US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU1872

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 001872 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
CA/OCS/ACS/NESA AND SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC, PTER, PGOV, ASEC, NP 
SUBJECT:  American Climbers Fired Upon Near Tibetan 
Border 
 
1. (SBU) Summary.  Two men wearing what appeared to 
be military uniforms and carrying automatic weapons 
fired a series of five shots at American climbers 
David Morton and Jeff Lamoureux in the Upper Solu 
Khumbu region near Nepal's border with Tibet, Morton 
reported to Post via e-mail.  The incident occurred 
as the Americans were acclimatizing in preparation 
for attempts to record first summits of Nepal's newly 
opened peak Nanpai Gosum.  One of the assailants 
reportedly identfied himself as "Chinese military". 
While neither American was injured, their latest e- 
mail communication states they have abandoned their 
summit plans and are being accompanied by Nepali 
police officers to retrieve equipment and personal 
effects they abandoned during the attack at their 
base camp.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU)  On October 24, the Consular Section 
received a telefax from Seattle-based Alpine Ascents 
International attaching an e-mail addressed to the 
Embassy from David Morton which described the 
shooting incident.  [Note: Writing from Namche 
Bazaar, the central trading village in the Mount 
Everest region of Nepal, Morton had tried to send the 
message directly to Post, but stated it "bounced 
back"].  Morton, a mountain guide, and his climbing 
partner Jeffrey Lamoureux had filed AmCit 
registrations with the Embassy before embarking on an 
attempt to record first-ascents of Nanpai Gosum, a 
24,000 ft. peak newly opened for climbing by the 
Nepali Government last December.  Nanpai Gosum's 
three summits lie west of Mount Everest, adjacent to 
the 8,000M Cho Oyo Peak only a few kilometers from 
the Nepal-Tibet border. 
 
3.  (SBU) Morton's initial e-mail reporting the 
shooting states that on September 16, as part of the 
altitude acclimatization process in preparation for a 
summit bid, he and Lamoureux left their base camp 
headed "up towards" Nangpa La Pass, a nearly 19,000 
ft. pass on the Nepal/Tibetan Chinese border.  [Note: 
Nangpa La is both a trade route and a crossing point 
for Tibetan refugees attempting to gain entry into 
Nepal and/or India.]  On the way to the pass, a man 
armed with an automatic weapon approached them.  The 
man appeared to be of Han Chinese ethnicity, showed 
them what he claimed was his Chinese military uniform 
under his black jacket and said he was a member of 
the Chinese military. 
 
4.  (SBU) The man, described by Morton as "extremely 
nervous," asked where Morton and Lamoureux were 
coming from, if there were others behind them, where 
their base camp was located, etc.  There is no 
indication that he asked the climbers' nationalities 
or for money.  During a "very uncomfortable" 
encounter Morton and Lamoureux gave him food and 
water.  He spoke very little English and when Morton 
attempted to communicate in Nepali, he indicated that 
he didn't speak that language.  After taking the 
food, the man headed down the trail and Morton and 
Lamoureux continued upward.  However, 20 minutes 
later, they spotted the man watching them from above, 
seated on a glacial moraine. 
 
5.  (SBU) After continuing up for another hour, they 
spotted another man, wearing the same type of ski hat 
as the first man they encountered, who ducked behind 
a rock 200 yards up the trail from them. 
Apprehending danger, they decided to go down.  On the 
descent, they had another "awkward" encounter with 
the first interlocutor, to whom they again gave food 
and water.  Ten minutes after he abruptly said "bye," 
they heard the first shot. 
 
6.  (SBU) At first Morton attempted to dismiss the 
shot, thinking the men were simply "messing around or 
something."  However, two or three minutes after the 
first shot, Mr. Morton relates "there was a shot 
which came at us and just missed us - we heard the 
bullet go right past our ears."  The two Americans 
began running, ditched their packs so they could move 
faster and stopped on occasion behind rocks to catch 
their breaths "because it was so difficult (16,000 
ft.)."  The two men continued their pursuit and fired 
a total of five shots during the chase.  Morton hid 
his money under a rock, and the two Americans 
eventually found a hiding place amidst the rocks 
where they remained for three or four hours. 
 
7.  (SBU) When they felt safe enough to move Morton 
and Lamoureux returned to their base camp and, after 
discussing what had occurred with their Nepali cook 
and their porter, decided to descend down toward 
Namche Bazaar as soon as it got dark.  They left base 
camp at 8 p.m. and reached Thame at 5 a.m., arriving 
safely in Namche Bazaar the next day. 
 
8.  (SBU) ConOff spoke with the Americans' local 
trekking agent who had received a second e-mail from 
Morton stating he and Lamoureux had met with the 
military and police in Namche Bazaar and would be 
returning to collect their supplies at base camp in 
the company of two Nepali police officers.  Embassy 
has sent an e-mail to Morton advising of our concern 
and asking him to contact Consul directly upon his 
return to Namche Bazaar.  PolOff advised the MFA 
concerning the shootings within Nepal's borders 
during a meeting on September 24.  The MFA was 
unaware of the incident. 
 
9.  (SBU) Comment:  Morton's e-mail indicates his 
uncertainty about the identity of the armed men who 
fired upon him and Lamoureux.  "[A]t first we thought 
perhaps Maoists but this guy was clearly Chinese and 
claimed to not speak Nepali," Morton wrote, adding: 
"[O]ur sirdhar and his Sherpa helper from that valley 
think that they were Chinese police."  He also 
speculated that they could be Chinese bandits. 
Maoist insurgents are not typically found at such 
elevations (16,000 ft.).  In the incidents where 
trekkers have reported encountering purported 
Maoists, the Maoists ususally ask for money.  From 
the details of the terrain given in Morton's report, 
it seems clear that, whatever the identity of the 
gunmen, the incident occurred on the Nepal side of 
Nangpa La Pass. 
 
Hale