Illegal for Everest climbers to share photos of other Everest climbers
So we'll have to enjoy the viral images from past years of epic line-ups near the summit
Nepals Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has put a ban on taking and circulating pictures, videos and filming of other climbers or members of expedition teams on Everest other than of oneself starting this season.
Issuing a notice, the Department of Tourism put the ban, saying that each climber can take, share and make images and videos of their group or of oneself but they will face action if they take, make and share photos of other climbers without the department’s consent.
“Our law bans the dissemination of photos and videos taken on Everest without the department’s consent. But the practice has not stopped,” said Mira Acharya, director at the Mountaineering Division of the Department of Tourism. “We have [therefore] issued new rules prior to the climbing season to make them more effective.”
In the wake of a picture that went viral on May 2019 about the “traffic jam” on Everest by Nirmal Purja, Nepali officials have been facing other similar kinds of criticism by the international media over threat to the Himalayan eco-system.
If you use this image it would be appreciated if you could inform me & credit the photo @nimsdai Project Possible also please make a donation to the go fund me campaign.Promotion of #ProjectPossible would also be most welcome.https://t.co/wEYu8OHRwE, https://t.co/FVAZrnDSwI pic.twitter.com/eSZRCIsApb
— Nirmal Purja MBE (@nimsdai) May 24, 2019
“We honour the personal freedom of climbers but that does not mean they can post images and videos of others without their consent,” said Acharya. “Either through commercial cameras or mobile sets, all such activities have been banned.”
A total of 6,507 mountaineers have climbed Everest from the Nepal side since Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and New Zealander Edmund Hillary first set foot atop the world’s highest peak in May 1953.
Ang Tsering Sherpa, former president of Nepal Mountaineering Association, said it’s not possible to prevent the dissemination of videos or photos taken on Everest because millennials stand out for their use of technology, and even the older generation has embraced the digital life. “You make a click here and in an instant your photo goes around the world,” he told the Kathmandu Post.
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