Climbing
Climbers have long flocked to Nepal for its unrivaled mountaineering opportunities. Mount Everest (Sagarmatha in Nepali), the highest mountain in the world, draws more climbers than any other peak in the region. Though the Nepali government has announced plans to limit the number of climbers on the mountain, it has issued a record-breaking 492 climbing permits for the 2026 season.
The record climbing permits come despite Nepal’s previous declarations to limit the number of climbers on Everest in an effort to increase safety and reduce environmental impact on the mountain. The measures introduced to limit numbers include the use of a mandatory Nepali guide on all expeditions, a $4,000 waste management fee, and proof of a “dead body management” specific insurance. Although proof of summiting another 7,000-meter (22,965-foot) peak in the region before an Everest attempt had been discussed by the government, this has not yet been passed as a law.
Nepal’s Department of Tourism recently released the figure on May 8, breaking the previous record of 479 permits issued in 2023. While the largest share of the climbing permits were issued for Everest, Nepal actually issued a total of 1,181 climbing permits in 2026 for 30 different Himalayan peaks. This was done in an effort to spread climbers out across the region, hopefully preventing issues such as the 2019 traffic jam at over 26,000 feet. Anything above 26,000 feet is known in the climbing world as “the death zone”. At this altitude, the human body physically cannot absorb enough oxygen to survive. Climbers are slowly dying at this altitude; the name of the game is to get up and back down out of this altitude as fast as possible.
Nepal hopes that spreading climbers out across the range, along with raising the fees associated with climbing Everest to $15,000 from $11,000, will help to curb these high-altitude issues. While 479 people on a mountain doesn’t initially sound like a massive number, each of these climbers has at least one guide with them, along with usually several porters to help carry all of the necessary gear to the summit. This easily pushes the number of people on the mountain to well into the thousands. Couple that with everyone going for the summit during extremely narrow weather windows, and without regulation, you have a recipe for disaster.
China has also closed the northern Tibet route of the mountain for climbing, further increasing the climbing load on the southern Nepali side. Chinese climbers led the pack in total number of climbing permits this year at 109, followed by 76 American climbers and 61 Indian climbers. These permits have accumulated around $7.19 million for the Nepalese Government, or around 1.1 billion Nepali Rupees. Tourism is one of Nepal’s largest industries, and climbing has long been one of the fastest-growing sectors of the country’s tourism industry.
Rope fixing to the summit has been ongoing by Nepali Sherpa for the past several weeks. Delays due to a massive serac collapse have caused “icefall doctors” to have to navigate a new route in between basecamp and camp 1. In defiance of ongoing issues, Mingma Dorchi Sherpa and his team reached the summit of Everest at 10:25 a.m. on May 13, officially kicking off the start of the climbing season. “Despite extremely different weather conditions, high altitude risks, and challenging mountain conditions, the Nepali Sherpa community has once again demonstrated its courage, professionalism, dedication, and commitment to mountaineering before the world.” Rishi Bhandari, General Secretary of Expedition Operators Association Nepal (EOAN), told The Himalayan Times.
As a result of the hard work of the local Sherpa, hopefully, the 2026 climbing season will be a success without further fatalities. The 2026 season has already claimed the lives of five, three on Everest and one each on Makalu and Makalu II. Himalayan climbing is one of the most dangerous activities one can take part in, and with the increase in permits and season already starting off to a tragic beginning, there is only so much the local Sherpa can do to keep climbers and themselves safe.
Any place that has a “Dead body management” program is a no-go for me.