The department is considering giving climbers GPS trackers — a system also open to exploitation as the small devices can easily be given to other climbers. Theres the pressure to find sponsors and then the pressure to be special,” said German journalist and climber Billi Bierling.Competition between expedition operators has also created another new pressure as a growing number of cut-price climbing companies have started leading expeditions to Everest.But the growth has diminished the exclusivity of Everest and created a new pressure to summit, particularly for those who have been sponsored or raised money for their climb.In one photo, Tarakeshwaris face had been superimposed on Siddhantas, the colour of his boots changed and Indias national flag pasted over his hands.”Climbing was never a competitive sport, but now there is so much pressure to find some way to be the first. I was shocked, it was my photo.”Mountaineering used to be honourable.The Indian couple had doctored his summit photo, superimposing their own faces to support their claim, and were awarded an official summit certificate from the Nepal authorities before other climbers raised doubts.In 2016, Indian couple Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod provided just that, before other climbers said their story and photos didnt add up.”If it becomes Bourdon Tube Pressure Gauges Manufacturers more common, the government should take steps. Its you who has to live with the lie if you do,” said Bierling, who in recent years has largely taken over management of the database from 92-year-old Hawley.For an Everest summit, climbers have to provide the Nepali or Chinese authorities with a photo from the top and a report from the team leaders and government liaison officers stationed at base camp.Ascents of many of the worlds highest peaks are validated based largely on trust, a system that has until now worked within the close-knit community of high-altitude climbing.A record 509 paying clients headed to Everest at the beginning of this spring climbing season hoping to make it to the summit.
That sentiment is also shared by Himalayan Database — considered one of the most authoritative records of mountaineering feats within the climbing community.Standing at the top of the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) mountain adds a star to a climbers resume, and many go on to forge careers as motivational speakers and authors.Operators fiercely guard their summit records and there are reports of climbers being handed summit certificates despite not making it to the top so the firm can still claim a perfect success rate.The archive — a record of expeditions to around 400 peaks in Nepal dating back to the 1920s — was originally started by journalist Elizabeth Hawley, once described by Edmund Hillary as the “Sherlock Holmes of the mountaineering world”. Now if we cant count on the word of climbers — thats sad,” said Bierling.The database has 21 Everest ascents marked as “disputed” and another 18 considered “unrecognised”, meaning it was obvious the climbers had not achieved what they claimed.”I looked at their photo and immediately recognised the people around,” Siddhanta said.Dawa Steven Sherpa of Asian Trekking, one of the oldest operators in the Himalayas, told AFP that his company had received such offers — but turned them down.”I took out my own photo to compare.Kathmandu: Satyarup Siddhanta only discovered he was at the centre of an Everest fraud when he spotted news of a couple whose false claim to have scaled the worlds highest peak has set off a debate about how mountaineering feats are authenticated.”We have been offered but it would be foolish to partake,” he said. “We would not jeopardise our reputation for a single climber.That has resulted in climbers sometimes offering bribes for authentication of a failed climb.”If you tell me youve summited, Im going to believe you.But as the numbers heading up Everest have boomed, many are questioning whether summits need to be validated more scientifically.”The couple were stripped of their summit certificate and banned from Nepal for 10 years.”We dont expect mountaineers who come to climb Everest to cheat,” Dinesh Bhattarai said.”Another Nepali guide also said that he was aware of climbers trying to bribe their sherpas to lie about ascents. Perhaps have an expert panel assess the summits,” Sherpa said. In another, Siddhanta had been replaced by Dinesh.The head of Nepals tourism department, which grants the certificates, conceded the system had loopholes
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