Why Climbing Mount Everest Is So Expensive | So Expensive | Business Insider Marathon

as treacherous as this Crossing is for many climbing Mount Everest is the adventure of a lifetime some climbers shell out as much as $100,000 for a chance to reach the summit a major part of the expense is paying the experienced guides who make their living on the mountain but it's dangerous work 340 people have lost their lives on Everest in the last century a third of them were guides forign speech ] foreign speech for speech ] fore speech ] foreign speech ] foreign speech ] foreign but the high death toll hasn't deterred Thrill Seekers and the rapidly expanding tourist industry is straining the ecosystem and the local economy so why is climbing Mount Everest so expensive and given the risks involved is it expensive enough considering the danger it's no surprise that mountain guides are one of the biggest expenses in summiting Everest [Music] FBA wangu has touched Everest's Peak 14 times already for Fore for speech foreign speech ] foree speech [ speech ] foreign spech forign speech spech foreign speech foreign [Music] speech he begins every clim with a Puja ceremony praying for safe passage and paying respect to the mountain even with his success rate he never underestimates the deadly foreign speech spe speech speech foreign speech fore speech over the next several weeks this group of of 16 will climb for hours on end in total darkness face the threat of avalanches and storms and cross deadly passageways fura wangu and his team of experienced guides are their best chance of making it to the summit and surviving it gives you a lot of confidence you know when your sherper has 15 16 Summits like some of these sheers here when you're at high altitude and you're in those situations and they tell you you know it's okay it's going to be okay it's very reassuring that they've submitted so many times it's more than just mentally reassuring on the mountain the choices guides make directly affect whether a climber lives the next morning another group of climbers is gearing up for its Expedition it takes a bit of time not to put it but it safes your foot on the minus 30 or 50 sometimes near base camp at 5,364 M climbing guides lead a vital training [Music] course without this refresher climbers won't know how to work with their specific Expedition team the guides are using the limited time they have today to review how best to handle steep inclines and to teach this team how to problem solve on the spot [Music] sorry the course is one of the services included in a mountain God's cost guides only work with experienced high altitude Mountaineers a requirement of the nepales government but that doesn't mean the climbers are ready to Brave Everest's extreme climate yet I think if you are talking about high altitude mountaineering it's important to do this you know at least every 6 months it keeps your body already for iing lack of oxygen I came here by a helicopter which is not probably it was not the best idea the first day R quite hard it will be ism's second attempt at summiting Everest he confronted the danger that awaits his new team over a decade ago we almost reached uh 8,500 but because of the very unfavorable weather conditions had to return so the summit was very close so after 11 years I I'm back [Music] isma averted catastrophe in his first summit attempt but not everyone is so lucky when climbers are critically injured guides have to be prepared to switch an expedition to a rescue and provide emergency relief in May 2023 a team of sherper guides rescued a climber from Everest's Death Zone over the course of 6 hours the guides carried him on their backs down to Camp 3 since the 2019 season as a safety measure Nepal has required every climber to be accompanied by at least one climbing guide and choosing a local guide has its distinct benefits on Everest many of these Mountain guides are shibas and ethnic group native to the slopes of Mount Everest the Conquering team was composed of 20 Americans aided by Sherpa tribesmen who acted as carriers though the term Shira is informally used as a casual for Everest guides the Shira people have been closely involved in mountaineering here since the very first Everest Expeditions their tissues use oxygen more efficiently and preserve muscle energy Better Than People from lowlands that's one of the reasons shida guides can assist their climbers with heavy loads without risking as much much physical strain I've got a very good sherper um you know and he carries he carries um a lot so about 10 kg I would carry but they would carry three times that and it's indispensable especially here at the kumu icefall where three sherpers lost their lives in 2023 [Music] at an elevation of 5,486 M the team slowly makes its way through shifting glaciers the group is also relying on the work that locals known as icefall doctors did months earlier these specialized climbers establish the safest route to the top of Everest every season a separate fee of $600 per Expedition member goes to these icefall doctors to use the ladders and ropes they set [Music] up but even with a clear path climbers are still in danger of creases opening and closing and even unexpected Avalanches fore spee for speech for speech ] fore speech ] forign speech fore [Music] spech for each of these climes guid certified by the International Federation of mountain guardes associations can charge agencies $10,000 less experienced climbing guides make only $44,000 per climb the agent V Wu works with Mau Adventure says it pays guides an additional $1,500 for every successful Summit it charges about $30,000 to climb Everest but some foreign agencies charge over double that amount we charge $73,000 for an Everest ascent and that's basically an all up package excluding your equipment and your flights to Nepal guy cot is the CEO of Adventure Consultants guy acted as a mountain guide on the New Zealand company's pioneering commercial Expedition up Everest in 1992 he took over the business after his friend Rob Hall died on the mountain in 1996 included in the cost of coming on one of our expeditions to Everest is that we have internationally qualified Mountain guides guides who have a huge amount of experience as Mountain guides in the Himalayas we also have a high flow oxygen rate of 4 L A Minute the maximum we can get out of The Regulators that we're using we include a a doctor on the Expedition base camp cooks for the sherpers we have base camp cooks for the climbing team we have Cooks at Camp 2 that are based there for the season as well we also provide a base camp manager every Expedition member gets their own base camp tent a walk-in tent with a cot bed really nice and comfortable we believe in a good level of support really good food no matter the price point all Expeditions must dedicate a chunk of their budget to hiring Porters like sanos dang Porters carry supplies up and down the mountain on foot the only choice in this remote and rugged terrain though most Porters rely solely on their own strength some like SOS invest in Yaks and donkeys to carry more loads and make more money speech fore spe spee for today he's bringing kerosene and pet to B foree spech fore forign speech speech ] speech ] forign speech ] forign foreign speech he says he's been able to charge a higher rate after the covid-19 pandemic increasing from about $12 to a little over $15 per day for larger loads he can make almost $380 a trip but SOS says he doesn't see much of his earnings for speech spee fore for speech ] forign spech sanos made a significant investment in Yaks they can cost over $450 each and he has five that's almost $2,300 worth of cattle and his expenses don't end there half of his earnings go to feeding his Yaks grass and potatoes each feeding costs him $7 with the money he Pockets sanos can only just get by climbers also have to pay for independent tracking guides like brain gulong brain leads climbers from the airport in lla to Everest Base campe for speech forign speech spech speech speech ] fore speech so one day uh I will I will do even at lower elevations conditions on Everest aren't easy brain must help trackers reach base camp safely even as they suffer effects from the challenging weather terrain altitude or their own physical limitations spech speeech speeech speech ] spech [ fore speech for speeech speech forch for these Services brain gets paid up to $15 a day adding up to almost $210 for a 2E round trip if he's lucky he gets tips and is able to book multiple tracks in one season but pin says his own income isn't guaranteed being an independent guide means he can only work when he's contacted directly by agencies or climbers he makes the most money when trackers hire him directly as they won't have to pay any logistical fees associated with travel agencies but brain isn't bucked consistently which strains him financially and deters him from committing to becoming a climbing guide forign speech fore fore ever since the British colonial Survey of India identified Everest as the world's highest peak in 1852 it's held a place of Fascination in the global imagination Tenzing Nori and Edmund Hillary's historic first Ascent in 1953 catapulted its Fame to new heights for decades afterward attempts at Everest summit were limited to Scientific surveys and experienced Mountaineers even in the 1970s and 80s only about 10 Expeditions a year tackled Everest from the nepes side but in the 1990s the mountain rapidly commodified in 1992 Adventure Consultants led the first commercial Expedition up the mountain in 1996 the company's co-founder Rob Hall led a doomed commercial Expedition up Everest in which he and seven other people died an incident immortalized in John ca's 1997 book into th air and a 2015 Hollywood film rather than dissuading foreign visitors this incident and others like it only added to the mountains Mythos by the early 2000s the number number of climbers had jumped from dozens a year to hundreds in 2023 a record 478 permits were issued Everest's explosion in popularity has brought more money than ever into the local economy but some of those who work on the mountain say it's not nearly enough to offset the risks involved the majority of summits occur in the spring season so most guides are hired for only one Expedition limiting their yearly income Wu says guides don't see enough money to justify continuously risking their lives speech speech fore speech ] forign spee speech ] speech [ for speech ] for speech ] foreign speech guides also have to pay for their own gear an investment of as much as $7,000 that includes clothing boots and backpacks that must withstand extreme conditions on the mountain the down suit alone can cost $22,000 and some gear needs to be replaced every few years often times working as a guide in the increasingly commercialized Everest industry comes out of necessity spech foreign speech ] foreign foreign foreign speech ] forch spee fore speech forch fore forign speech ] forch speech to stay afloat F wangu takes on other work OB this is common for many local guides who struggle to make hands meat from a job that routinely puts their life in [Music] danger spech for speech that's one of the reasons da quit his career as a climbing guide foreign speech speech ] forign speech foreign speech ] fore speech ] [ foreign speech ] foreign speech ] fore speech IGN speech foreign spech like da gin F wangu openly questions whether the risks are really worth it and he thinks it's a question more guides will ask for if foru is Right a declining number of expert Mountain guides will coincide with the growing Everest tourism industry but as the industry grows so too does the frequency of fatalities spring 2023 saw 18 deaths 15 confirmed and three presumed making it the deadliest season for Climbers on Everest six of those lost were sh by guides at the same time Nepal is seeing a growing drob Market with locals increasingly choosing other professions [ fore speech ] for Fore speech ] IGN speech foreign foree ] forch speech ] foree speech speech ] foreign forign speech foreign speech ] fore speeech ] spee ] [ for speech forch foree for those who pay to climb the mountain each year the high price is fair I think it's okay for for what it is um it's okay and you know the nepales government have to make money from it the sherpers have to have to make money and you know it would be an insult I think if we would just come and and pay hardly anything and and Summit the mountain but despite the challenges Everest's workers like Fang Chu face to make hens meet the scale of the climbing and trkking Industry means the economic fate of the region is inseparable from tourism mingma Nira is the CEO of the Himalayan trust an NGO in gandu focused on development in the U region where Mount Everest is located he says ensuring that the money generated by tourists stays in the local economy is key to the Region's survival in the old days most of the money uh remains in kandu with their travel and T operators and then little money goes to the community label where the poor people are living people at the grassroot level at the community level they need that tracking mountaining and tourism the nepales government also recognizes the need to keep the money ever generates from leaving Nepal in 2025 it plans to increase the price of climbing permits for foreigners to $115,000 up from $1,000 the government says the salaries of high altitude guides will also increase but mingma noru says the climbing industry is intertwined with the local economy in Less Direct ways too let's say something like 80% are directly getting benefit from tourism rest of the 20% are getting indirect benefits but how they can benefit is from the labor or The Guiding services or the employment or they can sell the agricultur products to The Trackers on the main hotels and lodges or mountaining expeditions the most visible examples of this relationship are tea houses tea houses are lodges that serve as basic accommodations on tracking routes around Everest but supplying these tea houses whether by back or by Yak is a logistical Nightmare and if supplies do manage to arrive they're expensive one sack of rice costs $60 a gallon of gas 113 but premium prices don't always mean premium service accommodations for climbers look different from the more basic lodging for Porters and for the locals who own these tea houses keeping a business afloat On Top Of The World Is No Easy feat up here a single cup of milk tea costs nearly 10 times what it does in The Valleys of Nepal one of the main reasons is the amount of effort it takes to get supplies up the mountain that responsibility Falls to Porters at 18 years old shashant is one of the youngest Porters in his tracking party today there are around 20 km between him and his destination a tea house in dingbo fore speech spech forign speech for forign speech ] foreign speech ] speech foreign fore speech ] they carry supplies over 100 km and up 5,300 M of elevation to base camp under Nepalese law treking Porters are supposed to carry no more than 30 kilos but this is often ignored and some commercial Porters paid by the load carry more than their own body weight further along the path to the Tea House a helicopter lands to conduct a rescue operation a stark reminder of how dangerous this job is but the dangerous conditions haven't deterred the traffic even at these high elevations climbers guides and Yaks flow through the narrow Trails after 7 hours of hiking shashant finally arrives at a porter house this is ding about 4,400 m above sea level typically Porters aren't required to pay for lodging only the food they [Music] eat forch spech climbers and guides stay separate from Porters at more spacious lodges these lodges offer more amenities but are often too expensive for Porters shashant makes about 11 to12 a day he says he spends half and saves the rest shashan hopes to One Day become a tracking guide and eventually a mountain guide but for now he's enjoying a comfortable place to sleep and a hot meal [ fore forign speech forign speech fore for spech ] for forign speech fore speech spech Travelers Rest at Bing for 2 days to acclimate to the high elevation but shashan can't relax for long after a day of rest it's time to pack up and get back on the trail it's a snowy April day in Fay this is a popular stop for climbers descending from base camp but this storm could last days and the visibility is low a forboding sign for anyone on their way down the mountain but inside sh already has a fire going he burns dried Yak dunk instead of wood because it's cheaper and widely available during the busy season 20 to 50 people cram in here each night for speech IGN speech ] fore spech speech ] forign for speech foreign speech ] for speech ] has run this tea house for 7 years it's a frequent stop for Porters returning from Everest Base Camp speech ] speech ] foreign speech ] speech ] for speech ] ] IGN speech ] foreign speech IGN speech ] foree for speech ] for spee speech ] foreign spee speech ] foreign speech ] further up the mountain there are limited accommodations for Porters if they don't have a place to stay many hike down to fet after delivering the climber luggage Porters wake up early and hike about 2 and 1/2 km back up to meet tracking guides before the Expedition sets off so at times Shiva must have breakfast ready at 3:00 a.m. but tonight the porters have a chance to rest so Shiva is preparing a leisurely dinner for his guests when flow costs $60 a sack the options are limited but Shiva makes the most out of what he has on tonight's menu noodles stew and dindor a thick flour porridge that's a staple food in this part of Nepal for speech ] for speech IGN speech ] [ fore speech ] IGN fore speech speech ] for speech speech [Music] tea houses like this look different than the more modern accommodations available to climbers some of whom are paying tens of thousands of dollars to Summit Everest those lodges offer more space and better amenities like separate rooms and showers depending on the location climbers often pay less than $10 per night up to about $60 if you include food and electricity foreign speech ] for for speech ] [ foreign speech ] [ forign speech [ foreign spee speech ] IGN speech IGN speech ] lodges prioritize the foreign climbers and while Porters aren't explicitly banned it's customary for them to stay Elsewhere for spe for speech spee but running a hotel at this altitude is hard work every drop of fuel every piece of gear and every morsel of food he needs to keep the place running must be carried up one step at a time consequently shiva's operating costs are astronomical for speech [ fore speech ] [ foreign speech ] foreign speech ] [ foreign speech ] and Shiva has to pass these prices onto his guests the dind bang is eating cost him 600 rup about double what it costs elsewhere in the country but Shiva can't push price is too high despite the remote area there is some competition so Shiva works hard to ensure this is a comfortable place to stay additionally local waste removal incentives provide sha with the opportunity to earn a little extra money for speech foreign speech ] fore speech ] forign speech [ forign speech ] forign speech fore speech fore spee spee even with the high cost of doing business running a tea house still provides Shiva with more than he's able to earn in his village he works here for 6 months to support his family and to send his kids to school during the off seon he returns home to form potato fore speech ] forign speech ] fore speech ] [ foreign speech ] [ fore speech ] foreign speech IGN speech ] foreign speech ] but beyond the financial pressures shiva's livelihood provides an essential service to Porters traveling on the mountain fore speech [ for speech ] foreign for spee foreign speech ] for speech ] foreign speech ] foreign forch ] foreign speech speech ] forch fore fore spech fore speech for speech ] foreign forign speech ] forign speech ] [Music] fore for Shiva the hard work is worth it for the warmth and Community The Tea House provides the atmosphere of the Shar dormit Tre and small dining room is more like a home than a hotel despite the limited amenities shant says he enjoys the camaraderie tea houses provide fore spee forign speech fore forign speech [Music] after reaching base camp and more than a week of hiking shashant heads back down the trail towards the narrow air strip at lla from here the climbers fly back to Kat Bandu ending their [Music] Journey but for many porters the season is still going they turn around tie up their bags and start the track again the impact of the tourist economy on the Everest region goes far beyond dollars and cents in recent years images of overcrowding and piles of trash on the Mountain's Peak have provoked public outrage local residents are acutely aware of the environmental challenges facing their communities an estimated 50 metric tons of waste still litter the slopes of the mountain and increasing snow melt has uncovered trash that has been buried under ice for decades that's why locals Nos and the Nepali government have banded together to coordinate a massive cleanup effort in the [Music] region waste efforts are carefully organized by the sagarmatha pollution control committee or spcc a Shira non-governmental organization climbing guides carry down waste from higher camps and combine it with trash at base camp this includes plastic food scraps and human waste foreign speech IGN speech ] foreign speech ] foreign speech ] speech ] fore speech ] foreign speech ] speech spe fore for speech fore speech for speech for spech speech speech ] [ foree speech ] foreign speech IGN speech ] foreign speech as of 2023 2,36 Expedition groups had attempted or summited the mountain and each group generates a lot of trash an average of 8 kg per person at base camp suaj sorts the waste into burnable and non-burn piles and bundles them for porters the porters then carry the trash on their bags all via Yak down the mountain to designated collection sites at landfills managed by the spcc workers like gash R sort and pack the trash fore spech for speech for speech fore spech fore [Music] speech IGN speeech some of the bags Kash is packing a part of the carry me back program a crowdsourced waste transportation system the program is managed by sag MAA next an organization seeking to demonstrate alternative ways to process all this waste to remove it that's a challenge because we don't have roads and transportation Vehicles so we made something we called carry me back it's a small bag weighs up to 1 kilo and we offer everyone who returns back from higher up going back to the entry point uh Lua to take one bag one kilo and carry it one day down Lua is the site of Everest's airport and the gateway to the region from here the sorted waste is flown back to kandu where it's processed further at recycling centers s MAA next first trial carry me back in 2019 during 5 weeks we had 2,500 participants and They Carried back 5,500 bags so around 5 tons in in a test situation and that was very very kind of encouraging in 2023 carry me back scaled it up to 8 metric tons but the organization's efforts don't stop there it also repurposes the trash it helps to collect one way it does this is through its partnership with Mare moare sources recycled bottle caps collected from Everest and nearby mountains [Music] upcycling waste into souvenirs like these the molds are inspired by the Topography of the [Music] Himalayas Sagara next's experience Center also hosts an artist in Residence program where artists like Joe Ranken repurpose discarded trash the pieces that I've chosen come from a big waist pit that's below the num telip pad so I've taken my backpack down and collected all the pieces that I want to work with and I've brought them back up here to the lab and now I'm working on a sculpture which I'm going to place onto this metal grid down here and this is a real challenge because the metal is so corroded so every time I've tried to make a hole it breaks a little bit while Sagar maata next was established to alleviate the waste problem on Everest and in the kumu region its Founders be no animosity toward the climb is responsible well I think we all has to try to understand as much as possible what it means to be up climbing on a mountain like Everest most people going up on that mountain are actually struggling pretty hard both to be safe and to be be able to scale and go to the summit and then of course most importantly to be able to come back down safely the nature of it in itself makes it almost impossible to have let's say 100% of all the waste uh that is up there to be brought down so hopefully we also get that message out in the world that there are many efforts to try to alleviate the problems the spc's waste management system is required for Expedition agencies and locals alike but it comes at a cost it mandates fees based on the amount of waste generated by each Expedition speee speech forch spech fore speech forign speech climers are also subject to fees and regulations imposed by the nepales government it requires climbers to pay a $4,000 deposit which will only be returned if they bring down at least 8 kg of trash not including oxygen tanks or human waste this regulation is meant to incentivize climbers to help clean the decades worth of trash on the highest parts of the mountain the fine can be inconvenient for climbers and their guides like strug to meet the requirement forch speech ] forch speech ] foreign speech ] for speeech foreign speech ] fore ] IGN speech ] foreign speech ] foreign forch ] fore [ fore speech ] forch speech ] speech IGN speech ] foreign speech ] for foreign speech ] spech while oxygen cylinders don't count towards the 8 kilg of waste required per climber they're too expensive to leave behind each cylinder costs $600 and that price is incentivized climbers to return them instead of leaving them on the mountain fore speech fore speech ] for speech [ forign speech ] [ forign speech foreign foreign speech ] speech ] foreign foreign spech ] forign speech IGN speech ] speech speech ] for speech ] for speech fore speech foreign speech in 2019 the nepes government Enlisted the national Army to assist in cleaning up Mount Everest and other heavily trafficked mountains the annual program the mountain cleanup campaign costs the government $7.5 million in 2023 the Army in conjunction with Sherpa guides collected about 36 metric tons of waste despite recent cleanup efforts Everest's climate is still under threat a 2022 study found that in about 25 years Everest's highest Glacier lost 2,000 years worth of ice the receding ice revealed decades worth of trash but also some of the hundreds of bodies on the mountain removing a single dead body can cost as much as $70,000 and even occasionally the lives of the climbers tasked with recovering them but the impact of pollution on Everest isn't limited to the mountain about 2 billion people live around and downstream of the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal China India and other regions in South and East Asia a study of snow and stream water extracted from Everest in 2019 found concentrations of microplastics predominantly polyester fibers toxic heavy metals pathogens and pasas known as forever chemicals have also been detected in Everest snow and water concerns over the polluted water supply have led locals to consider changing their water sources for speech fore speech fore speech ] foreign spee [ speech ] foreign spe speech [Music] speech and for those who earn a living from Everest tourism and mountaineering alleviating the problem is an existential issue for speech ] forign speech ] foreign spech [ speech ] foreign speech ] fore speech ] foreign foreign speech ] for speech speech IGN speech ] foreign speech ] fore [Music] speeech for speech for speech ] fore speech ] for speech ] for speech but even with improved Environmental Management and increased Economic Opportunity in the region the truth is that the future of Everest is unclear in 2024 Nepal issued fewer climbing permits for Everest than it did in 2023 and recently more climbers have opted to tackle the Peak from the Chinese Side of the Mountain putting pressure on Nepal's Everest industry still some of those who make their living here like shashant see a future guarding tourists up the mountainee fore unlike shant is able to pursue his education still the mountain compels him speech spe speech for spe speech fore spech but not everyone shares optimism others like foru dream of a future for their children beyond the mountain slopes fore speech fore [ foreign spech IGN speech ] fore speech speech ] foreign speech speech ] forch fore [Music] speech for

2024-09-15 22:18

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