Mountain guide license distribution halted

Kathmandu: The Mountain Guide License, which is being distributed by the Department of Tourism, has been postponed. The department said in a statement that the supreme court had ordered that all work related to the distribution of guide license has been postponed until further notice.

The department had recently issued a mountaineering license to make Nepal’s mountain tourism more commercial, dignified, and systematic. The first license was given to world record climber Kamirita Sherpa.

The Director of the department, Mira Acharya, informed that the identity card, which was started with the objective of organizing the ascent to commemorate the world-famous climber, has been postponed due to a court order.

“It is an attempt to give a license in a way that respects the reputation of the climber and arranges the climb.”Some climbers have said that we should be the only ones. Now, we have to proceed as per the court order,” she said.

So far, more than 110 licenses have been obtained from the department. A case was filed in the court to stop the issuance of the license on the basis of the red book given by the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) as per the criteria of the department.

The court has asked to stop the distribution of the license for the time being. Nine climbers allowed climbing peaks So far, three groups of climbers have been given permission to climb Mt. Everest in the spring.

Nine groups of climbers allowed to climb 

Another group of climbers was allowed to climb today, the department said. Similarly, the first ascent permission was issued for Lhotse Himal on Monday, said Acharya. According to her, nine groups of climbers, have so far been given permission to climb the mountain peaks including Mt Everest during the spring. Three groups have taken permission to climb Mt. Everest, three in Annapurna and one each in Manaslu, Nuptse, and Lhotse.