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 April
3, 2003 - Fearing the HooliganIt is not often that countries ban folks for no good reason. In 2000 Henry Todd was banned from Nepal for 2 years by the Ministry of tourism for physically assaulting one of his own clients. "Henry’s first sucker punch took me down, and he was on top of me faster than an avalanche, straddling my chest and maniacally hitting me until two sherpas rushed up and pulled him off." reported a climber and journalist who had arrived on Everest as a client of Todd’s. The climber sent dispatches to the Discovery channel questioning Todd, and the real agenda of a well funded, "clean-up," expedition. The climbers didn't appreciate the investigations and neither did Todd, "Get the f--- out of Base Camp or I'll kill you," he yelled before trotting back to the, "Clean-up," expedition’s camp, where he was greeted by applause. The Nepali authorities began an investigation. The climbers stated that the reporting climber, "fell." But now the ministry had had it - Todd was banned from Nepal. It was also cited in the Ministry’s press release that Todd was warned several times by the government in previous incidents. Now magazines outside the climbing community tried to help. Articles in publications like the UK Sunday Times and Forbes magazine researched Todd and published critical stories – unfolding, "Operation Julie," and Todd’s checkered past. Back to business But already last year Todd tried to get back into Nepal to guide another Everest expedition. The government didn’t welcome Todd back and he decided to leave the climbers on their own to climb the south side and to guide them from the north side via walkie-talkie. While en route to the North side, Todd met up with a small US team who was on their way to Everest to climb it without oxygen. One day after meeting Todd, 2 members of the team decided to go with oxygen and bought 4 bottles. One month later the team disbanded and headed home before making a summit attempt. The first to leave cited the teams division about scaling Everest with or without Oxygen. In the meantime, Todd became the first wireless Everest commercial leader, guiding his south side climbers via radio. One of his clients died on the expedition from a fall below Camp III. Soon after the Everest season concluded Todd figured he’d give the Karakorum a shot and set up an expedition to K2. It should be noted that Todd has summited neither Everest nor K2. No one summited K2 and no one died on his team at least – however, it was reported that Todd almost got into an altercation with a Japanese climber, but a third party intervened and settled things down. Characteristically Todd is a charmer. Those who meet him instantly take to his demeanor – after that it all depends. There are those who love him and those who hate him with a passion. The love part can also be interpreted as fear – after all Todd has the power and the connections, along with a violent temper. Will he get back in this year? This year, he will be back, or at least will try to come back to the South side. His team must be on another’s permit because in the list released by the Nepali Ministry, Todd’s name was nowhere to be found on the expedition leader category. Is he trying to sneak by and will Nepal let him back in this year? Hopefully not – Todd has been a menace whose actions and history have put peoples lives in jeopardy, hurt them, and possibly even killed some. Why would the Nepali government let such a person back into their country and lead a team up their tallest peak? However, the country has it's own problems to battle at the present. This could be the break Todd needs for comeback. Unless the climbing community shows the will to clean up the bad acts on Everest, people will continue to die. It's time to stop looking the other way, mates.
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