The Nepalese government will station a team at Everest base camp next season to monitor climbers and enforce the law, officials say. The team, dubbed the Integrated Service Center, will also be responsible for checking permits and verifying summits.
While all Everest teams are currently required to work with a government liason officer, the officials rarely leave Kathmandu; even when they do, Puma Chandra Bhattarai, the head of the government’s tourism division, told the BBC, they are typically only accountable to expedition teams. “When there is the presence of the government on the ground, the message ‘violating the law is punishable’ becomes clearer,” he said.
In addition, new regulations will prohibit helicopters flying near the mountain for anything but rescue operations, and require climbers who plan to set records on the mountain to register them first. The new rules follow several incidents this year, most notably a violent confrontation between a group of Sherpas and alpinists Simone Moro, Ueli Steck, and Jon Griffith.