Mount Everest Climbers and death toll

Australia's Uluru closes to climbers for good after decades-long fight
Tourists climb Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory, Australia, October 25, 2019. Friday is the last day people will be able to climb Uluru. AAP Image/Lukas Coch/via REUTERS

Tourists climb Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory, Australia, October 25, 2019. Friday is the last day people will be able to climb Uluru. AAP Image/Lukas Coch/via REUTERS

YULARA, Australia Oct. 25, 2019 - Australia’s Uluru officially closed to climbers for good on Friday, although the last visitors to scale the sacred rock were allowed to stay until sunset, as a permanent ban takes effect after a decades-long fight by indigenous people.

To commemorate the climbing ban, public celebrations will take place over the weekend when the dismantling of the trail and its railing is also expected to begin.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of tourists clambered up the UNESCO World Heritage-listed 348-metre (1,142-ft) monolith, formerly known as Ayers Rock.

Authorities had opened the climb mid-morning amid clear skies, after blustery conditions delayed early trekkers.

Uluru is a top tourist draw in Australia despite its remote desert location near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

While most visitors don’t climb its steep, red-ochre flanks, the impending Oct. 26 ban has triggered a surge in people taking a final opportunity to make the trek.

Nearly 400,000 visitors flocked to the Australian landmark in the year to end-June, government data shows. Australians still make up the bulk of the visitors to climb the rock, followed by Japanese, Parks Australia says.

The Anangu people, the traditional owners of Uluru, have called for the climb to be closed since 1985, when the park was returned to indigenous control. The Anangu say Uluru has deep spiritual significance as a route their ancestors took.

“This is our home,” read a sign at the base of the rock. “Please don’t climb.”

“It shows that Anangu can actually make decisions about the land they own and more importantly Anangu aren’t going to have to get sad anymore,” said Steven Baldwin, national park operations and visitor services manager.

“Whenever anybody gets sick, or injured, or worse on the climb, they get extremely sad, so this is an absolutely fantastic day for the park and fantastic for Anangu.”

Dozens of people have died while climbing Uluru, from falls and dehydration. Summer temperatures often top 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

The closure was announced two years ago when fewer than 20 percent of visitors were making the climb.

The Oct. 26 closure marks 34 years since the land was given back to the Anangu people, an important moment in the struggle by indigenous groups to retrieve their homelands.

Slideshow (11 Images)
Australia's Uluru closes to climbers for good after decades-long fight
 
Record breaking Nepal climber seeks to inspire future mountaineers
Nirmal Purja, who became the fastest person to summit the world's 14 highest mountains, speaks with the media personnel upon his arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal October 30, 2019. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar
A Nepali climber who scaled the 14 highest peaks in six months and six days to become the world's fastest mountaineer said on Wednesday he wanted to inspire future generations of climbers in the Himalayan nation.

Nirmal Purja, 36, was welcomed at Kathmandu airport by friends and family members who offered him Buddhist prayer scarves, as bands played music. “I want to inspire generations to come,” he told reporters.

“People were making jokes (before the attempt began),” he said, adding that no one had believed the feat could be achieved.

The record for the fastest ascent was previously held by South Korean Kim Chang-ho who completed all the “8,000ers” - peaks higher than 8,000 meters (26,247 ft), in seven years, 10 months and six days.

Purja said he believed his accomplishment was based on dedication.
“When you give 100 percent from your heart, it is possible,” he said.

Purja reached the top of Mount Shishapangma at 8,027 meters (26,335 feet) in Tibet on Tuesday, the final frontier of his “Project Possible” campaign to climb all peaks above 8,000 meters in seven months.

He described the ascent of Mount Kanchenjunga, the world’s third tallest peak, as the most difficult, adding that he had to give his oxygen bottles to other climbers who were in distress.

His campaign began in April in Nepal - home to eight of the world’s 14 highest peaks - with an ascent of Mount Annapurna. He subsequently headed to Pakistan - which has five of the peaks - as a part of his mission, and finished his pursuit in Tibet.

Purja, who arrived in Kathmandu wearing a black baseball cap, previously worked with Britain’s special forces and Royal Marines.

During his ascent of Mount Everest in May, Purja took photographs showing scores of climbers lined up on the summit ridge, exposing a jam at the so-called “death zone” of the world’s highest mountain.

Nepal subsequently drafted a new set of climbing rules aimed at reducing the crowding on Everest.
 
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