Myanmar mountaineers delay Mt Everest expedition
Published on Saturday, 26 April 2014 21:08
A team of Myanmar mountaineers will delay their expedition in the wake of last week's avalanche which put in jeopardy this year's climbing season to summit Everest in Nepal.
The announcement was posted by the expedition's main sponsor Htoo Foundation on its Facebook page on Thursday.
The Napalese government has issued climbing permits for 743 people, including 400 guides, for this season. The high-altitude avalanche killed 13 guides and three went missing at the "popcorn field", located at the altitude of some 19,000 feet.
Despite the payments being offered to families of avalanche victims, Sherpa guides and the Nepalese government have yet to work out a fair compensation package. And the uncertainty has prompted the Myanmar team to halt its planned expedition, according to Htoo Foundation.
Presently, the Myanmar team has returned from Mt Everest base camp to Nepal's capital Kathmandu.
"There are some tensions between the Nepalese government and the guides," said Soe Thura Win from the Support Team for Myanmar Mountaineers Group from Htoo Foundation.
"All of the guides have left the base camp. No one can climb Mt Everest without them. Five members of Myanmar Mountaineers Group had gone to Everest for the first time. One of them had got sick so he went back home. The remaining four men have arrived in Kathmandu and are planning to return home," he said.
He said that the Everest avalanches persisted occurring between 15 to 20 times a day.
Although the expedition has been cancelled for this year, the five-man team is entitled to climb the mountain within the next five years.
Myanmar Mountaineer Group, including two foreign climbers, left the country on March 29 for a two-month expedition. Regardless of the postponement, the team members are determined to complete the climb when the next opportunity arises.
http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/myanmar-mountaineers-delay-mt-everest-expedition/
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