Foreign climbing group visits on hold in Tibet

The Tibet autonomous region recently announced the suspension of services for foreign climbing expedition teams during the spring season to prevent any potential risks due to the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement on Thursday by the Tibet Mountaineering Association said that the epidemic has lost momentum within China but is picking up speed around the world.

The region is a place with extreme high-altitude environments and limited medical resources to deal with respiratory diseases, it said.

However, the announcement did not clarify the policy for domestic mountaineering teams or the individual climbers.

The region will decide when to allow climbing to resume depending on how global progress of the epidemic plays out in the coming weeks and months, said the statement.

The spring climbing season usually starts in April and closes at the end of May.

"To ensure the safety of the climbers and protect expedition organizers from potential losses, we have to make this decision," said Pema Tinley, deputy director of the association, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Climbers, guides and other staff from more than 20 countries and regions had filed applications to the association before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Tashi Tsering, a Tibetan mountain guide from the Tibet Himalaya Mountaineering Expedition Co, said it was a correct decision by the region's mountaineering association.

Mount Qomolangma, known in the West as Mount Everest, is a major attraction for climbers from all over the world every year.

Mount Qomolangma, which is between Nepal and China's Tibet autonomous region, is a big attraction for climbers from all over the world every year, the northern climbing path of the peak is in China's Dingri county, while, the southern climbing path is on the Nepal side.

With five peaks rising above 8,000 meters and 70 above 7,000 meters, Tibet is a global mountaineering hot spot.