Guides, climbers cancel Everest expeditions after tragedy

Distraught Nepalese guides and climbers cancelled expeditionson Mount Everest Monday after at least 13 colleagues died in an avalanche, as angermounted at poor payments for sherpas who take huge risks on the world's highestpeak.Sherpas already grief-stricken at the loss of colleagues have told AFP they areconsidering whether to halt climbs to protest at pay and poor welfare provisions.The bodies of 13 local sherpa guides have been pulled from the snow and anotherthree are thought to be still buried in the avalanche which hit Friday morning, theworst single accident in the mountain's history.  Another nine were rescued alive from the avalanche, which struck the group ofsherpas as they hauled gear up the mountain for international climbers who werewaiting at Everest base camp below.Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International, which lost four sherpas in the accidentwith another still missing, has decided to cancel its expedition, according to itssirdar (sherpa captain)."We have lost five members of our team. To respect them, we will not be goingahead with our expedition," said Lakpa Rita Sherpa, who has summited Everest 17times."This was one of the worst days on the mountain and all those who died are sherpas, so many of those left don't want to go ahead," Sherpa told AFP from basecamp.US-based Discovery Channel also cancelled an expedition after losing its team ofsherpas in the accident, it said in a statement. The channel was planning a livebroadcast of the first winged jumpsuit flight off the summit.Other teams still at base camp are weighing up whether to go ahead with theirexpeditions, with many too distraught to climb.Ang Tshering Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, saidsherpas want the government to set up a welfare fund for guides and their families,using part of the fees paid by clients."It's not about stopping expeditions, but they have demands that need to befulfilled," Sherpa, whose national body represents tourism promoters, told AFP.Some of the sherpas and their families are angry about the Nepali government'soffer of 40,000 rupees (about $400) to pay for the funeral expenses of those killed,calling it a disrespectful gesture.Sherpas, an ethnic group known for their skills on the mountain, earn between$3,000 to $6,000 a season, but life insurance payments currently only go up to $10,000.The disaster underscores the huge risks borne by sherpas who ascend the icy slopes,often before dawn and usually weighed down by tents, ropes and food for theirclients, who pay tens of thousands of dollars to scale the mountain.The cancellations are likely to have an impact on the impoverished Himalayancountry's economy. It relies on tourism for revenue, earning millions of dollars inannual climbing fees from Everest alone.More than 300 people, most of them local guides, have died on Everest since thefirst ascent to the summit by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.The previous worst accident on the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) peak was in 1996 when eight people were killed during a storm.