Nepal mulling ban on climbing alone on Everest

Nepal is considering banning foreign climbers from scaling Mount Everest alone in a bid to reduce accidents on the world's highest peak, an industry official said Thursday. Solo climbers would be forced to take a local guide up the mountain amid concerns of safety, overcrowding and piles of rubbish on the "roof of the world," the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association said. The proposed ban is likely to anger elite solo mountaineers, who enjoy the challenge of climbing alone, even eschewing bottled oxygen, and who blame a huge influx of commercial expeditions for littering the peak, according to AFP.