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<p>By Gopal Sharma</p>
<p>KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Weak climbers being led up Mount&nbsp;Everest&nbsp;by expedition operators with insufficient experience are causing problems, a veteran mountain guide said on Sunday, after one of the deadliest&nbsp;climbing&nbsp;seasons in years on the world's highest mountain.</p>
<p>At least 12 climbers died and five are missing and feared dead on the 8,849 metre (29,032 foot) Mount&nbsp;Everest&nbsp;during this year's main&nbsp;climbing&nbsp;season that has just ended, the deadliest since an earthquake triggered an avalanche that killed 18 people in 2015.</p>
<p>"Weakest clients with less experienced operators is part of the problem,&rdquo; Guy Cotter, 69, a noted guide from the New Zealand who has climbed&nbsp;Everest&nbsp;five times, said in the&nbsp;Nepali capital, Kathmandu.</p>
<p>"Clients should have minimum&nbsp;climbing&nbsp;standards with proven prior ascents before coming to&nbsp;Everest,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>Three sherpa climbers were killed when ice came crashing down on them on the lower reaches of the mountain in April and the rest of those who died succumbed to illness or exhaustion, government and hiking officials said.</p>
<p>Nepal&nbsp;does regulate the&nbsp;climbing&nbsp;of&nbsp;Everest&nbsp;and its other Himalayan peak, insisting that everyone gets a permit, for example, but Cotter said the operators who guide clients up the mountain should meet minimum standards of equipment and staff.</p>
<p>"There are many operators who take clients to&nbsp;Everest&nbsp;but do not understand how to avoid incidents occurring and when things do go wrong they do not have processes in place to address the problems," Cotter said.</p>
<p>Bigyan Koirala, an official with the Department of Tourism that oversees&nbsp;climbing, said the government was considering more regulations but did not give details.</p>
<p>Nepal&nbsp;issued a record of 478 permits for&nbsp;Everest&nbsp;this year and hundreds of people made it to the summit.</p>
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<p>(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; editing by Robert Birsel)</p>
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Nepal urged to tighten climbing rules to cut Everest deaths