Helping will finally be on the way to Nepal Sherpa, which carry great loads for foreign climbers through the treacherous parts of the highest peak in the world.
When the main climbing season begins next month on Mount Everest, the expedition companies will test unmanned aircraft that can ferry as heavy as 35 pounds at high heights, return the ladders used to set up and remove the waste and removal of waste that is usually lagging.
The goods that usually take seven hours to be transported on foot from Everest’s base camp to the camp can be transferred within 15 minutes. By illuminating Sherpas’ loads, drones operators hope that the chances of fatal accidents – which have increased as climate change, accelerated with snow – can now reduce.
“Sherpas borne huge risks. The drone makes its task safer, faster and more efficient,” said Tshering Sherpa, whose organization, the Sagarmatha pollution committee, is responsible for repairing the route through the deadly Khumbu ice fall, southwest of Everest.
For about a year, operators experiment with two unmanned slats donated by their Chinese manufacturer. The pilot test during this year’s climbing season is considered an important opportunity to convince the expeditional agencies to invest in multiple devices, which could be used to carry climbing equipment and essential objects such as oxygen cylinders.
Although the advanced costs of drones may be high, their advocates say they will eventually reduce the costs of agencies.
Among those who could have the most benefits are experienced sherps known as “Ice doctors.” Before every climbing season, they gather at the Everest base camp for a terrifying mission to establish a route through a moving ice.
They carry heavy loads of the ladder, repair them over cracks and lay a rope to climb on the ice wall. Once the ladder and ropes are placed along the Khumbu icy fall to the Camp II, the other bottles for the Sherpas oxygen ferry, the drug and various basic things in high camps. Sherpas make this dangerous climb at least 40 times a season, according to the organizers of the expedition.
When doctors on the ice went to the base camp earlier this month, they were eagerly awaiting the arrival of pilots of drones, which were still in the catmandu, the capital of Nepal, ending the flight removal documentation.
“They invite us to join early,” said Milan Pandey, a pilot of drones associated with Airlift, a startup of a non -starting craft in Nepal.
The catalyst for the use of drones was the latest of many deadly tragedies involving Sherpas on Everest. In 2023, three mountain guides were buried under the lioness while fixing the rope for foreign climbers.
Their bodies could not be retrieved. This could have damaged the ice block and threatened those trying to get the remains, said Mingma G. Sherpa, Nepal’s General General of Nepal Imagine Nepal, who led the expedition in which Sherpas died.
His search for ways to improve security has attracted it to Chinese expeditional companies that used drones at Muztagh Ata, a highlight of 24,757 feet in China near Pakistan. The Chinese used vehicles for climbing, food and other key items in Camp II and demolished them.
“The Chinese cooked food at the base camp and sent it to Camp II Muztagh Ata, where climbers could eat warm food,” said Mr. Sherpa. “I thought, why not use drones on Everest’s south side, especially the Khumbu Icephall section?”
On the call, a team from the Chinese DRONA DJI producer went to Nepal in the spring of 2024 to test two flying drones.
Tim Dji donated unmanned aircraft airlift, Nepal startup. Since then, Airlift has been testing the boundaries of drones in the most dangerous parts of Everest.
Drones advocates hope they can do more than wearing the object. Since the shape of the ice is changing, ice doctors are struggling to find the previous climbing route, which complicates the installation of a new route every season. Operators of drones believe that they will be able to specify the old routes using geolocation.
Devices could also help offset the number of sherry. They are more Departure for safety risks and better employment options abroad.
But even if all drones can offer, their price has been a break of some expedition companies.
Dji drone can cost more than $ 70,000 after customs duties, which is a huge sum in a poor country like Nepal. Startups like Airlift explore options for assembling drones within Nepal, which they say could reduce their costs by more than half.
A miracle of a warm meal can be driven in this effort to reduce the cost.
During the trial run last year on Mount Ama Dablam, the Himalayan peak where unmanned aircraft were used to remove 1,300 kilograms of waste, Dawa Jangbu Sherpa, a pilot of drones, saw the potential of first -hand vehicle. The food sent from the base camp was still hot when she reached the camp I.
“It takes six hours if you follow the usual route to get to the camp and,” Mr. Sherpa said. “But drones served food in six minutes.”
