Why Close Everest?

The news a few days ago that the Chinese are closing Everest's north side until May 10 was a serious blow to the several hundred climbers, guides, Sherpas and other expedition staff who descend on the mountain each spring. But today's news that Nepal also shut off Everest access from at least May 1 to May 10 is nothing short of catastrophic. Everest straddles the Nepal/China border, but Nepal is a port of entry for almost all Everest climbers, regardless of which side of the mountain they intend to climb.
    I can only assume that the closures in Nepal have been prompted in part by the violent demonstrations that have recently taken place in Tibet’s capital city, Lhasa, and in Kathmandu. The enhanced pressure from China that likely followed, not to mention Nepal's own tenuous political stability (a decade-old Maoist uprising only struck a fragile peace agreement during the summer of 2006) has clearly led everyone to tighten access and security. The Chinese apparently still intend to carry the torch for the Olympic Relay up and over Everest, as a kick-off to the Beijing Games. Last year when I traveled to Everest's north side, they had a large camp housing a 100-person expedition that pulled off a dry run, toting a prototype torch to the top and back.
    As I've seen for myself, the Chinese are hypersensitive about protests and demonstrations, especially anywhere near Everest, with which they seemed to have developed a deep affinity. (What more symbolic element could the world’s most populous communist country desire than the world’s tallest peak?) While I was in Base Camp last year, four students unfurled Free Tibet banners at the entrance to campsite. Within hours they were arrested, carted off, and a platoon of Chinese soldiers had arrived to fortify the entrance to the mountain.
    Everest expeditions typically head for the mountain around the first week of April to begin the long, slow process of acclimatization. It takes several weeks of merely sitting around camp, making occasional sorties higher on the mountain, until the body can adjust to the rarified air of extreme elevation. Although the typical weather window doesn't open up until mid to late May, teams need to be acclimatized and positioned themselves high on the mountain to make their dash to the summit.
    In theory, it’s possible for climbers to acclimatize elsewhere—on neighboring peaks in Nepal's mountainous Solu-Khumbu region or on Cho Oyu in Tibet, about 20 miles west of Everest—but in reality commercial Himalayan expeditions are quite cumbersome, and moving the infrastructure from one location to another could be logistically impractical, if not impossible. The other theoretical scenario, in which climbers stick around to acclimatize more rapidly, is really just courting disaster. Adequate and successful acclimatization is arguably the single most important key to climbing Everest and returning to talk about it. Short-changing the acclimatization schedule could result in full-scale carnage on the mountain’s upper ridges if large numbers of people converge their inadequately prepared.
    Whatever their course of action, it seems like the situation is going to get worse for climbers before it gets better. If Everest is shut down for the 08 season, it’s going to be a devastating year for anyone with business interests tied to the spring climbing season. On the other hand, maybe everyone will be content to give Everest a rest for a year and go climb another peak; there are lots of others in the neighborhood, people!   
    If nothing else, this tense situation is going to bring renewed attention to the plight of the Tibetans and the stern rule under which they live.

—Nick Heil

Outside correspondent Nick Heil has a new book about Everest, titled Dark Summit (Henry Holt), coming out in May of 2008. He is a veteran reporter in the region and has written stories on the Himalayan Cataract Project and the use of Viagra as a possible climbing aid. During the Spring 2007 climbing season he blogged live from the mountain.

As events unfold on Everest, he will keep a running blog for Outside.