Naked Everest climber sparks anger
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-05-29 10:46
The head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association urged the government on
Saturday to take action against a sherpa who reportedly stripped off on top of
Mount Everest.
The head
of the Nepal Mountaineering Association urged the government Saturday to
take action against a sherpa who reportedly stripped on top of Mount
Everest. [Reuters] | The Himalayan Times had
reported on Friday that the Nepali climbing guide, whose name it gave as Lakpa
Tharke, stood naked for three minutes in freezing conditions on the 8,850-metre
(29,035-ft) summit of the world's highest peak.
If confirmed, he would be the first person known to have stripped atop
Everest, considered by Nepali Buddhists as a god.
Ang Tshering Sherpa, head of Nepal's top mountaineering body, said he could
not confirm that the incident had happened.
"But if he did it, it is very shocking because Sagarmatha is the goddess
mother," he said, using the mountain's Nepali name.
"The government must enforce strict ethics for climbing."
Authorities have yet to comment.
But the climb's organisers seemed happy enough with Lakpa Thaeke's strip.
"We are planning to file his extraordinary feat for the Guinness Book of
World Records," the paper quoted an official of the hiking group that employs
Tharke as saying.
Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Mount
Everest.
At least 1,345 people have climbed Everest since 1953.
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