Kathmandu, April 21 -- When Alan Arnette trekked to Everest Base Camp in 1997 and saw Everest for the first time, it marked the beginning of his love affair with the mountains and Nepal. In 2002, he returned to Nepal, this time to climb Everest but he had to abort his climb at about 8,400 metres, a few hundred metres shy from the summit. After two more unsuccessful attempts in 2003 and 2008, Arnette reached the summit of Everest on his fourth attempt, in 2011. By then he was already a known figure among Everest aficionados, for his extensive reporting on Everest expeditions on his blog, alanarnette.com, since 2002. Today, Arnette is one of the most trusted sources for everything related to Everest expeditions.

In an interview with the Po...