{"id":44470,"date":"2024-03-14T17:08:22","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T23:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=44470"},"modified":"2024-03-28T16:07:58","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T22:07:58","slug":"everest-2024-whos-climbing-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2024\/03\/14\/everest-2024-whos-climbing-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Everest 2024: Who’s Climbing This Year?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Teams are filling up with Everest aspirants from around the world. I estimate there will be around 600 foreign climbers, supported by 900 Sherpas, taking the total to 1,700 people on the Nepal side and 100 foreigners, with 100 support climbers, on the Tibet side. During the Spring 2024 Everest season, look for a whopping 1,900 people from base camps to the summit. Let\u2019s hope for an extended period of good summit weather (winds under 30 mph\/48kph) to let them spread out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With a recent summit success rate of around 60%, we can expect about 1,140 summits, with Sherpas accounting for half the total. This would smash the 2019 record summit total of 877, comprising 661 from the Nepali side and 216 from Tibet. Nepal issued a record 478 permits to foreigners in 2024. As usual, the Nepali teams will dominate the mountain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Several factors are driving this significant growth. The Everest climbing permit fee will go from $11,000 to $15,000 in 2025; thus, many people are trying to beat the price increase. Then, most Nepali operators compete on price, offering expeditions for as low as $30,000 compared to Western companies at $75,000 or higher. This is attracting a new demographic previously priced out of the market. Finally, Everest has an insatiable lure … simply put, it’s the highest mountain on the planet, and operators have tamed it by using high levels of supplemental oxygen, generous Sherpa support, and climbing the same route each year to reduce the unknowns. All that said, last year, we saw a record eighteen people die while climbing Everest. I estimate that at least eleven were avoidable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Another change for 2024 is the reopening of Tibet’s side by China. They closed it to foreign operators in 2020, allowing only Chinese nationals to climb. Last year, they said it was open, but it took so long to complete the visa process no foreigners climbed Everest from the Tibet side for the fourth year. So, with great excitement, operators like Adrian Ballinger’s Alpenglow, who climbs from the Tibet side only, will be back this spring. We can also expect long-time operators like Kobler & Partner, Furtenbach Adventures, Seven Summits Treks and Climbalaya to climb there. China also made it clear their stance that they require all climbers to use supplemental oxygen. This will certainly upset the professionals as most feel its fair means to climb without Os and cheating to use Os.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

While there is always room for double-counting or exaggeration, we have a rough idea of how big the teams will be. Let’s start with Seven Summit Treks, SST, the dominant operator for all the 8000-meter mountains. They gave this update:<\/p>\n

So far this season, SST has confirmed bookings of 65 climbers for Everest, which is the leading figure in the Nepali adventure industry. SST is all set to organize expeditions in all 8000ers of Nepal (Everest<\/a><\/strong>, Kanchenjunga<\/a><\/strong>, Lhotse<\/a><\/strong>, Makalu<\/a><\/strong>, Dhaulagiri<\/a><\/strong>, Annapurna<\/a><\/strong>) and Tibet, except Manaslu, which is an autumn climb.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Himalayan Times<\/a> surveyed some operators and found that 328 foreigners have signed up thus far. Remember that one and a half Sherpas climb with each foreigner on average, so these are just the foreigners. Some teams are not confirmed, so I put an “e” by their name for expected.<\/p>\n

Nepali Operators on the Nepal Side – Southeast Ridge<\/h3>\n