Ryan Sean Davy on Mount Everest (Facebook)

Everyone knows that climbing Mount Everest is not easy, but it’s also not cheap.

Foreign climbers who want to scale the 8,848 metre (29,030 foot) peak must pay the Nepalese government £8,000 to gain a permit.

But this South African adventurer wanted the glory of scaling the world’s highest mountain without having to fork out the cash to do it.

Sadly, for Ryan Sean Davy, 43, who had climbed alone as far as camp two, which is 6,400 metres (21,000 feet) high, he was rumbled — after being caught hiding in a cave.

“I saw him alone near base camp so I approached him and he ran away,” said Gyanendra Shresth, the government liason officer at base camp.

“I followed him with my friend and found him hiding in a cave nearby,” he told AFP. “He had set up camp in an isolated place to avoid government officials.”

On Facebook, Davy later wrote: “This news is probably going to make a lot of people upset with me and I really hope you’ll all forgive me.”

He admitted that his Everest expedition had “taken a very bad turn”.

“I am going to be honest in saying that when I arrived at Base Camp it became evident that I didn’t have nearly enough money for a solo permit because of hidden costs and even if I did they would have declined it because I had no previous mountaineering experience on record,” he wrote.

“I was ashamed that I couldn’t afford the permit after all the help, preparation and what everybody had done for me during my training, it would have been a total embarrassment to turn around and accept defeat because of a piece of paper.

“I took a chance and spent the little money I had on more gear to climb and practice on the surrounding peaks for acclimatising in preparing for a stealth entry onto Everest.”

“Unfortunately the system caught up with me and I was eventually captured by the mountain Orks after two entries into the Ice Falls and managing an ascent of 24,000ft. Expedition companies have no time for wanna be Everesters with no money so someone turned me in.

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He added: “My passport has been confiscated and I am being sent to Katmandu where I will face penalties, apparently I’m in for jail time. I am so sorry that I have let all my supporters down and those who had faith in me, but please believe me when I say I will find the means to finish what I started.”

Davy could be banned from Nepal for five years or face a 10-year ban on climbing in the country. He will also be fined £16,000 — double the cost of the permit.

Davy told officials that he didn’t have enough money to buy a flight from the Everest region to Kathmandu to collect his passport. Since then, a friend has posted on his Facebook wall asking for others to help.

“Ryan is looking at a $22000 fine,” ‎Michele Whitehead‎ wrote. “Mohan a friend in Nepal suggested we contact the Consulate in Nepal.

“Ryan will probably [be] jailed till everything is sorted. We need to start the funding. I will find out about the funding today. If any one of his American friends can also contact me regarding a funding page.”