American Everest Duo Officially Allowed to Finish Climb
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Climbers Matt Moniz and Willie Benegas on Everest. Matt Moniz instagram photo.
Two weeks ago, reports emerged from Nepal that Americans Matt Moniz and Willie Benegas, on Everest to replicate a famous NASA experiment, were facing trouble from the local government for illegally skiing between camps.
Benegas and Moniz were unaware that a separate permit was required to ski on the mountain, thanks to unclear literature surrounding the law, and the fact that their official liaison officer never made contact with them on the mountain. The duo is in Nepal to climb both Everest and neighboring peak Lhotse, and re-create the NASA twins study.
The Nepalese Department of Tourism overturned its initial recommendations to ban the climbers from the mountain after a petition signed by 250 Sherpas was sent in support of the climbers. According to The Himalayan Times, Minister Minister Rabindra Adhikari rejected the DoT’s recommendation to revoke the climbing permits thanks to the country’s Tourism Act as well as the Mountaineering Expedition Regulation not having any official provision to take action against the skiers.
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However, the climbers will still have to pay the required $1000 ski permit fee and $500 garbage management fee. Secondly, their local expedition support team will be charged $465 and the liaison officer will be officially warned for not doing his job.
The climbers have set out from basecamp again to take advantage of a favorable weather window and hope to summit both peaks in the coming days.
