Nepal will raise permit fees to climb Mount Everest by 36 percent, making the world’s highest peak more expensive for climbers for the first time in nearly a decade, officials said.
Revenue from permit fees and other expenses incurred by foreign climbers is an important source of income and employment for the impoverished country, which is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains.
A permit to climb the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) Everest will cost $15,000 (£12,000), Narayan Prasad Regmi, director-general of the Department of Tourism, said in announcing an increase to the $11,000 fee that has been in place for nearly a decade. .
“The royalty [permit fees] Wasn’t reviewed for a long time. We have just updated them,” Regmi said.
The new rate will take effect from September and will apply to the April-May climbing season along the South East Ridge, or South Col Route, popularized by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
Fees for the less popular September-November season and the rarely climbed December-February season will also increase to $7,500 and $3,750, respectively.
Some expedition organizers said the increase, which has been discussed since last year, is unlikely to discourage climbers. About 300 permits are issued for Everest each year.
“We expected this increase in permit fees,” said Lucas Furtenbach of Austria-based expedition organizer Furtenbach Adventures.
He said it was an “understandable step” by the government of Nepal. “I am confident that the additional funds will be used in some way to protect the environment and improve safety on Everest,” Furtenbach said.
Regmi did not say what the additional revenue would be used for.
Hundreds of climbers attempt to summit Everest and many other Himalayan peaks every year. Nepal is often criticized by mountaineering experts for allowing too many climbers on Everest and doing little to keep it clean or ensure the safety of climbers.
Rigmi said campaigns for waste collection and rope fixing, among other safety measures, are conducted regularly.
Climbers returning from Everest say the mountain is becoming increasingly dry and rocky with less snow or other precipitation, which experts say could be a result of global warming or other climate change.
