In reply to Martin Haworth:
> My initial reaction was to agree with your view that this seems silly for some climbers. However the more I think about it, Everest is a bit of a circus nowadays by all accounts and rightly or wrongly isn't seen as a serious mountaineers mountain. I'd love to see Everest stripped of fixed ropes, oxygen etc , and become a true challenge where we can marvel at future ascensionists, but it's not going to happen. The direction of travel for Everest is ever more commercial, less risky, more controlled, less adventure. I don't believe it is any longer a mountain for the serious mountaineer. It will however always be a serious mountain.
I completely agree regarding Everest, although there are still probably challenges for the serious mountaineer on the South West and Kangshung faces, the Big S (Nuptse, Lhotse and Everest linked).
I'm more concerned about the role out of these kind of regulatory controls on other 8000 metre peaks in Nepal. It would be a shame if the Everest circus dictated styles of ascent on these, which still offer challenges for the serious and skilled climber.