Nepal’s government has proposed raising the price of a climbing permit to summit Everest to $15,000 per person amid a record surge in climbers and congestion on the Nepali route to “the roof of the world.”
The increase of 4,000 dollars on the royalty rate, to 15,000 dollars per person for foreigners, could be implemented as of 2025, the spokesman for the Department of Tourism, Yubaraj Khatiwada, a representative of the government agency that issues the permits, told EFE today. climbing.
“The new provision will be implemented at the beginning of 2025, since the expedition agencies have already taken the reservations for 2024,” he explained.
The move is aimed at streamlining mountain tourism and controlling the number of climbers amid concerns over the rising death toll on the world’s highest summit.
A permit to climb Everest, at 8,848.86 meters, currently costs $11,000 for a foreigner and $568 for a Nepali.
The director of the mountaineering section of the Tourism Department, Rakesh Gurung, told EFE that the government is also increasing insurance and other facilities for porters, high-altitude workers and guides.
The new guideline will make the mandatory provision that the bodies of people who die while climbing must be recovered from the mountain.
There has been a growing trend to leave bodies on the mountain, as recovering a body in the “death zone” above 8,000 meters where oxygen is scarce implies high costs. Recovering the bodies from the higher camps can cost up to $200,000.
According to Gurung, 17 people who climbed from the Nepal side have died on Everest during this spring season. Each foreigner currently pays about $11,000 per permit, to which are added expenses of between $40,000 and $90,000 for equipment and companions with whom to climb.
