Japan finger frostbite victim exposes Nepali desperation to revive Everest climbs

Japanese climber Kuriki Nobukazu speaks during an interview in Kathmandu, August 22, 2015. 2015. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A Japanese man has become the unlikely face of Nepal's desperate efforts to revive its climbing industry, seeking to conquer Everest alone for the first time since 18 people were killed in April - and since he lost all his fingertips to frostbite.

Nobukazu Kuriki, 33, set off on his adventure on Tuesday, leaving Kathmandu for the mountains for acclimatization before tackling Everest next month, the first person to do so since multiple avalanches unleashed by an earthquake slammed into Base Camp in the mountain's worst climbing disaster.