Climbers aiming to scale an eight-thousander will have to fulfil a set of criteria to qualify for financial or any other help from the state, a move aimed at reducing the number of accidents.

"Those who want financial or any other help from the West Bengal Mountaineering and Adventure Sports Foundation (which functions under the department of youth services) for scaling Mount Everest or other peaks above 8,000m will have to fulfil the criteria laid down today. The government will not be responsible for those who will climb without fulfilling the criteria," sports minister Aroop Biswas said on Tuesday.

"We will send to the Nepal government a list of mountaineers we will support. For the rest, we will tell them, we won't be responsible."

MUST HAVES FOR 8000 METRES

 

A team comprising the sports department secretary, four senior mountaineers, a cardiologist and a general physician will decide which mountaineers are eligible for state funding and other help. The panel will be headed by the sports secretary.

Officials said a spurt in the number of inexperienced or unfit climbers trying to scale peaks above 8,000m had prompted the government to come up with the criteria.

The announcement comes around a couple of months after as many as four climbers from Bengal died on the upper reaches of the Himalayas in Nepal.

Rajib Bhattacharyya, who had scaled Everest and Kanchenjunga, died on Dhaulagiri on May 19. Days later, Subhas Pal died after scaling Everest. Goutam Ghosh and Paresh Nath, too, died while climbing Everest.

The state government gives up to Rs 5 lakh to a mountaineer for a climb, an official said. It spends crores of rupees to find and bring back bodies of the mountaineers who die during an expedition.

An official said the government had spent at least Rs 10 crore on the rescue mission in Nepal this year. In 2004, it had spent Rs 1 crore to locate the body of Chhanda Gayen, who died while trying to ascend Yalung Khang in Nepal. Chhanda's body is still missing.

"Rescue efforts are expensive and accidents involving Bengal mountaineers tarnish the image of the state. If a significant number of climbers die or go missing, it creates the perception that the state government is encouraging wrong people to scale eight-thousanders, another official said.

"The guidelines have been set to ensure the safety of the climbers because inexperience can lead to accidents. However, this will only be applicable to those who are seeking government funds," Everester Basanta Singha Roy said.

"It has been specified that a mountaineer should have climbed at least four peaks above 6,000m in the past five years before attempting to climb Everest. This will ensure that a climber has enough practice and the required fitness."