Nepal to strap Everest climbers with GPS device

Kathmandu: Some climbers attempting to scale Mount Everest over the next two months will be strapped with a GPS device for their safety and to prevent false claims of reaching the summit.

The chief of Nepal’s tourism department, Durga Dutta Dhakal, said Monday that climbers would be hooked with a GPS device during the spring climbing season to track their movement as they attempt to scale the 8,850-meter-high (29,035-foot-high) summit.

Hundreds of climbers are expected to attempt to climb the world’s highest peak in April and May, but only a few will be fitted with the devices as an experiment.

Last year, an Indian couple claimed they scaled the peak and received a certificate from mountaineering authorities, but it was later determined that they had altered their photo on the summit.200929 GMT Mar 17

PTI