The original version of this article was published on ExplorersWeb.
It’s been another busy climbing season on Manaslu. Every year about this time, the Himalayan mountain sees hundreds of ascents by paying clients. This year even saw a new record set by endurance athlete Tyler Andrews.
But now, many of those climbers can’t fly off the mountain after locals blocked the helicopter pad, according to guiding services and a Nepalese official. The Nepalis are protesting the government. It frequently refuses permits for emergency airlifts for sick or injured villagers living nearby. Foreign tourists, meanwhile, use the service without restrictions.
The situation led locals to block the helicopter pad Wednesday, shortly after many climbers had summited in the last few days. Now, most of them remain in Base Camp. Climbers will have to wait for a resolution to the situation or walk down the valley when the weather allows.
Still, at least some guiding operators in Base Camp are understanding of the locals’ point of view.
“Though inconvenient to our operations, the expedition operators and all stakeholders agree that the cause is just. The government needs to make sure their citizens are not treated as second-class,” Dawa Steven Sherpa of Asian Trekking told ExplorersWeb. “We all know of cases of sick locals and pregnant women losing their lives waiting for flight permissions.”
Helicopter Flights at Manaslu: Living in a Restricted Area
Most of the Manaslu area in Nepal borders China and lies in a restricted zone. That makes obtaining an airlift permit difficult for locals. Foreigners, however, simply pay a trekking permit fee to the government for the right to fly in and out.
The locals have the support of their elected officials, who want the government to remove the region’s villages from this restricted zone. If their demands aren’t met, they’re ready to stop helicopters from landing indefinitely. The District Administration Office in nearby Gorkha made public an open letter requesting the Nepali federal government address the needs of locals.
“Airlifts are a local’s final lifeline,” member of parliament Rajendra Bajgain told ExplorersWeb.
Bajgain represents the area and knows the problem first-hand. He has personally arranged several emergency airlifts for neighbors in trouble, he said. He has also been vocal on social media this week, supporting the protests of his constituents.
Bajgain also shared the open letter asking for changes to permitting, which can take days for locals to obtain.
“But the foreigners have easy access,” Bajgain said. “Locals are only asking for their basic rights. They are also humans, and the government must come up with a solution so local people can freely fly out of the area when in need.”
A History of Conflict
The area around Manaslu was initially restricted to prevent the Khampa guerillas from smuggling arms into Tibet during a 1959 uprising, according to Bajgain.
“But that conflict is long over and the highlanders of this mountain area are farmers with small pieces of land,” he said. “They are very poor.”
Because many helicopter companies prioritize foreign tourists over locals, Bajgain is demanding that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal change its policies. When helicopters drop foreigners on the mountain, they should try to ferry locals on their way back to larger cities with more medical facilities, Bajgain said.
That’s not unheard of among climbers. Two years ago, Spanish climber Alex Txikon was on his way back from Manaslu by helicopter. En route, they picked up a pregnant woman in labor during a refueling stop at Samagaun. She gave birth to her baby in the helicopter.
For the moment, the protest is unlikely to present a life-threatening situation for those in Base Camp, according to Dawa Steven of Asia Trekking. No one needs evacuation. Climbers were already expecting to spend a few more days in Base Camp because of an approaching storm.
“I had told my clients before the summit push that the weather would turn bad for many days. [I told them] to be mentally prepared to wait until the end of September if they want to fly out,” Dawa Steven said. “We are also looking at our options. [We could walk] to a lower village from where the climbers are allowed to fly if this issue is not resolved quickly.”
