Nepal announced this week that anyone who climbs Mount Everest will be required to carry a GPS tracking chip to assist with rescue and recovery efforts.
“Reputed companies were already using them but now it’s been mandatory for all climbers. It will cut down search and rescue time in the event of an accident,” Nepalese tourism director Rakesh Gurung said.
The tracking chips will be rented to hikers for $10 to $15, a fee in addition to those acquired climbing Everest that cost around $40,000 for equipment, supplies, permits, and guides.
The move comes after 17 of 478 climbers either died or went missing during the trek.
“It is almost impossible to rescue climbers at that altitude,” an official with the Nepalese tourism department said.
From Breitbart:
Nepal has traditionally required climbers to submit a photo of themselves at the peak to obtain an Everest climbing certificate, backed up by documents from a liaison officer who usually stays at the climbers’ base camp. The liaison officers are well-compensated civil servants who are sometimes agreeable to falsifying their reports to become even more well-compensated, and computer technology has advanced to the point where photos of successful climbs are not difficult to falsify, so GPS data could become the new gold standard for verified ascents. The Nepalese tourism ministry may also require biometric attendance systems to ensure that climbers and liaison officers ascend to the base camps.
