On Monday, the Nepalese government said that starting in 2025, the royalty cost to gain authorization to climb Mount Everest might increase from USD 4,000 to USD 15,000.
In order to climb Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world at 8,848.86 meters, international climbers are currently paying a royalty charge of USD 11,000. The charge for Nepali mountaineers is NRs 75,000. This royalty rate was last adjusted by the government in January of 2015.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Tourism, Yuvaraj Khatiwada, has said that starting in 2025, a new royalty charge of USD 15,000 per foreign individual desiring to climb Mt. Everest would be implemented.
Once the idea receives Cabinet approval, the new charge will go into effect.
Any non-Nepalese citizen who pays the current cost of USD 11,000 may climb Everest from the South Face (Nepali side).
Prior to 2015, the average cost of joining a group expedition of up to 15 people was US $10,000. A universal cost of USD 11,000 per international climber was applied, however, and the group option was subsequently removed.
A new government legislation will require excursion companies to bring down the remains of dead mountaineers. The rising fear of corpses being abandoned on the mountain without proper insurance coverage is addressed by this move.
Due to the great expense and difficulty of organizing corpse recovery from high elevations, this clause in climbing laws is now being strictly enforced.
The tragic events on Everest have shown how crucial these precautions are.
Seventeen people have died trying to climb Mount Everest from the Nepalese side during this year’s spring climbing season.
In April 2014, sixteen Nepali Sherpa guides were killed in an avalanche, making it one of the worst natural catastrophes in recent history. The next year, Nepal was hit by a severe earthquake that set off an avalanche at Everest’s base camp, killing 20 people.
The enormous cost and risk involved in transporting dead from higher locations is a major deterrent. According to a story in The Kathmandu Post, bringing a corpse down from high places might cost anything from US$20,000 to US$200,000.
According to the article, the insurance, salary, and other amenities of porters, high-altitude laborers, and guides will also be raised along with the climbing fee. These statements were attributed to Rakesh Gurung, head of the mountaineering branch of the Department of Tourism.
He emphasized the need for formalization of all commercial and financial dealings by foreign entities participating in Nepali expeditions. The prices that international travel companies charge their customers to summit Everest and other mountains are still unknown.
Gurung was quoted in the report as saying, “Since some agencies have already taken bookings for expeditions in 2024, we have given them time so that their business will not be affected.”
According to the report, the Nepalese government made USD 5.08 million only from the climbing season on Mt. Everest this spring.
