Month: March 2025

Welcome to the kick-off for my Everest 2025 coverage! 2025 will be my 25th season of all things Everest: 19 times providing coverage, another four seasons of climbing on Everest, and two years attempting Lhotse.

I summited Everest on May 21, 2011, and have climbed on it three other times (all from Nepal) – 2002, 2003, and 2008, each time reaching just below the Balcony around 27,500′ (8400 meters) before health, weather or my judgment caused me to turn back.

I attempted Lhotse in 2015 and 2016. When not climbing, I cover the Everest season from my home in Colorado as I did in  2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and now the 2025 season. In 2020, when both sides of the mountain were closed due to COVID, I did a virtual series, Virtual Everest 2020 – Support the Climbing Sherpas, to raise money for the out-of-work Sherpa community working with nine commercial guiding companies.

If you are one of my millions of regular readers, hello again; if you are new, welcome! I aim to provide insight and analyze the activity without favorites or agendas. I write my posts using sources from the mountain, public information, and my experiences.

I often post as the season starts in early April and ramps up during the intense summit pushes in mid-to-late May. I spend several hours a day creating these updates. You can sign up for (and cancel) email notifications on the lower right sidebar or check the site frequently.

As of this post, the Icefall Doctors have arrived at Everest Base Camp on the Nepal side to begin setting the fixed lines from EBC to Camp 2. After that, one of the commercial teams, 8K Expeditions, will fix the route to the summit, opening it to all climbers on the mountain. The Tibet side usually lags behind Nepal, with teams arriving later. The climb on that side is slightly shorter due to higher camps.

The climbing headline is we can expect a couple of interesting climbs, like speed climbs or using Nobel gases to shorten the expedition length. Also, more experiments with oxygen delivery systems might be conducted, such as using a nasal cannula or a lightweight tube with prongs that fit inside the nostrils instead of a full face mask, especially while sleeping above Camp 2 or the North Col. Overall, 99% of activity will be traditional commercial teams guide clients on the two commercial routes.

The financial headline for 2025 is that prices continue to increase for all Western and some Nepali operators on the Nepal side and stay flat or slightly lower for most Tibetan-side operators. The increases are due to inflation, labor wage increases, higher pay for Sherpas with IFMGA certification, more Nepalese regulations around minimum salaries and insurance, and a strong client demand environment.

#everest2025