The price of climbing Mount Everest is about to rise for the first time in nearly a decade, as Nepal announces a sharp hike in permit fees.
From September, those who want to climb the world’s highest mountain during peak season will have to pay $15,000 (£12,180), a 36 percent increase from the long-standing fee of $11,000, officials said on Wednesday.
Fees for those wanting to climb off-peak between April and May will also increase by the same percentage – meaning it will cost $7,500 from September to November and $3,750 from December to February.
Income from permit fees is a key source of income for Nepal, with trekking and mountaineering contributing more than 4% to the country’s economy.
Mountaineering experts often criticize the Nepalese government for allowing too many climbers to climb Everest, however, with around 300 permits for the mountain issued annually.
It is not clear whether the price increase, which has been discussed since last year, will slow demand.
“Royalties (permit fees) have not been revised for a long time,” Narayan Prasad Regmi, director general of the Department of Tourism, told Reuters. “We’ve updated them now.”
Regmi did not specify how the additional income will be used.
In April 2024, Nepal’s Supreme Court ordered the government to limit the number of mountaineering permits issued for Everest and other peaks, saying the capacity of the mountains “must be respected”.
However, the preliminary order did not specify a maximum number.
Amid concerns about overcrowding on Everest and climbers queuing in dangerous conditions to reach the summit, in 2019 the Nepalese military began conducting an annual cleanup of the mountain, often described as the world’s highest garbage dump.
In that time, at least five clean-up operations have collected 119 tonnes of rubbish, 14 human corpses and several skeletons, according to the army – but an estimated 200 bodies remain on the mountain.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest.
