Nepal hikes climbing fees for Mount Everest

Kathmandu, Jan 22 The Nepali government has significantly increased climbing permit fees for Mount Everest or Mount Qomolangma, an official said on Wednesday.

The climbing fee for foreigners was hiked to $15,000 from $11,000, an increase of 36 per cent.

"The new rate will be effective on September 1, 2025," said Madhav Adhikari, an official from the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

"Those aspiring to scale Mount Qomolangma this spring will not have to pay the increased fee," he told Xinhua.

Meanwhile, those planning to scale the world's tallest peak, which straddles Nepal and China in the fall season, will have to pay $7,500, up from $5,500.

The cost for winter and monsoon seasons has risen from $2,750 to $3,750.

For Nepali climbers, the fee has been doubled from 75,000 Nepali rupees (about $545) to 150,000 rupees (about $1,090).

Nepal last revised the climbing permit fees on January 1, 2015.

Mount Everest, known locally as Sagarmatha or Qomolangma, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow height) of 8,848.86 metres was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities.

Mount Everest attracts many climbers, including highly experienced mountaineers. There are two main climbing routes, one approaching the summit from the southeast in Nepal (known as the "standard route") and the other from the north in Tibet. While not posing substantial technical climbing challenges on the standard route, Everest presents dangers such as altitude sickness, weather, and wind, as well as hazards from avalanches and the Khumbu Icefall.

Nepal is an ideal destination for adventure tourism because of its variegated, often formidable geography, inherently replete with rich, refreshing nature. Once in Nepal, one can enjoy a number of outdoor activities from Paragliding near the mountains to spotting the Bengal tigers in the dense forest of Chitwan.

Source: IANS