Kathmandu — A South African caught attempting to climb Mount Everest without having an $11,000 permit said on Thursday that he couldn’t afford the hefty fee but had always planned to turn himself in and serve jail time as punishment. Ryan Sean Davy was arrested on Tuesday after handing himself into authorities in Kathmandu, a week after he was found hiding in a cave near Everest base camp without a permit. He told AFP at a police detention centre that he knew he would have to turn himself in eventually — and likely face jail time — because he wanted to release a film and book about his Everest adventure. "I realised that I would have to turn myself in to make it all legal, do the jail time because I can’t afford the permit," said the 43-year-old, who now faces a $22,000 fine. Davy, who has no prior mountaineering experience, was attempting to scale the world’s highest peak alone and with limited equipment — and hoped to save the lives of other climbers along the way. Before he was c...
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