The Everest 2021 season is well underway with many teams on their way to Everest Base Camp expecting to arrive around April 15. As of April 3, 138 Everest permits had been issued to foreigners. Around 300 are still expected making this a busy, but not a record season like 2019.
As I’ve noted, the vast majority of the climbing will be on the Nepal side as China has closed Tibet to all foreigners and only a couple of Chinese national teams are anticipated to climb from that side in 2021. We’ll see if they open up for autumn climbs.
Slow Start
By now we would have hundreds of climbers on the trek to EBC, but it looks like around 100 including some Sherpas and trekkers. Most of the Sherpas are already at EBC establishing their tents and camps for the member when they arrive. This is both good and bad. The teahouses will be less crowded but the anticipated business from the influx of tourists might be less than what was expected.
Permit Update:
The Nepal Ministry of Tourism posted these foreign permit tally thus far. As I’ve noted, many teams are still arriving and some are planning to arrive in mid-April, rather late. This is probably because of the massive confusion around Nepal’s COVID quarantine and testing rules. Even with this slow start, 300 foreign permits are expected with the Tibet side closed to foreigners.
- Everest: 138 on 14 teams (300 expected)
- Lhotse: 40 on 4 teams
- Nuptse: 23 on 3 teams
- Manaslu: 1 on 1 team
- Annapurna: 44 on 4 teams
- Dhaulagiri: 15 on 3 teams (30 expected)
- Pumori: 5 on 1 team
- Tukuche: 1 on 1 team
Teams in the Khumbu
Many foreign teams have arrived in Kathmandu, passed their COVID tests, and flew to Lukla to begin their trek to Everest Base Camp. Some of the teams include Alpine Ascents International (AAI), International Mountain Guides (IMG), Madison Mountaineering, Mountain Professionals, and Summit Climb and Climbing the Seven Summits.
Others expected this upcoming week include 7 Summits Club, Furtenbach Adventures and Kobler & Parter.
Nepali companies already on their trek include Asian Trekking, Elite, Imagine Nepal, Peak Promotions, Seven Summits Treks all with mostly Indian members, and the 15 person Bahrain team.
Quarantine Update
It appears quarantines are not being required if you arrive and have a negative PCR test. It’s still unclear if vaccines were required before flying to Nepal. You can see the new rules, for what it’s with at this link.
Follow Along!
I have begun to create my annual team location table and tracking climber’s blogs (see sidebar). If you have a team not listed, please let me know and I will add them if I can track them. If you prefer not to be mentioned, please contact me.
I am now posting background articles and interviews between now and early April when the teams arrive at the base camps. If you would like to see anything special this year, post a comment or drop me an email.
Here’s to a safe season for everyone on the Big Hill!
Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything
Here’s the video version of the weekend update:
The Podcast on alanarnette.com
You can listen to #everest2021 podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Anchor, YouTube, and more. Just search for “alan arnette” on your favorite podcast platform.
3 thoughts on “Everest 2021: Weekend Update April 4”
Thank you Alan, would one positive case at base camp shut down the whole season, how would this be managed?
Nepal would never admit there is a problem so no, even with a large outbreak I doubt EBC would be closed. Individuals would be sent “home” but many countries will refuse re-entry if you are positive thus those infected will spend some time in Nepal. This is the nightmare scenario I’ve discussed many times.
Thank you for all your updates and the podcast is great too!
Comments are closed.