The mountain no one can climb
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For a country where mountain tourism has thrived, there is one mountain in Nepal where climbing is forbidden.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Machhapuchhre - meaning “fishtail” - stands at 6,993m in the Annapurna range in central Nepal that is home to three of the world’s 10 highest mountains.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Though it doesn’t stand as tall as other mountains, it stands out as a lone peak and appears much taller than it actually is.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Machhapuchhare also has a double summit, which is joined by a sharp ridge, and towers over the Phewa Lake.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The closest curious tourists can get to the peak is the summit of Mardi Himal, a smaller mountain beneath Machhapuchhare.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The reason behind it’s prohibited climbing status: Lieutenant Colonel James Owen Merion Roberts.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jimmy Roberts, as he was popularly known, was a British Army officer and the first military attach</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">é to Nepal. He made significant contributions to Nepal’s economy and local livelihoods after helping open up the country’s remote mountains for commercial mountaineering and trekking.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Roberts has since been remembered as the “father of trekking” in Nepal.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">His fascination with Machhapuchhare began after he read a dispatch from another army officer, and he would eventually become the first and only person to attempt to reach the summit.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But, his expedition party, reduced to just two people by the end, abandoned the ascent just 45m below the summit due to bad weather.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Following the failed climb, Roberts requested the Nepal government restrict the peak and ensure Machhapuchhare would never be climbed.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">They obliged.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Roberts’ fascination with the mountain and his kinship with Gurungs, who hold Machhapuchhare sacred, and with the people of Chomrong, the last Gurung village before the mountain, may have been the motivation behind his odd request.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Though the reason remains a mystery and Roberts’ association with the peak’s prohibited status has been largely forgotten, the prevailing view now is that the mountain is sacred and therefore forbidden to climb.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Machhapuchhare’s summit is not meant to be stepped upon; it is only to be adored by the eyes,” said Tirtha Shrestha, a poet and long-time resident of nearby Pokhara.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Any discourse, not just on Pokhara, but about the beauty of the entire Himalayas, would be incomplete without mentioning Machhapuchhare. Its beauty has greatly moved poets, authors and artists. In many folk songs, the mountain has been showered with praises. Machhapuchhare, for us, is the epitome of beauty,” he said.</span></p>
<p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: MountainKick / Instagram</span></em></p>
