Katmandu, Nepal – Attention, climbers: Please keep your clothing on while climbing Mount Everest.
Nepal’s mountaineering authorities are calling for a ban on nudity and attempts to set certain records on the world’s highest mountain, officials said Wednesday.
Last year, a Nepali climber claimed the world’s highest display of nudity when he disrobed for several minutes while standing on the 29,035- foot summit in 14-degree weather.
“There should be strict regulations to discourage such attempts by climbers,” said Ang Tshering, president of Nepal Mountaineering Association.
Other record-setting attempts that sparked controversy included a Dutch man who tried to scale the peak wearing only shorts.
Those who live on the foothill of Everest worship the mountain as a god, and mountaineering authorities have asked the government to ban disrespectful stunts on Everest, Tshering said.
Mount Everest has always attracted record-setters, including the oldest climber (71), the youngest climber (15), the first climber with one foot and the first blind climber. In 2005, a Nepali couple exchanged vows on the summit – the first couple to get married there.
Since Mount Everest was first scaled in 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay, thousands have scaled the mountain.
