There are more than 1,600 virgin summits in the Nepal Himalaya. As per the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the government will lease them for at least 30 years. Government officials said the move was aimed at increasing tourism activities and diversifying investment in the mountain regions.

“We have been discussing the issue and will finalize the lease modality soon,” said Mohan Krishna Sapkota, spokesperson of the ministry. The government has so far opened 310 peaks, however, only a few of them have been able to attract mountaineers.

A fresh study on mountaineering conducted by the government and the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) shows that Nepal contains 3,310 peaks (consisting of walking and climbing peaks above 5,500 m). Among them, 1,913 are climbing peaks requiring the use of mountaineering gear.

Nepal has 1,300 peaks higher than 6,000 m, and among them, 16 peaks are above 8,000 m and 122 peaks are higher than 7,000 m.

“The basic idea of leasing the unclimbed peaks is to increase tourism activities by involving the private sector for their management and operation,” said Sapkota. “There are lots of mountains which are commercially viable, and diversification of products can attract new segments of visitors.”

He added that bringing in private parties to develop and manage peaks would provide an impetus for the local people to invest in new economic activities.

According to Ang Tshiring Sherpa, president of the NMA, the idea to lease out unexplored mountains is good, but the government has to do regular monitoring after the peaks are handed over to private management.

Leasing the peaks was also recommended by the NMA and other private players. “The NMA has recommended that the government should lease peaks for six to seven years as a pilot project. And if it is successful, the lease term can be extended,” said Sherpa.

The government has been mulling strategies to boost mountain tourism realizing its potential to create jobs and alleviate poverty.

In 2008, it waived climbing fees for adventurers to climb peaks in the Mid- and Far Western regions for five years. It would have cost the mountaineers US$ 1,000 to more than US$ 7,500 per peak. The scheme has been extended for another five years from July 16, 2013.

Recently, the government has decided to slash climbing royalties for peaks including Everest by more than half. The fee for climbing Everest during the spring season from the normal route (southeast ridge) has been cut to US$ 11,000 per person from US$ 25,000 per person. The new tariff will come into effect from Jan 1, 2015.

Likewise, a fee of US$ 10,000 has been fixed for a climber climbing Everest from other routes. The royalty for climbers using the southeast ridge route during autumn has been revised to US$ 5,500 from US$ 12,500. For the summer and winter seasons, the charge has been slashed to US$ 2,750 per person from US$ 6,250.