Much of the media coverage around Everest this year has focused on a brace of unusual speed ascents that have been framed as a game changer for aspiring Everest climbers. But there was another technological advance that is likely to change the job description for Sherpas much more significantly.
The two speed ascents were unusual in their choice of starting point. These speedsters weren’t trying to leg it to the summit from base camp in the quickest possible time, but to reach the summit in a minimum number of days starting from their home countries. The significance of this is that they were aiming to avoid one of the essential steps in every high-altitude mountaineering expedition: that of acclimatising at base camp for several weeks before beginning the ascent. They hoped to prove that it would be possible to climb Everest by taking just a single week off work. This, of course, is something that mountain tourism needs like a cruise ship moored in the Trevi Fountain.
A group of British ex-soldiers garnered much pre-expedition publicity with the announcement that they planned to climb Everest in a week using the pioneering technique of inhaling xenon as they passed through Kathmandu. They exceeded expectations and achieved the feat in only five days, but they were trumped by an American climber who claimed to have done it in four days using the more traditional method of pumping himself full of oxygen. This is rather like trying to set a record for the shortest time for the 100m starting from the changing room. You gain a head start on your competitors by charging down the track barefoot in your Speedos while they’re still tying up their laces, but in the last 10m you’re overtaken by a man on a scooter.
Whether snorting noble gases or speed racing from home catches on remains to be seen, but reading Alan Arnette’s definitive end-of-season summary, my attention was drawn to another detail that is likely to change the face of Everest expeditions much more significantly.
A Nepali-owned startup called Airlift Technology has been pioneering the use of drones in mountaineering. They have been using them for mapping, search-and-rescue and – most effectively this season – load carrying above the Khumbu Icefall. Alan’s summary led to an article in the Kathmandu Post that provided some remarkable statistics.
It takes the average Sherpa six to seven hours to carry 12kg through the Khumbu Icefall to Camp 1. A drone can do the same journey in 10 minutes carrying up to 32kg. This season the drones flew in temperatures as low as -25°C, and at wind speeds up to 45km/h. They reached an altitude high of 6,130m, which Airlift Technology are claiming is a record for drone delivery. They will eventually need to go higher than this. Camp 2 lies at 6,400m in the Western Cwm and tents are needed at 7,900m on the South Col. But this is just a start. (Note: drones have been used higher than 6,130m on Everest. In 2020, the American filmmaker Renan Ozturk deployed them to an altitude of around 8,000m on the north side of Everest while searching for the body of Sandy Irvine. This year, Chinese cameraman Ma Chunlin stood at Advanced Base Camp on the north side and manoeuvred his drone all the way to the summit. There may be other examples.)
The drones carried 444kg of rope and ladders for the Icefall Doctors who fixed the route through the Khumbu Icefall, 900kg of equipment for the 8K Expeditions team who fixed the route from Camp 1 to the summit, and 150 oxygen cylinders (weighing about 600kg) for the clients and Sherpas of the Asian Trekking team. All this was done using only two drones, Flycart 30s, manufactured by Chinese company DJI.
The drones don’t come cheap. Each one costs $70,000, but these prices will surely come down as technologies improve. It seems certain that many more such drones will be deployed on Everest in the coming seasons to increasingly higher altitudes, changing the logistics for future expeditions significantly.
The Khumbu Icefall has always been the most dangerous part of the routes up Everest on either side of the mountain. At least 45 of the 207 fatalities on Everest to date happened in the Khumbu Icefall. However, it’s unlikely that climbers will want to bypass it in the future. There are no agreed rules on what is considered cheating, but flying up to Camp 2 to start your climb above the Khumbu Icefall is a red line that only one climber, Wang Jing of China, has ever stepped across, stoking a huge controversy. There will always be journeys through the Khumbu Icefall, but these journeys will be more straightforward. Apart from the ropes and ladders on that part of the route, almost all equipment needed above base camp could be carried above the Khumbu Icefall by drones. Sherpas would no longer need to ferry loads backwards and forwards multiple times. Clients would only need a light day pack.
Separately, it was noted that the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) removed 83 tonnes of garbage from Everest this year. This included 25,056kg of paper, plastic and clothing, 8,374 kg of metal and glass, 17,861kg of kitchen waste, 788 used gas canisters and 1,802 batteries. And if you thought that altitude reduces your appetite, this was belied by the 31,797kg of human excrement brought down (a special pat on the back for the person who weighed that). This year the trash was delivered by hand to a collection centre at base camp. In the future, all this could be done by drones (though you wouldn’t want to stand underneath the one carrying the faeces).
This is clearly going to make the mountain safer for clients and Sherpas alike. Fewer journeys will be needed through the Icefall, and these journeys will be done much more quickly, carrying only a light pack.
But is this all good news for Sherpas, who were previously paid by the carry – more money for the drone operators for sure, but less for the Sherpas?
Or perhaps not. Another set of figures jumped out at me that swing the scales back in the other direction.
On the Nepal side of Everest this year, there were 678 successful summits by 257 clients and 421 support climbers (i.e. Sherpas and other Nepali ethnicities). This equates to 38% clients and 62% support climbers. On the Tibet side the ratio was similar: 168 people reached the summit, an estimated 40% of whom were clients and 60% support climbers.
It’s been standard practice for years for commercial operators to assign each client a personal Sherpa to climb with them on summit day. On other parts of the climb, the ratio is generally much lower. Clients often climb on their own, following the line of fixed ropes, while Sherpas carry the loads to establish camps.
More recently, some of the high-end operators have provided their clients with two Sherpas each to climb with them on summit day. While this may seem excessive, it does offer an extra margin of safety. Sherpas are not infallible and are sometimes prone to illness on summit day too. Speaking from experience, I can confirm that an Everest summit day is an extreme activity. Most of us are climbing on the margins of our ability. We are treading a fine line between life and death, concentrating on every movement just to stay alive. Fortunately, we climb with experienced Sherpas who are looking out for us. But if our Sherpa is struggling with illness of their own, what then? The risks become much greater for both client and Sherpa. A second Sherpa mitigates this risk; they can stay with the client while the first Sherpa descends.
The 2025 summit statistics show that many more teams now provide their clients with an extra Sherpa on summit day. The ratio of Sherpas to clients has edged up to 3:2, which suggests that half of all operators are now doing this.
Put these two developments together – the use of drones and the increasing Sherpa to client ratio – and it’s clear where things are heading. Sherpas will be doing less load carrying and more support climbing. With drones doing more of the carrying, Sherpas will be freed up to spend more time supporting clients on the lower sections of the mountain as well as on summit day. And they should be in better shape because they haven’t spent the majority of the expedition humping 12kg loads.
There will be fewer trips through the Icefall, which will mean less risk of traffic jams in dangerous places.
You may be thinking that more support on summit day will mean more traffic jams on the South-East Ridge. But these bottlenecks often occur when a single climber is struggling, causing a queue to form behind them. Generally speaking, Sherpas are not the ones responsible for traffic jams. More Sherpa support on summit day should make climbing safer, for the reasons I have explained.
Of course, the purists will complain that climbing Everest will be become even easier, but that ship sailed a long time ago. For all but the most experienced guides and Sherpas, climbing Everest will never be easy. But with every season it becomes safer, and drone transport will be a game changer in this respect.
Hello Mark,
The xenon climbing group from the UK also used oxygen. From the physiology they could have skipped the xenon. It is fairly straightforward to arrive at base camp, start at a low O2 flow to keep your O2 sat at or above 85% and just keep dialing up the flow until you reach the summit. I saw little innovation here except for a way to attract press coverage on a technique with little scientific basis.
O2 used this way will also help avoid the bottlenecks you mention simply because the climbing customers will be in a situation similar to flying on a modern jet at 30,000 ft. That is, an oxygen saturation which is close to normal, warm clothes, and a stewardess sherpa that caters to all their needs. Weather forecasts are now fairly accurate and as the owner of one of the climbing companies once commented, we can place a rope from the customer’s tent to the summit. Add your drones, and we have now definitely left the domain of mountaineering.
Welcome to the era of glampeneering!
All of those 5 speed climbers were well pre-acclimated by sleeping in hypoxic tents for months before their expeditions. They did use supplemental oxygen also, but I do not quite understand what “pumping himself full of oxygen” means in this context? Using 6 liters or even 8 liters per minute instead of the traditional 4? Not acclimating before the climb would mean oxygen use starting from the BC, and using a lot of it full time.
We have been somewhat successful to educate the general public that “Sherpa” does not mean a porter. But now you use “Sherpa” as a synonym for a high altitude assistant (and porter also, actually, even though they want to be called “guides”). FYI: there are numerous people working successfully in the same job who are not Sherpas but (mostly) Tamangs. You do mention this fleetingly, that is true, but still.
Helicopters were banned for incoming logistics above BC several years ago. Why are cargo drones now welcomed, what is the real difference here? I suppose the ban was done on both ethical and financial reasons to protect the livelihood of high altitude porters/assistants. If drones are welcomed why not helicopters also?
Petrus,
If it’s a 3 or 5 day climb, O2 use is not as high as you think. On BC arrival you can start with 1/2 l/m. even without hypoxic tent acclimatization.
And remember, you’re not chasing a l/m number such as the 4 l/m you mention. You are dialing your flow to keep your O2 sat at a safe 85 or above where your O2/Hgb dissociation curve is still fairly flat.
Finally I’ve seen expeditions use up to 8 l/m on summit day!
So yes, it’s glampaneering.