Everest Climbers for 2024- What’s happening for Everest?

Everest climbing might literally be called the highest form of adventure in this whole world. No adventure sport is as thrilling as being at the top of the mountain, the highest point Everest knows. Before, Everest was seen as a very hard dream due to its high climbing prices and difficulty, but with the improvement in climbing technology and gears, with each passing year, things are getting relatively easier. There are instances when some people who have literally never been to any other mountain have directly climbed Everest on their first attempt.

Although the death rate of 0.1% does sound quite scary, there are a lot of successful stories coming from Everest. And obviously, we are all excited for new news and records in Everest for 2024.

On the 10th of May, 10 expert Sherpa climbers from Nepal, made it to the same summit for the first time in 2024. This was the group of expert mountaineers who were responsible expertmountaineers who were responsible for fixing ropes up to the Everest summit so that other mountain climbers could follow them. At that time, 470 mountain climbers from all around the old and around 500 assistant to these climbers were waiting in the EBC are headed to the summit and the weather is expected to remain clear for a few days. So, in the next couple of days, we are sure to get many new records and facts about Everest climbers.

Note: One new change this year was, climbers were no allowed to take Everest Helicopter tour this year.

Records this year

On May 12th, two new Guinness world records were set for Everest. A Nepal Sherpa named Kami Rita Sherpa 54 climbed Mount Everest, for the 29th, timeMount Everest, for the29th, time being the person who climbed Everest, the highest number of times. She broke her own record of climbing Everest for the 28th time in 2024. And then there is a British citizen Kenton Cool, a foreigner to has climbed the Everest for highest number of times i.e. 18th time. We might be getting a couple of more record-breaking news in the coming days, but that is all we have got until now. Dawa Finjok Sherpa is now a record holder for “fastest man to climb Everest 3 times”, completing the journey in 8 days 13 hours & 35 minutes. Nepali women Phunjo Lama becomes the fastest woman to climb Mount Everest, making it from base camp to Everest top in just 24 hours and 26 minutes on Thursday. Another record is from Purnima Shrestha who becomes the first woman to climb Everest 3 times in one season within 14 days.

What was their record of 2023?

2023 was the year with the highest number of Everest climbers and this was the year when the photo of people lining up near the summit was taken. A human traffic jam near the Everest summit was viral all over the internet. 478 permits were issued last year which is similar to the number of permits in 2024. Another popular incident in 2023 was the video from the camp 4. Trash made by climbers has covered camp 4 and this video from Tenzi Sherpa got quite an attention.

Until 2023, the government used $4000 as a security deposit that would be refunded to each traveler who bring at least 8 kg of trash. But the problem was, that most of the tourists used to collect the trash from the lower camps, so that they would have to carry it for less time. As a result, the higher camps i.e. Camp Three and Camp Four have been the dirtiest.

2023 is also known as the most horrifying year for climbers due to the highest number of missing people. 17 people, including Sherpas and foreigners, were said to be missing during the season, but any information of their rescue or death was not received later on

What is different from Everest climbers in 2024?

In fact, almost 500 foreigners have received the permit this year, so around 950 people are hated to the Everest summit in 2024. So probably, we will see the traffic jam in Everest all over again.

A new regulation that has been implemented is the government has asked the tourist to carry back their waste themselves. Previously, the tourist could Previously, thetourist could just collect some trash to get their security deposit back, but now they have to show proof of carrying their waste down to the base camp. So this is going to be quite challenging for the government to implement and for climbers to adapt to the situation.

Until 2023, a lot of climbers had the habit of flying directly to the Everest base camp. Especially Nepalese mountaineers used to get to Everest camp in a helicopter. But now, as the government is restricting regular flights to the Everest base camp, a lot of tourists have hiked for around a week, just to get around the base camp. This is a good thing as they get time to acclimatise and there is less noise in the base camp as well.

Also, this is the last year for travelers to be paying $11,000 for the permit. From 2025, it is expected that the cost of a permit will be increased to $15000. That is quite an increase. Let’s hope that the money would go into increasing safety, ensuring rescue, and thrash clearance in Everest and not just into the pockets of government officials.

Article reference: Shobita NeupaneShobita Neupane

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