<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141132/636bac959c7e80680e077f3ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"/><figcaption>Villagers in Rautahat move to higher ground along a road embmankment to prepare for the flood season. This year it coincides with the pandemic, and experts warn that crowded shelters can be hot spots for the spread of the virus. Photo: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>Even as Nepal braces for the full socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 lockdown, the monsoon brings the risk of yet another disaster – floods.The lockdown has lasted three-and-half months, causing not just a public health crisis but also mass unemployment and economic dislocation. Experts have warned that because the lockdown has not been accompanied by adequate test-trace-treatment, there is a looming threat of community transmission.If that happens, the pandemic <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/after-the-coronavirus-the-deluge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/after-the-coronavirus-the-deluge/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594282153999000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH45ArnnHWwf3p04i8SISD5h-eGkQ">peak in Nepal could coincide with the monsoon peak</a> which brings with it an increased risk of landslides and floods.  This year, unusually heavy early monsoon rains have already triggered landslides across the mid-mountains, causing at least 36 deaths.The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has forecast 100-200mm of rain in 24 hours from Friday onwards into the weekend, warning of flood risk in the central and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-tarai-learns-from-past-floods/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-tarai-learns-from-past-floods/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594282153999000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHjQgqhlpUVvl5eApCTDlj0GZnn-A">eastern Tarai</a>. It is not just the precipitation that has <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/flood-of-recrimination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/flood-of-recrimination/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594282153999000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFll8mIfpIC-Vxe_TfcdXeq3eqHbA">intensified flood risk</a>, but also poor drainage, denudation of the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/07/11/chure-denudation-and-floods/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/07/11/chure-denudation-and-floods/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594282153999000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEBryjJNyUZb8d49R3dodj47Lmy4A">Chure Hills</a>, and road and embankment construction across the border in India that impound water in Nepal.“This is the new normal,” explains Bimal Regmi, a climate change expert at the Policy and Institutions Facility (PIF), a program funded by the British aid agency DFID. “Extreme weather causes floods, but change in land cover and loss of vegetation are aggravate their intensity.”Experts say awareness about flood risk preparedness in Nepal starts when the rains start, and by then it is usually too late. The government also invests more on relief and not enough on prevention. This could change with the new Disaster Risk and Management Act 2017 which puts more emphasis on preparedness and mitigating risk, and also hands more responsibility to first-responders at local government level.“We are now looking at disaster risk management much more comprehensively, and addressing early warning and immediate response at the district and provincial level,” says Anil Pokhrel, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.This rainy season, there is the additional risk of COVID-19 and the need to maintain physical separation and maintain personal hygiene in shelters. Unlike the previous years, the pandemic has also brought returnees from overseas and in-country migrants, increasing the population living in areas at flood and landslide risk. People also need to be made aware of maintaining hygiene and physical separation in shelters.“These factors will magnify social, economic, health and political problems,” says retired Nepal Army general and disaster management expert Balananda Sharma.Nepal has enhanced its flood early warning system on major river basins like the Gandaki, Kosi, and Karnali and issues regular bulletins through social media and the mobile network, reducing the loss of life and property in recent years.Says Dinanath Bhandari, an expert on early warning and adviser to the Authority: “Because of limited data, early warning does have its limitations in Nepal. But when there is heavy rainfall, we send out alerts to at-risk communities.”While the national government usually springs into action after a disaster, more emphasis is needed before floods strike. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/only-half-prepared/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/only-half-prepared/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594282153999000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEVxtjoSxnZ3vrXXyM6NahadSpxdg">Preventive measures</a> and preparation like better designs for road embankments and drainage need to be integrated into plans.Tapendra Rawal, the Mayor of Tikapur in the floodplain of the Karnali in western Nepal, is aware of this, and uses community action to clear blocked drains and ensure proper outflow before the rains arrive, and he has rafts on standby for flood rescue. This year, he has added  public awareness about COVID-19 precautions to his preparedness plans.At Mahakali Municipality, Mayor Bir Bahadur Sunar says the presence of returnees from India and overseas can be channeled for flood prevention and rescue. He says: “Many people who came back from foreign work are unemployed at the moment, and many have raised concerns about their livelihoods. We could deploy them for flood mitigation efforts.”While the country braces for the coming months, there is also the need to look at the longer term so that the Land Use Policy 2015 is closely followed to discourage settlement in high-risk areas, and in planning for flood risk reduction through livelihood enhancement measures.There are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-villages-learn-to-cope-with-climate-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-villages-learn-to-cope-with-climate-crisis/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594282153999000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGlr8UC_WND2qI2qHZXkfamofjd1A">success stories like the villagers of Kailali and Kanchanpur</a> which have been supported to manage flood risk through agriculture. They plant bamboo and napier grass on embankments and sugarcane on riverbanks to not just protect them from floods, but also augment income from the cash crops.Says Bimal Regmi: “Many communities have used the areas affected by the floods as vegetation for livelihood, degraded land rehabilitation, tree plantation, bioengineering, and other disaster risk management methods to minimise the impact of floods.”It is obvious that these best practices need to be scaled up.@NDRRMA_Nepal on Twitter and NDRRMA on Facebook

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Preparing for floods during a lockdown

<figure><img width="960" height="610" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121120/636b8d439c7e80680e06b33djpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: PMO</figcaption></figure>UPDATE: The Cabinet late on Sunday decided to extend the lockdown till Thursday, 7 May, which is Buddha Jayanti.A Nepal government meeting of ministers is expected to endorse a committee report to extend the month-long lockdown that was supposed to expire on Monday.However, Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali said although the stoppage will be lengthened, the government had not yet decided for how long, or whether some restrictions would be lifted to encourage agriculture and other economic activity to pick up.The meeting of the Coronavirus Control and Prevention High-level Committee had recommended that the lockdown be extended in view of new clusters of the infection appearing in eastern Nepal in the past week. Udaypur district has been sealed off after 14 new cases were detected there, with most of them Indian nationals.“The World Health Organization has downgraded Nepal from being ‘Very Vulnerable’ and re-classified the country as being less at risk, however we have not taken that to mean that the danger has passed. That is why it is advisable that the lockdown be continued,” Gyawali said.The Cabinet is expected to approve that recommendation, and also whether the extension will be for one more week or more and whether the lockdown will be partially lifted. A taskforce headed by chief Secretary Lokdarshan Regmi has suggested that the lockdown be extended by a week. The team also recommended that industries, agricultural production, supply and other economic activity should be allowed more mobility.Saturday’s meeting of the high-level committee also decided to extend the stoppage of all domestic and international flights till at least 15 May.About 15% of Nepalis are outside Nepal, and there are more confirmed cases of coronavirus infections in the diaspora than within the country. So far, at least 50 Nepalis abroad have died, and there are said to be 2,300 confirmed cases among Nepalis – mainly in the UK, United States, Germany, Spain and the Gulf countries.Gyawali said that the government was in touch with Nepal’s embassies abroad to ensure the welfare of citizens. He added: “The prime minister has been in touch with his counterparts and Nepal’s ambassadors in countries where there are most Nepalis who want to return.”Gyawali said Nepal had received assurances that its workers will not be forcibly sent home from Gulf countries, and that they would be taken care of where they are.

Nepal lockdown to be extended

<figure><img width="680" height="453" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912114/636b8a0a9c7e80680e06b21bjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Nepal Police making an arrest using multifunctional rescue and arrest device during the lockdown. Photo: RSS</figcaption></figure>The calls started coming at 10:30 at night on 30 March, a week into the coronavirus lockdown. It was Jib Narayan Chaudhary, and he sounded frantic. Knowing I was a journalist, the day labourer was calling for help from the Koteswor traffic police office where he and 22 other co-workers were being held by police who would not let them travel to their homes in Saptari district. He said he had a police travel permit.I called the Koteswor police station, and the duty in-charge Sudarshan Thapa said: “People do not understand that lockdown means lockdown. You cannot leave the Valley.”<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/walking-3-days-to-get-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Walking 3 days to get home</a>, Sanjay MishraIn fact, Thapa said the rules had changed that day, and a permit did not suffice anymore. Travellers also needed a yellow card from the CDO office. Chaudhary and his friends did finally get the card from the Lalitpur District Office and got home on 2 April, after surviving on dry noodles and little money during their long bus journey.“If we had known that the government would extend the lockdown, we would have made other arrangements. It is always poor people like us who suffer the most in any national emergency,” Chaudhary told me.We were at the Lalitpur District Office (LDO) in Man Bhawan where there were many kinds of people caught in a lurch by the change in travel rules. Jit Jung Rana Magar from Sindhupalchowk, looked fed up. He needed to leave because his wife is alone with an infant and a two-year-old daughter. “I have to be there for them. The office asked me to get all the related documents yesterday but now they need more documents,” Rana Magar said, looking lost. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lockdown-guidelines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lockdown guidelines</a>In a corner stood 31-year-old Chinna Maya Tamang who had just lost her 65-year-old mother in Dolalghat that morning. “I have to go home for my mother’s death rites, I don’t know what will happen with the new rules,” she said. By 10 in the morning, it had turned into a crowd at the LDO, while the policemen at the gate tried to separate them for physical distancing. Some were screaming to allow them in, others shouted through their masks to be allowed in. Suresh Thapa, the policeman was trying, not successfully, to calm the crowd. He said: “My body already feels sick. We also fear for our families, but it's our job to follow the rules.” The people here needed to travel for family emergencies, or because unlike the better-off they had run out of money and food. To travel during the lockdown they needed a permit, and the rules had just been changed. No one seemed to know what the rules were.“Confusion, confusion, confusion, why can’t there be an effective system?” fumed Rana Magar. “Sometimes, they say they need white pass, sometimes yellow and sometimes just an application.” <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lockdown-limbo-in-no-mans-land/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lockdown limbo in no man's land</a>, Deepak KharelWhile some people continue to walk around at all times of day, others are snared by the ominously-named ‘Multifunctional Rescue and Arrest Device’ and locked up for three hours on the street. Others seem to be able to wangle travel permits fairly easily, while others pay vegetable truck drivers to hide in the back.The lockdown is supposed to end on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-covid-19-lockdown-extended-till-7-april/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tuesday 7 April at midnight</a>  and may be extended further. The desperation of ordinary people trapped in the city is greater than ever, and so is the confusion about what is allowed and what is not. Is it ok to walk out to shop for food? Can I head out to the pharmacy? What if I have a medical emergency?  I called the emergency hotline by dialling 100 just to clarify. “You can leave the house in the morning and evening, maybe just for an hour,” said the operator. But the police do not seem to know that. Maiya Nepal, 60, is a household help and was detained by police while shopping for groceries at 8:30 in the morning. “Thank god, I wasn’t asked to become a chicken for hours,” she said, alluding to the practice of police punishing people by making them do sit-ups in the middle of the street. “the police need to be sure about the rules and not punish us.”LOCKDOWN DO’S AND DONT’S As far as we could figure out from official sources, here is a list of what is allowed and not allowed during the lockdown. This list is not exhaustive, nor is there any guarantee that police themselves know the rules.According to a statement published by the Home Ministry:  <ol><li>The responsibility to ensure essential supplies is with local governments.</li><li>Everyone should maintain at least a 1m gap while visiting a store. </li><li>The ward chief to head a committee made up of police to decide on maintaining essential services.</li><li>The committee should trace daily wagers and support them with provisions.</li><li>Shops to create daily packages of essential items, depending on size of families. </li><li>Charities and social welfare groups should coordinate with ward office and the committee. </li><li>Organisations and individuals not allowed to raise money using the lockdown as excuse. </li><li>Double distribution prohibited. </li><li>The Ministry of Finance, Commerce and Health should ensure the supply of essential items and distribute them evenly to all. </li></ol>Statement by the Metropolitan City District offices:<ol><li>Funeral vehicles do not need permits. Except for security vehicles, public and private transport should be off the roads.</li><li>Only essential services like health, security, food supply, water supply, dairy, electricity, telecommunication, news and information, customs, quarantine, waste management will be in operation. All others to stay home.</li><li>People can still go out, but only for urgent medical reasons or to buy food.</li><li>Home delivery services will be given permits for Kathmandu Valley.</li><li>Department stores will be allowed to open for ‘certain hours’ in the morning and evening. </li><li>No vehicles or persons will be allowed to leave Kathmandu Valley unless it is a family emergency like deaths or pregnancies.  </li><li>All others need verification from municipalities and have it attested by the district offices.  </li></ol>Rules for vehicle permits: <ol><li>The application should be signed in red ink. </li><li>A clear description of why the permit is needed.</li><li>Duration of the permit.</li><li>Name and designation should be clearly mentioned.</li><li>The ward office and police must approve the application. </li><li>According to the subject and circumstances different colour permits will be issued. </li><li>Local authorities can over-ride permit if it is misused.</li></ol>Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/home-health-care-during-a-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Home health care during lockdown</a>, Alisha Sijapati

Confusion persists about lockdown rules

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

Turkish Basketball

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

America no longer prime destination for Nepali students

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

The Everest Industry

While Nepal marked <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mt-everest-pvt-ltd">Mt Everest</a> Day on 29 May, on the other side of the planet in the US state of Colorado dozens of Nepalis who have climbed the world’s highest peak multiple times were busy working as chefs and Uber drivers. Among them is Nima Doma Sherpa, who climbed Mt Everest in 2019 after her husband Tshering Wangchu was among 16 crushed by an avalanche on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu">the Khumbu Icefall</a> five years earlier. A large serac broke off the West Shoulder of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-everest-industry">Mt Everest </a>and fell directly on a group of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/more-porters-sick-on-everest-trail">porters and guides</a> making their way up the Icefall at 5,800m. Their bodies were flown by helicopter to Khumjung where Tshering Wangchu was born. He was excited about climbing Mt Everest for the first time.&nbsp; In Khumjung, Nima Doma felt like her own life had also ended. This was the kind of news Sherpa wives, mothers and sisters dreaded every <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/peak-climbing-season-2025-s4abrxny">mountaineering season</a>. She stayed home for more than two years grieving, but ultimately gathered up all her emotional strength to take care of her 6-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. Nima had grown up in Khumjung hearing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/stories-of-nepal-s-summiteers">tales of adventure on the mountains </a>from their father, Ang Chubi Sherpa who had climbed Everest in 1993. He used to bring her and her sisters and brother European chocolates after every expedition, and used to tell them that the chocolate bars grew on the mountains. “It was only after we got older did we realise that he told us that chocolates grew in the mountains so we would not worry about him putting himself in harm's way,” Nima Doma recalled with a faraway look at her home in Boulder this week. Nima went to the school that <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/commemorating-edmund-hillary-in-nepal,4145">Edmund Hillary</a> opened in Khumjung till Grade 8, and then dropped out to help in the kitchen and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">tend yaks</a>. She was married off to Tshering Wangchu, who was also a high altitude guide. When Tshering went on expeditions, Nima also started working as a porter from Namche to Base Camp. It was perhaps her father’s tales of mountains of chocolates that had always attracted her to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/knowing-our-mountains-43v4iyvo">the peaks</a>. After her husband was killed ten years ago this month, being a widow with children was not easy for Nima Doma. But she was not alone: there were at least 200 single mothers in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/khumbu-since-1950-jaww4qn0">the Khumbu</a>, and 20 of them just in Khumjung whose husbands had been killed in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/tragic-start-to-himalayan-spring-nepal,3695">mountaineering accidents</a>. Some were not even 20 years old, and had children growing up without fathers. But there were also women in the 50s whose husbands had been killed in the 1980s. Nima found sponsors for her children’s education, and moved to Kathmandu. In the capital, Sherpa widows used to meet to help each other. Some of them had joined the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) training for rock and ice climbing. “I decided that it was no use sitting home and crying anymore, after meeting other single mothers I felt less alone,” remembers Nima, who joined the Juniper Foundation and enrolled in an NMA training camp in Manang. There she climbed Chulu East (6,584m) and met Furadiki Sherpa, whose rope-fixing husband had also been <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/on-mt-everest-s-70th-records-and-fatalities">killed on Everest</a> in 2013. They set themselves the goal of climbing Everest one day, and started a fund-raising drive.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250530090544_621be0724b9182c8e3594b2c562a71ec32ac01d985a71d0cf31646de9d51e15a.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250530090544_621be0724b9182c8e3594b2c562a71ec32ac01d985a71d0cf31646de9d51e15a" data-rendition-name="original" width="2678" height="1274" loading="lazy" alt="Everest summiteers find new life in the US"> </figure>  “We decided we had to overcome society’s stigma of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/widows-personal-happiness-comes-last-in-face-of-social-financial-hardships,1855">widowhood</a> and prove that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/remembering-junko-tabei">women could also climb mountains</a>,” Nima said, adding that she was inspired by Nepal’s first woman Everest summiteer Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, who died during her descent in 1993. Nima Doma and Furdiki climbed the technically-difficult Ama Dablam (6,812m) and then arrived at Everest Base Camp in April 2019 as part of their Two Widows Expedition with the motto, ‘So Can We’. While climbing up the Icefall Nima passed the spot where her husband had been killed. It was a jumble of constantly-shifting ice blocks bigger than houses. She closed her eyes and said a prayer. “I remember thinking, this is so difficult and dangerous. This is what my husband had to do to support our family,” Nima Doma said. “I was determined to fulfil my husband’s dream of climbing Chomolungma, and to prove to ourselves that we two women could do it.” It was 23 May 2019 when <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/world/two-sherpa-widows-scale-everest-and-smash-stigma-idUSKCN1SU0MV/" target="_blank">Nima and Furdiki stepped on the summit</a> and looked over into Tibet, and down at Tengboche Monastery to the south.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250530090544_6b822582b5d88ba5e972db084f184690b40653c6efd9901b2dd082ffba2a263b.png" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250530090544_6b822582b5d88ba5e972db084f184690b40653c6efd9901b2dd082ffba2a263b" data-rendition-name="original" width="2700" height="1522" loading="lazy" alt="Everest summiteers find new life in the US"> </figure>  Nima Doma hugged Furdiki, took off her mask and wept. But for the first time in five years, it was not from grief but relief — relief for being free of all the sadness and sacrifices and for fulfilling her husband’s dream. They had found <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/life-after-death">life after death</a>. “I felt this immense joy to be on top of the world, it was indescribable,” Nima Doma said, “I have wept only twice in my life. Once when my husband died, and once there on top of Everest.” The tears had frozen on Nima Doma’s cheeks, as she and Furdiki headed back down the mountain.