Image caption Everest's slopes are becoming ever more crowded, according to officials 
 
 Nepal has decided to deploy a team of security officials at Everest base camp, in a bid to avert brawls between climbers, officials say. 
 
 Last April a fight erupted between European mountaineers and a group of Sherpas at 7,470m (24,508ft). 
 
 Although that dispute was eventually resolved, officials say Everest's slopes are becoming more crowded. 
 
 An office staffed by army and police will open in April at Everest base camp as the climbing season gets under way. 
 
 Nepali tourism ministry official Dipendra Poudel told BBC Nepali's Surendra Phuyal that the security team of nine would comprise three officers each from Nepal's army, police and armed police force. 
 
 He added that they would be assisted by officials from the tourism ministry. 
 
 Our correspondent says that last year's brawl between a group of European climbers and Sherpas raised concerns about the safety and security of climbers. 
 
 The conflict - which made headlines around the world - was allegedly over the fixing of ropes on the slope. 
 
 Officials say the new office will also be able to help climbers in distress, clean the mountain and enforce climbing rules, the Associated Press news agency reports. 
 
 More than 3,000 people have scaled Mount Everest since it was first conquered by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. 
 
 Straddling Nepal and China, the world's highest mountain has an altitude of 8,848m (29,029ft). ||||| Rajan Pokhrel 
 
 Kathmandu, May 6 
 
 Two American climbers who were part of a twin study research of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, made an illegal ski descent from Camp III to Camp II on Mt Everest last week, officials at the Department of Tourism said. 
 
 Willie Benegas and Matt Moniz reportedly skied down from 7,200m to 6,400m on May 2 without obtaining a ski permit from government authorities, Ram Prasad Sapkota, director at the DoT, told THT after receiving the information from Everest base camp. “The duo only obtained Everest climbing permit,” Sapkota said, adding that their ski attempt was illegal. 
 
 After making a successful ski descent on the Lhotse face from Camp III, the climbers posted on Facebook, “We did it!” The Benegas Brothers Expeditions run by Willie Benegas also announced: “Well after 10 years dreaming about it, it happen (sic)! Managed to ski from Camp 3 Everest 7,200 meters to Camp 2 6,400m. Not much of difficulty but definitely good eyes needed to read the terrain, catching a ice-patch (sic) will be a bad thing to happen!” 
 
 DoT officials said they summoned representatives of the High Altitude Dream Pvt Ltd, a local agency which is handling Benegas Brothers Expeditions, to clarify about the climbers’ illegal descent on the world’s highest peak. “The agency representatives briefed us this afternoon that they were unaware of the incident,” Sapkota said. 
 
 According to him, climbers shall pay US$1,000 as royalty to obtain ski permit while the ski team must have a liaison officer to monitor their activities in the mountains. “The ski team also needs to deposit US$500 as garbage management fee at the DoT,” he said. 
 
 The DoT will initiate legal action against the climbers after a thorough investigation, Sapkota said. “Conducting illegal activities on mountains will land these climbers in soup,” he added. According to the country’s Mountaineering Expedition regulation, the government may ban a mountaineering expedition team or its member(s) from entering Nepal for up to five years or bar them from mountaineering in Nepal for up to 10 years for violating provisions of the act or rules framed thereunder or conditions specified in the permit. 
 
 Talking to THT, Kili Sherpa, managing director at High Altitude Dream Pvt Ltd, claimed that the climbers kept his company in the dark about their plan to ski on Mt Everest. 
 
 The climbers were at the base camp after making acclimatisation rotations in the high camps, a base camp official told THT over phone. 
 
 The two climbers plan to conduct molecular research on Mt Everest as part of the twin study project under the NASA. “Not just climbing, during the ascent, we’ll be collecting samples for a first of its kind genomic research project,” Moniz, who became the 14th American and youngest climber to summit Mt Makalu, having reached the top only seven days after scaling Mt Cho Oyu, told THT last month. 
 
 READ ALSO: 
 
 A version of this article appears in print on May 07, 2018 of The Himalayan Times. 
 
 Follow The Himalayan Times on Twitter and Facebook ||||| KATHMANDU, MAR 27 - The government is considering making it compulsory for mountaineers attempting to climb Everest and other peaks above 8,000 m to take along a high-altitude local guide or support staff to ensure their safety. 
 
 The proposal will be tabled at the joint meeting of the Himalaya host countries Nepal, India, China and Pakistan scheduled to be held on April 18 in Kathmandu. 
 
 “The objective of the rule is to ensure climbers’ safety in addition to increasing employment,” said Madhu Sudan Burlakoti, chief of the industry division of the Tourism Ministry. 
 
 As per the proposal that will be floated jointly by the ministry and the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), climbing expeditions will have to hire two local guides for every two mountaineers for peaks above 8,000 m, and one local guide for every three climbers for peaks above 7,000m. Expeditions will be required to hire one local guide for peaks below 7,000 m. “The meeting will also discuss common topics like climbing rules and regulations, procedures including proper management of cross-border Himalayas and environment issues,” said Ang Tshiring Sherpa, president of the NMA. 
 
 As a number of mountaineers have been reported to have been struck by high altitude sickness due to lack of proper knowledge, the government and the NMA is considering the idea of assigning one staffer to each climber, said Sherpa. 
 
 Local guides are well aware of the geography and strong enough to handle risks in high altitude zones, he added. “In addition, the mandatory provision of hiring a guide for each climber will also generate more jobs.” 
 
 Last year, 678 climbers obtained climbing permits for Everest, and among them, 567 succeeded in reaching the top of the world’s highest peak, according to the Tourism Ministry. There were 334 mountaineering guides including a few Nepali climbers. The government earned US$ 3.16 million in Everest royalties last year. 
 
 In 2012, there were 408 successful climbers, among them 227 guides. According to the stats, 4,411 people have climbed Everest since the first ascent in 1953. Nearly 250 have died on its slopes. 
 
 The ministry has taken a number of initiatives to ensure the safety of climbers. It plans to set up a temporary station at the base camp located at 5,300 m throughout the spring climbing season that will monitor climbers and coordinate with expedition leaders. “It’s like a check post. Every climber has to clear the post before they set out for Everest. And on their return, they have to hand over 8 kg of trash to the post to get back their US$ 4,000 garbage deposit,” said Burlakoti, adding that it would also enable the ministry to obtain accurate statistics on how many people climbed the peak on a particular day. 
 
 Meanwhile, from this season, climbers aspiring to set records have to inform the ministry prior to their departure for the summit. The ministry has also slashed the Everest climbing fee from US$ 25,000 per person to US$ 11,000 per person which will come into effect from Jan 1, 2015. 
 
 The ministry is also discussing leasing out Nepal’s unclimbed peaks to private companies which will manage them and collect fees from mountaineers. The government estimates that there are more than 1,600 virgin summits in the Nepal Himalaya. As of now, 310 peaks (revised from 326) are opened for commercial climbing. 
 
 Nepal for six more eight thousanders 
 
 The Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) will ask for recognition of six more eight thousanders in Nepal at the meeting of the Himalaya host countries this April. Last October, the NMA had submitted a similar proposal to the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation which has not reached a decision. The six peaks for which separate eight-thousander status is being sought are Yalung Khang, West Yalung Khang, Kanchanjunga Central, Kanchanjunga South, Lhotse Middle and Lhotse Shar. They all lie on the Nepal-India and Nepal-China borders. There are 14 peaks above 8,000 m in the world, all of them in Asia. Among them, eight lie in Nepal—Everest (8,848 m), Kanchanjunga (8,586 m), Lhotse (8,516 m), Makalu (8,463 m), Cho Oyu (8,201 m), Dhaulagiri (8,167 m), Manaslu (8,163 m) and Annapurna I (8,091 m). 
 
 Posted on: 2014-03-27 08:42
– Come spring, Everest's base camp will be home to a security team designed to prevent brawls like this one. It will be made up of three officers each from Nepal's army, police, and armed police force, assisted by tourism officials, the BBC has learned. The idea of a government team was first floated last summer, and reports say officials will begin manning the post in March or April—a year after a fight broke out between climbers and Sherpas some 20,000 feet in the air. "This will make it easy to resolve any conflict," a tourism ministry official told Reuters. "The presence of security officials at the base camp will give a psychological feeling to climbers that they are safe." Reuters notes that, previously, each climbing team was assigned a government employee, but those liaisons often declined to head to the 17,550-foot base camp with their team. The government officials will also help enforce rules, rescue climbers, and clean up the garbage that's piling up. Meanwhile, National Geographic notes Nepal is dramatically lowering Everest's climbing fee from $25,000 to $11,000 per climber. The move eliminates the rule that allowed seven climbers to get a permit for just $70,000, and will be put in place in 2015 to "discourage artificially formed groups, where the leader does not even know some of the members of the team," an official told Reuters. "It will promote responsible and serious climbers."