Mount Everest Closed
Woe to those planning to climb Mount Everest this year.
Photo: wikipedia.org
The Chinese government has shut down Mount Everest until May 10, throwing a wrench into the plans of thousands of climbers hoping to scale the world's highest peak this spring. The nominal reason: "increasing environmental pressures," according to a notice from the China Tibet Mountaineering Association. But given that country's track record on environmental issues, the assumed reason is to forestall protests when the Olympic flame is carried up Everest in early May.
Britain's Independent is reporting that Nepal has also agreed to shut down the south face routes that run through that country; Nepal receives a hefty amount of financial support from China, and recognizes Tibet as a part of China. Last week's protests in Lhasa were the largest in 20 years and spread to sympathetic cities around the world.
If the ban holds, the Olympic flame carriers may be the only people to top Everest this year. Prime summiting time runs for just a few weeks in May, before the monsoon season arrives.
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