Nepal
\nAn Indian climber banned from Everest after faking a summit of the world\u2019s highest mountain has successfully scaled the peak for real, telling AFP he returned to \u201cprove\u201d himself.
\nNarender Singh Yadav claimed to have reached the top of the 8,849-metre mountain in May 2016.
\nBut photos of the 26-year-old at the summit were later shown to have been digitally altered, prompting the Nepal government to revoke recognition of his feat.
\nYadav and two other climbers were issued a six-year ban backdated to 2016, and this was the first year he was able to return to the mountain. \u201cEverest is a dream for all of us but Everest is life for me,\u201d Yadav told AFP on Friday.
\n\u201cThere were a lot of allegations on me … that\u2019s why I (had to) prove myself and climb Everest.\u201d
\nYadav maintains he reached the summit but that the expedition leader doctored his photos and posted them on social media after he was nominated for India\u2019s prestigious Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award in 2020.
\nThe award was subsequently withheld, an experience Yadav said was \u201cvery painful for me and my family\u201d.
\nHis ban ended on May 20. Seven days later, he was on the summit \u2014 this time with an ample cache of photos and videos to prove his feat.
\n\u201cWe granted him a certificate on Wednesday after he presented enough evidence of his Everest summit,\u201d said Nepal tourism department official Bishma Raj Bhattrai.
\nPemba Rita Sherpa, a guide with expedition organiser Pioneer Adventure, said that two guides accompanied him instead of the usual one to make sure there were no disputes.
\n\u201cWe took many photos and videos of him,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to speak what is real. It is about our Sherpas\u2019 reputation and the company\u2019s reputation.\u201d
\nA successful Everest summit is the crowning achievement of any climber\u2019s career, and many go on to forge careers as motivational speakers and authors.
\nThe current system of authentication requires photos along with reports from team leaders and government liaison officers stationed at the base camp \u2014 but it has been open to fraud attempts.
\nAn Indian couple were banned for 10 years in 2016 after they published doctored photos purporting to show them at the top of Everest.
\nThe pair \u2014 both police constables \u2014 superimposed themselves and their banners onto photos taken by another Indian climber at the summit.
\nThis year, a rare window of good weather has allowed more than 500 climbers and guides to reach the Everest summit since a team of Nepali climbers opened the route on May 7.
\nThe Himalayan nation reopened its peaks to mountaineers last year after the coronavirus pandemic shut down the industry in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nepal An Indian climber banned from Everest after faking a summit of the world\u2019s highest mountain has successfully scaled the peak for real, telling AFP he returned to \u201cprove\u201d himself. Narender Singh Yadav claimed to have reached the top of the 8,849-metre mountain in May 2016. But photos of the 26-year-old at the summit were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[2972,8145,8144],"class_list":{"0":"post-264549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-banned","9":"tag-faking-everest-ascent-reaches","10":"tag-indian-climber"},"yoast_head":"\n