Nepal vows to keep Himalayas safe and clean as it hosts conference for Everest climbers

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal's government said on Tuesday it has a “duty to protect” the Himalayas from the risks presented by climate change and the growing numbers of climbers attempting to scale the region's summits, especially Everest.

“The government is strongly committed to support mountaineering in every possible way by keeping climbers safe, by protecting the natural beauty of our peaks and by helping local communities grow alongside the spirit of adventure,” Nepal’s tourism minister Badri Prasad Pandey said.

He was speaking in Kathmandu at a gathering of about 100 climbers from around the world who have successfully tackled Mount Everest. The one-day conference, dubbed the Everest Summiteers Summit, involved discussions on how to protect climbers and the environment.

Attendees expressed concern on the rising numbers of people who crowd Everest to try to scale the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak. Veterans have complained how the mountain is becoming crowded and dirty.

Climbers normally spend weeks at base camp to acclimatize to the higher altitude. They make practice runs to the lower camps on Everest before beginning their final attempt on the peak.

Nepal’s government last year funded a team of soldiers and Sherpas to remove 11 tons (24,000 pounds) of garbage, four dead bodies and a skeleton from Everest during the climbing season.

“Today, climate change and global warming are putting this future at risk. That is why we must act with care, with wisdom and with a deep sense of respect,” Pandey said. “These mountains are sacred, and it is our duty to protect them for the generations yet to come.”

Nepal doesn’t have rules on how many days climbers must spend acclimatizing or making practice climbs. The permits to climb Everest, which cost $11,000 each, are valid for 90 days. Climbing season normally wraps up by the end of May, when the weather deteriorates and monsoon season begins.

Mount Everest was conquered in 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay. Since then it has been climbed thousands of times and every year hundreds more attempt to reach the summit.

The popularity of the challenge means climbers face increased risks as queues form on the routes to the summit during the short windows of good weather. crowding the narrow and dangerous path to the summit though icy ridges and steep slopes.

There is also concern over the levels of experience of some climbers, who put themselves at risk as well as making climbs dangerous for others.

“The biggest issue and concern at the moment is overcrowding,” said Adriana Brownlee, the youngest woman to climb the world's 14 highest peaks. “We need to make sure that those (people on the mountain) are all experienced in the mountaineering world. So that if they are struggling (or) they are on their own and something happens, they know how to save themselves.”

Nepalese climber Purnima Shrestha said attempts to climb Mount Everest has become too commercialized.

“But not all the people there are physical and emotionally ready to climb the peak, that is being disrespectful to Everest,” she said. “This is the reason why there's all the traffic jams on the way to the peak.”

Xu Zhu Oyuan, the youngest Chinese climber to summit Mount Everest, receives an honorary certificate from Badri Prasad Pandey, Nepal's Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, during the Everest Summiteers Summit in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Performers wearing Sherpa attire performs traditional dance during the Everest Summiteers Summit in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Adriana Brownlee, the youngest female to summit Mount Everest, receives an honorary certificate from Badri Prasad Pandey, Nepal's Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, during the Everest Summiteers Summit in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Climbers who successfully summited Mount Everest pose for a picture during the Everest Summiteers Summit in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he’s dropping — for now — his push to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, a move that comes after legal roadblocks held up the effort.

“We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again - Only a question of time!" he said in a social media post Wednesday.

Governors typically control states' National Guardsmen, and Trump had deployed troops to all three cities against the wishes of state and local Democratic leaders. He said it was necessary as part of a broader crackdown on immigration, crime and protests.

The president has made a crackdown on crime in cities a centerpiece of his second term — and has toyed with the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act to stop his opponents from using the courts to block his plans. He has said he sees his tough-on-crime approach as a winning political issue ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

Troops had already left Los Angeles after the president deployed them earlier this year as part of a broader crackdown on crime and immigration.

In his post, Trump said the troops' presence was responsible for a drop in crime in the three cities, though they were never on the streets in Chicago and Portland as legal challenges played out. When the Chicago deployment was challenged in court, a Justice Department lawyer said the Guard’s mission would be to protect federal properties and government agents in the field, not “solving all of crime in Chicago.”

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson’s office in a statement said the city’s reduction in crime was due to the efforts of local police and public safety programs. Chicago officials echoed the sentiment, saying in a release Tuesday that the city had 416 homicides in 2025 — the fewest since 2014.

Trump’s push to deploy the troops in Democrat-led cities has been met with legal challenges at nearly every turn.

The Supreme Court in December refused to allow the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area. The order was not a final ruling but was a significant and rare setback by the high court for the president’s efforts.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote on X Wednesday that Trump “lost in court when Illinois stood up against his attempt to militarize American cities with the National Guard. Now Trump is forced to stand down.”

Hundreds of troops from California and Oregon were deployed to Portland, but a federal judge barred them from going on the streets. A judge permanently blocked the deployment of National Guard troops there in November after a three-day trial.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said in a statement Wednesday that her office had not yet received “official notification that the remaining federalized Oregon National Guard troops can return home. They were never lawfully deployed to Portland and there was no need for their presence. If President Trump has finally chosen to follow court orders and demobilize our troops, that’s a big win for Oregonians and for the rule of law.”

Trump's decision to federalize National Guard troops began in Los Angeles in June, when protesters took to the streets in response to a blitz of immigration arrests in the area. He deployed about 4,000 troops and 700 Marines to guard federal buildings and, later, to protest federal agents as they carried out immigration arrests.

The number of troops slowly dwindled until just several hundred were left. They were removed from the streets by Dec. 15 after a lower court ruling that also ordered control to be returned to Gov. Gavin Newsom. But an appeals court had paused the second part of the order, meaning control remained with Trump. In a Tuesday court filing, the Trump administration said it was no longer seeking a pause in that part of the order.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to return control of the National Guard to Newsom.

“About time (Trump) admitted defeat,” Newsom said in a social media post. “We’ve said it from day one: the federal takeover of California’s National Guard is illegal.”

Troops will remain on the ground in several other cities. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in December paused a lower court ruling that had called for an end to the deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., where they’ve been deployed since August after Trump declared a “crime emergency.”

Trump also ordered the deployment of the Tennessee National Guard to Memphis in September as part of a larger federal task force to combat crime, a move supported by the state’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee and senators. A Tennessee judge blocked the use of the Guard, siding with Democratic state and local officials who sued. However, the judge stayed the decision to block the Guard as the state appeals, allowing the deployment to continue.

In New Orleans, about 350 National Guard troops deployed by Trump arrived in the city's historic French Quarter on Tuesday and are set to stay through Mardi Gras to help with safety. The state's Republican governor and the city's Democratic mayor support the deployment.

Ding reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press reporters John O'Connor in Springfield, Illinois, Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, Jack Brook in New Orleans and Adrian Sanz in Memphis contributed.

FILE - A protester confronts a line of U.S. National Guard members in the Metropolitan Detention Center of downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

FILE - Protesters stand off against California National Guard soldiers at the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, during a "No Kings" protest, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)