June 05, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 30, 1429

NEW DELHI: Fine weather during the short spring season for climbing Mount Everest has produced a record number of successful summits from the southern approach through Nepal, officials say.

Already, 258 climbers have made it to the top from the southern approach -- one more than the previous high of 257 last year -- and the authorities expect the total to rise further.

They include a Nepali Sherpa who summitted Everest for a breathtaking 18th time, and a 77-year-old retired Nepali mountaineering official who smashed the record for the oldest person to scale the globe’s highest point.

“So far we have confirmed summits by 258 climbers and some of our liaison officers are still in the field,” Ramesh Khatri Chhetri from the mountaineering department of Nepal’s tourism ministry said.

“Once their reports come in the total will be more than 300,” he said.

“It is going to be the highest number of summits in a single season from the southern (or Nepal) side.” The spring climbing season, when jet stream winds drop at the 8,848-metre summit to allow a brief window of good weather, began under a cloud of doubt after China banned all private expeditions through the Tibetan, or northern, approach.

The Chinese wanted to ensure the Olympic torch reached the roof of the world without any of the pro-Tibet demonstrations that had dogged previous legs of the Olympic torch relay.

At the request of its giant northern neighbour, Nepal too banned climbing until after the torch reached the top, causing concerns of overcrowding and a dangerous rush to the “death zone” above 8,000 metres, where there is only one-third of the oxygen at sea level.

“There were doubts when Chinese Olympic torch team was summitting Everest, but they made it on time and this gave climbers enough time to push for the summit,” said Ang Tsering Sherpa, head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

“In the end, the climbers had ample time to acclimatise and the weather turned out to be really good,” said Sherpa.

“This is a proud moment for us with the new records,” he said. “We hope the records will increase the popularity of Everest expeditions, and we are expecting even more than the 32 expedition teams we had this year.”

A 44-year-old Swiss national collapsed and died of oxygen deprivation just below the summit, the only fatality of the season.

Since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay earned their place in world history by becoming the first people to conquer Everest in 1953, the peak has been climbed at least 3,250 times.-—AFP