For the Sherpa people who live below Mt Everest, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/margins/songs-from-chomolungma">Chomolungma </a>means ‘mother god’. And as a young girl growing up below it, Lhakpa Sherpa gazed up at the mountain with awe and reverence.&nbsp; <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/pasang-lhamu-sherpa-the-film">Pasang Lhamu Sherpa</a> was the first Nepali woman to reach the summit in 1993, but she died on the way down. Lhakpa remembers the funeral in Kathmandu, and says she sensed Pasang Lhamu’s soul enter her at the cremation.&nbsp; Since then, Lhakpa holds the <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-ascents-of-mt-everest-by-a-woman#:~:text=At%20the%20age%20of%2048,at%206.15%20a.m.%20local%20time.">Guiness World Record</a> for having climbed Mt Everest ten times, the most by any woman anywhere, and breaking her own record several times. Lhakpa Sherpa seeks Chomolungma’s blessings and forgiveness before and after every climb. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">The rise and fall of Nims Purja</a>, Pradnya Pradhan “I respect the mountain like my mom,” she says in the new Netflix documentary Mountain Queen: Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa.&nbsp; The film is as much about Lhakpa’s skill and stamina as a high altitude climber, as about her courage to stand up to an abusive husband and the strength to raise three children as a single mother working in a Whole Foods Market in the US state of Connecticut. &nbsp; Directed by Lucy Walker who excels in documenting real life characters, the 104 minute film provides viewers with an intimate glimpse of Lhakpa’s home, conversations with her daughters, and some spectacular footage of her climbing in Everest’s Death Zone. Walker removes layer upon layer of Lhakpa’s life to introduce us to the real person that she is.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240910120952_549f2ebdc425038deb78854480449122da0890957389aa86b6a612bf91d33ec3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240910120952_549f2ebdc425038deb78854480449122da0890957389aa86b6a612bf91d33ec3" data-rendition-name="original" width="450" height="630" loading="lazy" alt="Mountain Queen Lhakpa Sherpa NT2"> </figure>  As a girl Lhakpa was a headstrong girl, and says her mother used to call her “too tough, too tall and very, very bossy” – and that is exactly how she comes across in the film. But behind the toughness and cheerful smile, Lhakpa is a soft-hearted person who has been in search of love and healing all her life. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/on-screen-mountains">On-screen mountains</a>, Sahina Shrestha Lhakpa was a social misfit, but found her true calling in mountaineering. She started out as a porter carrying up to 100kg on her back -- double her body weight. She had to pretend to be a boy since women did not get jobs with expeditions back then. Then, she was promoted to be a kitchen boy, cooking for the climbers in base camps.&nbsp; She needed money to climb but nobody at the time was sponsoring a woman. A chance meeting with King Birendra and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala got her the sponsorship she needed in 2000 to lead an all-women Nepali Everest expedition. She reached the top for the first time, the only climber from her group to do so. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/streaming-the-himalaya-on-film">Streaming the Himalaya on film</a>, Pinki Sris Rana Her goal achieved, that should have been it. But Lhakpa was hopelessly hooked to the thrill of climbing. She met the Romanian-American mountaineer George Dijmarescu who encouraged her not to just be a porter, and join him in climbing Everest from the Tibet side.&nbsp; For the next several years the two became climbing partners, the ultimate power couple in Himalayan mountaineering. She emigrated to the United States and gave birth to daughters Sunny and Shiny. It was not long before Dijmarescu showed his true self, and Lahkpa was trapped in an abusive marriage in a foreign land. As a girl child in Nepal, she was never sent to school and had no other job except climbing. The fairytale had ended. She was featured in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/sports/lhakpa-sherpa-everest.html">New York Times</a> report, training for her 10th ascent of Mt Everest carrying boxes of vegetables and fruits at Whole Foods. In Mountain Queen, Walker directs a highly personalised profile of Nepal’s &nbsp;almost-forgotten mountaineering legend, digging up her troubles and triumphs with sensitivity and care. Walker does more than tell the story of perseverance and resilience that go hand-in-hand with climbing, she also tells the story of a matriarch who has to be strong for her family. &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/why-we-climb-mountains">Why we climb mountains</a>, Damien Francois After her 10th Everest ascent, sponsors line up to fund an expedition to even more challenging K2, which Lhakpa climbed last year. Pasang Lhamu’s soul burns brightly in Lhakpa Sherpa, and she sums up her own journey: “I’ll give my life to the mountains, keep climbing until the day I die.” Mountain Queen: Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa Directed by Lucy Walker Netflix, 2024 104 minutes&nbsp;

Pinki Sris Rana

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Daughter of Chomolungma

Jagan Nath Timilsina has summited <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/mt-everest-grows-by-86cm">Mt Everest</a>, won <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/hurtling-through-the-himalaya">the Great Himalayan Race</a>, climbed rock faces. He now runs multiple tourism businesses and spends his summers teaching in Alaska.&nbsp;
Born and raised in Sarangkot, surrounded by the spectacular panorama of the Annapurnas, Timilsina would hike for hours to school every day.&nbsp;
Timilsina wanted to start working as early as possible. At age 13, he went to India to look for a job but was too young to work security. So he came back to Nepal and became a trekking porter at age 14.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/too-many-mules-on-the-everest-trail">Too many mules on the Everest trail</a>, Alton C. Byers
Ambitious and resourceful, he took advantage of the government’s English language and training programs for trekking guides. Timilsina started out as a guide at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/british-pioneers-of-tourism-in-nepal">Himalayan Encounters</a> in 2004, and covered more than 100 trails in Nepal and Tibet over the next 11 years.
“Many porters become guides and stop,” notes Timilsina. “But I always want to take the next step. So I set my sights on mountaineering and climbing.”
He completed courses offered by the Nepal Mountaineering Association and the Khumbu Climbing Center (KCC), learning about avalanche safety, ice climbing and rescue training. Soon after, Timilsina summited Mt Everest. Since then he has scaled 25 other peaks, often leading expeditions.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/trail-running-trail-blazer">Trail-running trail blazer</a>, Sanghamitra Subba
Timilsina wanted to take his education further, so on the recommendation of teachers he met at the KCC, applied to the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), a non-profit outdoor education school founded in Wyoming. On his second attempt, he got into a 15-person course for instructors. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Timilsina's acceptance into the program was conditional: NOLS were stricter with candidates from Nepal, given the country's poor reputation regarding safety. He was surprised with a test about Wilderness First Aid, which Timilsina had passed in Nepal. This time, he failed. &nbsp;
According to protocol, Timilsina should have been sent home, but the instructors decided to give him a second chance: he could go on with the course, but would be retested after. “The course kept me busy from 6AM to PM, so I would study at night by headlamp, getting by on three hours of sleep,” recalls Timilsina.&nbsp;
The second the course finished, Timilsina was whisked away to give his retake. He needed at least a 75 to pass - he got a 99.&nbsp;
The deal was that the best-performing student in the course was offered employment at the institute. Timilsina had a job starting the very next day, and he has kept it, teaching in Alaska every summer.&nbsp;
He uses his experience to run outdoor education courses in Nepal too, including teaching wilderness skills to children with disabilities.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/run-sunmaya-run">Run, Sunmaya, run</a>, Vishad Raj Onta
“Once, the children were caught in a heavy downpour and I was worried,” recalls Timilsina, “but they assured me that it was nothing compared to what they deal with on the daily basis.”
In 2017, Timilsina won the first edition of the Great Himalayan Race, covering 1,600km in 46 days.&nbsp;
“Much of the race was very easy for me. I would get done with the day’s racing early, and spent the rest of the day taking in the beauty of the untouched valleys and cultures along the route.”
Timilsina now splits his time between Pokhara and Kathmandu, running his travel company Freedom Adventures, his non-profit Freedom Social Foundation, and organising races and training through Himalayan Trail Running.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-trail-running-champions">Nepali trail running champions</a>, Preeti Khattri
Harder than juggling all these ventures is navigating Nepal’s labyrinthine bureaucracy. Timilsina says: “It is frustrating to work in Nepal. To trek to Manang, for example, you need permits from four different entities.”&nbsp;
Outdated laws and arbitrary regulations have made things worse. Adding to the challenge is the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/brain-gain-into-brain-drain">phenomenon of outmigration of the young Nepalis</a>, who are often only holding jobs as they wait for visas to be approved.&nbsp;
Despite all this, Timilsina is still optimistic about the future of Nepal’s tourism. He says: “There is endless potential here, but our attitudes around discipline and hard work need to match our ambitions.”

Vishad Raj Onta

Juggernaut Timilsina

Till 4 April, there were only 7 expeditions with 86 mountaineers who have got permits to climb Mt Everest this spring climbing season, much lower than the 47 expeditions and nearly 478 foreign alpinists in spring 2023. It is not clear why the Department of Tourism starts processing applications for Everest climbs only in March when expeditions prepare for years before they plan to climb the world’s highest mountain. It also seems insensitive to include total royalties collected in its tables which suggests that it is only interested in cash and not mountaineering. &nbsp; The Department has been updating its list of expeditions almost every other day this week, and the latest one shows that besides the seven expeditions on Everest, there are three on Ama Dablam, and another three on Annapurna I. Smaller peaks like Himlung (7,126m), Jugal III (6,184m), Putha Hiunchuli (7,246m), and Khangri Shar (6,811m) have one permit each.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/hurtling-through-the-himalaya">Hurtling through the Himalaya</a>, Vishad Onta “It is too early to speculate if there is a drop in numbers,” says Dawa Steven Sherpa of Asian Trekking. “Many expeditions sign up at the last moment, anyway.” Surprisingly, Manaslu (8,163m) which is usually the most popular mountain after Everest does not have a single expedition in the Department’s list. In 2023, there were 23 expeditions with 266 foreign climbers on Manaslu. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/dispelling-myths-about-climbing">Dispelling myths about climbing</a>, Edward Morgan  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240404120412_bb56c0680db45c35795b8d76a47c0e05798207c0d1c5095fa48fd9bd4fa3fb04.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240404120412_bb56c0680db45c35795b8d76a47c0e05798207c0d1c5095fa48fd9bd4fa3fb04" data-rendition-name="original" width="775" height="754" loading="lazy" alt="Where have all the mountaineers gone? Nt #1206"> <figcaption>Source: DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM, HIMALAYAN DATABASE</figcaption> </figure>  The drastic drop this year also translates to a big decrease in the total number of climbers, and the amount of royalty the government collects from climbing fees. This spring's 19 expeditions total only 171 climbers, compared to last year's 61 expeditions bringing 512 foreign climbers. Despite this, the average number of members per expedition this year (9.00) to last year (8.14) is comparable. While the difference in number of expeditions and peaks is stark, mountaineering experts think there is no need for premature fretting.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mt-everest-pvt-ltd?amp=1">Mt Everest (Pvt) Ltd</a>, Vishad Onta Everest summiteer Alan Arnette, who has covered Himalayan climbing for 20 years, agrees that the numbers could pick up: “There is a trend for teams to arrive later and later for Everest. Some start with Annapurna, others just get their permits later. It will pick up.” Nepali mountaineering companies have become more efficient. Ten years ago, an Everest expedition used to be eight weeks long. Now, it takes three weeks and many expeditions climb Annapurna, Dhaulagiri or Cho Oyu early before moving on to Everest, trying to &nbsp;climb two eight-thousanders in one season. March-May is when most mountaineers try to climb Everest because of gentler winds and higher temperatures on the slopes. Sometimes weather windows are open in May for only a few days, leading to traffic jams near the summit. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/without-sherpas-there-is-no-mountaineering">“Without Sherpas, there is no mountaineering”</a>, Bhadra Sharma

Where have all the mountaineers gone?

It has been a century since Mallory and Irvine may or may not have reached the summit of Mt Everest. Mountaineering in Nepal has changed a lot since that first British expedition in 1924. Everest gets bad press for traffic jams at the summit, garbage and frozen corpses below the peak. But such is the draw of the world’s highest mountain that climbers from all over the world just keep coming. The main reason for frequent gridlocks on Sagarmatha is due to a tectonic shift in the business of mountaineering from foreign to domestic operators. Before 2013, Nepali guides were largely just ground handling agents for international expeditions. That was also the year ‘<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Mountain,359" target="_blank">The Everest Brawl’</a> took place at Camp 2, when one hundred Sherpas had the world’s highest fistfight with three European mountaineers climbing Alpine style. After that, Nepali high altitude guides started working directly with international clients, building and marketing their own brands through the Internet. Such direct contact brought down prices because of lower wages, operating costs and liability requirements compared to international companies.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240223030236_1cd924d83b285cd95e71155c8d40562e97a1dcc737ce1145e2a9bdff5fd7cb4b.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240223030236_1cd924d83b285cd95e71155c8d40562e97a1dcc737ce1145e2a9bdff5fd7cb4b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1286" height="809" loading="lazy" alt="Figures: ADAPTED FROM THE HIMALAYAN DATABASE/EDWARD MORGAN"></figure>  “Local companies have vastly improved,” says <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/covid-climate-crises-hit-everest-region" target="_blank">Dawa Steven Sherpa of Asian Trekking</a>. “Nepalis are no longer exclusively in the servant-porter role, with Sherpas now being highly trained, world class mountaineers.” Social media has also changed the Sherpa-climber dynamic by keeping dishonest mountaineers in check. They can no longer go home from expeditions and claim public hero status for carrying out a rescue, when in fact it was the Sherpas who are the saviours<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nims-purja-does-it" target="_blank">. Nims Purja’s Netflix film 14 Peaks</a> established Nepali guides as being world class. Mountaineering is an expensive sport, and lower prices have made it accessible to a much wider range of climbers, and the clients are no longer just from the West but from China, India, Southeast Asia and Nepal itself. Many Chinese climbers prefer to climb from Nepal as requirements are much stricter on the north side of Chomolungma in Tibet – they must have climbed at least one other 8000er before. Most Nepali operators offer expeditions to clients with much less experience. An increase in inexperienced climbers comes with greater risk of fatalities. In fact, Spring 2023 was the deadliest season on Everest with 20 deaths over the season. “People should not be learning how to abseil on Everest,” says <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/billi-bierling-s-life-cycle" target="_blank">Swiss-German journalist and mountaineer Billi Bierling</a>, adding that previous climbing experience makes everything safer for everyone.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240223030228_cb001859c2eccde76cc25431104f44a17fc008e7d29cb08aad19049ab49bce26.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20240223030228_cb001859c2eccde76cc25431104f44a17fc008e7d29cb08aad19049ab49bce26" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Lhotse NT"><figcaption>HIMALAYAN VERTICALS: One of the most challenging routes left in Nepal are on the South Face of Lhotse, 8516m. Photo: KONSTANTINOS SOFIKITIS</figcaption></figure>  Everest summiteer and mountaineering blogger Alan Arnette, recommends that climbers scale at least a 7000er before aiming for Everest. He is also for limiting the number of permits, since problems come up due to overcrowding high on the mountain. Along with more rescues and fatalities, there is also added risk of theft of oxygen bottles and other supplies. Inexperienced climbers also need much more assistance from high altitude guides, and the ratio of Sherpas to climbers on Everest is higher than it has ever been. This does mean more employment for locals, but it also means more trash and more risk for porters on the Khumbu Icefall. The Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality announcement this month that all expeditions will be required to bring down their poop from Everest made headlines around the world, and provided material for comedy shows. But many decades of frozen human waste thawing due to climate change is an issue. Waste Alleviation and Gelling (WAG) bags are now mandatory equipment for expeditions. Long used by soldiers, these poop pouches are lined with deodorising powder. There are doubts about how the new rule can be enforced and monitored. Consolidating waste in drums at Camp II and flying them to Base Camp by chopper has been proposed. Says Arnette: “Tourists paying $100,000 for an expedition are unlikely to bring back their own waste, and it becomes a question of dignity to ask Sherpas to do so for them. The use of these bags comes down to personal responsibility.” The Municipality where Everest Base Camp lies recently announced other rules: each climber on Everest is required to also bring back 8kg of other garbage. Expeditions currently pay a $4,000 deposit which is refunded only after proof of significant trash being brought down. <div class="embed-block"><iframe title="Climbing Permits by Peaks in Nepal Himalaya (in 2023)" aria-label="Donut Chart" id="datawrapper-chart-l6c4n" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/l6c4n/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="600" height="439" data-external="1"></iframe></div> “Officials are quite ready to give this deposit back because, frankly, they don’t know what to do with the money,” notes Dawa Sherpa, who says it is a myth that Nepal’s mountains are dirty. “They are a hell of a lot cleaner than they were.” Sometimes, there are valid reasons to leave garbage behind, such as when a camp is buried by a storm or avalanche. Also, when team members are sick or dying, the priority is their rescue. Many feel that the tradition of assigning liaison officers on paid leave from their civil service jobs to every expedition by the department in Kathmandu is obsolete, and is driven by kickbacks. Liaison officers earn $5,000 worth of daily allowances and most also depend on expeditions even for their sleeping bags and jackets. Many do not even bother to stay at base camp. “How does it make sense that they are policing us when they are reliant on us?” questions Sherpa who says they are a financial and physical burden for expeditions, often requiring more attention at Base Camp than climbing clients. The Municipality has also released a new policy <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/chopper-vs-chauri-below-everest" target="_blank">limiting helicopter ferries</a> and the ‘luxury’ at base camp. The guidelines titled Base Camp Management Procedure 2024 was issued at the start of the spring climbing season, and are seen by many as “eleventh hour media stunts” that simply cannot be enforced. Luxury dome tents with en suite bathrooms are now supposedly banned at Base Camp, so are bakeries, cafes, and even massage tents. There is more: a climber henceforth cannot occupy more than 7.5sq m per sleeping tent, and 1sq m per person in the dining tent.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240223030240_df8ddc7b5551025f5bce6b5d3e529e1a2793ca36da39bd49e9c9464ef4018822.png" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20240223030240_df8ddc7b5551025f5bce6b5d3e529e1a2793ca36da39bd49e9c9464ef4018822" data-rendition-name="original" width="944" height="672" loading="lazy" alt="Expeditions by elevation range"></figure>  The policy also caps expeditions at 15 climbers plus 15 guides to reduce the ecological footprint at Base Camp. But Dawa Sherpa thinks 15 climbers need at least 30 support staff -- one Sherpa per client, kitchen teams, doctors, physios. Sometimes family members want to spend a few days at Base Camp too. Arnette is a proponent of a free market on mountains, and thinks agencies should be allowed to have 5-star expeditions if they want to. “It does increase each climber’s personal footprint per climber, but bigger changes would come from limiting total numbers,” he says. Many of the record high 20 deaths last year on Everest were avoidable had climbers not pushed forward when they should not have, and a larger proportion of the fatalities were on cheaper expeditions with less well-trained members. Despite this, preliminary data shows that the total number of climbers on Everest will surpass even last year’s 683. China is finally opening up the North East Ridge route to foreigners, and this is the last year before a 37% increase in Everest permit fees by Nepal. Currently, climbers have to pay $11,000 royalty from the Nepali side or $18,000 from the Chinese side. Nepali Permits will cost $15,000 per expedition from 2025. Despite many negative stories about Everest, Billi Bierling points to the bright side. “Everybody has their own reason to climb, and the vast majority of people on the slopes are working together.” Arnette concurs: “Everest is a big mountain that can handle hundreds of climbers at a time. Guides need to cooperate to prevent overcrowding on any particular day.”

Mt Everest (Pvt) Ltd

Last spring, I climbed a couple of easy 6,000ers in Nepal with Howard Lister. When we returned to Kathmandu, we had dinner with Richard Salisbury and Rodolphe Popier of The Himalayan Database.&nbsp; For them, Nepal’s 2023 spring climbing season had not been very interesting. Although there was a record number of climbers on Mt Everest and many more on the other 8,000ers in Nepal, almost all fall into what László Pintér calls ‘of only statistical value’ -- commercial expeditions repeating the ordinary routes on 8,000ers.&nbsp; It could seem like Himalayan climbing (defined as making new routes and early repeats) is in decline. There are a couple of myths about Himalayan climbing, that should be dispelled: &nbsp; Myth 1: The Himalaya is Crowded The record numbers of permits given for Everest and the famous images of queues of climbers on the South-East Ridge might make a casual observer think that the Himalaya is crowded. This is far from being the case.&nbsp; In the 2023 pre-monsoon season, 1,176 climbers were granted permits for the 374 ‘open’ mountains, making an average of only three climbers per mountain. That does not sound too crowded, but the distribution of climbers is indeed unbalanced. László writes about ‘guided summit collectors who seek fame’, and these were massively concentrated on 8,000m peaks with 41% of the climbers on Everest. Even there, they were almost all on the South Col route.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mt-everest-pvt-ltd">Mt Everest (Pvt) Ltd</a>, Vishad Onta Another 31% were on normal routes on Nepal's six other 8,000m peaks. Of the remaining 329, a quarter of the climbers were on Ama Dablam and a fifth on Everest’s near neighbour, Nuptse.&nbsp; That left another 187 climbers spread amongst 365 peaks, of which 346 had no visitors at all. If you want solitude in Nepal, it is not difficult to find. The magic 8,000m line has a massive influence on the choice of climbing objective. Whilst 847 people tried mountains of above 8,000m, with the exception of Nuptse, there were no attempts on any of the other 23 mountains between 7,500m and 8,000m.&nbsp; Myth 2: There Are No Climbing Challenges Left ‘Guided summit collectors’ tend to make up increasingly contorted claims to fame (‘first left-handed Zimbabwean’ or the ‘oldest dyslexic dentist’ to climb Everest). The casual observer might assume this is because there are no real climbing challenges left. That is absolutely not the case.&nbsp; Let us start with Lhotse, which essentially has three faces and three ridges. None of the ridges have ever been climbed, and almost all ascents have been by a single route on the North-West Face. The South Face was climbed 33 years ago, and waits for a repeat. This is a very wide wall on which multiple different lines would be possible. The North East Face of Lhotse has not even seen an attempt. Some of the other 8,000ers have had the most obvious routes picked off, but there are other climbing objectives to last a few centuries at the current rate of progress. The high 7,000ers in Nepal are mountains which differ from the 8,000ers only by being slightly below an arbitrary height line.&nbsp; Read also,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/without-sherpas-there-is-no-mountaineering"> “Without Sherpas, there is no mountaineering”</a>, Bhadra Sharma Gyachung Kang, the world’s 15th highest mountain, is less than 50m short of being an eight thousander, but it has only had 10 ascents and no attempts for 18 years.&nbsp; Next is Annapurna II, which has been climbed only 5-6 times. For some Annapurna II may sound like a minor sub-peak of Annapurna, but being 30km away from Annapurna I and with a prominence of nearly 2,500m makes it indisputably a separate mountain.&nbsp; But these days hardly anyone attempts Annapurna II. There were 16 expeditions to it in the 1980s, three in the 1990s and three in the 2000s, but only one since 2008.&nbsp; Dhaulagiri, like Annapurna, is a name given to a series of mountains in a massif with Dhaulagiri II, III, IV and V -- all above 7,600m. Dhaulagiri III, IV and V may be considered subsidiary tops of Dhaulagiri II, but Dhaulagiri II is every bit as independent as Annapurna II, yet has received only 10 ascents, the last in 1986. None of Dhaulagiri III, IV or V have been attempted since the 1970s.&nbsp; If you Google ‘what is the most dangerous mountain in the world?’ you will get an answer based on the somewhat nonsensical measure of dividing the number of deaths by the number of successful summit climbers. It is declared to be Annapurna I followed by K2 and Nanga Parbat.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/letters-from-everest-base-camp-1-vfqcer0e">Letters from Everest Base Camp 1</a>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240223060240_e4eb40276b95d06a98879c513b6e2d327ace35092e7b108b61497887e9fade3f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240223060240_e4eb40276b95d06a98879c513b6e2d327ace35092e7b108b61497887e9fade3f" data-rendition-name="original" width="595" height="842" loading="lazy" alt="Dangerous mountain"> </figure>  This is wrong because it only looks at 8,000m peaks. Annapurna is often quoted as having a ‘fatality rate’ of 32% (although the large number of commercial climbs in the last few years have brought this down to under 20%).&nbsp; That certainly does not make it the most dangerous mountain in the world. Twelve climbers have summitted Dhaulagiri IV, but 14 have died while trying, so the fatality rate on that peak is 117%. But Ngadi Chuli (Peak 29) is the world’s 20th highest mountain at 7,871m. It has had only two summiteers, but five people have died while trying, giving it a fatality rate of 250%. It has not even been attempted for more than 40 years. There is plenty of scope for new routes on all of these mountains. Excluding variants, Annapurna II has been climbed by two routes, Peak 29 by two, Dhaulagiri II by only one.&nbsp; And then there are mountains that have never been climbed like Shartse, a 7,591m peak on the East Ridge of Lhotse Shar.&nbsp; There are still some bold climbers making fantastic ascents, like Ukrainians Nikita Balabanov, Mikail Fomin and Viacheslav Polezhaiko on the South-East ridge of Annapurna III in 2021.&nbsp; The French pair of Boris Langenstein and Tiphaine Duperier last year explored the possibility of ascending the huge and untouched North East Face of Dhaulagiri II. Their plan to climb up and ski down was thwarted by route finding difficulties and bad weather, but this was a real pioneering attempt.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/chopper-vs-chauri-below-everest">Chopper vs Chauri below Everest</a>, Bhadra Sharma One of the finest climbs on a high 7,000er was the alpine style ascent of a partially new route on the daunting North Face of Jannu by Americans Matt Cornell, Alan Rousseau and Jackson Marvell last autumn. If we compare the proportion of expeditions to the seven 8,000ers and the highest seven 7,000ers in the Nepal Himalaya by decade, we can see the picture very clearly. Mostly non-guided climbing of 7,000ers, making new routes and first or early ascents, peaked in the 1980s and has been much lower since, while 8,000m climbing, mainly by commercial expeditions, is growing almost exponentially.&nbsp; While ‘real’ Himalayan Climbing is not dying, it is declining and carried out by a relatively small number of highly talented climbers.&nbsp; That situation is masked by the large numbers of climbers on commercial routes on Everest, the other 8,000ers and a handful of popular mountains and by the publicity these climbs receive. The lack of such ‘adventurous climbs’ is not because there are no worthwhile objectives. Himalayan climbing is dangerous even on the heavily populated and well equipped mountains, and it is even more so for those who venture away from well-trodden paths to seek new challenges.&nbsp; Anyone who attempts such exploits needs to make their own mind up about the risks and difficulties involved. But if anyone believes there are no climbing challenges left in the Himalaya or that all mountaineering in Nepal involves long queues on fixed ropes, then they are absolutely wrong. &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/himalayans-on-the-frontlines">Himalayans on the frontlines</a>, Ang Tshering Sherpa  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024022306024_d9a02bfe0967c9647b5d4d02aef5eb4ee985c7b16e8f142fc176c5e07080c8b5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2024022306024_d9a02bfe0967c9647b5d4d02aef5eb4ee985c7b16e8f142fc176c5e07080c8b5" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Edward Morgan Book Details"> </figure>  Edward Morgan is the author of Lhotse South Face – The Wall of Legends. &nbsp;

Dispelling myths about climbing

At the start of 2023 I was working in a bank, by the end of the year I was standing at the top of Gokyo Ri watching as the last light of the day hit the top of Everest. If you had told the January 2023 version of me what my life would be like now, I would have laughed. I have spent the last five months in Nepal, while this is my fourth time in Nepal, it has been the first time that I have properly lived in the country and my first time pursuing my passion for journalism and photography. There is something magical about Nepal that is apparent from the moment you arrive - a sense of comfort and innumerable possibilities. It is a rare thing to visit a new country and immediately feel at ease. I never knew it was possible to be overcome with nostalgia for a place I had never visited before until I came to Kathmandu.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240208060252_97157c465c2bf34d65eb7af17bcac6d2204042f1fc4c51b6de30047155f98c51.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240208060252_97157c465c2bf34d65eb7af17bcac6d2204042f1fc4c51b6de30047155f98c51" data-rendition-name="original" width="4992" height="3328" loading="lazy" alt="Aisha blog3"></figure>  Throughout my time at the Nepali Times, I have written about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/a-flowering-artform">Nepali botanical art</a>,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/just-jazz-in-kathmandu"> jazz festivals</a>, profiled an ex-soldier and athlete, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mobile-rule-makes-nepal-immobile">mobile phone legislation</a>, climate change, and Nepali <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/business/nepali-chef-s-french-connection">cuisine</a>. I have found that journalism is a wonderful vehicle through which one can develop a better understanding of the world and one’s place in it, and, ultimately, learn and experience things that you would otherwise never have the opportunity to. I have been able to learn more about Nepal, its culture, and its society. By writing articles for the Nepali Times, I’ve been able to join together the diverse fragments of Nepal that I have experienced into one cohesive tapestry. The highlight has been meeting the people and having the opportunity to share their stories. In October in the Annapurna Region, I had the good fortune of meeting Captain Poon when I stayed at his teahouse in Ghorepani, who graciously shared with me his incredible life story. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/ex-soldier-dives-into-business-and-politics">Captain Poon</a>’s life can only be described as remarkable, he began his journey as a Gurkha before becoming an international diving champion only to then become a business owner, a politician, and a local hero. I loved being able to learn more about his life and ultimately share his story so that others could also have the privilege of knowing him. Seeing the reaction to the story by him, and his family, was truly wonderful and allowed me to realise the power and impact that stories can have, and the ability of journalism to allow people to connect with the lives of those even in the most remote of places.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240208060252_d904f5a6fa3dc0181b5eeadae1e37399dadb7a8d80a310a97b7af1c31e020463.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240208060252_d904f5a6fa3dc0181b5eeadae1e37399dadb7a8d80a310a97b7af1c31e020463" data-rendition-name="original" width="2948" height="2806" loading="lazy" alt="Aisha blog2"></figure>  Naturally, no trip to Nepal would be complete without a trek, so I spent the first two weeks of December journeying to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/go-gokyo">Gokyo Ri</a>. It was a spellbinding experience, the deafening beauty of Nepal’s mountains was heightened by the fact that for the majority of the journey, the only people on the narrow paths were the guide and I. The sheer scale of the towering mountains and the vast and expansive landscapes were so overwhelming that I often felt the urge to look away. In the best possible way, I had never felt so small in my life, talk about giving you a sense of perspective. However, my perspective was also altered in another way - while I was able to witness the diverse beauty of the Khumbu region, I also witnessed the devastating impact that climate change is already having on the beautiful Himalayas. Despite being in one of the highest places in the world and in the depths of winter, there was a distinct lack of ice and snow, this was most notable looking down on the Everest Range, where the snow was sparse at best where even the tallest mountain in the world looked bare. In Europe, talk is cheap, and climate change is treated as a selling point but it is these regions such as Khumbu that will be the most affected. It was truly an eye-opening experience that I will forever remember.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240208060256_58f188835a61d00c9b1640020703021355c324cc4ead410cec28fffd1ddfff0d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20240208060256_58f188835a61d00c9b1640020703021355c324cc4ead410cec28fffd1ddfff0d" data-rendition-name="original" width="4096" height="2730" loading="lazy" alt="Aisha blog 5"></figure>  Another thing that was particularly striking was witnessing the different attitudes towards life and death in Nepal, especially in comparison to Western perceptions. A few days after landing in the country, I had the privilege to experience Gai Jatra in Bhaktapur, a celebration of life in the face of death, for those who had lost loved ones the previous year, it is a chance to celebrate their honour, very much reminiscent of the “Day of the Dead”. Generally speaking, in “the West” we shy away from death, refuse to speak of its existence and ultimately dedicate our lives to delaying the inevitable. Through festivals like Gai Jatra, I found that death became not a scary, elephant in the room, nor a source of tragedy but rather an opportunity to celebrate life, to bring people together, to create a sense of hope. Life and death are not beginnings and endings but rather part of the constant passage of time. No place is a better embodiment of the refreshing Nepali attitude toward mortality than Pashupathinath where I was lucky enough to witness the evening prayer, and to put it plainly, I had never seen anything like it. The exuberant atmosphere would never make you think that is technically a site of death. While grieving families cremated their lost loved ones, 100m away were people singing and dancing, and street vendors selling cotton candy. One would think that this would be a juxtaposition but upon reflection, perhaps not, perhaps joy and grieving need not be mutually exclusive.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240208060252_4c6d8eac5bd31e5b757be8980be6e86541e27c8647d33ed11f48cce0f022eba8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20240208060252_4c6d8eac5bd31e5b757be8980be6e86541e27c8647d33ed11f48cce0f022eba8" data-rendition-name="original" width="3120" height="2080" loading="lazy" alt="Aisha blog4"></figure>  At the risk of sounding clichè, the more of Nepal I experienced, the more Anthony Bourdain’s “travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering on the unknown” rang true. There is nothing more rewarding than getting to know a place, to slowly peel back the layers of expatriate separation, and begin the process of making a new place your home. There is truly no place easier to make your home than Nepal, the country is warm and welcoming, and its people even more so. Journalism has provided me the opportunity to unfurl my tourist pre-conceptions of Nepal and enabled me to dive head first into the complexities of this magical country. I found that just when you think you have experienced everything that Nepal has to offer, something shifts and a completely new, unexpected side of the country is serendipitously revealed.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240208060256_4e6f6f0d70a4e07f8bdf5a668b96b7baf04d3e8a060c924d442505b60867d531.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20240208060256_4e6f6f0d70a4e07f8bdf5a668b96b7baf04d3e8a060c924d442505b60867d531" data-rendition-name="original" width="2080" height="3120" loading="lazy" alt="Aisha blog 6"></figure>  As someone who grew up reading Tintin and spent their teens idolising Anthony Bourdain, this experience has been the manifestation of my childhood daydreams. I witnessed the sun setting over the World’s tallest mountain, visited the holiest of temples, tried the sweetest of foods, and most importantly, met the most incredible of people. While a part of my heart breaks that this experience has come to an end, I do not feel bitter or forlorn, rather I am filled with immense gratitude. I have never experienced such kindness and joy as I have from the Nepali people and I hope to take some of that warmth back with me to Europe. Namaste Nepal, and thank you for everything.

Beyond the pre-conceptions of Nepal

Around 7,000 people have now reached the highest point on the planet, the top of Mt Everest since it was first scaled by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. But only one bottle of whisky has ever made it to the top, and that was on 23 May this year. And not just any whisky, but a unique bottle of Royal Salute Coronation of King Charles III Edition, one of only 500 crystal decanters specially created to mark the new British King’s crowning in Westminster Abbey.&nbsp; Priced at a whopping US$25,000, the amber spirit is ‘a luxurious blend of 53 rare malt and grain whiskies’. A limited edition reflecting the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s ascension to the throne, the birth of the Royal Salute brand and the year of Everest’s historic first ascent. And not just for any trivial reason, but as a contribution to the 70th anniversary celebration events the flagon number 61 of the precious Scotch donated by Chivas Bros will be auctioned to benefit the people of the Himalaya at a charity fundraising event in London hosted by Bear Grylls, Peter Hillary and Jamling Norgay, sons of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230615060636_0e53489e3de477205f41a44e221ae430a97b8d51f751ec0fbaa9fa8e32c02af5.png" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20230615060636_0e53489e3de477205f41a44e221ae430a97b8d51f751ec0fbaa9fa8e32c02af5" data-rendition-name="original" width="1192" height="976" loading="lazy" alt="First Scotch on the summit of Everest"> <figcaption>Representing their parents on the 70th anniversary, Sue Leyden, Peter Hillary and Jamling Norgay are received by King Charles III in Buckingham Palace.</figcaption> </figure>  The first ever bottle of Scotch to reach the top has notched up yet another record on Sagarmatha, to be added to the list of wondrous, admirable, astonishing and sometimes frankly bizarre summit successes.&nbsp; To great relief all round, the bottle survived the gruelling ascent, not in its elaborate presentation box but carefully packed in bubble wrap and duct-tape by Adventure Consultants' expedition leader and Khumbu afficionado, Guy Cotter. The expensive content remained intact in the skilled, courageous and capable care of Nepali mountain guide Ang Dorjee Sherpa on his 22nd Everest summit.&nbsp; The story of how the bottle got to the top started 20 years ago at the 50th anniversary when Sir Ed Hillary himself was presented with a 50-year-old bottle of Chivas Regal by brand leader Peter Prentice and the Duke of Argyll in full highland dress. Bearing the bottle aloft in tartan kilts, the music of massed bagpipes stunned the audience in the <a href="http://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/past-everest-anniversaries">Hyatt Ballroom on 29 May 2003</a>.&nbsp; I suggested to Peter Prentice that Royal Salute might like to follow this up by donating a bottle to the Everest70 auction along with an escorted tour of Speyside distilleries. The French owners were reluctant and slow to respond, distracted by the London promotion. Peter and I persisted, and their interest piqued when I rashly proposed added value with an attempted Everest summit.&nbsp; You never know what is going to happen on any expedition, and it was with some trepidation one warm spring afternoon at lunch in a Kathmandu courtyard that I requested Guy Cotter to arrange for this very special bottle to be carried to the summit with one of his Adventure Consultant’s guides.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230615060632_820b9af0353ae9eb0f26d72764fbc0780a82d63111317c9c04f9a995fab5d800.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230615060632_820b9af0353ae9eb0f26d72764fbc0780a82d63111317c9c04f9a995fab5d800" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1536" loading="lazy" alt="First Scotch on the summit of Everest"> <figcaption>With relief and triumph, Guy Cotter and I return to Royal Salute whisky safely back from the summit of Everest to be auctioned by Sir Graham Wrigley, Chair of Himalayan Trust UK Photo: Suze Kelley Adventure Consultants</figcaption> </figure>  A consummate professional mountaineer and Himalayan Trust member, Guy did not hesitate. It would obviously be an additional burden to his team and no unnecessary risks would be taken, but in essence: ‘Yes, but no guarantees.’&nbsp; Peter was jubilant, and a Royal Salute bottle was delivered to me by courier in London in late April. Not daring to mess with the packaging, it reached Kathmandu carefully wedged in my suitcase. Still wrapped, I handed over the Scotch to Iswari Paudel of Himalayan Guides Nepal, Guy’s long-time partner agency.&nbsp; The instructions were to send the package by helicopter directly to Everest Base Camp, but Guy later told me there were some anxious days when the bottle went missing having been despatched by mistake via Lukla. Luckily it turned up at the Adventure Consultants camp with a client who had no idea of its importance.&nbsp; Although a cold and difficult year on Everest, the Adventure Consultants team achieved their goals. Originally from Pangboche, Ang Dorjee’s famous father Nima Tenzing climbed new routes with Chris Bonington in the 1970s. By chance, Sir Chris will be present when the bottle is auctioned by Himalayan Trust in London, with all proceeds <a href="http://www.himalayantrust.co.uk">benefiting health, education and women’s projects</a> throughout the Everest and Kangchenchunga regions.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230615060640_99d9aed63e404d3fc2b09383bc0578a094f3b1f56cb73ec93090965598b03cb5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20230615060640_99d9aed63e404d3fc2b09383bc0578a094f3b1f56cb73ec93090965598b03cb5" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1536" loading="lazy" alt="First Scotch on the summit of Everest"> <figcaption>Guy Cotter expedition leader and Ang Dorgee Sherpa with the Royal Salute Coronation of King Charles III Edition whisky back from the summit of Everest Photo: Suze Kelly Adventure Consultants</figcaption> </figure>  In a Lazimpat garden, Guy and I returned the Royal Salute bottle with triumph to Sir Graham Wrigley, Chairman of Himalayan Trust UK and former Chair of British International Investment PLC -- still in its summit packaging. It was Graham who had first conceived the <a href="http://www.everest70.com">Everest70 celebration</a> programme, arranging with Tenzing, Hillary and Hunt’s descendants to trace the journey of the original expedition from Khumbu to Kathmandu, Delhi and London. He had co-opted me to help him coordinate in Nepal. Seventieth memorials to honour the anniversary with the families included Khumbu treks, curated films, talk programmes, lauding summiteers, lectures, processions, openings, unveilings, speeches, receptions and parties. Everest70 celebrations culminate this week in London with the fundraising auction, a Nepal Embassy party and program at the Royal Geographical Society with Kenton Cool, Stephen Venables and Hari Budha Magar. The families have had audiences with Nepal President Ram Chandra Poudel in Kathmandu and King Charles III in Buckingham Palace.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230615060644_7747d60cdd316822189faf66cd7a81eee316f1af90363958d36d930b614434bd.png" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20230615060644_7747d60cdd316822189faf66cd7a81eee316f1af90363958d36d930b614434bd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1538" height="1152" loading="lazy" alt="First Scotch on the summit of Everest"> <figcaption>Jamling Norgay speaking at the Royal Geographic Society Everest celebration in London this week Photo: Sir Graham Wrigley</figcaption> </figure>  I was in Khumbu on 29 May this year for events to mark the 70 years. It included the opening of Sir Edmund Hillary Visitor Centre in Khumjung’s refitted ‘schoolhouse in the clouds’ by New Zealand’s former Prime Minister Helen Clark, and the Tenzing Norgay Heritage Centre with Kanchha Sherpa, the only surviving member of the 1953 expedition.&nbsp; Helen Clark used the global media attention for a powerful call to action on climate change and its Himalayan impacts. A new 70 km loop was added to the Everest Marathon as an ultra-extreme option, rhododendrons were planted by distinguished guests, the music of local instruments reverberated around the white peaks, Sherpa dancers stomped and swirled, and a couple of skydivers filled the sky with a huge Nepali flag above Syangboche.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230615060644_df54e2fd22ff654dad30f04a2d254ad058ceeea5162515cb33054d6f54ced6e4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20230615060644_df54e2fd22ff654dad30f04a2d254ad058ceeea5162515cb33054d6f54ced6e4" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="2268" loading="lazy" alt="First Scotch on the summit of Everest"> <figcaption>Peter Hillary, son of Sir Ed with Rt Hon Helen Clark at the Lukla celebrations.</figcaption> </figure>  The weather was kind and as Everest slipped behind the clouds Sue Leyden, daughter of expedition leader John Hunt, reminded me that Tenzing and Hillary were ‘the right people’ to have made the first ascent, two humble men who both gave so much back to the people of Nepal. She remembered the moment when the news reached London, &nbsp;the day that changed their lives forever. She was 12 years old and sharing a bath with her sisters.&nbsp;

Lisa Choegyal

First Scotch on the summit of Everest

&nbsp;At 8:30AM on 13 May, Jacob Weasel, MD, became the first Native American to summit Mt Everest. Standing on the world’s tallest peak, the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe member suddenly felt a deep connection with his ancestors from the other side of the planet. And he also felt an immense sense of pride for not just his Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, but for all First Nation communities from the Americas and the world. “My journey to becoming a surgeon and scaling Mt Everest is a story of perseverance, determination, and community support,” Weasel, 36, told Nepali Times in Kathmandu after the climb. “I am humbled by the encouragement I have received and proud to carry my people's legacy forward.” Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/to-the-base-of-everest-on-one-kidney">To the base of Everest on one kidney</a>, Shristi Karki  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230528140536_f06f00aeab12619a8a0f362d84aa2c8aacfa41ae3e5436c95b503448bb1986cf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20230528140536_f06f00aeab12619a8a0f362d84aa2c8aacfa41ae3e5436c95b503448bb1986cf" data-rendition-name="original" width="622" height="902" loading="lazy" alt="First Native American on world’s tallest peak NT 4"> <figcaption> Photos courtesy: JACOB WEASEL</figcaption> </figure>  Weasel is also the first and the only person to become a surgeon from his tribe. Over 70% of Sioux children drop out of school, families are poor and the unemployment rate is high. Few go on to get a college education, or have prestigious professions so a surgeon-mountaineer could not be further from the stereotype. But young Jacob Weasel was so inspired by the story of Sophia Dannenberg, the first African American and the first Black woman to summit Mt Everest in 2003 that he started researching her, and was surprised to find that no Native American has ever climbed the mountain. “It took a year and a half of relentless exploration, alongside pursuing my education and medical career,” he said. “I completed my undergraduate studies, medical school, and surgical training all the while keeping the mountains in my heart.” Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-70-years-on">Everest 70 years on</a>, Lisa Choegyal  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230528140540_e68e3c2d90fdd0e65773676d47193eb78462e64c1509de70e663d9c7e1d2146e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20230528140540_e68e3c2d90fdd0e65773676d47193eb78462e64c1509de70e663d9c7e1d2146e" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="First Native American on world’s tallest peak NT 5"> <figcaption>Jacob Weasel was inspired by Sophia Dannenberg, the first African Amercian woman to climb Everest.</figcaption> </figure>  Weasel and his two siblings were born in New Mexico and they moved to Omaha with their parents when Jacob was only 12. But only he went on to finish college, and studied medicine in South Dakota. His father was born on a reservation, and had a challenging upbringing within a broken family. He dropped out of school in eighth grade and was pushed into drug dealing. But he managed to leave it behind, passed his GED test, attended Bible school, and became a pastor. Weasel started climbing at Mt Rainier and went on various expeditions including ones to Ecuador, Kilimanjaro, and Denali, fuelling his passion even more. But the goal was always to get atop the world’s highest mountain. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/the-pinnacle-of-determination-and-courage">The pinnacle of determination and courage</a>, Bhadra Sharma <div class="embed-block"><div style="max-width: 56vh;"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 177.7778%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutube.com%2Fshorts%2Fklrh1pC4sPI%3Ffeature%3Dshare&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media *;"></iframe></div></div>Video: JACOB WEASEL</div> However, an Everest expedition meant much money and time, physical and mental strength and lots of training. But the fundraising efforts paid off, and Weasel was off to Nepal earlier this year.&nbsp; Things were much tougher than he imagined: the weather was harsh this spring, the Khumbu Icefall was treacherous as ever, and the north wall of Nuptse was heavy with new snow. The high altitude also took a toll on Weasel, each step felt like a tremendous effort, and monitoring oxygen levels became important. Weasel and his Nepali guides also narrowly survived avalanches in the Khumbu Icefall.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/billi-bierling-s-life-cycle">Billi Bierling’s life cycle</a>, Pradnya Pradhan <div class="embed-block"><div style="max-width: 56vh;"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 177.7778%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutube.com%2Fshorts%2FD-xXsu0CAU4%3Ffeature%3Dshare&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media *;"></iframe></div></div>VIDEO: JACOB WEASEL</div> Finally approaching the summit on a clear but windy morning, Weasel unfurled his Cheyenne River Sioux flag, with an eagle feather securely packed in red cloth in his backpack for protection.&nbsp; “It was an honour to carry my tribe's symbol to Earth's highest point,” Weasel told us. For Weasel, climbing Everest was not the only achievement, it was also to visit an Asian country for the first time and see how he can contribute as a medical practitioner to Nepal’s healthcare. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/high-himalayan-rescue">High Himalayan rescue</a>, Buddha Basnyat and Gobi Bashyal  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230528140540_2e503e0070e8e0db449d62324d92af0ccece8edb34f0ac58707087f5413be956.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20230528140540_2e503e0070e8e0db449d62324d92af0ccece8edb34f0ac58707087f5413be956" data-rendition-name="original" width="3716" height="2787" loading="lazy" alt="First Native American on world’s tallest peak NT 6"> <figcaption>Panoramic view of Everest as Jacob Weasel summitted the mountain.</figcaption> </figure>  “Leveraging my medical background, I aim to improve access to healthcare services, particularly for women and children in Nepal’s rural areas with limited resources,” he said. He wants to fundraise to build women's health clinics and birthing centres in Nepal in collaboration with local organisations working exclusively on maternal health like One Heart Worldwide. “I feel so welcomed here, Nepalis have been generous and shared wisdom, and taught me about resilience, humility, and the indomitable human spirit,” he said with feeling. “Leaving Everest, I carry those lessons to respect the mountains and the people who live among them.”&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/on-mt-everest-s-70th-records-and-fatalities">On Mt Everest’s 70th, records and fatalities</a>, Pradnya Pradhan  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230528140536_66c25ad0-bcb9-42d0-aece-4bd7e18f0e7d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20230528140536_66c25ad0-bcb9-42d0-aece-4bd7e18f0e7d" data-rendition-name="original" width="3024" height="4032" loading="lazy" alt="First Native American on world’s tallest peak NT 3"> <figcaption>Weasel wants to help Nepal-based organisations like One Heart Worldwide build women's health clinics and birthing center.</figcaption> </figure>  Excited by his Everest success, Weasel now plans to become the first Native American to climb all seven highest peaks in the seven continents and complete the Explorers Grand Slam by reaching the North and South Poles. With his adventures, Weasel wants to create a ripple effect of positive change that extends beyond individual mountaineering achievements. His ultimate goal is to raise awareness about and support Native American communities. He wants his mountaineering feats to inspire others in his community to realise their potential, pursue their passion, break barriers, embrace their cultural heritage, and actively contribute to building stronger and more resilient communities. What is his most important take-home? Weasel replied: “With perseverance and support, we can overcome obstacles and achieve extraordinary things. Let us uplift and empower one another.”&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/without-sherpas-there-is-no-mountaineering">“Without Sherpas, there is no mountaineering”</a>, Bhadra Sharma

First Native American on world’s tallest peak

This has been a season of new records on Nepal’s Himalayan peaks, with more than 1,000 mountaineers attempting 25 peaks. Mt Everest alone has more than half those climbers, exceeding the pre-pandemic peak in 2019. High winds and early pre-monsoon blizzards are expected to hit the mountain this week, and climbers are scrambling to the summit before the season officially closes on 1 June. So far this year, at least 10 climbers have died on Mt Everest alone, but many records have also been broken, including some multiple times on successive days. Kami Rita Sherpa summited Mt Everest twice in one season, taking his total to 28 times. Kami Rita is once again ahead of Pasang Dawa Sherpa who had tied his record of climbing 27 times only 24 hours previously.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230523150540_a3ec9f5f2680fa993f71e5257a10a5a98b20d151185ac41a755e6af3e93c60a5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20230523150540_a3ec9f5f2680fa993f71e5257a10a5a98b20d151185ac41a755e6af3e93c60a5" data-rendition-name="original" width="1293" height="709" loading="lazy" alt="Kami Rita SHerpa"><figcaption>Kami Rita Sherpa</figcaption></figure>  More than 500 people have summited Mt Everest this season, and that is another record, but the climbers have spread themselves out to prevent a repeat of the notorious traffic jams that gave Himalayan climbing a bad reputation in 2018. This year is the 99th anniversary of the disappearance of Mallory and Irvine on the north ridge of Everest in 1924, and the 60th year of the first traverse of the world’s highest mountain up the West Ridge and down the South Col route by Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld of the 1963 Mt Everest expedition. Hornbein died earlier this month, only 16 days shy of the 60th anniversary of the historic climb. With the record numbers of climbers, there has also been the problem of waste. Although a Nepal Army expedition his season cleaned up some of the trash left by previous years’ expeditions, it represented a small proportion of the garbage. The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) requires each expedition group to deposit $4,000 which is refunded if everyone brings back at least 8kg of garbage even though an average climber leaves behind much more. “I believe that climbers who spend five to six weeks on an expedition produce more waste than that,” says Billi Bierling of the Himalayan Database. Human waste from Base Camp is supposed to be carried to a landfill in Gorakshep lower down the valley. Plans are underway to build a biogas plant generating methane gas from waste to heat base camp. Besides the race for records by Kami Rita and Pasang Dawa Sherpa, there were other records. Kilian Jornet, a Spanish ultra-runner who summited Everest twice in a week without supplemental oxygen in 2017, is back on Lhotse trying out a non-standard different route. The gender gap is closing on Mt Everest with more and more women attempting to summit each season. Nearly 7,000 different climbers have summited Mt Everest, and out of them 822 were women. Only nine of them have reached the top without bottled oxygen, compared to 154 men. This season, several women are attempting to climb Everest without supplemental oxygen. Among them is Nepali Dabuti Sherpa and if she succeeds, will be the first Nepali woman to have achieved this on the 45th anniversary of the first Everest ascent without bottled oxygen by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler in 1978. Another climber who made history this year was Hari Budha Magar, a double above-the-knee amputee who lost both of his legs in Afghanistan. After being discharged from the British Gurkha, Hari had been training to climb Mt Everest since 2017 with special gear. Magar is a climate champion and is raising funds 100 times more than the height of Mt Everest (£884,900) for charities that helped rehabilitate him.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230523150540_44bb6ef305565b0ab5af3439c20e2efc5f7ef3239eb39dffab0f9cf0f52a9ded.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20230523150540_44bb6ef305565b0ab5af3439c20e2efc5f7ef3239eb39dffab0f9cf0f52a9ded" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="854" loading="lazy" alt="Hari Budha Magar"></figure>  Other notable climbs included Naila Kiani’s summit which made her the first Pakistani woman to get on top of five highest mountains, and compatriot Sajid Ali Sadpara, who was the first Pakistani to climb Everest without oxygen and plans to climb the remaining seven eight-thousanders. Vietnamese climber Nguyên Thi Thanh Nhā became the first Vietnamese woman to reach the Everest summit, and Xu Zhuoyuan, 16, became the youngest Chinese female climber to get to the top of the world’s highest mountain. Both climbs were made from the Nepal side, since there is only one national Chinese expedition from the north. There have been 10 deaths on Mt Everest from icefall collapse, exhaustion and high altitude cerebral edema. Although there have been seasons with more deaths (avalanches in 2014 and 2015 killed a total of 34 climbers) the average is four fatalities per season. Annapurna 1 recorded fatalities early in the season. An avalanche forced climbers off higher camps, three of them were reported missing, one Indian climber was miraculously rescued from a crevasse after three days. And Noel Hanna, a renowned Irish mountaineer died at Camp 4 the night after he summited the world’s tenth highest mountain. Several mountaineers who had reached the top were airlifted from high camps raising questions from purists whether theirs could be really called a ‘summit’. Mountaineers Jonathan Lamy from France and Pakistani Naila Kiani were caught in the middle of that debate. The Himalayan Database has introduced a new category of summits that indicates whether a climb was ‘aviation assisted’. On 3 May, Norwegian Kristen Harila, atop Cho Oyu, became the fastest woman to climb all 14 eight thousanders in a year. She had planned to break Nims Purja’s record of summiting all 14 peaks in six months and six days, but could not get a Chinese visa last autumn for Cho Oyu and Shishapangma. Harila now aims to climb all 8,000 mountains again, this time in four months, and is re-climbing the mountains all over again, summiting Lhotse and Everest in a record eight hours on Monday. Counting Shishapangma on 26 April and Cho Oyu on 3 May, Kristen has begun her 2023 ‘14 Peaks’ attempt in less than 6 months. She has already completed 4/14 peaks, climbing Makalu on 13 May and Kanchenjunga on 18 May in under 22 days. Her website allows her followers to track her rapidly progressing journey with an online GPS. “Since Nims (Nirmal Purja) climbed the 14 8,000ers in record time, there has been a shift in mountaineering,” says Billi Bierling talking about the athleticism and speed which is now sought in the high Himalayas. Harila’s record surpassed her female predecessors’ by years, one of them Austrian mountaineer Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner who took 14 years to ascend all 14 8,000 peaks. Harila has climbed expedition style, while Kaltnebrunner is a true alpinist who climbs without supplementary oxygen and Sherpa and helicopter support. Alpine style climbing is what Polish climber Votyek Kurtyka describes as "meeting the mountain one-on-one" and is gradually being displaced by commercial military-style assaults on mountains. Experts say the style of climbing is more important than record-setting. With commercial expeditions, there were also reports of theft of oxygen cylinders, climbing equipment and food at higher camps, including the South Col this season. But there are still less-publicised alpine style climbs, including a new route on Kabru South (7,318m) by a team of Slovak and Solvenian climbers who got to the top of this side peak of Kangchenjunga without oxygen, Sherpas and setting up tent camps. On Dhaulagiri 1 Bartek Ziemski from Poland became the first person to complete a full ski descent of Dhaulagiri, the world’s seventh highest. Two Russian climbers also skied down Mt Everest, but it is not clear where they started and where they stopped. High winds are battering the mountains ahead of this week’s storms, and there will be many at base camps following the progress of the last summit teams.

On Mt Everest’s 70th, records and fatalities

Kami Rita Sherpa broke his own record last week when he climbed the world’s highest mountain for the 27th time, keeping ahead of compatriot Pasang Dawa Sherpa who had tied his 26th climb earlier this season. Kami Rita <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/i-can-do-it-25-times">has been climbing Mt Everest </a>every year since the first time he helped an international expedition get to the summit in 1994, sometimes reaching the top twice in the same season. The only years he could not climb were in 2014 and 2015 because of deadly avalanches, and in 2020 due to the pandemic. But Kami Rita says with characteristic understatement that for him it has never been about the record. It is just another job that requires him to guide expeditions to the top, and it is a job he does well. “Had I been chasing records, I could have summited many more times,” says Kami Rita, who has turned back several times from near the summit because he had to rescue foreign climbers, or blizzards. “I have seen first hand how unpredictable and unforgiving the mountain can be.’ Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-the-ice-is-gone-we-are-done">“If the ice is gone, we are done”</a>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230521040552_8387b98b50704cf7ed76007be3d6e6ad3b27c6ade00288923033cf6dd3670434.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230521040552_8387b98b50704cf7ed76007be3d6e6ad3b27c6ade00288923033cf6dd3670434" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1354" loading="lazy" alt="Kami Rita Sherpa NT"> </figure>  He was at Base Camp in 2014 preparing for a live telecast with his brother for a National Geographic expedition when an avalanche slammed into the Khumbu Icefall, killing 16 Sherpas, many of whom he knew.&nbsp; A year later, 19 climbers and Sherpas lost their lives when an <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/big-drops-in-Everest-bookings-affect-livelihoods-of-Nepali-high-altitude-guides,2048">avalanche triggered by the 2015 earthquake</a> destroyed Base Camp. Then the Covid-19 pandemic halted all expeditions, depriving many guides and porters of income. Throughout all this, Kami Rita has remained in Nepal, declining job offers from overseas. “For me, there is nothing more meaningful than serving my community and people,” he says matter-of-factly. "The younger generation is aware of the dangers and some have given up working on the mountains. But if we Sherpas were not here, there would be no mountaineering.” Many, including previous summit record holders like Apa Sherpa, have migrated abroad. A new generation of Sherpas are now scientists, climatologists, businessmen, or airline pilots, and their success has been made possible because of the sacrifices of their parents. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/khumbu-wants-its-share">Khumbu wants its share</a>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230521040552_c0c351ab9fe199499a4698b6f56a9cee2fdfa61b825593ece63bfe72aa2c5ffb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20230521040552_c0c351ab9fe199499a4698b6f56a9cee2fdfa61b825593ece63bfe72aa2c5ffb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Kami Rita Sherpa NT"> </figure>  For Kami Rita, it looks like his family’s involvement in mountaineering may end with him. His son Lhakpa Tenzing is studying tourism as an undergrad and has no desire to follow in his father’s footsteps. His daughter Pasang Dolma is pursuing a computer science degree. “I worked hard all my life so they got a good education, even though mountaineering is an unpredictable business with seasonal income,” he says. “I have made sure that they have opportunities I never got.” <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/where-have-all-the-guides-gone">Expedition guides </a>are now increasingly being replaced by ethnic groups from lower valleys, as younger Sherpas move on to other jobs. Kami Rita says younger Nepalis from other ethnicities should have access to rock and ice climbing training so that they can take over.&nbsp; Born and raised in the Khumbu, Kami Rita attended school in Thame, one of many established by New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary, who along with Tenzing Norgay became the first to climb Mt Everest 70 years ago. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/letters-from-everest-base-camp-1-vfqcer0e">Letters from Everest Base Camp 1</a>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230521040552_41b36f9ee594f1ec5ecdfce673d21472c3a32738085784d5f1c1f088d01d0e33.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20230521040552_41b36f9ee594f1ec5ecdfce673d21472c3a32738085784d5f1c1f088d01d0e33" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Kami Rita Sherpa NT"> <figcaption>Kami Rita with his family.</figcaption> </figure>  Kami Rita’s own father went to Darjeeling with Tenzing Norgay, and one of his two brothers Lhakpa Rita Sherpa was a climbing guide himself before he went on to become the first Nepali to climb the Seven Summits. Mountains was all that his family knew, so it was no surprise that Kami Rita followed in their footsteps. “I wasn’t able to get much of an education, and working for expeditions would earn me much more money,” says Kami Rita, who became a porter at just 12. His only regret is that the Nepal government has never really helped the Sherpas of Khumbu. He cites the example of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-trail-repaired-during-pandemic">Ang Rita Sherpa</a> who climbed Everest 10 times without oxygen but never got the support due to him. “If someone like Ang Rita does not get respect, what hope is there for the rest of us?” says Kami Rita. “The sad truth is that we have always thought of the nation first, but the nation has not shown us the same consideration.” Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/why-are-sherpas-always-happy">Why are Sherpas always happy?</a>, Tom Robertson

“Without Sherpas, there is no mountaineering”

One smoggy winter morning in February 2019, Ekta regretted coming to her sculpture class. It was the first day of her period, and the 19-year-old wished she was home, curled up in bed with a hot water bag to soothe her cramps.
Her class was at Kalapremi Ceramic Studio, a dark room on the ground floor of a house in Maharajganj, and Ekta’s teacher was the artist Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’, a noted sculptor.
Two other students were already there, using all their muscle strength to knead the sculpting clay. Ekta, now 24, recalls how Kalapremi asked her if she was feeling all right. She avoided him, as she did not want everyone to know she was menstruating.
Kalapremi repeatedly asked Ekta what was wrong. She finally muttered that she was having her period, after which he grabbed her hand and led her to a partitioned corner of the studio and sat her on a chair. Before she could stop him, he slid his hand under her dress, and started massaging her abdomen.
“I was horrified,” Ekta recalls. “I told him to stop, but he didn’t listen, asking me not to be shy, saying he knew how to relieve my pain. He stopped only after I protested furiously.”&nbsp;
The art tutor then said, “You’re like my daughter. I’m doing it out of love to make you feel better, but you’re so stubborn.”&nbsp;
“Instead of saying sorry he acted like I was the one having crazy thoughts,” remembers Ekta, adding that from April 2016 to August 2020 beginning the time she was 16, the artist sexually abused and harassed her on several occasions. &nbsp;
Now, Ekta and the artist’s other former students are finally sharing their experiences and some are pressing legal charges against him, hoping that others do not have to endure what they did.&nbsp;
Award-winning artist and teacher Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’ (the name means ‘Art Lover’) is known for his ceramic art, sculpture, and contemporary pottery. He was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-house-of-kalapremi">profiled in Nepali Times after a collaborative exhibition</a>, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ at the Siddhartha Art Gallery three years ago.&nbsp;
His pieces, titled Gaalis, featured sculpted female figures with the heads of dogs, sheep, and donkeys (pictured) to depict derogatory terms for women. Some critics said the collection was a satire on feminists.
Kalapremi started his artistic and teaching career in 1983 and over the years taught at Bhanubhakta School, Kathmandu University School of Arts, Lalitkala Campus and at his private Kalapremi Ceramic Studio. He has also lectured at Jeonju University in South Korea and recently at Tabor Academy in the United States.
Seven of Kalapremi’s former students were interviewed for this story. Five female students said he touched them inappropriately in his studio or at Kathmandu University. Two male students said they witnessed him abuse and harass the women. In all cases, the students struggled to recognise the abuse when it occurred, and the lack of reporting systems left them to cope on their own for years.&nbsp;
Earlier this year, students shared a social media post hinting at Kalapremi’s history of abusive behaviour following which more students of the artist reached out sharing similar experiences. Some students spoke of abuse that happened as long as 20 years ago.
Kalapremi, 60, has denied the allegations. He told Nepali Times: “Some years ago, there was a movement encouraging people to hug and kiss. I used to do it purely out of friendship and love. But after seeing posts on social media last year calling out my behaviour, I realised my actions may have hurt some people. I understand now that I should have been more mindful.”
He added: “I am also an auxiliary health worker, so I know the exact points to massage to relieve menstrual pain. It’s not just menstruation, I take anyone who is ill to the hospital.”
Sexual abuse is much more rampant than reported given how difficult it is to prove it in court. The law defines sexual abuse as occuring when someone touches another’s private parts, coerces them into touching theirs, uses vulgar language, shows degrading images, or behaves indecently towards them without consent.&nbsp;
Ekta and her fellow students are consulting lawyer Suneeta Regmi Pokhrel, who says they know that even if the court decides in their favour, it is difficult to survive after speaking up, and influential men defend themselves saying they are being framed.&nbsp;
“They are in a lot of pain and weep when recalling how he abused them,” Regmi Pokhrel told us. “They are angry and have filed a case against him, but they are also terrified. They know he is a powerful man and they have seen how our society treats women who speak up against abusers. Unless people speak up, perpetrators will be emboldened.”
Art and academia in Nepal simply reflect the power imbalances in society where people with intersecting identities experience worse forms of abuse. Theatre actors Raj Kumar Pudasaini, Rajan Khatiwada, and Sunil Pokhrel were called out during the #MeToo movement in the Nepali theatre scene in 2019. Even after the allegations Pokhrel went on to receive national awards, while others continued to work without repercussions.
“If you speak up against abusers, you gradually get sidelined from projects,” explained a theatre artist who wished anonymity fearing professional setbacks. “The theatre scene in Nepal is quite small, you just have to make peace with the perpetrators and work with them if you want to sustain yourself.”&nbsp;
In academia there is a history of faculty members sexually harassing students and getting away with it. After Tribhuvan University (TU) lecturer Krishna Bhattachan was accused of harassing women students, the university said it would follow Nepal’s sexual harassment law and set up a reporting mechanism. But nothing happened to the professor, who had already retired. Instead, he counter-accused the students of 'attacking the indigenous people’s movement with baseless allegations' as <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/letters/2019/01/29/bhattachan-responds">he told the Kathmandu Post in 2019</a>. He continues to be featured as a prominent speaker including at TU.
Other faculty members previously accused of sexual harassment include Jagadish Murti Koirala from TU, Bishnu Prasad Acharya from Ratna Rajya Campus, and Bodha Raj Tripathee from Lalitpur Madhyamik Vidhyalaya. A woman staff member from TU also filed a sexual abuse complaint against Dambar Chemjong from TU.
Prominent figures like <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">mountaineer Nims Purja</a> have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/sports/mountaineering-sexual-harassment-abuse-nims-purja.html">accused of sexual assault</a>, and cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, actor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/celebrity-rape-case-spotlights-nepal-laws">Paul Shah</a>, and former speaker of Parliament <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mahara-arrested">Krishna Bahadur Mahara</a> have been accused of rape, but society-at-large has let off the alleged perpetrators amdist a larger debate about justice for survivors and punishment of perpetrators.&nbsp;
‘Gaushala-26’ is the court name given to the 18-year-old who accused Sandeep Lamichhane, former captain of Nepal’s national cricket team and skipper of Biratnagar Kings in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/here-comes-the-nepal-premier-league">ongoing Nepal Premier League</a>, of rape. She left the country citing society questioning her character affecting her mental health while Lamichhane got an outpouring of support. In May, the Patan High Court overturned a prior verdict that found Lamichhane guilty of rape and had sentenced him to eight years in prison. During the 23-month legal battle to pursue justice, Gaushala-26 faced threats of gang rape and acid attacks.&nbsp;
Exhausted by the struggle, Gaushala-26 sought to “move to a new world” where she could live free without hiding her identity.
Actress Samragyee Rajya Laxmi Shah in an Instagram video now deleted detailed the harassment she faced from a filmmaker during a movie shoot. She did not name any name but veteran actor Bhuwan KC filed a defamation case against Rana, but the court ruled that the charge lacked sufficient evidence.&nbsp;
Former Kathmandu mayor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/theytoo">Keshav Sthapit also mocked the #MeToo movement</a>, calling accusations against him by journalists Rashmila Prajapati and Ujjwala Maharjan “a rape of men’s rights”.
Serial Abuse
Back at the Kalapremi Ceramics studio, another former student, 24-year-old Rajiv, says he felt the need to speak out after seeing his female classmates being abused.&nbsp;
“He frequently kissed them on their cheeks,” he told Nepali Times. “Whenever they walked into the studio he flailed his arms like a child asking for a hug. They awkwardly hugged him from the side, but he pulled them closer, held their chin, and kissed their cheeks.”&nbsp;
Rajiv says he also saw Kalapremi pull the women’s bra straps, touch their breasts, and slap their buttocks. The young students would freeze, not knowing how to react, and if they protested, he would say it was “normal in art”. Rajiv, 19 at the time like his classmates, remembers thinking perhaps the well-respected artist was right after all.
Another student, Luna, who took lessons at Kalapremi’s studio from 2020 to 2022 did try to confront the tutor after he made an obscene proposal to her. She recalls: “One day when the other students had left the studio and it was just the two of us, he told me that God had given him special artistic talent and he could transfer those powers to me. But to do that both of us will have to be naked, inside a dark room, and have sex.”
Luna, who was 18 then, was livid and told him she did not want any of his powers, but she says he laughed at her as if he was joking. She did not tell her family about the incident because she thought no one would believe her.&nbsp;
“They were all in awe of this famous artist and felt I should be grateful that to be learning sculpting from him,” she says. “I was scared to be alone with him in case he talked about sex again. My coping mechanism was to be rude so he wouldn’t try to come close to me.”
Seeing how some classmates were standing up to Kalapremi, Ekta too tried to push back against his advances, but she said he found ways to coerce her. Since Ekta, Rajiv, and Luna could not afford Kalapremi’s Rs30,000 monthly fee for lessons, he had offered them all a stipend to assist him in the studio.
“He had spondylosis and took me to his therapy sessions to learn massage techniques, then he often made me and other students massage him,” says Ekta. Whenever she refused, he would feign pain to make her feel sorry for him. “He would insist that I put my hands under his shirt so that I could massage him better,” she adds.
The art tutor often tried to “seduce sympathy” from Ekta by sharing how he had never been loved as a child and was “sexually frustrated” as an adult.&nbsp;
“At 7PM, he would pour himself Signature whiskey and immediately go off again about how he was sex-starved. I didn’t know how to respond. It took me time to realise alcohol was just an excuse to talk about sex,” Ekta says.
If convicted, Kalapremi could face financial penalty and/or a prison sentence of up to three years according to Section 224 of National Penal (Code) Act 2017.&nbsp;
Data suggests that victims of child sexual abuse on average take nearly 24 years to tell someone about their trauma, and some may never disclose it at all.&nbsp;
“In our culture, children are rarely taught about boundaries. They often react, show anger when adults pinch their cheeks. But adults insist they did it out of love, and force the children to accept it,” says Sita Lama, a psychotherapist at Manka Kura. “And even when someone touches them inappropriately they struggle to identify and verbalise it.”
When perpetrators claim to be “acting out of love”, Lama says survivors are likely to perceive it as something safe, rather than recognising it as abuse.&nbsp;
“It may take years for them to realise they were abused,” she explains. "And even when they become aware, the power imbalance with the abuser and the associated shame often prevents survivors from speaking up."
Other former students from the School of Art at Kathmandu University have also come forward years later, saying Kalapremi sexually abused them. As young adults, they felt his behaviour was off but were uncertain if it was inappropriate, illegal, or they did not know how to respond. After having understood that it was indeed abuse, they say they are speaking out now to protect others.&nbsp;
Amina Singh, a visiting faculty member at Kathmandu University, says there is no clause against sexual abuse in contracts of teachers, and there is no formal grievance handling mechanism for the students.&nbsp;
“So the only way students can to deal with sexual abuse is approach someone they trust,” she says.
Eight other former art students of Lalit Kala Campus and Srijana College of Fine Arts of Tribhuvan University and other private art studios in Kathmandu say they were also sexually abused by their art teachers. Three faculty members interviewed from these institutions said they saw the abuse, but felt it was futile to report it given how powerful the teachers were.
In the absence of a formal system, some longtime women artists warned each other about “problematic” artists. They shared &nbsp;a “heads-up” to be more cautious when collaborating with them, and avoided responding to their calls and texts after work hours.
To ensure art institutions are safe for all, galleries, museums, artist studios, and smaller art spaces need to develop policies on sexual harassment. This would include a code of conduct or studio policies that hold the leadership accountable and outline the principles of professional ethics.&nbsp;
Students and employees should inquire about accountability mechanisms for raising concerns, both formally and informally, advocates say.
Three years after Ekta left the ceramics studio, she learnt that Kalapremi had harassed many other women. Still trying to get a footing in the art industry, she attended a workshop in Kathmandu where women artists discussed ways to stay safe in the art sector.&nbsp;
Since it was a close-knit group Ekta opened up about how she felt violated and realised she was not alone, he had been abusing underprivileged students for years, and this was common knowledge among artists in Nepal.
Ekta says that even after she quit, Kalapremi continued sending her text messages like ‘I am thinking of you’, ‘Why have you stopped speaking with me’, or ‘I am waiting for your call’.&nbsp;
But what really forced her to act was when Ekta found out that he was sending similar texts to her younger sister.&nbsp;
“I’ve had enough,” she told us. “He abused me all these years but I won’t let him abuse my sister.” &nbsp;
Ekta, Rajiv and Luna are not the real names of the students.&nbsp;

‘Art Lover’ accused of sexual abuse

It was 8:15 in the evening of 25 March 1968 when everyone in the village of Batulechaur near Pokhara heard a deafening sound like thunder as a bright flashing object hurtled down to land in a field.&nbsp; That field belonged to Kul Timilsina, and the next morning he retrieved a sheet of metal about 2m by 1m and carried it home with the help of a few others, thinking it would be useful for his buffalo shed.&nbsp; Before he died at age 83 three years ago, Timilsina had told photo archivist Sunil Ulak that the black metal sheet was not rectangular and had rounded corners. There are a few witnesses still alive who have a clear recollection of the object that fell from the sky that night.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="601" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>The field in Batulechaur belonging to Kul Timilsina where fragments of a flying object fell from the sky in 1968.</figcaption> </figure>  One of them is Timilsina’s wife Gyanu, who was 22 at the time. She had been at home, and remembers hearing the big bang and the sky becoming very bright. “We saw the thing in the field in the morning,” she told us. “It looked like a lid, a covering of some sort. The way it was stuck in the ground, it must have fallen from the sky. We thought we could use it to dry clothes on, and took it home.”&nbsp; Another witness is Kul Narayan Paudel. “I was only eight then. We ran to the field to see what had fallen. It was a four-sided metal sheet. The elders took it away, and I don't know what happened to it.” &nbsp; Ram Bahadur Baniya, a teacher at the local school, says he had heard the sheet had been brought to the school, and later handed over to the Zonal Commissioner at the time, Nanda Prasad Malla. “But that is all hearsay,” he says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="610" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Gyanu Timilsina, wife of Kul Timilsina.</figcaption> </figure>  There are two versions of what happened to Kul Timilsina’s metal sheet. One is that an American Peace Corp Volunteer teaching at the nearby Bindyabasini School took it, and another is that it was handed over to the government. Recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US State Department documents from the time say that the US Embassy in Kathmandu tracked down the object two years later and had it shipped back to the US. A telegram from the Department of State and Department of Defense tagged as ‘MOON DUST / Space Fragments’ dated 1 March 1972 stated: ‘1. Restored space fragment will be on board Embassy support flight 115 arriving Kathmandu on or about March 10. Fragment is packed in shipping crate (cargo no. 72-33365) marked in care of DAO.&nbsp; 2. State and Defense representatives examined fragments prior to shipment finding restoration acceptable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df" data-rendition-name="original" width="856" height="568" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Declassified CIA documents about the investigation into the object sighted in Pokhara. </figcaption> </figure>  The documents show that the US government, military and intelligence agencies investigated this incident thoroughly when it occurred, and have continued to revisit it ever since, as recently as five years ago. What is even more intriguing is that the object that fell in Pokhara was not the only unidentified space object that fell to earth that year. There were similar sightings of objects falling from the sky in Ladakh, Sikkim and Bhutan between 19 February and 25 March 1968.&nbsp; These mysteries were the subject of a CIA investigation in 1968 titled ‘<a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP81R00560R000100070007-8.pdf">Sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects in Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan</a>’, and the report is part of the recent online declassification of 800,000 top-secret documents from the period.&nbsp; &nbsp;Although unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have a connotation now of being alien craft, it could be pieces of satellite, missile, rocket or even aircraft. The CIA report documents six sightings in 1968 and quotes local sources as describing all of them having similar characteristics: bright blue or red streaks in the sky accompanied by loud sounds like lightning and thunder and objects falling to the ground. Aside from the metallic object that was found in Batlechaur, there were other items also found nearby in Tallakot, Tureypasal, Armalakot and Maidan. Whatever the object was, it seems to have disintegrated even before it hit the ground.&nbsp; The CIA report records the first sighting on 19 February 1968 in various parts of Sikkim and Olangchung Gola and Ghunsa in eastern Nepal. The light was said to be ‘long and thin’ and giving out ‘green and red light’. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb" data-rendition-name="original" width="892" height="596" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara "> </figure>  Two days later on 21 February, a soundless blue object was seen traveling fast across the sky above Thimphu in Bhutan. Then on 4 March there were multiple daytime sightings or white streaks in the sky at Chang La Pass, Fukche and Koyul in Ladakh. There were more sightings in Ladakh on the very day fragments fell near Pokhara on 25 March 1968.&nbsp; After the sightings in Pokhara, rumours started flying in Kathmandu that these were aliens trying to land on Earth, it could be Russian or Chinese spy planes or satellites, and some even say it as a sign from heaven that the end of the world was near. This was at the height of the Cold War. The Russians and Americans were testing their thermonuclear devices as well as intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems. The Washington-Beijing rapprochement had not yet happened, and China was making quick progress testing atomic bombs. Within two years after its first atomic test, in 1966 China exploded its first hydrogen bomb at the Lop Nur site in Xinjiang, 3,000km to the north from Nepal. After neary six decades, what is still intriguing is that all the sightings within a few months of each other in 1968 were along the Himalayan arc bordering Tibet: from Bhutan, Sikkim Nepal, to Ladakh. The US military intelligence seems to have concluded that this was not a coincidence and there were frequent research trips to the site in Pokhara by American officials in the months after the incident. With the help of the Royal Nepal Army, the region north of Pokhara was thoroughly searched.&nbsp; A confidential memo dated 25 June 1968 by Jerry C Trippy to a ‘Mr Farley’ mentions that the US Air Force’s Foreign Technology Division had decided that the debris could be important because it may be related to a Chinese missile test or a Soviet ‘Vehicle Venik’ rocket.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  On 28 August 1968 the US Embassy in Kathmandu sent a letter to Washington DC saying that the object could be of Soviet origin, possibly from when the rocket carrying the ‘Kosmos 208’ satellite re-entered the atmosphere. But why were the fragments falling to earth several weeks apart, and in the same region? No one knows where the metal sheet that Kul Timilsina recovered is now. It was definitely packed in a crate and taken to the US, and although it is rumoured that it was returned that is not very likely. Archivist Sunil Ulak heard from the Timilsina family that CIA officials had returned to the site five years ago. &nbsp; Interest in UFOs peaked in the US in the 1950s, with the Cold War space race and tests of atomic weapons and delivery rockets. CIA and scientists were being sent to investigate sightings, both publicly and privately. Could the Pokhara fragments as well as the sightings in Ladakh and Bhutan actually be alien craft falling to earth? The renewal in interest in space travel in large part due to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, UFOs and sightings are again subjects of public interest.&nbsp; Even 57 years later, even if there was definitive proof about whether the Batlechaur fragment was from a Chinese missile or a soviet rocket, it has not been made public in documents declassified so far. We may never know.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598" data-rendition-name="original" width="642" height="320" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  Sunil Ulak speculates if the debris actually came from an American aircraft, perhaps on an intel mission upon China. “Which could explain why they were so thorough in collecting the fragments in Pokhara,” he says. But that still does not explain the multiple sightings weeks apart in 1968.&nbsp; Indeed, US military aircraft were at that time flying frequent night-time missions from air force bases in India to supply weapons to Khampa guerrilla camps in Nepal located north of Pokhara in Mustang. It could very well be that the Chinese shot down one such aircraft. The other sightings could have been contrails of US spy planes, or Chinese anti-aircraft missiles.&nbsp; There were quite a few developments regarding UFOs in 2024. In a US congressional hearing in July, former intelligence officer David Grusch claimed that the government had long been involved in a program to investigate and retrieve non-human craft crashes, and then try to reverse engineer them. However Grusch did not show any evidence.&nbsp; The UAP Disclosure Act of 2024 was signed into law by Joe Biden in December 2023. It plans to oversee the public disclosure of UFO information. However, there is a clause in it that prevents disclosure if it would cause threats to military defense, intelligence operations or foreign relations.&nbsp; It is unlikely that the declassified documents about sightings in the Himalayan will cause any real surprise about definite evidence of alien life even if it was found. It seems humanity will continue, at least for now, to wonder about curious lights in the sky and whether there is anybody out there.&nbsp;

UFO over Pokhara

When Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) president Rabi Lamichhane was arrested in October on charges of defrauding depositors of cooperatives, the party’s vice president Swarnim Wagle gifted him Fareed Zakaria’s book, Age of Revolutions.
Since then, Lamichhane has been shunted around from Kathmandu to Pokhara to Chitwan and back to Pokhara to attend police investigations and court proceedings. He was being flown to Birganj via Kathmandu on Buddha Air on Monday. There is another pending case in Janakpur.
Human rights groups and civil society have criticised the government for hounding Lamichhane with inhumane treatment that borders on physical torture. The two parties in the coalition, Nepali Congress (NC) and the UML, see Lamichhane’s RSP as a potentially formidable challenge to their power.
Even if the fraud charges against Lamichhane are true, the Nepali public is increasingly looking at the government’s actions through the police and courts as political vendetta.
Despite all the travelling, sometimes by plane and often by road at night, Lamichhane appears to be in high spirits, waving to supporters who often gather if they know he is going to be driven around. A social media video shows him giving high fives to fellow passengers on a recent flight to Pokhara.&nbsp;
In the past weeks, streets in Pokhara have erupted with parallel protests by Lamichhane’s supporters as well as depositors of cooperatives who lost their savings to the scam.&nbsp;
Although family visits are allowed, prison officials in Pokhara told Nepali Times that not many people visit Lamichhane these days. He added, “When he does get visitors, he asks them to bring him books.”
Lamichhane is currently Nepal’s most high-profile public figure in custody, and highlights the stark difference between how influential prisoners are treated compared to ordinary inmates.
There are six prison cells at Kaski District Police Office’s two-story detention centre, three on each floor. And while authorities pack prisoners into already overcrowded cells, Lamichhane has an entire room on the second floor to himself.&nbsp;
He has also been allowed to call his family every few days. Other prisoners are not permitted phone calls except for emergencies.
Meanwhile, Lamichhane’s former business partner Chhabilal Joshi, an ex-Deputy Inspector General of Police with whom he established his Gorkha Media Network, is in custody under the same charges in the prison cell next to him.
Lamichhane is accused of siphoning off depositors' money to the tv network in which he was part-owner and anchor. &nbsp;
Both Lamichhane and Joshi are able to buy food from the police canteen instead of being served the regular meal like other prisoners. Joshi has also given his statement to authorities in Rupandehi and Kathmandu for his alleged role in the scam. Lamichhane is yet to be presented in Kathmandu for questioning.
While he was in custody at the Kathmandu District Police Complex, Joshi expressed his desire to sleep in a police officer’s office, reportedly assuring authorities that he would not run away and he was entitled to certain facilities as a former officer of the law.
“He seemed to be under the impression that he is still a police officer,” says a source at the Kathmandu District Police. “We made it clear to him that as someone accused of a crime, he was not entitled to special treatment.”
Former ministers Balkrishna Khand and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, and ex-home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, who were arrested in connection with the fake refugee scam last year, were similarly housed in the offices of law enforcement officials instead of prison cells. Khand has since been released after six months in jail.
While there is no legal provision to keep high-ranking officials in separate detention centres when they are arrested, authorities granting them special facilities is not uncommon. Law enforcement officials say VIP detainees expect preferential treatment while in police custody.
Among those is former Kosi Province minister Lila Ballav Adhikari, who was arrested from Biratnagar on 10 November over his alleged involvement in human trafficking and brought to Kathmandu. Adhikari had flown to Japan without government approval with three individuals on 29 October to attend a cultural conference, but had been sent back to Nepal from Narita.&nbsp;
His three companions were arrested at Kathmandu airport upon their arrival, but Adhikari was able to exit unscathed from the VIP lounge. Adhikari had resigned as the Kosi Province Minister for Internal Affairs and Law when it became public that his companions had been taken into custody, and was himself arrested shortly after. He has since been cleared by the courts.
Throughout his detention, Adhikari was kept separately from other inmates. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Basant Rajouri, head of the Bhadrakali complex, says that while there is no separate detention area for VIPs, some detainees are kept separately depending on the nature of their crime.
However, sources say that arrangements were made for retired judges and others to visit Adhikari frequently worked at the office of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) during his time in custody.&nbsp;
“He used to constantly pester the authorities to let him sit outside in the sun, and to be able to use the police officer’s shower area,” added an officer.
Adhikari was released on 25 November after the government prosecutor’s office decided not to charge him in a move that was seen to expose the government’s double standards.
Over at Kathmandu’s Dilli Bazar Prison, former Kist Bank CEO Kamal Gyawali emerges from his prison cell into the courtyard of the prison’s ‘Ka (क)’ block every morning with a thick book in his hands, ready to give his daily sermon.
With his long beard, Gyawali, who is serving a prison sentence for banking fraud, looks the part of a religious guru as he implores his rapt listeners to “walk the right path, abandon bad thoughts and turn to scripture and spirituality”.&nbsp;
Afterward, the attendees gather to discuss politics and current affairs. Inmates at his daily sermons at the prison include other high-profile detainees, including former MP Ichchha Raj Tamang, who is in jail for money laundering and cooperatives fraud, former joint secretary Chudamani Sharma, who was convicted of corruption, as well as NC leader Chandra Bahadur Lama and Krishna Bahadur Upreti of the UML both of whom are on trial for embezzling billions of rupees.
Victims of the cooperatives scam that former lawmaker Tamang was involved in have made trips to the prison and requested visits, but he has refused to meet with any of them.
“Tamang often complains that the state has prevented him from returning the money to the victims by locking him up,” says a police officer at the Dili Bazar jail.
“All you hear every day from the VIP prisoners is that they have been framed,” adds the officer. “No one admits that they were involved in misdeeds.”
But while most high-profile prisoners complain about prison conditions, one exception is former provincial lawmaker Deepak Manange, who is serving a sentence at Dilli Bazar Jail for attempted murder.
“He is the happiest prisoner here,” says a warden. “Unlike the others, he doesn’t claim to have been framed, in fact he doesn’t seem to care that he is in prison.”
Manange is detained in the ‘Kha (ख)’ block of the prison complex, which he renovated at his own expense. The block previously housed female prisoners, but Manange used his influence to transfer them elsewhere. He faces no shortage of visitors, who range from political leaders to people from the underworld.
Along with Manange, other well-known prisoners in this block include Nepal Telecom Managing Director Sunil Poudel, and former executive director of the Surakshan Printing Centre Bikal Poudel, who are serving time for corruption.
Former prisoners at Dilli Bazar prison include ex-ministers Khum Bahadur Khadka and Shyam Sundar Gupta, NC leader Ganesh Lama, Maoist MP Balkrishna Dhungel, Nagarik Unmukti Party leader Resham Chaudhary, as well as former IGs Ramesh Chand Thakuri, Om Bikram Rana, and Hem Bahadur Gurung.
Section 54 of Nepal’s Prison Act assigns each prison’s internal administration the
responsibility of governing its prisoners, which means the more favourable the jail management is, the more comfortable it is for prisoners.
Dilli Bazar prison has been the prison of choice for many high-ranking prisoners, especially those convicted of white collar crimes, due to its more accommodating administrators. The prison, which has the capacity to house 700 inmates, is also less crowded than other jails.
Anuj Bhattarai, spokesperson of the Department of Prison Management, says that there is no legal classification in Nepal for felons to be assigned prisons based on the nature of their crimes.
“That Dilli Bazar Jail has a higher number of prisoners convicted of crimes like corruption is most likely a coincidence,” says Bhattarai. “There is no provision for influential people to be able to choose where they will be incarcerated.”&nbsp;
Translated by Shristi Karki from the Nepali original published in himalkhabar.com

What Nepal’s VIP prisoners do in jail

If you were raised in Nepal, you must have picked up its unique set of vocabulary: आन्दोलन, चक्का जाम, बन्द, राँके जुलुस, आफ्नो मान्छे, हाम्रो दल, कर्फु and many more words connoting political protest.
We became familiar with the acrid smell of burning tyres, and eyes smarting from tear gas. And yet, everyone speaks of another revolution in the making. Not by desire, but by suffocation.
We heard speeches about नयाँ नेपाल, but the New Nepal never arrived. The governance system changed, but it did not reflect on people’s lives — except for those close to centres of power. The state is still unreachable and is not bothered about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/matter-of-life-and-debt">victims of loan sharks</a>, cooperative scams and other injustices.
Politicians continue to speak in sound bites, but fail to deliver. They have mastered the game of pointing fingers towards an external enemy and convincing people that they are never at fault. The political narrative is so disconnected from the actual analysis of the problem that suffocation doesn’t go away after every revolution.
No genuine effort has been made to deliver at all, which is why there is a palpable sense of disillusionment in the air forcing us to seek another revolution, even if Nepal may not be able to afford it.
How has the current system successfully held power, even if the public is deeply frustrated? How is it that for three decades we continue to be led by the same faces, who have time and again, proved to us that they may be great politicians but not national leaders?
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/improving-internet-governance-in-nepal">My experience at the epicentre of politics</a> has led me to identify three cultures that have enabled political parties to keep a tight hold on power: acceptance, silence and dependency.
We accept things the way they are. We use fatalistic phrases like “नेपालमा यस्तै हो” or “नेपालको कानुन दैब जानुन”. While this resilience enables us to rise back up from devastating calamities, it is also a reason for our compliance with the status quo.
Despite so many ‘revolutions’ that have led to significant reforms, these phrases keep getting reinforced, to the point that the upcoming generations have made it their lingo.&nbsp;
This acceptance is not a symbol of law-abiding citizens, but citizens living in fear of those in power, unable to ask the whys and why-nots.
Innovation suffocates in this culture of acceptance of the status quo. This is manifested in remarks like “but we don’t have any laws for this,” or “we don’t have the capacity to implement this”. An innovator or entrepreneur therefore has to spend that energy to become a political lobbyist, often educating and convincing the bureaucracy.&nbsp;
Remember when locally assembled <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/designed-and-made-in-nepal">Yatri motorbikes</a>, despite having willing customers, had to suffer to secure license numbers because of a lack of regulations? Instead of creating new laws, the government kept chanting the “We will promote Nepal-made goods” mantra, leaving entrepreneurs in a labyrinth of bureaucracy. The weight of acceptance of the law lies heavily on innovators. Fatalism is a tactic used by those in power to generate mass fear in society.
When we accept, we become silent. This is a pervasive phenomenon. We are trained to keep quiet, lest we ruffle feathers, burn bridges, or not get the help we need in future. We know, yet we don’t speak.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/bureaucratic-hurdles-in-researching-nepals-bureaucracy">Bureaucratic hurdles in researching Nepal's bureaucracy</a>, Daniel W Edwards
Here is one example: the 2021 census shows that the number of baby boys born for every 100 baby girls is 112. This is a clear indication of female foeticide because of boy preference in society.
Despite such horrifying realities, there is finger-pointing within the government between the Ministry of Health and Population with the Ministry of Home Affairs. At the citizen level, we know those who are involved in killing girls. Yet, we don’t speak up. The Nepal Medical Council reports state that despite this gender imbalance at birth, there is no indication of any action.
But why would anyone speak against one's own fraternity, no matter how vile the act is?
When we accept and keep quiet, we become dependent on those who yield power. From getting our government procedure completed on time to getting transfers, to accessing any of our legally protected rights as well, we are forced to depend on our networks of चिनेको मान्छे people we know by blood, village, relations, political affiliation.
The culture of dependency has been the established way in Nepal. If you drive a two-wheeler or four-wheeler, and you get into a small accident, you will be asked to sort it yourself, dialing up the most powerful person you know. It becomes a competition of who knows who.
Recently I was told that there were calls from the Ministry of Health and Population and another from the Prime Minister's Office for just one medical position in a private hospital. Each was pushing its own candidate. Guess which candidate got the position.&nbsp;
The dependency of people is not on the laws or the state, it is with people in power, a reliance on the network of somebody who knows somebody, including those not officially in power.
These cultures are deeply ingrained in our heads, and in society. Collectively they form a vicious circle that helps those in power to retain power. This is not the society we want to live in.
Then, what do we do as a collective to break away from this? How do we break away from the cultures of acceptance and silence that have created this dependency? What can we do to ensure that our children do not have to learn the jargon of आन्दोलन before they learn about the state?
These are the cultures political parties need to shed rather than use them to perpetuate their power. This is what <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/an-alternative-to-alternative-politics-in-nepal">alternative politics</a> needs to be about.
Sumana Shrestha is a member of Parliament’s Education, Health and Information Technology parliamentary committee and represents the Rastriya Swatantara Party.

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