
How Much Does it Cost to Climb Mount Everest? - nwrk
http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2016/12/18/how-much-does-it-cost-to-climb-mount-everest/
======
beilabs
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...

~~~
kevin_thibedeau
> 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.

~~~
k-mcgrady
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
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!

------
computator
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
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.

------
bogomipz
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...](https://www.outsideonline.com/1928326/disposable-man-western-
history-sherpas-everest)

[http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/mt-everest-disaster-raises-
qu...](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/mt-everest-disaster-raises-questions-
compensation-sherpas)

~~~
mthoms
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-
fam...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/04/-sp-sherpa-families-
everest-disaster-guides-avalanche-compensation)

Edit: it appears to have gone from $400 to $5000.

------
tim333
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.

~~~
jbergstroem
Is there perhaps a resource where there are "stories" of failed attempts? I'm
planning for 2021 and very humbly want to walk in the footsteps of others.

~~~
kerkeslager
Do you think you could be persuaded to do a different mountain?

Summitting Everest as most people do it now simply isn't that impressive--
anyone with a mediocre level of fitness and a deep enough wallet can do it.
It's more of a status symbol than an achievement. And in the process you'll
end up supporting and industry that pays sherpas a fraction of the profits to
risk their lives doing all the difficult and dangerous parts of Everest
climbing for you.

Sure, an Everest summit photo will impress your dentist and your mom, but
people who climb are just going to laugh at you. There are more difficult
faces on every continent, and you can climb an equivalently difficult climb
near where you live for a fraction of the cost. People in the know will be
much more impressed if you tell them you climbed Rainier than Everest.

~~~
briandear
Have you submitted Everest? Regurgitating Outside Magazine dismissals of
Everest tells me you've never touched that mountain. Guided or not, it's a
incredible feat. It isn't Annapurna or K2, but it's still very, very
difficult. No guide in the world can climb for you. People "in the know" see
Rainier as a training climb. A nice accomplishment, but in the world of high
altitude mountaineering, Rainier is the equivalent of swimming with dolphins
in Mexico by comparison.

Those "in the know" would be impressed by climbing Makalu long before Rainier
would be even on the radar. Rainier is a three day climb at most, while
operating over 7000m for weeks at a time is an entirely different universe.

Sorry for the rant but that condescending tone some people take when they
imply that Everest is just a walk-up has gotten pretty old. When you summit
Everest, then perhaps you can belittle those that dream of doing it.

To your point about "more difficult faces on every continent" \-- I beg to
differ, Killamanjaro is an easy walk up and unless you're doing the north
faces in the Alps, they still barely compare with the mental difficulty of
Everest. South America has a few nice mountains, but it's an entirely
different world above 8000m. I've done a dozen 4000m peaks in the Alps and
they don't even compare for a second the difficulty of just walking around at
7000+ meters.

Real climbers (who have summited Everest) don't laugh at anyone who has
summited Everest. They might not buy you beers in Kathmandu, but they
certainly respect the accomplishment. Everest is really really hard -- guided
or not.

~~~
dsacco
Thanks for your perspective; there should be a word for people who talk
condescendingly about things they've never done themselves.

Have you personally summited Everest? I'm interested in hearing you talk about
your experiences and what it's like to operate at over 7000 meters.

~~~
hammock
>there should be a word for people who talk condescendingly about things
they've never done themselves.

Poser?

------
Nanite
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% ?

~~~
hyperdunc
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
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.

~~~
munificent
Experiences are non-transferrable. Billions of humans have had children.
Nonetheless, when _I_ had my own kids, it was a profound experience.

Self-actualization for many is not about standing out _in comparison to
others_ , it's about simply doing the experience itself for oneself.

------
arjie
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
>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
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)

------
theprop
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.

------
notamy
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
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
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.

------
Mz
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.

------
johan_larson
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.

------
ufmace
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
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
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.

------
xabotage
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
>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.

------
e12e
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-t...](https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/may/24/trekking-in-the-
himalayas-nepal-everest)

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...

------
crimsonalucard
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.

------
steevenwee
For some, it costs 1 life.

------
ape4
I wonder if you wore something like a spacesuit if you could do it. It would
provide heat and air.

~~~
Arizhel
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.

------
anotheryou
and ~0.1 lifes (if you summit)

------
thunderbong
I liked this line - "climbing Everest should not be about ego"

------
worik
Just don't do it.

The economy of Nepal has been horribly distorted by western trekkers and do
gooders.

~~~
ghaff
So. Take out tourism or otherwise western infusions of cash. What does Nepal
look like? I suppose I shouldn't mention Tibet.

------
accountyaccount
More of a status symbol than an achievement

~~~
exclusiv
How much did it cost to land on the moon? I suppose Neil Armstrong didn't
achieve anything then...

~~~
accountyaccount
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
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.

------
jinushaun
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.

------
caub
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
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.

------
gadders
Just make sure you pay for the permit: [http://metro.co.uk/2017/05/09/everest-
climber-found-hiding-i...](http://metro.co.uk/2017/05/09/everest-climber-
found-hiding-in-cave-to-avoid-paying-8500-fee-6624545/)

