Woman's Mount Everest climb questioned after she used helicopter

A Chinese woman who became the first person to climb Mount Everest this season took a helicopter for a large part of the way.

Officials have not yet decided whether to log Wang Jing's climb as an official ascent, News.com.au reports.

The 41-year-old reached the top of the 8,848-metre mountain on Friday, accompanied by five Nepalese sherpas.

Tourism ministry official Madhusudhan Burlakoti said: "Wang is the first climber to scale Mt Everest from Nepal side and they are now on way back."

The Wall Street Journal reports that Wang and her team used helicopters to cross the dangerous Khumbu Icefall section between the base camp and Camp 1. The temporary path set over the crevasses by aluminium ladders and ropes was damaged in the 18 April avalanche, which killed 16 sherpas, and a new one was never fixed because all the teams went home.

But Wang returned to the world's highest mountain with her own guides.

So far, Nepal's government has not said anything about her decision to use a helicopter, even though it doesn't usually allow helicopters to fly over the base camp due to environmental reasons.

Wang and her team are the only ones to scale Everest from the southern route in Nepal this season. The season closes next week.

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