In preparation for the Beijing Olympics, both routes leading to Mount Everest’s summit will be closed off this spring, reports the International Herald Tribune.
Beijing announced this past week that the route to the summit along the north face of the mountain, in Chinese-controlled Tibet, would be closed. Now, Nepal has decided that at least between May 1 and 10, when China has said it plans to carry up the Olympic torch, no one will be allowed to scale the summit along the south face, which is in Nepal.
These precautions are being made during a flood of protest in India, Nepal and Tibet, commemorating the failed uprising against China’s occupation of Tibet in 1949, which has led to arrests and violence. See previous CDT posting.
