‘I was treated like a murderer’ - Joburg man busted for climbing Everest without a permit

08 May 2017 - 21:34 By Kyle Cowan
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Ryan Sean Davy was ordered off the mountain‚ had his passport confiscated and is now liable for the fine.
Ryan Sean Davy was ordered off the mountain‚ had his passport confiscated and is now liable for the fine.
Image: Ryan Sean Davy via Facebook

A Johannesburg man facing a $22‚000 fine (approximately R300‚000) from the Nepal government after he was caught climbing Mount Everest solo without a permit has said he was treated “like a murderer”.

Ryan Sean Davy (43) posted on his Facebook page on Monday alerting his followers to the situation‚ posting it together with a link to a media story about him.

AFP reported Davy was ordered off the mountain‚ had his passport confiscated and is now liable for the fine‚ which is double the $11‚000 cost of a permit.

“I saw him alone near base camp so I approached him and he ran away‚” Gyanendra Shresth‚ the government liaison officer at the base camp‚ told AFP.

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“I followed him with my friend and found him hiding in a cave nearby‚” he told AFP.

“He had set up camp in an isolated place to avoid government officials.”

It is highly unusual for a foreign climber to attempt to scale Everest alone — most do so with the help of at least one Sherpa guide and a large support team at base camp. The permit fees are a major revenue stream for the impoverished Nepal government.

Davy could be banned from Nepal for five years or face a 10-year ban on climbing in the country.

Shresth said he had also seized Davy’s passport and told him to return to Kathmandu to retrieve it.

Davy’s Facebook post started off with him apologising‚ and asking for forgiveness.

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“I'm willing to be as accountable as I know how but my Everest expedition has taken a very bad turn‚” he wrote.

“I am going to be honest in saying that when I arrived at Base Camp it became evident that I didn't have nearly enough money for a solo permit because of hidden costs and even if I did they would have declined it because I had no previous mountaineering experience on record‚” the post continued.

He said in the post he was ashamed that he couldn’t afford the permit after all the help and preparation.

“So I took a chance and spent the little money I had on more gear to climb and practice on the surrounding peaks for acclimatising in preparing for a stealth entry onto Everest.”

Davy said his main motivation to be on the mountain was to help others in case they were stranded.

“I was harassed at base camp to a point that I honestly thought I was going to get stoned to death right there. I'm not even exaggerating. I was treated like a murderer. A true testimony of how money has become more important than decency‚” he said.

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The post was signed with an impassioned plea for family and friends not to help him‚ as he felt accountable for the debacle and mentioned that he had very little to no previous climbing experience.

While it is not clear how far up Davy actually managed to climb‚ he claims in his Facebook post to have reached a height of 24‚000 feet.

Camp two is at 21‚000 feet with the summit being a further 8‚030 feet up.

The comments on his post were a flood of support‚ with some suggesting raising funds for the seemingly stranded Davy. His Timeline was littered with posts of the peaks surrounding Everest and some seemingly depicting Davy on the Everest climb itself.

- TMG Digital/TimesLIVE

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