NEPAL will slash climbing fees for Mt.Qomolangma (also known as Mt.Everest in western countries) in the off-season to lure mountaineers to the world's tallest peak and boost tourism, a senior minister said yesterday.

Dozens of mountaineering teams, each paying at least US$70,000, go to the 8,850-meter Mt.Qomolangma summit during the main climbing season annually from March to May.

But the giant mountain remains virtually deserted in the autumn and winter.

"We want to give incentives to off-season climbers to go to Mount Everest," Tourism Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung said.

"We are working on proposals to give a 50- percent royalty cut in the autumn and 75 percent during the winter climbing seasons."

The autumn climbing season runs from September to November and the winter season from December to January.

At least 520 climbers reached the summit of Mt.Qomolangma from Nepal and Tibet in this year's main climbing season, the highest number since the mountain was first scaled by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.