With the Indo-Tibetan Border Police’s (ITBP) plan to scale and ski down Mount Everest from the more difficult Chinese side running into rough weather, the paramilitary force has decided to take a shot at the 8,848-metre-high peak from the Nepal side sometime in August this year.

While ITBP Director General Vikram Srivastava said the feat could not be attempted from the Chinese side due to “technical reasons”, sources said the fact that the Chinese Government had neither allowed nor turned down ITBP’s request to attempt setting a world record by using the north side route on the China side had resulted in this change.

Significantly, China had earlier shown little reluctance to ITBP’s request. Probably the only concern voiced was related to ITBP personnel carrying their own encrypted communication equipment. ITBP had later decided to shift to satellite phones.