complex, requiring unprecedented Nepali-Chinese permissions, and an army of porters and yaks to ferry the fuel cylinders, camera gear, and snaking balloon skins. After Buddhist blessings at Tengboche, they set up their own weather station at Gokyo to measure the jet stream whilst meteorological satellites monitored the mountain’s moods.Acclimatisation was an important part of preparation whilst awaiting perfect weather conditions, but rivalry amongst the leaders was causing rifts and threatening competition instead of cooperation for the daunting exploit ahead.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba74d9c7e80680e073774jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="825"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba7509c7e80680e073775jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="792" height="542"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>When the two balloons finally took off from the sacred shores of Gokyo lake trailing prayer flags and waving to locals, support crew and girlfriends, Leo was perched on a camera platform outside the basket. “Chris’ ego means there is no space for me inside,” he quipped.The wind carried them up and away, whizzing past the shimmering summit of Sagarmatha at 100 miles an hour with Leo’s suspended cameras capturing the unique perspective of the highest Himalayan landscape spread beneath their frail wicker baskets.The expedition goal had been achieved, but technical problems were only just beginning. Communications collapsed, Chris jumped the gun, both balloons got separated soon after take-off, and the hot-air temperature was running too high, threatening to rupture the membrane. Gaining altitude, hypoxia affected all of them even with oxygen masks and, despite the additional canisters lashed to the baskets, they again burned fuel faster than anticipated.Andy and Eric suffered the deadly silence that every balloonist dreads when the burners fail and everything goes out. With not enough oxygen in the atmosphere to keep the vital burners going, in order to reignite the pilot-light they had to balance on the basket rim with a box of matches.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAMZxStI9YUOut of gas and spinning like a top, Chris was forced to make an emergency landing, crashing down in Tibet and being dragged across two miles of rugged rocky terrain. The flimsy balloons, expensive equipment and Leo’s cameras were in smithereens, but the film survived as a classic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAMZxStI9YU" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DxAMZxStI9YU&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598243357985000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGJFL0jZa8Wxv_64-8Z1rJthZvddw">Everest by Balloon</a>.It was left to our colleague, mountaineering operator Russell Brice, to pick up the pieces on the northern side in Tibet – Leo had broken ribs, all were badly shaken, and everyone agreed it was a miracle they survived. The voyage had proven that the extreme altitude and climatic dangers of flying hot-air balloons in the high Himalaya were so enormous that no one has been reckless enough to attempt the feat since.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba7529c7e80680e073776jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="495" height="711">

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Biplanes and balloons over Mt Everest

<figure><img width="680" height="410" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a95f69c7e80680e05dc3cjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>A Kuwati expedition drapes a huge flag (circled) from the summit of Mt Ama Dablam (6,812m) as seen from Khumjung on Tuesday. Photo: Manjushree Thapa</figcaption></figure>A row has broken out in Nepal after a Kuwaiti expedition to Mt Aba Dablam (6,812m) unfurled a flag of record-breaking size from the summit this week, with the Nepal government saying it is investigating the matter.The flag could be seen from as far away as Khumjung, 3,000m below and 12km away from the mountain. Initially it was thought to be a similar-looking flag of Italy since an expeiditon from that country was also climbing the mountain.It later turned out that the Kuwaitis were trying to break a record by unfurling the biggest ever flag of their country on the mountain, and did not make a secret of it. The Facebook post of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/elitehimalayanadventures/posts/ama-dablam-expedition-2019-updateteam-a-hornsby_type_r-stanton_summits-mtniain-f/693350411176847/?hc_location=ufi">Elite Himalayan Adventures</a> mentions a group with Italians in it, and another Kuwait group that it was helping with the climbs. <figure><img width="324" height="223" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a95f89c7e80680e05dc3djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Kuwait</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="640" height="427" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a95f99c7e80680e05dc3ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Italy</figcaption></figure>The post with time stamp 29 October read: ‘Team B (Kuwait team) who are planning to raise the longest Kuwait flag from the summit of Ama Dablam, have all safely reached at Lukla and trekked to Phakding. They will be spending their night tonight their at a local lodge and will be making their way to Namche Bazaar tomorrow.’Film-maker and mountaineer <a href="https://www.instagram.com/eliasaikaly/">Elia Saikaly</a> who was also on the mountain wrote on Instagram after climbing the peak: ‘World’s largest flag (150kg – 100m x 30m) was successfully hung from 6812m above sea level.’ Three days earlier, he had posted that he had noticed the Kuwaitis at Camp 2 carrying the 100m by 30m flag weighing 150kg in 6 pieces of 25kg each to be unfurled from the summit: ‘It’s preposterous. But… it’s happening.’Undersecretary at the Department of Tourism Mountaineering Monitoring Section Mira Acharya told Nepali Times: “We are investigating the matter. They did not have permission to take such a big flag. If it looks like they have broken the rules, we will take action.”Nepali novelist Manjushree Thapa was in Khumjung on Tuesday 13 November when she noticed the flag on the summit in the afternoon, and took a photograph with her mobile. The picture was <a href="https://twitter.com/NepaliTimes">tweeted by Nepali Times</a>, which wrongly presumed that it was a red-white-green Italian flag. It corrected the post later saying it was actually a red-white-green-black Kuwaiti flag.Nepali mountaineer Nims Purja who catapulted to fame last month after shattering world records by climbing the world’s 14 highest mountains in 6 months appears to have been involved in the Kuwaiti flag project.Saikaly reveals in his Instagram post from 11 November:  ‘If there is one guy who can pull it off it’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nimsdai/">@nimsdai</a> and he’s currently leading the efforts, masterminding the strategy, implementing the plan and getting ready to not only guide his two commercial teams to the summit, but in parallel, make this absolutely crazy idea work.’Supporters of Purja appeared to be shocked and reacted with dismay in social media that he would do such a thing. There has been no reaction yet from Purja who is on the mountain to also take drone videos of himself climbing.There was heated condemnation on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nepalitimes/">Nepali Times Facebook page</a> about the flag unfurling: ‘Whichever country it was...who is gonna bring that 25kg x 6 trash down??’ asked  Pan Chy.Lakpa Rita Sherpa tweeted: ‘Yes definitely that team need to remove the flag and take an action to the local company who organized the trip as well as that team should be ban to Nepal.’‘I am against peoples spreading symbols of their ego everywhere in Nature for a brief and meaningless self-glorification, spoiling a beautiful landscape view for hundred of peoples, let alone hurting the sensitivity of locals who attach spiritual value to pure snowy mountains,’ added Etienne Loyon. <img width="562" height="856" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a95fc9c7e80680e05dc3fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="494" height="285" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a95fe9c7e80680e05dc40jpeg.jpg" alt="">In a <a href="http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2019/11/14/wrong-wrong-wrong-defacing-ama-dablam/">blog post</a> titled ‘Wrong, Wrong, Wrong. Defacing Ama Dablam’ mountaineering chronicler Alan Arnette wrote: ‘I’m fully and completely against any kind of defacing nature from a local trail to the summit of pristine mountains. While it is suggested the banner will be removed, there is no statement of by who or when but that is beside the point. The damage is done. The only legacy this stunt will have is to inspire others to do far more stupid stunts. All involved are neither heroes nor proper custodians of nature. Just because it can be done, doesn’t mean it should.’.The post was greeted with almost universal condemnation in the feedback section, calling the climbers ‘idiots’ and using even stronger words.The agency handling the logistics does say that the unfurling of the flag was temporary, but does not clarify if it would be brought down or if it had permission to do so<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a96009c7e80680e05dc41jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="163">alanarnette.com/blog/

Kuwait flag on Ama Dablam to be investigated

<figure><img width="1000" height="1281" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110814114/636a54799c7e80680e0523afjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Illustration: SUBHAS RAI</figcaption></figure>Ever since <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3167#.XWeXZuMzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Great Trigonometrical Survey</a> of India determined that the world’s tallest mountain was Peak XV located on the border between Nepal and Tibet, Everest has brought out the best and the worst in us. Nepalis have conveniently forgotten that the summit is on the border, and only the southwest face of Everest is in Nepal — the east and west faces are wholly in China. While the Tibetans had a name for the mountain (Chomolungma), the Nepali Sagarmatha was bequeathed to the peak only after it was determined to be the highest in the world.  When <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3247#.XWeXquMzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tenzing Norgay</a> and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2018/01/13/commemorating-edmund-hillary/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Edmund Hillary</a> returned from Everest in 1953, Nepalis claimed Tenzing as our own, garlanding him profusely while ignoring Hillary. Dharma Raj Thapa composed a folk song that implied Tenzing had to drag Hillary to the summit. The 1996 disaster, when 15 climbers died on the mountain (eight of them on a single day, 11 May), made ‘<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/overkill-on-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">overcrowding’ synonymous with ‘Everest’</a>. The bestseller Into Thin Air and the IMAX movie Everest created the hyper-reality of Everest being trampled by climbers and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/cleaning-up-everest,1408" target="_blank" rel="noopener">buried in trash</a>.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/overkill-on-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Overkill on Everest</a>, Damien Francois<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/adventures-in-robert-macfarlanes-aboveworld-and-underland/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adventures in Robert Macfarlane's Aboveworld and underland</a>, Kunda DixitThe truth, as usual, is much more complicated. As a report in this issue concludes, while the number of climbers on 22 May this year might have been a factor in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2016/06/13/10221/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some of the fatalities on Everest, inexperience, altitude sickness and lack of oxygen were more significant</a>. There were 642 climbers, porters and guides from 43 countries on the summit this spring. Of them, 223 stepped on the top on 22 May alone. Nine of the climbers died on the south side this season, but news about the 10 more who died on other 8,000m peaks, where there were no significant crowds, was buried in the avalanche of news about Everest.Reacting to the media spotlight, the government on 7 June set up an expert committee to recommend reforms in the management of expeditions. Last week, the committee issued its report, which should address many of the problems.The committee carried out a post-mortem of Everest 2019, and found the main cause of the nine fatalities was the narrow weather window, inexperience and lack of fitness, altitude and medical conditions. One could argue that long queues contributed to altitude sickness and exhaustion, so crowding was a contributing factor. Summiteers say lack of experience at altitude and limited climbing skills were also causes for delays on the summit ridge on 22 and 23 May. Even though <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Silly-season-on-Sagarmatha,460" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘traffic jams’</a> may not have been the main cause of fatalities this year, publicity about them did prompt the government to act.The committee’s recommendations, if enacted into law and enforced, could change Himalayan climbing. For example, only those who have been on a peak higher than 6,500m in Nepal will be allowed to climb a mountain above 8,000m, and mountaineers must have climbed at least one peak below 6,500m before they can climb a peak higher than that. This will not only ensure diversification away from Everest and benefit other parts of Nepal, but also guarantee that only experienced climbers get to scale mountains like Everest, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18869#.XWeWQuMzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kangchenjunga</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=190#.XWeWZ-MzbIU">Makalu</a> or Manaslu.However, the committee appears to only have taken altitude into account and not the technical climbing grade of mountains. There is a vast difference between climbing the relatively easy Cho Oyu (8,021m) and the technically difficult Kusum Kangru (6,367m).The committee has also proposed that Everest climbers must show proof they have paid a Nepali agency at least $35,000. While this may lessen crowds, it will not be much of a deterrent against rich but inexperienced trophy hunters.The committee found that cheap expeditions did not stock up on enough oxygen, and that guides with little experience were a danger to clients. The solution to this could be a payment threshold and minimum experience for support crews. The criteria for liaison officers are also being changed, requiring them to stay at Base Camp till the end of expeditions, to thwart fake climbers and to do a trash inventory.As with everything else in Nepal, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. Given endemic corruption and the likelihood of forged documents, it remains to be seen if these rules will be followed. But if implemented honestly, these reforms should clean up the mountain’s tainted image.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/most-days-its-not-so-crowded-on-mt-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Most days, it's not so crowded in Everest</a>, Nepali Times<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/expeditions-brings-down-11-tons-of-mt-everest-trash/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Expedition brings down 11 tons of Mt Everest trash</a>, Bharat Bandhu Thapa<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/crowd-funding-from-mt-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crowd-funding from Mt Everest,</a> Ivan G Somlai<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-to-restore-the-lure-of-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How to restore the lure of Everest,</a> Doug Scott <h2>10 years ago this week</h2> Nepali Times <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/466" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issue #466 of 28 August-3 September 2009</a> drew attention to climate change, and warned that the Himalaya was warming faster than previously thought. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16255#.XWe4qOMzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Editorial</a> 10 years ago titled ‘Climate Climax’ looked ahead at the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit:'Nothing we do (or don’t do) in Nepal will affect global temperatures. But whether or not we switch to renewable energy as the mainstay of our economy will determine whether we survive economically as a nation. Nepal needs to reduce its carbon footprint not to save the planet, but to save itself. As the world approaches Peak Oil and our petroleum import bill widens, our huge trade deficit with India, continued dependence on fossil fuel, and climate change will exacerbate all the economic, development and social challenges we already face. Our elected representatives, think-tanks and the climate experts in the bureaucracy must exert pressure on the politicians and persuade them to begin the switch to a hydro-economy. It’s not the ecology, stupid, it’s the economy.'<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/466"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110814114/636a547c9c7e80680e0523b0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="771"></a>

Everest Postmortem

<figure><img width="791" height="708" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933749c7e80680e03df9djpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The imposing South Face of Gurja Himal in the Dhaulagiri Range rises narly 4km vertically from the valley below. Photo: JOY STEPHENS</figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8JpH2-pjmI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disaster which struck the Korean expedition on 10 October</a> brought Gurja Himal (7,193m) and this inaccessible region of Nepal to world attention. A few weeks after the disaster, there is still much uncertainty about what caused the Base Camp at 3,500m to be blown away, killing five Korean and four Nepali climbers.  Gurja Himal is one of the westernmost peaks in the Dhaulagiri massif and has an imposing and unclimbed south face that rises almost 4,000m vertically from the valley below. The Korean expedition hoped to be the first to climb it, and it was led by veteran mountaineer Kim Chang-ho who is famous for being the first Korean to summit all 14 eight-thousanders without bottle oxygen. Disaster struck even before the expedition had started climbing the mountain, and since no one survived we really do not know what happened.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/tragic-start-to-himalayan-spring-nepal,3695" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tragic start to Himalayan spring</a>Locals who helped retrieve the bodies said there was no ice or snow where the Base Camp was, and the bodies had been blown across the river to the opposite slope. Tall trees in the narrow valley had been snapped in half, and videos and photographs taken by the rescuers show scars from what look like an avalanche from the rock face above. <figure><img width="1057" height="506" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933779c7e80680e03df9ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Locals recalled that there had been a massive thunderstorm with hail-stones in the area, and there is speculation that the storm whipped up tornado-strength wind that was funneled up the valley. Others said the position of the bodies and remains of the tents are consistent with an air blast from an avalanche that roared down the face, and the reason no ice was found was that it had melted by the time rescuers got there.Villagers also have another explanation, and say they told the expedition to establish their Base Camp lower at 3,000m so to avoid angering the mountain’s guardian deity which they say does not tolerate people defecating nearby. Over the years, they report that several locals have died near the same spot.Sita Chhantyal, sister of the local guide who died in the disaster, said the expedition did everything to propitiate the deity, sacrificing a chicken and a goat. She added: “They made the mistake of locating the camp too close to the face. It made the god angry.Rescuers talk of the bodies flung off the mountain, yet in the camp site they found crates of eggs unbroken. “Not even one egg was cracked,” Chhantyal said.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-oxygen-of-mountaineering/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The oxygen of mountaineering</a>, Ted Atkins

Gurja Himal tragedy

Fenerbahçe Beko won the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague finals in Abu Dhabi, held 23-25 May, defeating Monaco 81-70 in the final. Olympiacos, who defeated Panathinaikos 97-93, finished the series in third place. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match, Nigel Hayes-Davis from Fenerbahçe Beko, received a prize of 1,000,000 Miles&amp;Smiles from Turkish Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Ahmet Olmuştur. The carrier has been the title sponsor of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a top tier tournament, since 2010.

Turkish Basketball

Thousands of Nepali students dreaming of an American education have been forced to look elsewhere as the Trump administration’s visa restrictions make their future uncertain.
The US was long considered a top destination for higher studies, making Nepal the 10th biggest country of origin for international students in America.&nbsp;
However, that number has seen a significant decline with the total for Nepali students now at 16,482. Some 8,000 Nepali students obtained no-objection certificates to study in the US from the Ministry of Education in the past year.&nbsp;
India, Australia, Canada, South Korea, United Kingdom and Japan are the other popular destinations for Nepali students. There are no clear numbers for Nepalis going to India, but a slight decline was noted this year after the deaths of two female students.
The US State Department has issued a circular to its embassies not to issue new visas to applicants until further notice. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the directive stated that the department planned to expand the screening of applicants' social media.&nbsp;
While new applicants are barred including those applying for visitor visas, students with scheduled interviews are allowed to proceed.
“Many of our students are affected by the new restrictions, but those who had applied for student visas earlier have got interview dates,” one Kathmandu-based college counsellor told us.
Meanwhile, even foreign students with spotless records already in the US have not been spared, as visa scrutiny intensifies under the new policy. In a move that underscores the growing sense of insecurity, many US colleges advised international students to carry their passports and documents at all times, even when traveling locally.
“Me and my friends did not go home this summer because we were not sure we would be allowed back, so we just went to Niagara Falls,” said a Nepali undergrad in Ohio, who like many interviewed for this report did not want her name used for fear of repercussion.
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Nepali students have adopted a cautious stance, with many choosing not to return home during summer vacation due to fear of visa revocations as well as travel bans. Meanwhile, over 7,000 Nepalis with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will have to come back to Nepal by 5 August or face deportation. Thirty-seven were flown back to Kathmandu on Omni Air last week.
“The US is one of the most sought-after destinations for higher education, and the ban will definitely impact bright students,” says Narottam Aryal of the King’s College in Kathmandu.
Indeed, Nepali undergraduates admitted into Ivy League colleges for the 2025 academic year have been asked to look for alternatives. The entire Fulbright Foreign Scholarships Board resigned on Wednesday citing interference from the Trump administration on the selection of this year’s cohort. Some Nepali students already on Fulbright scholarships have noted disruptions, delays and even cancellation of stipends.&nbsp;
The student visa restrictions were initially just for foreign students admitted to Harvard University, but it was later extended to all Chinese students and now to all students. Universities like Columbia which actively recruit foreign students, face sharp enrolment declines, threatening their financial stability and diversity.
An Indian female PhD candidate at Columbia University had her visa revoked by the US State Department, and said she was targeted on the basis of her social media posts on Israeli military attacks in Gaza. Social media vetting of political activism has raised concerns about privacy and freedom of expression in a country where such rights were a given.
Many students have been informed via email that their visas have been revoked for getting speeding or parking tickets, but even others with no criminal record have been affected. The fear of deportation looms large amongst international students, including those from Nepal.&nbsp;
For most Nepalis who migrate to the US for education, the journey is a high-stakes investment. They come largely from middle-class families, often rely on a patchwork of scholarships, work-study programs, loans, or even the sale of family assets to afford fees.
Most Nepali students pursue STEM subjects which offer extended Optional Practical Training (OPT) periods that help fund their education. But with the US backsliding on education and humanitarian matters, countries like the UK and Canada are becoming more attractive despite their own recent stricter controls on student visas.&nbsp;
The UK universities saw a 63% rise in Nepali students’ admissions in 2024. Japan is another popular destination with 64,816 Nepali students enrolled as of 2024.
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Already, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia are poised to benefit from the increased scrutiny of US student visas. Several Hong Kong universities are offering unconditional admission to affected students, while Malaysian institutions are targeting previously US-bound Asian students. China and India have 330,000 and 280,000 students respectively in America, but the numbers for China have seen a sharp drop in the past year.
Elsewhere, branch campuses of American institutions such as NYU in Abu Dhabi, Georgetown in Dubai and Northwestern in Doha are getting more admission applications, and universities in the Gulf region are expanding infrastructure to accommodate those who would otherwise have gone to the US.&nbsp;
Even educational institutions in Nepal are hopeful that the US visa restrictions can be an opportunity to at least keep Nepali undergrads in Nepal, and also attract foreign students from the region.&nbsp;
“Many students might choose to complete their undergraduate degree here in Nepal and then move abroad for their Master’s degree later,” says Aryal of King’s College. “There was a need for quality higher education in Nepal anyway in terms of innovation and opportunities, so this could be the time to reduce our dependence on other countries.”
Nepal’s strategic position between India and China makes it sensitive to US policy shifts. India, a key ally, is also under US scrutiny for potential student travel restrictions. Chinese universities are already offering more scholarships to Nepali talent to capitalise on the US retreat.
American universities have challenged student visa restrictions in the courts. A federal court in Boston revoked the blanket ban on Harvard, and the State Department has ordered the resumption of processing student and exchange visitor visas.&nbsp;
Some are still hoping that President Trump will backtrack on the student visa restrictions, just like he has done with many of his more drastic executive orders.
Even so, the visa see-saw and longer-term uncertainties about living in the United States and its education system means students across the world are making alternative plans.
Says Aryal: “Policies of foreign countries change according to their needs, so excessive dependence was never a good idea. We should work to create different opportunities and choices of higher education within Nepal, so students are retained.” &nbsp;

America no longer prime destination for Nepali students

That winter day in January 1664 marked an exceptional event in the reign of King Pratap Malla of Kathmandu. It was 15 Paush 784 of the Nepal Sambat and for the first time, a historical event was being immortalised on canvas for generations to come.&nbsp; The occasion was the grand Tuladaan ceremony of the King’s youngest son Chakrabartendra Malla from his wife Anantapriya, an Indian princess from Cooch Behar in present-day Assam.&nbsp; During the ritual, the prince was weighed against gold, silver, pearls, and other precious stones, which were then offered to Goddess Taleju Bhavani, the guardian deity of the Malla dynasty.&nbsp; The 170 x120cm painting captures the time of King Pratap Malla in all its splendour and is more than a personal tribute to his son: it is a significant visual historical document. It was evidently completed five years later in 1669, and could be considered a photographic record, with retrospective recreation of the event by the unknown artist. A Tuladaan ceremony is performed to purify one’s karma, quell impending bad luck, or as an act of charity and devotion. Chakrabartendra Malla was not well, and the ritual was performed in hopes of restoring his health. King Pratap Malla had arranged for each of his sons to take turns ruling Kathmandu so they got administrative experience. But Chakrabartendra died just two days after assuming power in 1670 (790 NS). This painting is considered the earliest known example in which the composition is dominated by an architectural landscape: the Taleju Temple. Given the stylistic features such as side-profile facial depictions and the rendering of human forms, it is believed that the Nepali artist was trained by a Rajput master.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250615040624_ddad3bc27a327e3f9926c8473287e4f14b53081296c295049009f327a4d97051.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250615040624_ddad3bc27a327e3f9926c8473287e4f14b53081296c295049009f327a4d97051" data-rendition-name="original" width="3248" height="4395" loading="lazy" alt="Tuladaan NT"> </figure>  During that era, there were regular exchanges of artists between Northern India and Kathmandu Valley. The painting is also a melding of Nepali, Tibetan, Mughal, and Rajput art styles of the time. Pratap Malla could have been inspired by a painting of Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s Tuladaan ceremony for his son Khurram in 1607. The Mallas and Mughals shared cordial relations, which is reflected in the cultural influences seen in the art and attire of the period.&nbsp; The clothing of the Malla ruling class, in particular, features colourful tunics, turbans, and jewelry that display strong Rajput and Mughal stylistic elements. The musicians in the upper tier are also dressed in Indian-style clothing, while the ensemble on the lower steps wear local attire, notably without turbans. Their hairstyles also differ, with the lower group wearing their hair tied in a bun at the front. This national treasure is currently in storage at the Collège de France in Paris, and has never been publicly displayed. Nepal’s art scholars like Gautam Vajracharya, Pratap Aditya Pal and Anne Vergati have written about this iconic paubha in the past, but the only detailed study is from the perspective of music history by researcher Richard Widdess who had access to high resolution copies of the original.&nbsp; Widdess from the Department of Music at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London describes the paubha as the most significant and richly detailed documentation of music in Nepali art. He identifies distinct musical ensembles on the terraces of the temple, and remarkably most of them are actively used today. One of them reflects the Mughal naqqārakhāna model — a loud outdoor ensemble typically composed of kettledrums, trumpets, and cymbals, traditionally performed from the gateway of the emperor’s palace to announce his entrances and exits. The depiction of such an ensemble in the tulādāna painting is likely the earliest known representation of a complete naqqārakhāna in Nepal — considered the forerunner of the panche baja, the traditional Nepali ensemble. On the stepped pyramid base of the temple are two groups of musicians playing local instruments: dhimey, bhushya, and dha. They are unmistakably Newar musicians, wearing short skirts and short-sleeved tops, with bare heads and legs—clearly distinguished as local performers.&nbsp; Higher still on the temple pyramid are musicians of apparently higher status, positioned close to the king, and his courtiers, possibly professional court musicians from India, well-versed in rāga and tāla. A dāphā group is also clearly depicted, identifiable by their characteristic instruments.&nbsp; Dāphā bhajan is likely the oldest surviving tradition of Newar devotional singing, and this paubha is the oldest visual record of it. Pratap Malla himself is believed to have composed songs that continue to be performed by dāphā groups throughout Kathmandu till today.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025061211064_d67636730cdc0ec778c02494817aca0b99654f2950d0fae4b95499a61faf7ef3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025061211064_d67636730cdc0ec778c02494817aca0b99654f2950d0fae4b95499a61faf7ef3" data-rendition-name="original" width="596" height="768" loading="lazy" alt="Priceless paubha in Paris NT"> </figure>  The artist’s thorough attention to musical detail may be attributed to King Pratap Malla’s own deep interest in music. His inscriptions on this painting and elsewhere proclaim his mastery of all branches of knowledge, including music. He is also known as the author of dance dramas and poems, penning his name as Kavindra (king of poets). Some noteworthy elements of new art techniques stand out: for example, the roof of the temple is filled with realistically rendered white doves, pigeons, and crows. This is a rare feature in paubha, where animals and birds are stylised, mythological forms. This remarkably talented unknown artist has managed to also render an orthographic projection: the front and side view of Nepal’s first architectural paubha. The Taleju Temple, with its staggering multi-tiered structure and numerous steps and platforms, is masterfully translated into layers within the painting. This represents a significant artistic achievement of the time, especially considering that dimensional perspectives had not started in deity-based paubha.&nbsp; The artist has also made a meticulous effort to capture architectural details such as the toran (ornamental arch) and temple struts with impressive precision. There are flickering lamps along the steps and some people carrying what appear to be oil pots.&nbsp; It is a full moon night and the dark sky is adorned with all the gods and goddesses, who are depicted as blessing the ceremony while seated on stylised thangka clouds. There is a lot happening in this painting, with people engaged in various activities. The artist has also rendered a forest backdrop behind the temple, complete with deer, trees, and flowers. Could there have once been a royal garden behind the Taleju Temple?&nbsp; More details and clarity can only be achieved if we are able to view the original or a high-resolution scanned version of the artwork. Many countries proudly display art depicting historical events in their national museums with great reverence. France, for example, has The Coronation of Emperor Napoleon and Empress Joséphine by Jacques-Louis David (1808–1822), along with numerous paintings of the Napoleonic Wars. Many were commissioned by Napoleon himself for future generations to remember.&nbsp; For Nepal, the equivalent is the Tuladaan paubha which is a visual record capturing a historic moment involving one of Kathmandu’s greatest kings, on the very day the event took place. Sadly, we await the day when this masterpiece is displayed, shared in high resolution for detailed study, or more rightfully — repatriated to its homeland, where it truly belongs. &nbsp; Shaguni Singh Sakya is the Director of the Museum of Nepali Arts (MoNA) at Kathmandu Guest House in Thamel. <h2>Gods homeward bound</h2> The Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign and Nepal’s Department of Archaeology are convening the first international conference on the Recovery of Cultural Heritage from 16-18 June in Patan. The conference will address urgent issues of theft, illicit trafficking, the campaign to repatriate looted cultural artifacts, and explore how the return of sacred antiquities contributes to justice, healing, and reconciliation for communities and nations affected by cultural loss. American art crime professor Erin L Thompson and Saubhagya Pradhananga of the Department of Archaeology will deliver the keynote. Meanwhile, author and Nepali Times publisher Kunda Dixit will lead a conversation on Illicit Trafficking: Public Opinion and Role of Media with Erin Thompson, Amr Al Azm, associate professor of Middle East History and Anthropology at Shawnee State University in Ohio, as well as Bradley J Gordon, a lawyer based in Phnom Penh. There will be sessions looking at repatriation perspectives from Cambodia, India, Vietnam, China and Poland, international frameworks for repatriation, emerging digital technologies in the repatriation of cultural heritage, cultural property agreements, museums as well as trends in the art market, and heritage diplomacy and the role of media.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025061211068_59cfccfa8f5d73bfe8b4c5811a7f53abc09ea04e8cb7c638933d62e5283efdf6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025061211068_59cfccfa8f5d73bfe8b4c5811a7f53abc09ea04e8cb7c638933d62e5283efdf6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="1350" loading="lazy" alt="Heritage recovery NT"> </figure>  <h2> </h2> Some of the other highlights include James K. Reap, a professor in the Master of Historic Preservation Program at the University of Georgia who has a session on the US response to illicit trafficking. Art historian Lea Saint-Raymond is taking on “Gods at Auction: The Market for Himalayan Artefacts”, while lecturer of criminology at the University of Glasgow Emiline Smith is delving into transformative approaches to heritage ownership and repatriation. Helena Arose of Antiquities Coalition and Melina Antoniadis of NOSTOS Strategies that specialise on the return home of cultural heritage as well as Hao Liu of International Cultural Heritage Law at the School of Law at Shandong University are some of the others attending. The Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign was set up in 2020 to develop a coordinated movement to reclaim Nepal’s stolen gods and goddesses, with an aim to ensure that recovered items are returned to their original shrines, niches or sanctums. Ahead of the conference opening organisers have arranged for a film screening of Loot &amp; Return: 4 Documentaries at YalaMaya Kendra in Patan Dhoka between 14-15 June. Following the conference is a multimedia exhibition titled Absent Gods: Nepal’s Lost Heritage from 31 July to 4 August at Patan Museum.

Priceless paubha in Paris

While Nepal was hosting the Sagarmatha Sambaad international climate conference in Kathmandu this month, on Mt Everest it was pretty much business as usual.&nbsp; The signs of climate breakdown are all there: a river now runs through Base Camp in summer, the Khumbu Icefall is more unstable, and there are more &nbsp;frequent avalanches. When expeditions arrived in March, the mountains were bare: it had not snowed since September, but then blizzards dumped unseasonal snow in May. And despite climate worries, such is the pull of Himalayan mountaineering that the Everest Industry showed no signs of slowdown. More than 600 international climbers and their Nepali guides had made it to the summit of the world’s highest mountain. At one point there were an estimated 2,000 people in the tent city on the Khumbu Glacier. All the ropes and ladders on the Icefall came down on Thursday, marking the official end of the spring climbing season, and just in time to avoid a monsoon cyclone approaching from the Bay of Bengal. It has been an action-packed season. One factor could be that Everest fees will go up from September: each foreign climber needs to pay a $15,000 royalty, up from the present $11,000. The cost for a Nepali climber on the South Col route will also go up: from Rs75,000 to Rs150,000.&nbsp; The fee to climb Everest in autumn is $7,500 (up from $5,500), but most climbers still prefer spring. Winter permit fee (December-February) is only $3,750 per person and the mountain is now also open for monsoon (June-August) climbs, when the fee is ever lower at $2,750. The revised rule also makes it mandatory for every two climbers on an 8,000m peak to hire one Nepali mountain guide.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046" data-rendition-name="original" width="931" height="732" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry graph 1"> </figure>  In addition, climbers also have to pay for porters and guides, equipment, Base Camp costs, Ice Fall and fixed rope team fees, so climbing Everest does not come cheap. But such is the draw of climbing the world’s highest peak that some say the increased fees will not diminish the crowds next year. The government has tried to spread expeditions out to other seasons and other 8,000ers, but with not much success. Earlier this year, Nepal unilaterally increased the number of 8,000m peaks to 14 by adding six more sub-summits to broaden the choice for climbers. Added were: Yalung Kang (8,505m), Yalung Kang West (8,077m) &nbsp;Kangchenjunga Central (8,473m), Kangchenjunga South (8,476m), Lhotse Middle (8,410m) and Lhotse Shar (8,400m).&nbsp; The announcement could go against the accepted topographic criteria that a stand alone peak has to be at least 300m higher than an adjoining prominence, and at more than 3km isolation from it. The UIAA (Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme) still recognises only 14 mountains as eight-thousanders, and only eight of those are in Nepal, or on the border with China. Nepal’s revised mountaineering regulations also increased the insurance coverage of high-altitude workers to protect porters and high altitude guides who usually take more risks on the mountains. Rescue teams and clean-up campaigners to collect trash and remove bodies of dead climbers up to Camp IV of Mt Everest do not need permits.&nbsp; The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee is now using drones to fly down trash in 20kg sacks. Each climber is also required to bring down at least 6kg of waste and not just their own, but this rule is erratically enforced. With five fatalities on Everest and Lhotse, Spring 2025 had a historically low death toll. Another five climbers died on Annapurna, Kangchenjunga and Makalu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a" data-rendition-name="original" width="665" height="740" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest industry graph 2"> </figure>  Journalist Ben Ayers who ran the Everest Live social media channel from Everest Base Camp with daily updates credited the low death rate to dramatic rescues of climbers from the ‘Death Zone’ by their Nepali guides and longline helievacs — the visuals all uploaded on YouTube.&nbsp; “Ironically, this perception of safety is bringing more and more inexperienced climbers to the mountain, and they need more rescues,” Ayers said in one of his dispatches.&nbsp; American expedition chronicler and summiteer Alan Arnette suspects there is a lot of under-reporting given that the jet stream and storms were lashing Everest even till late in the season. He told us: “I heard a lot about frostbite and rescues that were not made public. It’s become practically impossible to cover the details on Everest. All the teams report nice news, and they don’t talk about bad stuff to avoid hurting businesses.” Although trash on Nepal’s mountains makes headlines, what does not receive as much attention is the climate impact of so many expeditions. The Sagarmatha Sambaad conference sidestepped this issue, which is ironic given that the impact of climate breakdown is most evident on Himalayan peaks and their glaciers.&nbsp; <h2>Need for Speed</h2> The big stories this year have been about speed-running from their home cities to the top of Everest. Ukrainian entrepreneur Andrew Ushakov flew out of JFK on 15 May at 10:15AM Nepal time, and was on the summit 3 days, 23 hours, and 7 minutes later on 19 May at 9:22AM.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885" data-rendition-name="original" width="1440" height="1800" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry"> <figcaption>Andrew Ushakov at the summt. Photo: ELITE EXPED</figcaption> </figure>  “I could never find the time for the traditional 40-50 days of acclimatisation,” Ushakov explained matter-of-factly. His ‘Everest Sea-to-Summit’ climb was possible because he spent 400 hours in hypoxic sleep tents over the past four years in New York. However, Ushakov did use ropes already fixed, hired four Nepali guides, helicoptered to Base Camp, and used much more oxygen than an average climber. And after the climb, Ushakov was arrested at Kathmandu airport for being in possession of $20,000 of undeclared cash and spent a night in jail and fined $60,000.&nbsp; The other speedsters were Garth Miller, Alastair Cairns, Anthony Stazicker, and Kev Godlington, all former British Army commandos. They left London and summited five days later on 21 May, and flew right back. They also used hypoxic tents to simulate the thin air high on Everest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8" data-rendition-name="original" width="810" height="668" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry "> <figcaption>All four members of the Furtenbach team at the summit. Photo: Sandro Gromen-Hayes</figcaption> </figure>  But more controversial was their use of xenon gas therapy in a German hospital to ramp up the production of oxygen-carrying haemoglobins in their blood. Xenon is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency for being performance enhancing in sports. Expedition leader Lukas Furtenbach said this rule does not apply to mountaineering, as it is not a regulated sport like swimming. Nepal has no rules about xenon, but the Department of Tourism said it was launching an ‘investigation’ to decide on future policy since it is difficult to ban xenon, but allow oxygen. The controversy has also divided the mountaineering community, with some climbers saying they just want to maximise their chances of survival. Spending less time on the mountain could make climbing safer by reducing avalanche risk. It would also mean less trash on the mountains, but it would reduce the income of Nepal’s expedition industry. It is also unclear how much of the success was due to xenon therapy and whether the ex-special forces were already in good physical shape.&nbsp; The need for speed hides the fact that climbing in the Himalaya is dangerous business, and climbers cannot sprint to the top just by huffing xenon. But ultra-fast climbs could be charged more, and the revenue generated can be used to establish state-of-the-art rescue operations, and increase pay and insurance for guides. Two other speed chasers this season were Swiss-Ecuadorian Karl Egloff and American Tyler Andrews, both on Everest without oxygen. Andrews choppered to Base Camp to catch a weather window, but turned back from 8,500m due to high winds. Heavy snow and wind also forced Egloff to descend from 7,000m. Slow and steady climbers like Anja Blacha from Germany did make it to the summit without oxygen, while Kami Rita Sherpa broke his own record with his 31st Everest summit as he led a 26-strong Indian Army group. There were 468 permits issued for foreign climbers from 48 expeditions to Everest this spring. Nepal’s other eight-thousanders together had only 17 expeditions. Nepal has more than 1,000 peaks above 6,000m, and has opened only 476 of them for climbing.&nbsp;