Random News Generator- Nepal

Time once again for the Random News Generator. Every square inch of Earth and we pick up the front page of one place at random. And today we land on Nepal.

In Nepal, one finds Mount Everest. And there are two pieces of Everest news worth mentioning.

First, there's Jordan Romero, age 13, from Big Bear, CA, aiming to become the youngest person ever to scale the mountain. In the process, he will also become the youngest person to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents. He would smash the current record of 16, held by Nepal's Temba Tsheri. Romero knows enough to realize Everest can kill, and is prepared to turn back if something were to happen.

Hey, you've got three years to break the record, Romero. It's fine if you want to pace yourself. You can wish him luck here.

Secondly, we turn our attention to he who came first, Sir Edmund Hillary. (And his sherpa, Tenzing Norgay.) There was a plan in place to have Hillary's ashes on Everest.

However, Everest is considered sacred to Buddhist lamas, who warned of bad luck should that plan proceed. To placate the lamas, the ashes of Hillary, who died in 2008, will instead be kept in an area monastery.

The lamas take the mountains seriously. A few Himalayan peaks have never been conquered not because of their difficulty in climbing, but because they are considered too sacred to be desecrated by climbers. Most notable among them are Khumbila and Mount Kailas. Khumbila is thought to be the home of a local deity, while Kailas is regarded as the origin of the Ganges River, the place where the water of the Ganges flows directly from heaven. (That last link comes highly recommended,)