The Nepal Department of Tourism has so far issued 454 permits to attempt the summit of Everest this spring, a record number and which coincides with the 70th anniversary of the first ascent, on May 29, 1953, by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Tenzing Norgay. Nepal has confirmed this morning that these 454 applicants, 361 men and 93 women, are integrated into 41 international expeditions, which have paid a total of almost five million euros.
Most of the aspirants to crown the 8,849 meters of the roof of the world do it with the help of artificial oxygen and at least one Sherpa. For this reason, the number of 454 people who, when they have acclimatized and a window of good weather appears, will easily double the number of people heading towards the summit. The figures provided by Nepal do not include the Sherpas who work as height guides for their clients, the 454 mountaineers who come from all over the world.
In the 2022 season, 683 ascents were recorded, of which 442 were carried out by Sherpas. So far, 2019 is the year with the most peaks, 877, 214 on the Tibetan slope, according to the statistics of the Himalayan Database. It was also in 2019 when the Nepalese Nirmal Purja took the famous photo of the tails on the final stretch of Everest; not in vain, in a single day, on May 29, 358 people trodden the most desired mountain.
And this spring more, which raises fears that the crowds and dangerous situations will be repeated in the most compromised points. The previous record number was reached in 2021, with 409 permits; in 2022, 325 were issued.
At least 96 Chinese mountaineers will seek the top, the nationality with the most applicants. Beijing has finally opened the borders to its citizens so that they can go to Nepal and now requires that the mountaineers have climbed a peak of more than 8,000 meters before attempting Everest from the Chinese side, according to Efe. This limitation encourages less experienced people to try it from Nepal. The second country that has obtained more permits to climb Everest is the US, with 87 applicants, followed by India (40); Canada(21), and Russia (19), as indicated in the note issued this morning by the Nepali Department of Tourism.
The president of the Association of Expedition Operators of Nepal, Dambar Parajuli, told EFE that the Sherpas have opened the route to Camp 4, at an altitude of 7,900 meters. "We expect the escalation to start the first week of May," added Parajuli.
