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Mount Everest climber is found hiding in a cave in bid to dodge £8,500 fee to scale the peak – and now faces a £17,000 fine and ban from Nepal

Ryan Sean Davy, 43, ran away when he was discovered.

    

     

  

Nepalese officials discovered South African Ryan Sean Davy in a cave

A South African attempting to climb Mount Everest has been marched off the mountain and faces a £17,000 fine after hiding in a cave to avoid paying the fee to scale the world’s highest peak.

Ryan Sean Davy, 43, told officials at base camp that he had climbed alone as far as camp two – 21,000ft – to acclimatise ahead of a summit push before he was caught.

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The director and producer said he didn’t have enough to pay for the £8,500 permit

Foreigners have to pay Nepal’s government £8,500 for permission to climb the dangerous 29,030ft peak – a major earner for the impoverished country.
“I saw him alone near base camp so I approached him and he ran away,” said Gyanendra Shresth, the government liason officer at base camp.
“I followed him with my friend and found him hiding in a cave nearby,” he told AFP.

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Mr Davy posted a series of pictures of his mountaineering exploits on social media

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He was ordered off the mountain and had his passport confiscated

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He is now walking and getting a bus back to the Nepalese capital

 

The £8,500 permit is a major source of revenue for Nepal, which is still struggling to recover from the 2015 earthquake

“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 the world’s tallest mountain alone – most do so with the help of at least one Sherpa guide and a large support team at base camp.
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.
He will also be fined £17,000 – double the cost of the permit.
Davy could not be reached for comment, but photos on a Facebook page under his name appear to show a climber traversing the Khumbu Icefall, which lies between base camp and camp one.
In an accompanying post, Davy – who identifies himself as a director and producer – said that he had reached a height of 23,000ft in six hours.
“When I heard that most of the expeditions on Everest had retreated to base camp because of incoming weather, I made my move,” read the post.
AFP could not independently verify the authenticity of the Facebook page.

  

It is highly unusual for a foreign climber to attempt to scale the mountain, which has claimed countless lives, alone

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Everest climbers usually take local sherpas and a support team

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Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth at 29,029ft above sea level. File picture

Popcorn guide to Everest - the most dangerous place on Earth

Davy told officials that he didn't have enough money to buy a flight from the Everest region to Kathmandu to collect his passport. He said he would instead walk and then catch a bus - a journey that would take at least four days.
Last year, an Indian couple was banned from Nepal after they faked photographs they claimed showed them at the top of Everest.
The pair - both police constables - superimposed themselves and their banners onto photos taken by another Indian climber of his Everest summit.
Last week a former Gurkha died while trying to climb Mt Everest in an attempt to regain his title of the oldest person to conquer the peak.
Min Bahadur Sherchan, 85, died at the base camp on Saturday afternoon.