In reply to Rog Wilko:
> But when you consider the number of visitors and the disrespectful way they sometimes interact with the rock (pissing on the summit, for example) I think the balance leans towards the ban.
I am not a fan of crowds, nor am I trying to defending boorish behaviour, like pissing on the summit. I am also aware that the native inhabitants of Australia have a history stretching back some 40,000 years or so.
And yet - Uluru will outlast them all, as indeed it will outlast all of us: belief systems are - in the context of geological time - here-today-and-gone-tomorrow affairs .
> Are not some Himalayan summits off limits for similar reasons?
Yes. Kanchenjunga's the obvious example I can think of.