Two Climbers Got Within 45 Metres of the Summit in 1957. Nepal Has Banned Anyone From Finishing It Ever Since.
Machapuchare towers over Pokhara and watches over half our treks in the Annapurna region — and by law, nobody is allowed to stand on top of it.
In 1957, two British climbers got closer to the true summit of Machapuchare than anyone officially has since — by their own account, somewhere between 30 and 46 metres short. Then they stopped, turned around, and went home. Nepal has made sure nobody has finished the last few steps in the 69 years since.
The mountain is Machapuchare — Fishtail Peak — the double-summited spire that stands directly behind Pokhara and shows up in the background of half the photographs anyone takes from the lake. At 6,993 metres it isn't even among Nepal's ten highest peaks. It's famous for the opposite reason: it may be the most photographed mountain on Earth that nobody is allowed to stand on top of.
The only sanctioned attempt was led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Roberts in 1957, with climbers Wilfrid Noyce and David Cox making the final push. Villagers at Ghandruk reportedly tried to stop the expedition before it even started, worried about angering the gods who live on the mountain. Noyce's own account of the final hours describes rounding a rock rib to find the team just 100 to 150 feet — roughly 30 to 46 metres — below the top, blocked by hard, polished ice and closing weather. 'The gods must have drawn their line here,' he wrote, and the team down-climbed through heavy snow. Other retellings add a second reason: that Nepal's King Mahendra had granted permission to climb the mountain only on condition that no one actually set foot on the summit itself, out of respect for its sacred status, and the climbers kept that promise. Whichever explanation carried more weight that afternoon, the outcome was the same — and no permit for Machapuchare has been issued since.
Jimmy Roberts leads a British-led team; Noyce and Cox stop roughly 30-46 metres below the summit and turn back.
New Zealand climber Bill Denz is rumoured to have soloed the summit without a permit. Nepali authorities never verified or recognised the claim.
No climbing permit has been issued for Machapuchare since 1957 — it remains off-limits to every expedition that has since asked.
What this means for trekkers
What this means for trekkers
You will never need a Machapuchare climbing permit, because Nepal doesn't issue one — but you don't need one to get closer to this mountain than most climbers ever will. The Mardi Himal trek runs up the ridge directly beneath its south face, closer to Machapuchare than almost any other trail in Nepal. The Annapurna Base Camp trek walks straight into the sanctuary it guards, and sunrise from Ghandruk — the same village whose residents once tried to turn Roberts' team back in 1957 — still frames Machapuchare turning gold before any other peak on the skyline catches the light.
Gurung communities in the Annapurna foothills still hold the mountain as the seat of Lord Shiva, and that reverence is precisely why it has stayed unclimbed longer than almost any peak of comparable size in the Himalaya. Everest has now been stood on more than a thousand times in a single season — a record 1,008 summits this spring — while its quieter neighbour above Pokhara has been stood on zero times, officially, since Eisenhower's first term. That contrast is what makes Machapuchare worth a long look on the way to any other trek in the region: not the hardest mountain in Nepal to reach, but the only major one you're guaranteed never to see a summit photo from.
Source: American Alpine Club Publications, 1958 expedition report by Wilfrid Noyce.
Cover photo: Bijay Chaurasia via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Source: American Alpine Club Publications
Planning a trek?
We handle the permits, logistics & guides
NMA-certified local guides, transparent pricing, 5,000+ treks since 1998. Tell us your dates and we'll sort the rest.
Popular Nepal treks
All treks →
More in Records & People
Records & People
She Climbed Everest Three Times in 13 Days. No Woman Had Ever Done It Twice.
Nepali photojournalist Purnima Shrestha set a world first on Everest in 2024 — and this May she went back up for a sixth summit altogether.
Records & People
A Former Cross-Country Skier Just Became the First Woman to Climb Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse in the Same 10 Days
Kristin Harila, who summited all 14 of the world's 8,000m peaks in a record 92 days, has now completed Everest's brutal Triple Crown — mostly without bottled oxygen.
Records & People
Nepal Picks a Living Goddess Every Few Years — and She's Almost Always Three Years Old
In a centuries-old ritual beside Kathmandu's Durbar Square, a toddler is chosen for 32 physical perfections, tested for total fearlessness beside sacrificed buffalo heads, and enthroned as a living goddess — until her first period ends the reign overnight.
Latest from the desk
Industry & Tourism
How Much Should You Tip Your Nepal Trekking Guide and Porter in 2026? The Real Numbers
Nepal has no official tipping rate — but gratuities make up an estimated 30-50% of a guide or porter's yearly income. Here's what international trekkers actually pay, verified against porter-welfare guidelines.
Safety & Advisories
Everest Base Camp: Trek It or Fly It? The Honest 2026 Cost, Time and Safety Comparison
A helicopter can put you at Everest Base Camp in one day for about the same group price as the trek. Here's what the extra 9-14 days actually buy you, according to CDC altitude-risk guidance and our own 2026 pricing.
Safety & Advisories
How Fit Do You Actually Need to Be for Everest Base Camp vs Annapurna Base Camp? The Honest 2026 Benchmarks
EBC and ABC are both sold as moderate treks, but altitude, not distance, is what actually separates them. Here are the real training benchmarks, not the hype.