According to this article from News 24 South Africa the Chinese plan to send a law enforcement agent up to 6600m to prevent robberies at the high camps on the mountain.
Last year, amidst the record number of summitteers, commotion with the Discovery Team and the Olympic Torch test run, there were a lot of reported thefts of supplies, gear, oxygen bottles and other items on the mountain. The Chinese want to ensure that the area is as safe as can be, and hope to prevent future crimes by having someone stationed on the mountain throughout the climbing season.
The climate on Everest in general, and the North Side specifically, have been kind of like the Wild West in recent years. Base camp has become a busy place, with all manner of sordid activities going on. With the increased presence of the Chinese in BC next year, that should help some there, but who would want to be the poor bastard who draws the short straw for this duty?
This comes via the GoBlog
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I think we all knew this was coming–you know, it does have to be safe for the torch…lol I am really kind of looking forward to seeing how all of this will be handled next year. Both by the chinese..and the climbers from abroad.
By the Way–Love the “Barney” photo. One of my all-time favorite shows. Made me laugh as soon as I seen it. And your probably not to far off base with it, either..lol
Barney seemed fitting for this post. 🙂 Glad you got a chuckle out of it.
Hmmm, back in 2003 I had brought a fully stocked med kit with us to the North side BC. I had a large quantity of painkillers which ended up getting stolen. I stored all of that stuff in the dining tent so that it was available to our team if anything was needed. To this day I have no idea who may have taken that stuff.
Of course, I also had a fairly large amount of cash (US Dollars, Nepalese Rupees and Chinese Yuan) just sitting out in the open next to my pillow in my sleeping tent. We all had our own 3-person tents to ourselves so they were empty most of the time. Not a bit of that was taken! Not to mention all of the electronic gear we had. Never a problem.
On summit day, Ben, one of the climbers cached his ice axe at the base of the 2nd step to lighten his load. When he returned after making the summit the axe was missing. He was pissed. Interestingly enough, the ice axe was returned several days later at base camp. Weird things happen at Everest!
Jon
http://www.therestofeverest.com
I love that story about Ben’s ice axe Jon. Cracks me up when I hear it. I didn’t realize it was returned so soon though. I was under the impression he didn’t get back until much later, and in an unexpected fashion. Still, at least the person who “borrowed” it, eventually got it back to him.
It’s amazing what gets targeted for theft. I suppose all your cash wasn’t of much importance on the mountain, but the medkit might have been. Not to mention the bottled oxygen further up the mountain and some of the other gear that goes missing.
You’re right, the ice axe was retuned to one of the Sherpas on our team (Lhawang) but Ben didn’t get the gear back into his possesion for 2 years.
The Phantom Ice Axe.
Jon
http://www.therestofeverest.com
That’s the story I remember. 🙂
See! I was paying attention during all those episodes of The Rest of Everest! I’m your one and only groupie. Lucky you! 😉