Approval to be required to scale high mountains

Climbers will have to seek approval for scaling mountains more than 3,500 meters above sea level in Sichuan province, according to a new regulation on mountaineering that will take effect on Jan 1.

Any institution that organizes unauthorized trips to mountains more than 3,500 meters above sea level will be fined 1,000 yuan ($157), said the Methods on Mountaineering in Sichuan Province, which was published on the Sichuan provincial government website on Tuesday.

Climbers who want to scale mountains more than 3,500 meters above sea level will have to file their application to relevant departments under the sports bureaus in cities and prefectures where the mountains are located 10 workdays before they start scaling mountains.

Those who want to scale mountains more than 7,000 meters above sea level will have to file their application to departments under the General Administration of Sport of China.

According to the regulation, relevant departments under the Sichuan provincial sports bureau as well as governments of cities and prefectures where the mountains are located will offer climbers free information about the mountains, including names of mountain peaks, location and height of the mountains, climate, risk of scaling the mountains and road conditions.

They will offer free help in rescuing the climbers whose application has been accepted while those who scale mountains more than 3,500 meters above sea level without having their application approved will have to pay for the cost of any rescue operations themselves, the regulations said.

The regulation came in the wake of a string of recent mountaineering accidents in Sichuan, according to Tao Junpei, an information officer with the Sichuan provincial government.

Twenty-two Chinese and foreign climbers have perished in the Gongga Mountains in Sichuan, which peak at 7,556 meters above sea level, according to Gao Min, deputy chief of the Sichuan Mountaineering Association.

Sichuan has more than 200 mountains that are 4,000 to 7,000 meters above sea level.

Many have complicated terrain and the weather changes quickly there, making mountaineering difficult and dangerous.

huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/28/2015 page4)