KATHMANDU, Nepal — Nepal will raise permit fees to climb Mount Everest by more than 35 percent, making the world’s highest peak more expensive for climbers for the first time in nearly a decade, officials said Wednesday. said
Revenue from permit fees and other expenses incurred by foreign climbers is an important source of income and employment for the cash-strapped country, which is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest.
A permit to climb the 29,032-foot Mount Everest costs $15,000, said Tourism Department Director General Narayan Prasad Regmi. Announced a 36 percent increase in the $11,000 fee in place for nearly a decade.
“The royalties (permit fees) have not been reviewed for a long time. We have just updated them,” Regmi told Reuters.
The new rate will take effect from September and will apply for 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 December-February season will also increase by 36% 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 hike 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 Mount Everest and several other Himalayan peaks every year.
Nepal is often criticized by mountaineering experts for allowing too many climbers on Everest and doing too little to keep it clean or ensure the safety of climbers.
Rigmi said that cleanliness drives were organized to collect garbage and that rope fixing and other safety measures were done 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 caused by global warming or other climate changes.
