Avalanche deaths might be victims of Tibet crisis
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The climbers killed in a weekend avalanche in the Himalayas might not have been on that mountain had it not been for heightened tensions between Chinese authorities and Tibetans.
China rejected climbing permits for mountaineers hoping to scale peaks in the Tibetan Himalayas, forcing many to crowd onto mountains in Nepal, according to alpine companies. As a result, about 30 teams were registered to climb Mount Manaslu, a 50% increase over last year, said Ang Tshering, who runs the popular Asian Trekking agency in Nepal. (AP)
