Royal mountaineering team arrives in Nepal for momentous trek

Manama, Kathmandu

A mountaineering team featuring members of Bahrain’s elite Royal Guard servicemen arrived in Nepal yesterday, expedition organizers said. The 18-member party was given permission to climb the 8,163-metre Mount Manaslu and the 6,119-metre Mont Lobuche.

Mingma Sherpa, of Seven Summit Treks, was quoted as saying that the team, which includes three Britons, would quarantine in a Kathmandu hotel for a week before flying via helicopter to the climbing base camp. More than 50 Sherpas will take part in the expedition, he added. The Bahrain Royal Guard team is also planning to climb Mount Everest next year.

The only other team with a permit for the autumn season is an all-Nepali expedition planning to summit 7129-meter Mount Baruntse. Nepal re-opened its mountains, including Everest, in late July ahead of the autumn climbing season and in anticipation of international flights resuming in mid-August.

But a jump in virus infections in recent weeks saw the government delay allowing flights. Limited international flights resumed this month, but only for citizens and foreign diplomats. Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest peaks, and foreign climbing expeditions are a major source of local revenue.