Mount Everest’s highest camp is littered with tons of garbage. Cleanup will likely take years
PBS NewsHourJUN 22 2024
Nepal Hikes Fee for Everest Climbers
Above: Mountaineers descending from the summit of Mount Everest, Nepal, June 2021. Image copyright: Lakpa Sherpa/AFP/Contributor via Getty Images
The Facts
Nepal is increasing the permit fee for climbing Mount Everest by 36%, officials from the country confirmed on Wednesday.
The rate for foreign climbers traversing the South Col route during the spring season — first climbed by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953 — will rise from $11K to $15K starting September this year.
The cost for the fall climbing season will meanwhile rise from $5.5K to $7.5K, with the fee for climbing in the winter and monsoon months increasing from $2.75K to $3.75K.
The Spin
Narrative A
While this is a steep hike in prices, the move has been anticipated since last year and will likely do little to dissuade those wanting to climb the world's highest peak, which was already a prohibitively expensive endeavor before this development.
Narrative B
Amid reports that climbing Mount Everest is becoming too congested, and with litter becoming an increasing issue on the mountain, this move by the Nepalese government is a pragmatic way of both enriching the nation (which has long catered to Western tourism), and making the issues associated with popular hiking regions more manageable.
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