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How Much Does it Cost to Climb Mount Everest?

• jinushaun 9y ago
  I was just discussing this earlier this week with someone, but inflating my 2007 prices for 2017. Looks like I was pretty close: $45,000.
• beilabs 9y ago
  A most excellent article. I was based in the Kathmandu AP office for over two years. Every week during climbing season I heard of the fatalities on the mountain. I understand why people attempt it, the varying reasons are immense from personal lifetime goals to fundraising to pure ego. Many attempt it on the cheap with poor training and physical fitness. Remember that altitude sickness and frostbite is a great leveler of people regardless of your race, financial status or intelligence. It can strike anyone at anytime. Say goodbye to your loved ones and ensure your estate is in order before you do this trek, there is a huge chance that you might never see your family ever again. By the way, I'm heading to base camp in two years and have an apartment that I rent out in Patan if anyone is coming for a short trip over. Though the startup scene is small in Kathmandu, we exist...
  • tim333 9y ago
    Nitpick that the 'trek' is to basecamp generally and fairly safe - the odd heart attack amongst the unfit. The climb above there to the summit is the dangerous bit.
    • beilabs 9y ago
      Agreed. I have heard of many cases of evacs from Base camp. There are often deals worked out with chopper companies that allow them to claim off your insurance and you get a cheaper trip down the mountain (unnecessary evacuations, fast rides down).
    • jahnu 9y ago
      It's true. But it can and does kill fit people occasionally too. Some 25% of people are genetically predisposed to altitude sickness above 4000m according to a researcher I met while walking that trek myself. Base camp is well above 5000m. Amazing trek though. One of the greatest experiences of my life.
    • avenoir 9y ago
      I was flown out of base-camp with pulmonary edema along with a Sherpa on a climbing team who was dying from the same thing. Happens to everyone. This is probably the biggest scare if you're doing the trek to base-camp. Drink plenty of water. Don't go too fast. Try not to catch cold before your trek. If you can, get your hands on some meds that help you acclimate easier/faster. And I almost forgot, get yourself travel insurance. Costs $90 but could potentially save you a $10K heli ride out of the mountains and a couple of grand in hospital expenses if shit hits the fan.
      • krtkush 9y ago
        > Drink plenty of water. Cannot stress on this enough. Dimox is usually advised for anyone doing a high altitude trek in which case one has to drink more water than usual.
      • matwood 9y ago
        > Drink plenty of water. FYI, this is true anytime you go from sea level to any altitude. Live on the coast and go to Denver for ski trip? Drinking a ton of water will help your body acclimate faster.
        • exclusiv 9y ago
          Go easy on alcohol too. It hits you way harder and faster at altitude.
      • developer2 9y ago
        >> get your hands on some meds that help you acclimate easier/faster Do such drugs safely assist with acclimation, or do they mostly mask symptoms? It would be very dangerous to take them if it's the latter. I'm thinking of any similarity to pain killers - just because you can't feel the pain does not mean you should be running around trying to operate at 100%.
        • avenoir 9y ago
          We had a number of people in my team who started taking prescribed drugs 2 weeks prior to the trip. Now, I never took anything, but from us measuring blood oxygen levels a few times a day, the drugs seemed to have helped absorb and retain oxygen levels in your blood stream better. It didn't seem to mask symptoms. In fact, by the time we got to base-camp nearly every single person on the team had some mild symptoms of altitude sickness (headache & dizziness). It's just that nobody's symptoms escalated to a full-blown HAPE (except for mine that is). Having said that, I don't think anything but proper acclimatization will help you with HACE. Once you get it, which typically happens at very high altitudes, you're pretty much screwed which I believe happens nearly every season on Everest climbs.
  • 65827 9y ago
    lol nobody thinks their race is going to protect them from mountains. Where on earth do you people get this nonsense?
    • hunterjrj 9y ago
      From reputable publications: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/sherpas-evolved-live-and-work-altitude-180963438/ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/sherpas-evolved-liv...
    • CWuestefeld 9y ago
      Didn't I just see an article about Sherpas having a quirk of their metabolism that makes them better adapted for it?
    • aaron695 9y ago
      Both you and OP are bizzare. Race does matter, sherpas are genetically different for altitude. It's not level. But I did read their incredible carrying capacity seems to just be training. Which makes sense since that's a recent thing.
    • dang 9y ago
      Please don't post uncivilly, even when someone else is wrong.
    • PhasmaFelis 9y ago
      So you do think that financial status and intelligence can protect you from frostbite.
  • kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
    > fundraising I've never seen the point of behind giving someone money "for charity" to do something they can't afford on their own. It's all about them and not the charity.
    • beilabs 9y ago
      You'd be surprised how many try it....and even more how many get away with it. Many do it for PR for their own brand / company.
    • k-mcgrady 9y ago
      Usually when I see people do that kind of thing the money raised is a side effort and all going to charity. They're doing the event (climbing, running, etc.) anyway, not using the donations to fund the event. I'm not saying it doesn't happen where people use the donations to fund their event but it's not something I see very often and I don't understand why anyone would donate to it.
      • justinator 9y ago
        In my opinion, this is the way to go: all the funds go to the org. or don't fund raise. Fundraising for yourself is a little strange, even if you use, "part" of the money raised to donate to a charity. Technically, the money you collect is taxed, which is a big chunk of what you've raised. You would need to start a non-profit for this to be 100% kosher IMHO, but even then, I've caught "organizations" that just say they're a non-profit or are, "waiting non-profit status" and it turns out to be a big scam. It really irks me, as it casts a bad shade on people doing it the right way. Just sell something to raise the funds - anything: stickers, a t-shirt, a dinner date, and drop the whole charade. Using a platform like Go Fund Me sounds fine with me, as long as you're giving everyone deliverables. There's too big of a chance that you won't put on the trip altogether, and it's tough luck for your backers. Saying that, I have done something similar - partially funded a trip and gave some to another org, but it was for a local needle exchange organization, which operated in a major grey area as what they were doing wasn't legal, but was done with the knowledge of the local police. Since then, needle exchange has become legal. The experience was rough - fundraising is just another way to employ yourself - it's just easier to find another job, honestly. Alan Arnette is a standup guy. Wish him luck with his unfortunate leg injury and recovery!
  • tlrobinson 9y ago
    To put a number on "huge chance", I think it's about 1% of summits in recent years. Probably less if you just count clients not guides/Sherpas, and less if you expand to include climbers that don't end up attempting the summit.
    • jessriedel 9y ago
      A 1% fatality rate definitely qualifies as huge. The statistical value of life in the US, which is inferred from what people are willing to pay to avoid risk, is ~$10M. So a 1% risk is worth about $100k, i.e., this is something like what the median person would pay to avoid that risk. Non-expert climbers who pay for help to climb Everest probably have above average wealth and hence would probably pay even more to avoid this risk. It's sizeable. At least as risky as spaceflight.
    • mbostleman 9y ago
      For all time, Everest fatalities are 4% of summits. Of the 14 8k peaks, it ranks 11. The "huge" caught me too. At 30% fatality to summits, Annapurna and K2 are huge.
• Nanite 9y ago
  Seems there's worse ways to spend your money if you have a ton of it, but am wondering how people rationalize the death rate, which seems to be 1% ?
  • zipwitch 9y ago
    3% in recent years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mount_Everest_death_statistics#Statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mount_Everest_death_st... 6.5% overall. https://www.thoughtco.com/death-on-mount-everest-755907 https://www.thoughtco.com/death-on-mount-everest-755907
  • tim333 9y ago
    The death rates are very variable depending on how you do it. On the main southern route they are quite low now. I rationalized you gotta go some time, why not something fun rather than Alzheimers.
  • dominotw 9y ago
    Seems like there is a new death news every day One from today, Mount Everest: Bodies of four climbers found in tent http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40025553 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40025553
  • hyperdunc 9y ago
    They rationalize the death rate by making an informed choice about the risk involved and knowing why they're doing it. I hope people are never denied such opportunities based on the opposing rationale that they're unsafe. Sometimes a self-unactualized can be worse than death.
    • jondubois 9y ago
      I don't understand how someone might feel self-actualised because they paid 100K to climb a mountain which thousands of people of all ages have already climbed before. Like many things in life, it probably has more to do with the weather conditions and the phase of the moon than your abilities as a person. To derive your self-esteem from external things which are almost entirely outside of your control makes no sense to me.
• arjie 9y ago
  After reading Into Thin Air, what I'm afraid of with Everest is getting permanently sick from the polluted conditions at Base Camp. He describes it as positively disgusting and getting him and his fellow climbers sick with a persistent cough. No way, man.
  • ghaff 9y ago
    >a persistent cough This isn't really specific to basecamp. A lot of people in the area generally come down with "Khumbu Cough" due to a combination of altitude, dryness, cold temperatures, and exertion. http://www.climbing-high.com/khumbu-cough.html http://www.climbing-high.com/khumbu-cough.html
    • tim333 9y ago
      It's mostly due to throats/lungs drying out and getting infected. You have to breath like 3x the vol of air high up and it's very dry. I found the psolar mask really good for hydrating the air but it doesn't seem available any more http://www.exmask.com/psolarex.php http://www.exmask.com/psolarex.php
  • briandear 9y ago
    Jon K. and the rest of Outside have an agenda, He makes valid points, but you don't sell books by painting rosy pictures. Talk to Alan Arnette if you want a more balanced treatment of the state of Everest. That "cough" has nothing to do with pollution, it has to do with being at high altitude for prolonged periods.
• anotheryou 9y ago
  and ~0.1 lifes (if you summit)
• tim333 9y ago
  Tried it in 2004. £14k all in or about $20k at the rates then. That was at the more cheap and cheerful end of climbs, Tibet side.
  • ak39 9y ago
    Did you summit?
    • tim333 9y ago
      Nah - got to 8400m, was all set to go, then the oxygen gear blew a washer. 24 hours later got new gear but was too knackered. By the way if anyone's interested in trying I recommend chatting to my organizer, Dan Mazur. They sometimes run free Mt Rainier climbs if you are over that way. https://www.summitclimb.com/climb/seattle-glacier-school/ https://www.summitclimb.com/climb/seattle-glacier-school/
      • gm-conspiracy 9y ago
        Thank you for the link. That site sucked me in for an hour. Good reason to visit Seattle.
        • ghaff 9y ago
          Mountain Madness in Seattle also has a bunch of climbing programs as well as leading guided climbs both in the Pacific Northwest and internationally. I've done one of their schools--as well as taken a couple of their trips--although not recently.
        • ojosilva 9y ago
          The same site made me realize that there are active volcanos in the continental USA. I had no idea! https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/north-america.html https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/north-america.html
          • ghaff 9y ago
• notamy 9y ago
  So looks like the worst-case is around $150,000 total. That's significantly more than I expected it to be; given how "climbing Everest" seems to be more common than I would have expected, I would have thought it'd be cheaper if people did it that much.
  • 2muchcoffeeman 9y ago
    I believe most people don't summit. They get to the first base camp only. The guide just seems to cost out the price of summiting too. You'd have to train, and spend time summiting other peaks too. Total cost to maximise your chances of succeeding would be significantly more.
    • ghaff 9y ago
      The non-sherpa Summit percentage is about 50% since about 2000. To your other point, you're of course correct. You can't exactly wake up one day and whip out your credit card. Controversy about the degree of assistance provided by some guided trips notwithstanding, it's still a very challenging endeavor. I'd be very surprised if just about anyone summited Everest without other significant climbs (even if not other 8,000 meter peaks) under their belt.
  • wmeredith 9y ago
    How common do you perceive it as? Only about 4600 people have done it, ever. That doesn't seem very common to me.
    • notamy 9y ago
      Right; it just seems like we hear about Everest more than basically every other mountain.
  • samBergeron 9y ago
    People seem to think climbing Everest is "more common" based on how much it gets publicized in the media. But I've been in the climbing business for a while and still don't personally know anyone who's summited. Maybe I don't have the right friends though.
• gadders 9y ago
  Just make sure you pay for the permit: http://metro.co.uk/2017/05/09/everest-climber-found-hiding-in-cave-to-avoid-paying-8500-fee-6624545/ http://metro.co.uk/2017/05/09/everest-climber-found-hiding-i...
• deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
• steevenwee 9y ago
  For some, it costs 1 life.
• johan_larson 9y ago
  Quite an industry. Yeah, 640 people went up and 635 came back alive; an ordinary year, you know, yadda yadda. My boss gets really upset when I kill just a single customer.
• theprop 9y ago
  For each person who climbs Everest, a Sherpa has effectively made 2 to 3 climbs...and for many of them because of the dangers, it costs them their life.
• xabotage 9y ago
  Does this take into account opportunity cost for time off of work? I watched a presentation from someone who had summitted, and apparently you have to spend several weeks at basecamp acclimating to the altitude before you even start the climb. So not only are you paying for equipment/travel/license/lodging, but you have to make sure you'll still have a job when you get back. I imagine CEO types can take all the time in the world, but all my sick/vacation days combined as a lowly employee wouldn't give me enough time. Edit: from the article, "Alpenglow unapologetically offers a climb from the Tibet side for an astonishing $85,000 per climber... They have a high western guide ratio, and include pre-acclimatizing in an altitude tent at home." So it sounds like pre-acclimatizing exists, but with this particular deal it's not cheap either.
  • ghaff 9y ago
    >Does this take into account opportunity cost for time off of work? Of course not. Some people can and do arrange their lives and their employment so that they can do this sort of thing. Even if not Everest, other types of extended climbing/trekking/walking/traveling sorts of vacations. I haven't done it for years but I've taken several month-long treks in Nepal during an earlier life. Some people do focus their vacation on an extended annual trip--which is pretty much what I did at the time. Others make arrangements to take additional time off unpaid. If that's a priority, you find an employer willing to allow this.
  • ghaff 9y ago
    BTW, I imagine that it is quite difficult for "CEO types" to take off for this sort of trip to say nothing of the various activities that lead up to it. Senior people can take extended leaves but it tends to be on a one-off basis. As a "lowly employee," assuming you have some degree of power in your employment position, this is exactly the sort of things that you have control over. You may find that you really can't earn enough to take a bunch of the year off. But I've known plenty of people (and have myself to some degree) who can take a fair amount of time off if that's the [riority.
• caub 9y ago
  The question is also the cost for the planet Many people could climb it, but if too many people take a flight, buy furniture, food, waste all this energy for just this artificial pride, it's really bad. But that's exactly where the planet is heading At least when Jornet climbs it with no assistance, no oxygen, it's interesting, because it's more eco-friendly
  • Retra 9y ago
    Seems silly to worry about the handful of people spending a few weeks on an entirely non-industrial task, when you've got a world of 7 billion people organized and running machines doing continual damage to the environment.
    • caub 9y ago
      silly but true, just google "everest damages". Me sitting in front of a laptop, using my bike as transport, I've an infinitesimal fingerprint on environment. Most people don't care, but still doing a trip there + the amount of energy and material spent (from the fabrication process to transport) on it, damages much more than driving in car during all that period it's surprising how much people can't realize it
• bogomipz 9y ago
  I apologize if I missed this but I didn't see an itemization of a death benefit paid to Sherpa's families. I thought this had recently become regulated but I hear conflicting reports on these. These are few years old but both worth a read on the subject of Sherpa insurance benefits: https://www.outsideonline.com/1928326/disposable-man-western-history-sherpas-everest https://www.outsideonline.com/1928326/disposable-man-western... http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/mt-everest-disaster-raises-questions-compensation-sherpas http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/mt-everest-disaster-raises-qu...
  • mthoms 9y ago
    My understanding is that the government eventually caved (after the big icefall avalanche in 2014) to the Sherpas demands and raised the loss-of-life compensation considerably. Note: I'm not saying it's a fair amount (I don't even know how you'd judge that) just that the information you linked might be outdated. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/04/-sp-sherpa-families-everest-disaster-guides-avalanche-compensation https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/04/-sp-sherpa-fam... Edit: it appears to have gone from $400 to $5000.
• accountyaccount 9y ago
  More of a status symbol than an achievement
  • exclusiv 9y ago
    How much did it cost to land on the moon? I suppose Neil Armstrong didn't achieve anything then...
    • accountyaccount 9y ago
      Neil Armstrong isn't hiring people living in the third-world to "achieve" something that contributes nothing except bragging rights and has at this point been accomplished hundreds of times. If you're comparing someone climbing Everest in 2017 to the moon landing you have your head so far up your ass that you'll probably never see light again.
      • exclusiv 9y ago
        You missed my point and twisted my words. I never said the accomplishments are equal; just that they were both accomplishments that required money and resources for the people to succeed. Just because something requires money to accomplish doesn't mean it's not an achievement. You don't spend money and ride an elevator to the top of Everest as you and others try to suggest. It's a challenge and an accomplishment any way you slice it.
• crimsonalucard 9y ago
  I highly recommend just visiting base camp instead of climbing up everest... It's cheaper, safer and anyone can do it with minimal training. I also recommend that people walk in from Jiri rather than take the plane to Lukla; the experience is unforgettable.
• computator 9y ago
  I finally got an answer to something I've wondered about for years: How much space is there at the summit of Everest? Is it just enough for a few people to huddle together or could you pitch a bunch of tents and have a picnic? I've never seen a photo taken at the summit that gives a good feel for the surface area. Well, finally, this climber's blog has the answer: it's 30 square feet (or about 3 ㎡). Found the answer here: http://www.alanarnette.com/everest/everestsouthroutes.php http://www.alanarnette.com/everest/everestsouthroutes.php (search for "30 square feet").
  • bdefore 9y ago
    To get a feel for how much space that is, if you can get access to a VR headset, I think you'd appreciate Everest VR. You can walk around the summit and see the view in any direction across full day/night cycles.
• ape4 9y ago
  I wonder if you wore something like a spacesuit if you could do it. It would provide heat and air.
  • Arizhel 9y ago
    Yes, of course, but the problem is power: how are you going to store enough energy in the spacesuit to provide both heat and pressurized air? You'd need to be tethered to a good-size generator or something. You'd also need a LOT more power than used for real spacesuits, because of the heating requirement. In space, you don't need much heat to stay warm, because there's no way for the heat to leave your spacesuit other than by radiation, which is horribly ineffective (and that's a good thing for keeping astronauts warm; it's not such a good thing for keeping your electronics cool though). Climbing a mountain, there's still plenty of air, even if it's thinner than what you're used to, and that means you'll have convective cooling, which is extremely effective (notice how it's used in convection ovens, where they blow a fan to improve the effectiveness of the heating). So your spacesuit will need some really serious insulation, and still will need to generate a lot of heat to replace the heat that's continually being lost to the the ambient air. On top of that, you're not floating around in space, you're climbing a mountain, so the spacesuit needs to be very rugged. Of course, tearing it won't cause immediate doom like in a spacesuit, but it's going to make it much worse to have cold air streaming in, and losing your pressurization. IMO, the whole idea of climbing one of these mountains seems unnecessarily risky and just plain foolhardy to me. If you want to see nature, go hike a nice mountain trail in a temperate climate, where you'll see greenery, trees, maybe wildlife, etc. There's nothing to see on Mount Everest except a lot of snow, rocks, and corpses, and there's a significant chance your corpse will be added to those. AFAICT, the main reason people do this is for pure ego, nothing else. That's why they walk right by people who are dying on the slope instead of stopping to help. Utterly disgusting.
• ufmace 9y ago
  One thing I was wondering about that I haven't found much about with various googling around - I get the idea that many climbers use supplemental Oxygen above 8km or so. Are they using Oxygen all the time, even when sleeping, or only when doing strenuous activities? And how long do those bottles last anyways if you're using it all the time? I guess nobody's carrying SCUBA-tank sized tanks around, but will a couple of bottles the size of a 2L bottle last multiple days of continuous use?
  • ghaff 9y ago
    Here's a pretty good summary: http://www.mounteverest.net/expguide/oztech.htm http://www.mounteverest.net/expguide/oztech.htm I don't have personal experience as I've never been that high. They're relatively small tanks (mostly 3 liter) that weigh about 2.5 kg full.
    • ufmace 9y ago
      Thanks, that's pretty interesting. Seems they recommend bringing 12 bottles at 2.6kg for about 70 pounds of just oxygen tanks total for the whole climb, and 5 on the actual summit attempt, for ~30 pounds. That's already a lot of weight before you get to all of the clothes, food, water, climbing gear, and other supplies.
    • stirlo 9y ago
      Interesting the OPs article says 5 bottles while the link above says take 12. I guess it depends upon the climber and their fitness.
• e12e 9y ago
  I was curious what the alternatives to the absurd idea of Everest, with its army of sherpas where you end up a rich tourist in a relatively poor region (apart from the obvious: to apply for a job as a sherpa) - and found this article that seems like a decent starting point (not so much the commercial packages mentioned, bit the brief overview of locations): https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/may/24/trekking-in-the-himalayas-nepal-everest https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/may/24/trekking-in-t... Personally, I still have a few thousand kilometres and a dozens of peaks and lakes to see in Norway and Finland before a trip around the world chasing wilderness makes sense. And if I were looking for more wilderness - Siberia is closer...
• Mz 9y ago
  I am amused at my own experience of reading this. I have read articles about the physical experience of climbing Everest and what it does to your mind and body. I have found this fascinating and useful as a point of comparison for thinking about my own medical issues. But then I read this money angle and I am just repulsed by the idea of spending this kind of money on something like this. For this kind of money, I could basically pay cash for a small house (and would do so, if I had a chunk of change like this). I am appalled by the idea that anyone spends this kind of money on climbing a mountain. And yet the articles about the climbing experience that I found so very meaningful would not exist if no one was willing and able to spend money like this.
• worik 9y ago
  Just don't do it. The economy of Nepal has been horribly distorted by western trekkers and do gooders.
  • ghaff 9y ago
    So. Take out tourism or otherwise western infusions of cash. What does Nepal look like? I suppose I shouldn't mention Tibet.
• thunderbong 9y ago
  I liked this line - "climbing Everest should not be about ego"