Nepal Reopens Everest Despite Pandemic Uncertainty

Mount Everest and other Nepali peaks will re-open for the autumn trekking and climbing season after authorities lifted a nationwide virus lockdown | AFP
Mount Everest and other Nepali peaks will re-open for the autumn trekking and climbing season after authorities lifted a nationwide virus lockdown | AFP
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Nepal Reopens Everest Despite Pandemic Uncertainty

Mount Everest and other Nepali peaks will re-open for the autumn trekking and climbing season after authorities lifted a nationwide virus lockdown | AFP
Mount Everest and other Nepali peaks will re-open for the autumn trekking and climbing season after authorities lifted a nationwide virus lockdown | AFP

Nepal has reopened its mountains -- including Everest -- for the autumn trekking and climbing season in a bid to boost the struggling tourism sector, officials said Friday, despite coronavirus uncertainty.

The Himalayan country shut its borders in March just ahead of the busy spring season when hundreds of mountaineers usually flock to the country, costing jobs and millions of dollars in revenue.

A nationwide lockdown was lifted last week, and Nepal is now open "for tourism activities, including mountaineering and trekking." Mira Acharya of the tourism department told AFP.

The government will permit international flights to land in the country from August 17.

The decision comes despite over 1,000 new coronavirus infections reported this week, with a total of 19,547 cases.

Officials were "working on" safety protocols Acharya added, including for how long visitors would have to quarantine on arrival.

Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks, one of the biggest Nepali expedition organizers, said that clients were calling, but were waiting to find out how long arrivals will have to quarantine for.

"It would be a relief for mountaineering workers if we can run expeditions after an empty spring season," Sherpa said.

Tent cities grow at the foot of Everest and other peaks in the climbing seasons, with climbers and support staff all living in close quarters.

Breathing is already difficult at higher altitude -- adding to medical risks if there is an outbreak of any kind among climbers.

Lukas Furtenbach of Furtenbach Adventures said that they had cancelled all expeditions.

"I think running an expedition now would be trial and error. Trial and error was never our strategy for expeditions, where we are responsible for the lives of our staff and our clients," he said.

Mountaineering experts say the September-November season is more dangerous due to high winds and lower temperatures, and the world's highest mountains see only a handful attempt to climb them.

Autumn summits on Everest last year were thwarted by a serac -- a block of glacial ice -- hanging dangerously above the already treacherous Khumbu icefall that climbers have to cross to reach Camp 1.

Last year's traffic-clogged spring climbing season saw a record 885 people summit Everest, 644 of them from the south and 241 from the northern flank in Tibet.

The season ended with 11 deaths on the mountain, with at least four blamed on overcrowding.

Only a Chinese team reached the summit of Everest from its northern Tibetan side this year after all other expeditions were barred.



UK's Oldest Man, WWII Veteran, Donald Rose, Dies at 110

WW2 veteran Donald Rose, 110, poses for a photo at the National Memorial Arboretum, ahead of a memorial event hosted by the Royal British Legion to mark the 80th anniversary of V-E Day, in Alrewas, Staffordshire, England, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Jacob King/PA via AP, File)
WW2 veteran Donald Rose, 110, poses for a photo at the National Memorial Arboretum, ahead of a memorial event hosted by the Royal British Legion to mark the 80th anniversary of V-E Day, in Alrewas, Staffordshire, England, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Jacob King/PA via AP, File)
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UK's Oldest Man, WWII Veteran, Donald Rose, Dies at 110

WW2 veteran Donald Rose, 110, poses for a photo at the National Memorial Arboretum, ahead of a memorial event hosted by the Royal British Legion to mark the 80th anniversary of V-E Day, in Alrewas, Staffordshire, England, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Jacob King/PA via AP, File)
WW2 veteran Donald Rose, 110, poses for a photo at the National Memorial Arboretum, ahead of a memorial event hosted by the Royal British Legion to mark the 80th anniversary of V-E Day, in Alrewas, Staffordshire, England, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Jacob King/PA via AP, File)

Britain’s oldest World War II veteran, Donald Rose, has died at the age of 110.

Rose participated in the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, and was part of the division that liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany.

In a statement Friday, the leader of the Erewash Borough Council in the north of England, James Dawson, announced Rose's death, calling him a “war hero.”

“Erewash was privileged to count him as a resident," he added, The AP news reported.

In May, Rose joined 45 other veterans as guests of honor at a tea party celebration hosted by the Royal British Legion at the National Memorial Arboretum, to mark 80 years since Victory in Europe Day.

Rose, who was born on Christmas Eve in 1914 following the outbreak of hostilities in World War I, said at the event that he did not celebrate VE Day at the time.

“When I heard that the armistice had been signed 80 years ago, I was in Germany at Belsen and, like most active soldiers, I didn’t get to celebrate at that time," he said. “We just did what we thought was right and it was a relief when it was over.”

Originally from the village of Westcott, southwest of London, Rose joined the army aged 23 and served in North Africa, Italy and France, according to the Royal British Legion. He received a number of medals and was awarded France’s highest honor, the Legion d’Honneur.

Rose is also believed to have been the UK’s oldest man.