Nepal to work on Everest record claims

Nepal is working on a mountaineering policy to correct records, especially about Mount Everest, and to make mountaineering more organised and flawless, the government said Tuesday.

Following what is deemed by the government as a growing trend vis-a-vis bizarre records and curb risks to climbers, the culture, tourism and civil aviation ministry said it was working to curb such eccentricities, reports Xinhua.

With its snow-capped mountains, Nepal has been receiving a growing number of local and foreign climbers every year, the majority trying to conquer the world's highest mountain, Mountain Everest.

"Of late, mountaineering has been much glamourised with the climbers desiring to set absurd records which calls for the government's intervention," Purna Chandra Bhattarai, joint secretary in the ministry, said.

Responding to cases of violence between the climbers and Sherpas - the traditional porters, the Nepal government announced in August to set up a permanent team at the Mount Everest base camp to check such malpractices.

Officials said the new policy will make it mandatory for climbers to announce beforehand if they planned to set any record at the peak. So far, climbers do not share their plan to set a record beforehand and they make the claims after they reach the summit.