Two Indian climbers along with their leader have been banned from mountaineering in Nepal for six years for lying to have climbed Mount Everest in 2016.
The alleged fake triumph came to light after Narender Singh Yadav was nominated for the Tenzing Norgay national adventure award; after which other Indian mountaineers alleged the summit pictures had been faked.
A Nepal tourism ministry official told AFP that during their investigations with other climbers, they found that the two “never reached the summit” and had failed to produce any reliable pictures of the summit and other evidence.
The Ministry of Ministry of Tourism, Nepal, has decided to cancel Everest summit certificates of Indian Climbers Narender Singh Yadav @narender8848, and Sima Rani Goswami, and banned them doing mountaineering activities in Nepal for six-years. Official press release here. pic.twitter.com/RnnSKTii93
— Everest Today (@EverestToday) February 10, 2021
The analysis was shared that showed photographic evidence the climber had used to ‘prove’ he reached the top of the world’s tallest mountain was in fact doctored.
“In our investigation, we found that they had submitted fake documents [including photographs]. Based on the documents and the conversation with the officials concerned, including sherpas [expert Nepalese mountaineers], we reached this conclusion,” an official from Nepal’s tourism and culture ministry told The Indian Express newspaper.
The award was subsequently retracted from Yadav, and an investigation was launched leading to their summit certification being revoked.
Mr. Yadav and Ms. Goswami are yet to comment on Wednesday’s announcement.
Seven Summit Treks which organized the expedition have also been fined 50,000 rupees, and Their supporting Sherpa was also fined 10,000 rupees.
Narender Singh has been targeted on Twitter ever since the news came out. Tweets such as “Jisky name ma Narender ho wo banda cheater na ho kaise hoskta h shame on you,” to “Bhaiya jee, Bio change karaalo. Or, do write Photoshop wala Everest Summitter.” similarly on the other side of the border, MR. Fawad Chaudry also took on Twitter and tweeted “#fraudiye”.
#Fraudiye https://t.co/UfOTy9ZAP9
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) February 11, 2021
Many of those who have succeeded in scaling the mountain have subsequently gone on to have lucrative careers as motivational speakers and authors.
Currently; the system requires photos and reports; from team leaders and government officers stationed at the base camp as proof of reaching the summit.
But the potential rewards mean the system is open to attempts at fakery; this is not the first-time climbers have been banned for doctoring photographs.
In 2016; another Indian couple – both police constables – were banned for 10 years for faking photographs; that they claimed showed them at the top of Everest.