Everest 2008: More on Communications Ban on Everest From Peak Freaks
April 15, 2008
BREAKING NEWS
It is 2:42 in the morning, and glad I have stayed up tonight. I just posted about Alan Arnette’s latest post concerning the communication ban on the South of Mt. Everest. None of us were to sure when this was going to take effect, but it looks to be sooner rather than later–Alan Arnette has already stated that his dispatches would not be resumed until mid-May.( May 10th will be the designated day for expeditions to resume as usual, pending any delay by the Chinese)
Now we get this from Peak Freaks:
Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it,“Today the senior L.O. came over to introduce Tim and the head of the Nepalese military along with 4 other members of the military who will be monitoring the unique climbing regulations this year on Everest. The formal meeting with the expedition leaders and the military is scheduled for tomorrow to hand down the procedures and expectations of the climbing teams with regards to their communications equipment. They wanted to meet with Tim to get an idea of what questions and concerns the climbing teams might have so they can prepare themselves.
Tim explained to them that the number one thing expeditions will want to have is a communication link with home, and that this was of the utmost of importance to all of them. The leader of the military group understands this because he is a climber. He himself has summited Everest and has a family too. Tim explained that everyone has gone to great length in preparation and expense to come and climb and that the communications ban was not part of the plan so it is difficult to swallow. They discussed websites blogs. Tim explained that websites that are relaying dispatches from the mountain are doing it mainly to update their family and friends at home and for some it is being used as tool for securing sponsorship funding and was never intended from what he knows of the climbers here today, would be used as a political medium. He told them for us at Peak Freaks like other commercial operators, website blogs help generate tourism for Nepal and that this is a good thing. They said absolutely no to cameras but are pondering how to best handle communications but are not making any promises.
Tim also asked them what their plans were for trekkers coming in that have cameras and sat phones. They advised that trekkers will be stopped before entering the base camp area and will be asked to park their cameras and phones for collection when they leave. As mentioned in one of our earlier dispatches, it would be a good idea for trekkers to mark their equipment and perhaps take a photo of your equipment with you for easy identification.
Here are some of the restrictions in the agreement expedition leaders were asked to sign as a condition of being granted a permit this year:
1. Climbing between April 1 to May 10 up to Camp 2 only. There will be police on the mountain to Camp 2 to make sure.
2. The rest of the mountain will be open after May 10. The mountain closes by call of nature and the ice-fall melt May 31.
3. All electronic equipment is not permitted on the mountain from April 1 to May 10. This includes all cameras, video and other. Laptops, PDA’s and Satellite phones. All items will be collected from expeditions by the Liaison Officers at base camp and locked up till after May 10.
From The Adventurist Vault:
Written by Jason A. Hendricks · Filed Under 2008 Everest Expedition, 2008 Mt. Everest Expedition, Everest 2008, Mt. Everest 2008, Uncategorized |
Thanks for keeping us up on all of these developments Jason. It is unsettling all of what is going on, but it sure is raising awareness and getting people talking…
DSD