Mount Everest 2025

Nine people died trying to summit Everest in 2024.

Alan Arnette's 2025 blog. Ropes have been fixed up to Camp Two.

Green boots!

More new rules:

All climbers are also mandated to carry advanced satellite tracking devices during their ascent, so teams on the ground can track their movements in real time

The new bill also mandates that all guides, including Sherpas, must be Nepali.

Dead body management insurance will also be required by climbers… Climbers and Sherpas are also required to carry policies for accidents, health, and search and rescue; all policies mandated must cover at least three months' insurance per individual.

A $4,000 refundable garbage deposit with a non-refundable garbage fee will be collected at the time of permit issuance. In order to get that deposit back, climbers are required to bring their ‘human waste bags’ back to Base Camp after their climb, in addition to bringing back a minimum of 18 pounds of waste to reclaim their deposit.

the new laws prohibit expensive and luxury glamping equipment, such as see-through dome tents with all the luxuries of home, to full-service dining and entertainment areas for the 2025 climbing season and future seasons

Heli-jumping” is also prohibited as of this season

Costs for permit fees to climb Mount Everest in 2025 are set to increase by 36% on September 1, 2025, from $11,000 per person to $15,000.

^ oops, some overlap with OP. IIRC, the tracking devices issued last year were very low quality. Also new rules are issued every year but enforcement is spotty. The glamping one is already ignored if you read AA’s blog.

⛰️ 🧊 ☠️ 🤡

The climbing season threads have been the most unexpected of surprises on DL. Hilarious, informative, and of course at times DL catty and bitchy.

[QUOTE] The new bill also mandates that all guides, including Sherpas, must be Nepali.

This is a terrible idea. A lot of them don't know what the hell they're doing.

'A $4,000 refundable garbage deposit with a non-refundable garbage fee will be collected at the time of permit issuance.'

Most of the rich westerners will be fine losing this deposit if it means they don't have to lug their shit about.

So no western guides allowed? Can expedition leaders still be western or will that be axed next?

if there is money to be made, it belongs to the Nepalese.

I wait all year for this thread . My post Easter surprise

Good. I’m glad they are cracking down on these more money than sense idiots who endanger others with their dumb shit.

Chomolungma deserves respect.

Go get em, gal!

Having all these RULES about who can and CANNOT climb is goddamn UNAMERICAN!

More Nepalese expedition leaders means more corrupt fuckers like Nimsdai.

"I will make Nepal our 53rd state if these horrible rules aren't rescinded!"

There probably won’t be any summits until mid-May.

I did learn that people do climb at other times. Very, very few but it is possible. Autumn has more than summer or winter. I wonder what it’s like, who are they? Also all the guide ropes and ice ladders are removed after the spring season so how are they climbing?

Mount Washington in Winter is rugged enough.

BTW, if you want to see a supurb recreation of what it's like to climb Mt Washington in Winter, check out the movie Infinite Storm with Naomi Watts. I was extremely impressed, quite realistic even though it was shot in another country.

I have a friend up there now. The whole thing takes 60 days! They make them acclimate, and do practice runs on ice ladders. He’s submitted 12 high mountains, and this will be the sixth of the seven summits for him. He was supposed to go a couple years ago but ended up needing knee surgery, but he’s worked hard to get back in climbing shape. It seems terrifying to me, but he is clearly having a blast.

Summitted. Not submitted.

This experience is right up there with the Nautilus and Ladies’ Rocket Ship.

Keep us updated with how your friend does, R21. Is he wealthy?

R21's friend is the Bottom on Top of the World. I await the "Let's Be" thread about him.

[QUOTE] Bottom on Top of the World.

Love it! Updates please, R25.

I've wasted big $ and put myself in harm's way for stupid reasons, which is why I hate seeing others do it. But I also realize you can't stop someone who has something to prove and the wherewithal to do it.

When I was in Nepal I saw a video of the conquest of Everest. One dude, I think he was Australian and had a new baby, got trapped in a storm and got severe frost bite. All his fingers had to amputated, he lost a good part of his nose, and both feet. But he lived.

No, thanks.

“I've … put myself in harm's way for stupid reasons…. But I also realize you can't stop someone who has something to prove and the wherewithal to do it.”

And so begins the story of how I lay there, face down-ass up, in a bathhouse in the 90s.

He’s comfortable, as they say r24.. No kids, no current relationship, so he’s able to train hard and take all the time it requires to be ready. He’s started the climb and will be out of contact for a week. It’s 20-30 degrees in the tents at basecamp, they sleep in all of their clothes.

This sounds like a recipe for disaster:

According to a report in the Financial Times, four British mountaineers are to inhale the inert gas xenon under medical supervision after arriving in Kathmandu. They are then to be flown by helicopter to Everest Base Camp and set off straight for the summit with their Sherpas. After a three-day ascent to the summit at 8,849 meters and a one-day descent, they will return to Kathmandu by helicopter and then return home.

After a week, the Brits could be back at their desks at home. They still pay an introductory price of an undisclosed amount. In future, such a short trip to Everest will cost around 150,000 euros.

Can I still bring my cappuccino machine up?

What it’s like to cross the ice ladders. Hey you can practice at home!

Isn’t Mallory’s body still up there?

Yes, R34. The team that found him covered him with rocks. The camera never has been found.

Thanks for starting this OP!

Return to Corpse Poo Mountain

A 64 year old man died last week trying to summit the 'easy' mountain Ama Dablam.

On Everest, heavy snow has stopped progress.

The April 30 link above is worth reading.

Arnette calls out various climbers who are going for records—speed climbing without oxygen, a new route that avoids the icefall, a sherpa who wants to summit four times in 20 days, a BASE jumper going for the altitude record, and a guy who has cycled from Calais to India after swimming the Channel. The Xenon guys will be interesting too.

[QUOTE] a sherpa who wants to summit four times in 20 days

Insanity.

"YAAAAAAASSSSSS!!!!!"

Darwin's Mountain

Awards Season is coming

The OP sounds mentally deranged.

Just give me a cute Sherpa, a cozy tent at Base Camp and I’ll be fine.

The movie Everest (2015) is pretty good.

What's the point of the xenon gas?

Breathing Xenon -may- be a performance enhancer. Four former military guys have been breathing it at home and hope to arrive and summit in the space of a week. We’ll see.

Xenon gas used to be used as an anaesthetic ...

I can see this going deliciously wrong.

What is the estimated summit day?

Not OP, but fuck off, r43. I look forward to this post every year. Bring on the photos of the climbers lined up like sardines, awaiting their few minutes to take a photo on top.

The last two weeks in May will be peak climbing (heh) judging by past history, so May 15?

Mt. Everest, the mountain with the biggest tits in the world.

^^^^ we resemble that remark!

Mount Everest was created because Eurasia was an insatiable bottom.

And India is a power top!

A 39-year-old man from Chicago has died on Makalu.

High winds have slowed progress on Everest. Ropes have only been fixed up to 7000m. No summits yet.

See link and scroll down for a very interesting account of climbing from Camp 1 to Camp 3.

First summits expected later on this week.

Ropes still not fixed above South Col.

Did not realise that 25% of all Everest climbers abandoned their climb at Base Camp. What a waste of $60k.

^^^^ a fool and his money ...

A 38 year old American died in his tent of a cardiac arrest, half way up Makalu.

They die in vain.

If I were to have such an opportunity, I would be fine just staying in base camp and being near Chomolungma.

That area has some beautiful scenery (if you look past the human damage)

R21 here. My friend’s practice partial ascent was postponed for a few days, but he did just return from his Basecamp to Camp 3 round trip, without oxygen. In a few days he and his Sherpa will head all the way up to the top with oxygen.

He said ‘take one step and take two deep breaths’. Because the air contains 1/2 the oxygen than at base camp. And also noted that he went up 6 ice ladders, some as tall/long at three stories. And he is insanely happy.

Thanks for keeping us updated r64! The ice ladders sound terrifying. It’s probably a good thing that glacier is there, I am am sure it keeps away millions of people who would Otherwise want to climb.

Wishing your friend all the best.

Three. Story. Ice. Ladders.

Dear god.

[quote]R28 One dude, I think he was Australian and had a new baby, got trapped in a storm and got severe frost bite. All his fingers had to amputated, he lost a good part of his nose, and both feet.

Haha! Have fun trying to play with your baby NOW, idiot! It will shriek in terror each time it sees you!!

I don't know if this is the first summit. It's the guy r39 mentioned who swam the Channel a d cycled to India.

Wow, good for him.

Okay a climber from Ecuador was the first, summited without oxygen. 18 people have made it so far according to the AA blog.

[quote]summited without oxygen

that's nutz

The dude at r68 is sunburned to hell and back. Yikes!

Could be wind burn, too, that high up.

[quote]R28 One dude, I think he was Australian and had a new baby, got trapped in a storm and got severe frost bite. All his fingers had to amputated, he lost a good part of his nose, and both feet.

It really makes you wonder - if this new Quasimodo were your husband, would you stay with him?

A lot of it of course would rely on if he still had a nice big cock you could ride, after strapping him in his gurney so his stumps couldn’t reach/flail out and touch you. But what if that appendage had snapped off, too?

[italic]Is it desertion[/italic] … when your partner returns from a trip an impotent, maimed monster??

Here's a long article about the xenon sniffers. These guys have got rocks in their heads.

R67 R73 luckily the guy died soon after of cancer so your concerns are unfounded

[quote] One dude, I think he was Australian and had a new baby, got trapped in a storm and got severe frost bite. All his fingers had to amputated, he lost a good part of his nose, and both feet.

And then there are people who have summited 5 times unscathed. Life is just a crapshoot.

[quote]R75 luckily the guy died soon after of cancer so your concerns are unfounded

Hmpphhh….yes, well…..

[italic]settles into rocker, returns to knitting, thching to self

"Did not realise that 25% of all Everest climbers abandoned their climb at Base Camp. What a waste of $60k."

But a smart waste, if there is such a thing. Pushing on climbing Everest when you're not feeling it and not absolutely confident isn't gonna work. In way I respect that they paid THAT much money but still chose to shut it down.

It's the outdoorsy equivalent of the initiation ceremony for the Bullingdon Club only instead of burning a £50 note in front of a homeless person you burn $60 thousand in the company of a Sherpa.

Climbers should be forced to wear live streaming go-pros and we get to bet on them

R80 No, that's not at all creepy.

[quote] Did not realise that 25% of all Everest climbers abandoned their climb at Base Camp. What a waste of $60k.

Well, if they don’t have good insurance they have to worry about the medical bills for perhaps amputating all their fingers, a good part of the nose, and both feet due to frost bite.

So maybe it occurs to them the overall cost could be much more?

White ppl and their colonial ways

The first international climbers reached the top of Everest on Sunday, but that sprinkling of summiters will have to suffice for a few days. For the next several days, it will be too windy for all but the most stoic climbers. As expected, several groups set off toward the summit immediately after the Sherpa rope fixers finished their work. On Sunday, they achieved the first international summits of the season. Among them is Mitch Huntcraft, who swam, cycled, and ran from his home in the UK to Nepal over nine months. He climbed, supported by Gelje Sherpa and Yak Phuri, and summited at 7:20 am yesterday.

Jesus, two other guys have done similar swim/bicycle/run/climb without oxygen in the past. One, the Swedish guy, during the fatal year 1996. Was he mentioned in any of the documentaries/movies?

Thanks, r85. You give us a lot to work with.

Are you aiming for sarcasm r86? Because the link is right there at r84

Just wanted to recommend this new book by Melissa Arnot, the first American woman to summit Everest without supplementary oxygen.

It's very readable, brutally honest and compelling. Melissa is good looking and in her 20s had relationships with a few well known guides and expedition leaders, but admits she chose her partners carefully and made sure they could help her career!!!

[quote]R88 Just wanted to recommend this new book by Melissa Arnot, the first American woman to summit Everest without supplementary oxygen.

When Melissa Sue Anderson makes the summit, I’ll read the book.

15th May, and no westerners have died on Everest so far.

Are there usually deaths by now?

It’s not only Westerners who climb Everest.

[QUOTE] Are there usually deaths by now?

Yes, usually several.

I follow this guy and he is at Everest base camp right now:

54 summits on May 13, no fatalities.

[quote]54 summits on May 13, no fatalities.

This is a goddamn ripoff.

Three deaths but they weren't westerners. One Filipino guy in his 40s and two Nepalese workers who were taken from Base Camp by helicopter to Kathmandu and died in hospital.

And the guy at r94 has made it to the summit 18 times!

That guy from Chicago that died - he had a wife and 2 small kids. He was diagnosed with leukemia, I believe.

Now his wife is a widow and his children are fatherless.

I don't care if he had a cancer scare when he was 19 - this is all ego and adrenaline. And I doubt there's a life insurance policy to cover Mt. Everest deaths.

They make their cancer battle their whole personality - then do these stupid climbs to prove "Anyone can tackle anything - there are no limits to what you and your mind can do."

Don't know the guy - but I doubt you'd go more than a day without hearing about his training, how cancer changes your life view, and how amazing those climbs were.

Now you're dead and it's your own fault. You got saved from death and decided to put yourself into death's path time and time again. Asshole.

Around 7,300 have made the ascent - over 10,000 if you include multiple ascents.

Guess what the success rate is? 65-70%.

This is a farce. Ego-driven tourism for braggarts and assholes.

The guy that died about his leukemia diagnosis:

[quote] I'm going to beat this. I'm going to be there for my family and to watch Zephyr grow up. My story has plenty of chapters remaining. I have big dreams in life, including in the mountains, and will be more relentless and motivated than ever in the pursuit of those dreams.

R101 - like I said in a previous post - he made his cancer and these climbs his whole personality. The worst is when they deflect and say - BUT I'M DOING IT FOR CHARITY!

No you're not. You're just using that as an excuse - the amounts he's raising doesn't do jack-shit for pediatric cancer awareness or research. And I wouldn't be surprised if he used some of the donations to fund the excursion and training.

Hasn't he had enough recognition for all his previous stuff? I guarantee the phrase "As a brain cancer survivor" has passed his lips more often than Thank You.

Stuff like this just rubs me the wrong way. Literally tens of thousands of people are involved in pediatric cancer fundraising, treatment and research. None of them get many thank-yous, including the actual researchers who have made life-saving discoveries.

Yes I know I sound negative.

Anyone who heads to Everest soon after cancer treatment is bonkers. Chemo messes with your red and white blood cells. Your heart isn't strong enough to cope with the altitude.

But R103 - clearly you didn't read his post at R101. He was going to be there for his family and he's going to be more relentless and motivated than ever!

Such a fucking narcissistic post, if you ask me. #WhenDouchebagsGetCancer

The guy was deluded. Nobody goes to Everest for their 'family'. It's one of the most selfish quests anyone could undertake, given the high chance of it ending in death.

R105 - he went to raise $20,000 for CHARITY!

George Mallory may or may not have made it to the top but was he a top?

Because Andrew Irvine is secretly hidden in that trunk with his fist up Mallory's ass, I'm going to guess "bottom".

Andrew Irvine was the submissive bottom in that relationship. Followed Mallory about like a dog.

[QUOTE]I'm going to be there for my family and to watch Zephyr grow up.

The wife must be feeling an unusual mixture of grief and relief. Life insurance surely won't kick in, but she'll get a $750/mo. Social Security survivors benefit for each child unless the Trump administration scraps it. (Remember Jeanne Pirro recently screeching aloud wondering why some children and infants are on SS?)

I don't get the appeal of climbing Mount Everest at all. Can someone explain it? Even without the corpses, it's not the most beautiful place on earth. And, sure, it's the highest point on the planet, but you still had to fly to get there, know what I mean?

"Where daddy?"

"He's climbing a tall mountain to conquer death, sweetie"

Where the dead people at

Hmmm, I have questions:

- what's the point of doing it without supplemental oxygen? Simply for bragging rights?

- there must be something more to this story about the xenon. No-one is risking their life and relying on a speculative and untested method of skipping a lengthy acclimitisation by ingesting a gas simply because they can't get the time off work. Do they think they are going to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for this?

- Was it really legal to climb alone until this year? That also seems mad.

I had a former colleague (not someone I actually worked with) who died on Everest a number of years ago, leaving behind a young daughter and pregnant wife. He unclipped his safety rope to take a piss and a gust of wind blew him off the mountain. Tragedy can also be banal.

My all-time greatest physical achievement was to climb Huayna Potosi in Bolivia, I warmly recommend it to anyone wanting a more sensible challenge. At 6088 metres its peak is higher than Everest Base Camp, so you can more or less sort of argue that you got within the same ballpark. It is, however, easy enough to be done in one night, using only chocolate as an aid.

Maybe this year they will find Sandy Irvine's other foot?

Posing by remains is, we'll, a little weirdo? The poseur could still claim the right via his many witnesses, right? It's just not tacky.

[QUOTE]there must be something more to this story about the xenon. No-one is risking their life and relying on a speculative and untested method of skipping a lengthy acclimitisation by ingesting a gas simply because they can't get the time off work.

What I believe is that they believed themselves "Masters of the Universe" through their lucky birth as British aristocrats who believed themselves better ay anything they did or was within their right by birth: better looking, better strength, better cardiovascular systems.

Well, except, their intense stupidity and fallibilty as cunts willing to destabilize or destroy their young families while seeking personal "glory."

I would imagine all summiteers to be utterly obnoxious, duly informing anyone they meet that they summited at their first opportunity. And surely there must be some god awful club of summiteers who basically rizz each other up on the regular. A summiteer's circle jerk so to speak. I imagine them all to be unbearable narcissists.

"The poseur could still claim the right via his many witnesses, right?"

But then all the cunts on DL would scream "HE COULD HAVE TAKEN A PICTURE IF HE ACTUALLY FOUND THE REMAINS AND DIDN'T SO BORIS-MAGA-ANTI-STEPHEN-SONDHEIMITE-PASTA-DRAINING LIAR"

Two climbers from the same dodgy Nepalese run company, Snowy Horizon Treks, have now died:

Subrata Ghosh, a 45-year-old from West Bengal, India, has died near the summit of Everest, according to The Himalayan Times. Bodhraj Bhandari of Snowy Horizon Treks reported that Ghosh passed away just below the Hillary Step during his descent.

Yesterday, Ghosh summited at around 2 pm with his guide, Champal Tamang. But Ghosh struggled with exhaustion and symptoms of altitude sickness on the way down. According to Tamang, Ghosh refused to continue descending.

Tamang eventually reached Camp 4 late last night and relayed news of the death. Efforts to retrieve the body and transport it to Base Camp are ongoing.

This marks the second fatality among foreign climbers on Everest this season, following the death of 45-year-old Philipp Santiago II from the same expedition. Santiago died at Camp 4 on May 14 while preparing for his summit attempt. There were also two Sherpas who died in hospital after coming down with Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) in Base Camp.

Santiago did not look well.

Climbing The Seven Summits trek had 30 summits on May 15. Obviously most were sherpas, but it included Emma Schwerin (USA) who broke the record as the youngest American woman to summit Everest, 17 years old, and finishing the Seven Summits (the highest mountain on each continent). She is the youngest person, at age 16 to climb Antarctica’s Mount Vinson. She climbs with her father and they are the first pair to complete the Seven Summits in tandem. She’s also a licensed pilot. I’m just imagining her college applications.

Unfortunately, the dearth of Western expedition leaders means a dearth of scary authoritarian figures who can order the spoilt rich men to turn round and actually be obeyed. The Nepalese leaders don't have a hope when it comes to this.

R122, so much for Everest's new rules which state that climbers under 18 aren't illegible for a permit.

If people under 18 aren't illegible for a permit, r124, doesn't that mean the girl WAS allowed to climb?

nevermind. You meant she wasn't "eligible" for a permit. I read that as "ineligble".

The Xenon guys:

Since the first of the year, Al Karns, Garth Miller, Kevin Godlington and Anthony Stazicker have slept in home hypoxic tents that gradually lower their oxygen levels to simulate high altitudes. They flew out of LHR yesterday.

“We think probably a day of travel, then three days to go up, two days down and the last travel day…. The reality is we’ve got 21 days to do this. The record is at 21 from London back to London in 21 days, so I’m really confident. I reckon there’s a 70 to 80 percent chance we’ll do it in 21 days, a 30 percent chance we can do it in seven,” said Carns.

Austrian mountain guide Lukas Furtenbach of Furtenbach Adventures believes xenon therapy, a contentious technique banned in professional sports, could eliminate the need for this lengthy process. A mere 30-minute session inhaling a low dose of xenon gas reportedly stimulates red blood cell production, reducing the usual 10-week expedition to just seven days. Mr Furtenbach has already put this bold theory to the test. In 2020, Mr Furtenbach summited the 6,961-metre peak of Aconcagua in Argentina after pre-acclimatising with a dose of xenon. ‘I climbed a difficult route eight days from leaving Innsbruck, and had no problems on the summit,‘ Mr Furtenbach told the Financial Times. This company already offers several longer trek plans that include “hypoxia training”.

A lot depends on the weather of course but I wonder, when the weather is good there are bottlenecks of other climbers. Will the Xenon team be able to pass?

R64 and r22 here. My friend was unable to summit. He got a lung infection he could not beat. Four guides and six climbers in his group got it. He said he was at about 60% strength, and some even at 100% can’t make it to the top. He realized his family and friends couldn’t care less if he summitted, they wanted him back alive and safe. His goal all along has been to reach the 7 summits by age 60, and I think he only has a couple years left, with two summits to go. He got to 23,000’ on this trip, which is a new personal record.

He also wrote a big mea culpa about referring to his guide as a Sherpa. Sherpa is an ethnic group in Nepal, and the correct term is guide.

Oh, he also had to have a tooth pulled towards the beginning of the trip, so the healing from that also set him back. Truly just not meant to be.

Finally, he said he met Emma, the youngest American female to summit after she returned.