KATHMANDU, Oct 9: The government has opened around five dozen new peaks for climbing.
A cabinet meeting held on Monday sanctioned 57 additional peaks of height lower than 7000 metres above sea level for mountaineering to provide incoming foreign tourists with more feasible options for mountaineering.
Director of the Adventure Tourism and Mountaineering Section of the Department of Tourism Rakesh Gurung informed Republica that the difficulties laid by the geological structure and climatic situation of many peaks make them unsuitable for mountaineering, which prompted the government to open more peaks as options.
Nepal Govt planning to open unclimbed peaks for mountaineering
“Last year, not all of the 404 peaks available for mountaineering were scaled by tourists due to geological and climate constraints,” Director Gurung said, “This year the government sanctioned the opening of 57 additional peaks to provide more options for foreign tourists that visit Nepal for mountaineering.”
He claimed that shorter peaks with more accessible geological conditions seem to attract more tourists as they are easier to scale. “There is a general misconception that peaks with greater height attract more mountaineers but the reality is that shorter peaks are scaled more often,” Gurung informed Republica, “Last year, Mount Ama Dablam, which has a height of 6,812 meters above sea level, was the peak with most summiteers.” He added that some peaks above 8000 meters went unscaled throughout last year’s mountaineering season.
According to the Department of Tourism under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, prior to the decision of the cabinet meeting, a total of 404 peaks were open for mountaineering. Last year, the government had opened up only five new mountains for summiting. However, the number of new peaks for mountaineering has increased to 57 this year, making a total of 461 peaks available for mountaineering.
“Nepal is a land of mountains, we need to make sure we utilize this resource optimally for revenue generation,” Director Gurung told Republica, “And it is not just the government that will generate revenue when we provide more options for mountaineering, but the general public also benefit from creations of new jobs such as guides and hoteliers along the route to the newly opened peaks.”
Chief of Tourist Police Office (TPO) Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ripendra Kumar Singh informed Republica that the number of tourist police and tourist checkpoints operated by the TPO will not be increased to monitor the tourist movement along the routes to the newly opened peaks.
“The Tourist Police has 10 offices in the valley and additional 19 offices across 12 mountainous districts,” DSP Singh said, “Since the newly opened peaks also lie in those 12 districts, the tourist police will not have to open up new offices targeting the peaks.” He added that the Tourist Police will coordinate with the District Police Office of each mountainous district to ensure that the tourists seeking to summit the newly opened peaks do not fall into any mishap.
Of the 57 peaks newly opened for mountaineering, the highest peak Pathibhara South East of the Kanchenjunga range in Phaktanglung Rural Municipality-6, Taplejung, stands 6,868 metres above sea level. The shortest peak among the 57 peaks, Ghyambu Peak of the Gautam range in Chharka Tangsong Rural Municipality, Dolpa, has a height of 5,870 metres above sea level. Only eight of the 57 peaks have a height of less than 6,000 metres above sea level.
