KATHMANDU, Sept 24: A total of 14 climbers have been given permission to scale Mount Dhaulagiri in Myagdi this autumn.
Dhaulagiri, the seventh highest mountain in the world with an elevation of 8,167 metres, is located in Dhaulagiri Rural Municipality 4, Myagdi.
The tourism department said it had received Rs 1,689,000 in fees from people who had obtained permits to climb Dhaulagiri. Last spring, 22 men and eight women from three groups were granted permits to climb Dhaulagiri. The department said it had collected Rs 7,170,000 in fees.
Hari Prasad Tiriya, a resident of Dhaulagiri Municipality IV and a hotelier at the Italian base camp, said climbers who have received their climbing permits, along with sherpas, guides, porters and helpers, are preparing to reach the base camp.
According to the latest update from the department, 88 women and 274 men from 54 countries have been granted permission to climb 10 mountains in Nepal this year. Similarly, climbing fees worth Rs 45.2 million have been received from them.
According to the ministry, regulations stipulate that foreigners climbing any 8,000-metre peak other than Everest in autumn will have to pay a salami fee of $900 per person, while for other smaller peaks they will have to pay a minimum royalty of $125 and a maximum of $400.
According to the department, 308 people from 28 groups received permission to climb Gorkha's 8,163-metre (26,000-foot) Mount Manaslu in autumn. After Manaslu, Dhaulagiri is the mountain with the most climbing permits.
Last spring, 1,020 people received permits to climb 30 of Nepal's mountains, paying 689.9 million rupees in climbing fees, according to data published on the ministry's website.
