9 May 2017 10:11 am
KATHMANDU AFP May8, 2017- A South African attempting to climb Mount Everest alone and without a permit has been ordered off the mountain, had his passport confiscated and will be fined $22,000, an official said Monday.
Ryan Sean Davy, 43, told officials at base camp that he had climbed alone as far as camp two -- 6,400 metres (21,000 feet) -- to acclimatise ahead of a summit push before he was caught.
Foreigners have to pay the Nepal government $11,000 for permission to climb the 8,848 metre (29,030 foot) peak.
“I saw him alone near base camp so I approached him and he ran away,” said Gyanendra Shresth, the government liason officer at base camp. “I followed him with my friend and found him hiding in a cave nearby,” he told AFP. Davy could be banned from Nepal for five years or face a 10-year ban on climbing in the country.