Top of Mount Everest thanks to Photoshop: bandits spouses for 10 years – The Republic

A bouquet of flowers for her, a warm handshake for him. On June 5 Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod , buddy-cop married eight years, they are beaming. They have two good reasons. They sit at a press conference in front of the most prestigious authorities of Maharashtra, among friends and colleagues, and announced that they have crowned a dream ever hatched from the altar: “We are the first Indian pair to have climbed Everest. Happily we announce to the world . it was our goal for years, and we said that if we succeeded, we finally had a son. ” A credit to them, for India, a sweet story, a company to be celebrated by hanging certificates over the bed and souvenir photos. Too bad the only summit that managed to conquer is that of an extraordinary forgery.

It all begins May 23 when the two original thirties Pune, leaning on Makalu Adventures in Nepal for two weeks, claim to have succeeded in that day to touch 8,848 meters altitude. And ‘big party. The same agency, looking at the pictures and talking to the Sherpas, shall issue official certificates: they made it and on June 5 will be set an event to commemorate the historic climb.
But who chews ice attached to the face the labors of so much enterprise those photographs looked just do not come back. First light: the two Indians claimed to have taken them at 06:25, arrival time at the top, while the shadows indicate fairly typical reflections of eleven or shortly after. Then the clothes, where they appear with different suits: first red, then orange. “Can not change at those odds, too cold and too much effort” support experienced mountaineers, a total of eight who then denounced the couple.

Among these there is also the 33 year old Satyarup Siddhanta , who on Facebook, enraged, posted a series of tests. Siddhanta was in fact robbed of her photos (reached the summit on May 21) which then would be amended by the couple with Photoshop as proof of their big climb on the roof of the world. “Absurd, they took my picture and have changed … and then also obtained the certificates. Where’s he going mountaineering? Shame on you!” thunders the injured boy. In the photos posted, in fact, you see the same people in the background but changes the subject: first there was the 33 year old, then he is cleared and here appears the triumphant couple on the summit.

With a complaint after another the Organisation of Nepal Tourism (in fact the same one that has certified the company relying on the pictures) has been forced to open an investigation into the incident. Everything suggests that if confirmed, as is likely, the two will be withdrawn the certificate and could be banned for 10 years from the Himalayan mountains.

Also because light any other similar allegations in the past of these two agents with their sporting feats They have earned respect and promotions. In 2014 they announced that they had “climbed the 10 highest peaks in Australia” to Indian media with lots of celebratory items. A group of climbers, however, complained that it was not true: the couple had approached only five peaks and then came home. So much so that the Australian mountaineering agency refused to hand over the two certificate.

But to be accused are not only Rathods spouses, it is the whole world of mountaineering Nepal. After the case of the two forgers, the ‘ Himalayan Times has carried out a survey discovering a practice already denounced by time: many’ ‘liaison officer’ ‘(LO, liaison officers) would never be present to the base camps. It is the local government representatives who have the task of monitoring that they comply with the regulations of shipments and certify climbing. Although they are paid between 2 and 3 thousand dollars, last year nearly 50% of the officers involved in 33 expeditions would never stationed at the base camp of Everest. The Nepalese government recognizes the need to review the system. And even without retouching or lies, we are now asking how many of those certificates are actually true and proven.

Topics:

everest

india

nepal

Maharashtra

Pune

Makalu Adventures

facebook

photoshop

editing

himalayas

Himalayan Times

liaison officer

Starring:

Satyarup Siddhanta

Dinesh Rathod

Tarakeshwari Rathod