Nepali Officials Want Mount Everest Climbing Age Limit After 85-Year-Old Dies

Nepali officials are attempting to establish an age limit for climbing Mount Everest after 85-year-oldMin Bahadur Sherchan died while attempting to scale the mountain Saturday, according to the Associated Press (via ESPN.com)."It is very necessary to immediately bring that age limit law," Ang Tshering, head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, told the AP."If there had been a limit, the loss of life could have been prevented."While climbers have to be at least 16 years of age to climb the mountain, there are no age restrictions beyond that, though theNepal Mountaineering Association is hoping to set the age range between 16-76.The head of Nepal'sTourism Department,Dinesh Bhattarai, also said the government is in serious talks about an age limit.Sherchan was attempting to reclaim his record as the oldest climber to scale Mount Everest. The Nepali man had initially made the climb as a 76-year-old in May 2008, but an80-year-old Japanese man, Yuichiro Miura, best him in 2013.Sherchan died at Everest's base camp.Sherchan's death was the second in a week at Mount Everest, after famed Swiss climberUeli Steck died while preparing to traverse a path that connects the peaks ofEverest and Lhotse, perKatie Mettlerof theWashington Post.The Everest climb remains an incredibly perilous journey, though a record371 permits have been issued by theNepalese Tourism Department to attempt the summit this climbing season.Bhattarai toldBinaj Gurubacharya of the AP, via theChicago Tribune, that the high number of climbers this year was likely due in part to their return after the cancellationofboth the 2014 and 2015 climbing seasons. Anavalanche killed 16 Sherpas in 2014, and anotheravalanche killed 19 climbers and injured 61 a year later.
Click here to read full news..