Climbers Caught on Everest Without a Permit: Himalayan Times

Nirmal Purja has made headlines again, this time not for a mountaineering achievement but for allegedly breaking the rules.

“Most of the climbers from an 11-member team of Lingtren Peak expedition of Elite Exped run by celebrated climber Nirmal Purja illegally crossed the icefall section of Mt Everest and reached Camp III earlier this week,” officials told The Himalayan Times.

Lingtren is a distinctive 6,713m peak above Everest Base Camp but which is rarely attempted. Reportedly, the Elite Exped team neither tried to fix ropes or climb Lingtren.

According to The Himalayan Times, the members of this Elite Exped team were Thomas Vendelbo Brown (Denmark), James Anthony McLaughlin (UK), Kayla Perez (U.S.), Amitha K Harsha (U.S.), Galen Arthur Woodmansee (UK), Pawel Blazniak (Poland), Glen Philip Mallen (UK), Isabella Aimee Gareh (UK), Robert James Hutchinson (U.S.), Richard Dean Gilpin (U.S.), and Carine Jacqueline Solange Louyot (France).

When liaison officials caught the team in Base Camp, Elite Exped added Kayla Perez and Robert Hutchinson to their Everest permit (no. 92) “as a face-saving measure,” the paper says, quoting officials from the Department of Tourism. “Kayla Perez, Carine Jacqueline, and Richard Dean have already left Nepal,” the outlet added.

Elite Exped has denied the report. “Robert Hutchinson and Kayla Perez both had valid permits for Everest,” the company wrote to The Himalayan Times. “The rest of the people…only trained at base camp for their preparation to climb Lobuche East. They had the correct permits for this. They did not climb Everest with Elite Exped.”

Cheaper permit

At the beginning of May, the Elite Exped team was the only one with a permit for Lingtren. The group permit cost $4,400, or $400 per person. Meanwhile, an Everest permit is $11,000 per person. (It will increase to $15,000 next year.)

Climbing a peak in Nepal without a permit is serious. Individual climbers who break the law are, at the very least, immediately deported and banned from Nepal for at least two years.

Throughout the history of alpinism, there have been cases of climbers venturing up peaks in Nepal without a permit. But these were mostly small teams with low budgets, aiming for adventurous climbs up difficult (usually new) routes on isolated peaks.

However, showing up in the Base Camp of an 8,000’er, Everest no less, and going up the normal route, with the ropes fixed by others, is another story. This breach of regulations was not done by a rogue individual but by a team of Westerners guided by an upscale outfitter.

Staff of other Nepalese outfitters commented about the news in disbelief. “Crazy company,” posted Manaslu speed record holder Pemba Gelje Sherpa yesterday. Pemba Gelje is currently guiding on Everest.

Climbs Shisha Pangma

The Himalayan Times did not state exactly when the accused climbers went to Camp 3. Nirmal Purja was in Everest Base Camp last week. However, he reported traveling to Tíbet earlier this week and climbed Shisha Pangma, with permission from the China-Tibet Mountaineering Association. He recovered the bodies of Mingmar Sherpa and Anna Gutu. An avalanche killed the two Elite Exped climbers last fall. Their bodies had been at Camp 2.

Meanwhile, Kristin Harila of Norway, who wanted to lead a search for the bodies of Tenjen Lama and Gina Ruzidlo — who died in a separate avalanche on Shisha Pangma that same day —  was denied permission.

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