I remember the shaking.

The vibrations were so severe that I could not stand up. After a few seconds, the soil beneath my feet liquified, and the village I was standing in began to spin like one of those sketchy teacup rides at an American county fair.

I also remember the noise. In an instant, the planet itself became a giant subwoofer, reverberating a terrible deep groan.

After a few seconds, the houses in the village began to collapse. Walls sheared off and crumbled, roofs fell into the potato fields, and the air became choked with dust. As the tiny stone wall I crouched behind fell around me, I looked up to see the bed I had slept in just an hour earlier hanging cantilevered into space on a beam, held aloft by a pile of rubble on my pillow.

It was April 25, 2015, and I was in Chaurikharka, Nepal, a small village near the town of Lukla, about 40 miles south of Mount Everest. The earthquake itself lasted for about 50 seconds, which is likely less than the time it鈥檚 taken to read this far into my story. Fifty seconds is also more than long enough to fully panic three or four times.

It鈥檚 been a decade since the Nepal earthquake, a shallow 7.8 magnitude tremor which killed almost 9,000 people, displaced millions more, and reduced huge swaths of the country to rubble. You have probably read about the quake and its impact on Mount Everest. The tremor dislodged a huge chunk of ice that crashed down on Base Camp killing 15 people immediately鈥攕even died in the following days鈥攁nd injuring more than 70.

Ten years later, 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 infrastructure has been rebuilt, and the scars on Everest have been covered up. But those 50 seconds of rumbling are still clear in my head鈥攁s are the scenes that I witnessed in the days afterward.

This past Friday, April 25, I returned to Chaurikharka for the first time since the earthquake. I went there there to begin my trek from Lukla to Everest Base Camp, where I’m reporting on the climbing season for 翱耻迟蝉颈诲别.听But I also wanted to stand in spot where, just a decade earlier, the course of my life shifted.

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It’s no secret that Mount Everest climbers travel with tons of gear.

Guess what鈥攕o do 国产吃瓜黑料 reporters who are headed to Base Camp. In his latest video, our Dispatches from Everest writer Ben Ayers discusses some of the items that he will be using over the next month. Ayers recently departed Kathmandu (elevation: 4,500 feet) for Lukla (elevation: 9,500 feet) to being the 11-day trek to Everest Base Camp (elevation: 17,500 feet). He will spend three weeks in Base Camp, and if the conditions permit, he may ascend to higher camps on the mountain.

Throughout the journey, Ayers is testing a litany of outdoor gear, from parkas made for sub-zero blizzards, to hiking shoes designed for desert treks, to midlayers and shells designed for rain and snow. The trek to Base Camp is an ideal setting for this kind of test. During his journey, Ayers will encounter sub-tropical conditions in the foothills, sub-zero temperatures at Everest, and almost every type of microclimate in between.

Want to stay up on 国产吃瓜黑料鈥檚 2025 Everest Season coverage? Sign up for our听.

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On Easter Sunday, an Italian helicopter pilot named Simone Moro received word of a SOS call on 26,545-foot Annapurna in Nepal. Moro told 国产吃瓜黑料 that a Ukrainian climber was suffering from altitude sickness and exhaustion, and he was stranded at Camp III at 21,500 feet.

The climber’s guiding company, Seven Summit Treks, asked Moro if he could fly his helicopter to that elevation to save the man. Moro has flown rescue missions in Nepal during the spring mountaineering season since 2013. He’s also a legendary alpinist, and has been twice nominated for climbing’s Piolet D’Or Asia award.

鈥淭hey told me the rescue was in Camp III, and I鈥檝e never landed in Camp III,鈥� Moro told 国产吃瓜黑料. Moro has climbed Annapurna before, but he ascended the so-called French route, and not the Dutch Rib route that the Ukrainian climber was on. The one thing Moro did know was that the flight would be dicey.

“I know where the camps are,” he added. “I figured out where it was and I went to Camp III. It was a small landing spot, and the problem was the very very strong wind.鈥�

Flying a helicopter in the Himalayas is a harrowing job. The mountainous terrain is difficult to navigate, and violent weather systems appear without warning. The air is thinner at extreme altitudes, and each rotation of the helicopter’s blades generates less lift than it would at lower elevations. Simply staying aloft at extreme altitude requires pilots to operate close to the performance ceiling of their aircraft with little or no room for error.

“You have to be prepared, technically, physically and also mentally,” Italian pilot Maurizio Folini .”During the mission you feel in control thanks to the helicopter itself which you need to know in minute detail, and thanks also to years of experience that enable you to deal with all technical and natural parameters like wind, altitude, and clouds.”

As Moro flew up Annapurna鈥攚hich is located 165 miles east of Mount Everest鈥攈e encountered strong and gusting downdrafts, which prevented his helicopter from maintaining a steady flight path to the landing zone. Unable to perform a hover test鈥攊n which a pilot hovers above the landing zone to make sure that the helicopter has adequate power to land safely鈥擬oro instead flew toward a narrow ledge on the mountain.

鈥淚 like to keep a certain speed and arrive at the landing spot quite quickly,” Moro said. “The speed is helping you use less power and to keep the nose of the helicopter more steady. Honestly, the landing zone was not so big, and I had to be careful not to hit the blades against the ice.鈥�

Nepal requires all helicopter pilots to fly using what it calls Visual Flight Rules, or VFR, which means the pilot needs to maintain a clear line of sight at all times. A sensible rule, as Himalayan pilots are fond of saying that in Nepal, “all the clouds have rocks in them.”

In 2023, Nepali authorities grounded Moro after he successfully landed his helicopter at Camp III on Mt. Everest at 23,000 feet to rescue a climber. Officials deemed this landing to be above the permitted operating ceiling of the aircraft. Moro told 国产吃瓜黑料 that his license in Nepal has since been reinstated.

On Annapurna, Moro touched the helicopter down on a tiny ledge chipped out听of a corniced ridge by rescuers on the peak. With the blades still spinning, the team opened the helicopter door and loaded in the sick climber with a few empty bottles of oxygen. Moro waited for a brief moment of calm between wind gusts to take off and fly back down to Annapurna Base Camp at 13,550 feet.

Video of the ordeal circulated online shortly after he returned safely to Kathmandu.

 

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According to Moro, this was just another day at work for any of the elite helicopter pilots in Nepal. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to describe this rescue as something heroic or special, but for sure it wasn鈥檛 easy because of the conditions,鈥� he told 国产吃瓜黑料.

Moro is one of a few dozen pilots who fly these missions in the Himalayas every year. Pilots work for one of many helicopter companies based in Kathmandu that serve the climbing and mountaineering industry during the busy spring season. The aircraft are usually dispatched for rescues by expedition outfitters, and spend the remainder of their time shuttling climbers and cargo between Kathmandu and remote mountain Base Camps. He is one of only a handful of foreigners that arrive in Nepal each spring to lend their expertise during the busy mountaineering season.

Several hours after Moro made his rescue, another pilot performed two successful long-line helicopter rescues of injured climbers from the same camp. A long-line rescue is where a helicopter lowers a rope to the person in need, and then flies them to safety after they are safely tied to the rope.

According to , there were ten rescues from Camp III on Annapurna this season alone. The website raised questions about whether the prevalence of these rescues indicates that inexperienced climbers are simply looking for an easy way down.

Moro said he was simply happy to help.

鈥淭his wasn鈥檛 a mission that can be performed daily or by just anybody, but it鈥檚 the work we decide to do here,” he said. “I’m happy that I did it.”

Want to stay up on 国产吃瓜黑料鈥檚 2025 Everest Season coverage? Sign up for our听.

Ben Ayers is a filmmaker, journalist, and adventurer who splits his time between Vermont and Nepal. In 2022 and 2024 he chronicled the Mount Everest climbing season for听国产吃瓜黑料.

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During the spring climbing season, the lobby of the Aloft Hotel in the Thamel district of Kathmandu becomes the de-facto brain center of 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 high-altitude mountaineering industry.

Several of 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 largest guiding companies book rooms for their clients and foreign guides at the hotel before they travel to Mount Everest Base Camp. The owners of these companies often hold meetings around hightop tables in the hotel’s lobby.

The hotel lobby was unremarkable when I visited on Sunday, April 13, except for a pyramid of rugged yellow duffel bags around which a steady traffic of pigeon-chested mountaineers in tight t-shirts, sunburnt Sherpa climbers, and anxious-looking clients in athletic gear flitted like moths.

鈥淚 would categorize most Everest climbers now as the runner type鈥攜ou know, the people who will run a marathon and then start ticking the boxes,鈥� Dutch climber and veteran guide Arnold Coster told me. “They did the marathon, they did Kilimanjaro, they start the Seven Summits and end up on Everest.”

I met Coster at the Aloft Hotel to attend a pre-trip Everest briefing for Seven Summit Treks, an expedition outfitter based in Kathmandu and owned by four brothers: Mingma Sherpa, Chhang Dawa Sherpa, Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, and Pasang Phurba Sherpa. The company is 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 largest outfitter on Mt. Everest by a decent margin.

This year, Seven Summits Treks will bring more than 100 paying clients to Everest. Before the climbers leave Kathmandu, they meet with their group leader to go over the fundamentals of Everest mountaineering and navigating the two-week trek to Base Camp. When Coster, the company’s group leader, invited 国产吃瓜黑料 to sit in on his briefing, I was excited to learn about how guiding companies manage such a diverse and large group of clients.

The briefing was scheduled to start at 10 AM, but was already in full swing when I arrived at 9:30. Eight climbers sat across two plush couches, listening to a tall guide with a blond beard who described the ins and outs of changing money with a casual tone.

The climbers, six men and two women, possessed diverse climbing experience and backgrounds. One woman from India had already summited three 8,000-meter peaks, including Everest, and was returning to Nepal to ascend 27,940-foot Lhotse. For other climbers, this was very clearly their first time in Nepal.

Towering above the eight climbers was Coster, who is among the most experienced 8,000-meter guides in the world. Built like a lumberjack, Coster鈥檚 rugged presence was betrayed by his gentle manner and casual speech.

Between various lessons on packing, lodge etiquette on the trek to Base Camp, and where to ask for toilet paper, Coster returned again and again to reminders for the group to chill out and enjoy the journey.

He also offered sage advice. 鈥淕et to Base Camp as late as humanly possible,鈥� he said. 鈥淩emember, people slowest in the beginning are fastest in the end.鈥� By rushing to altitude, Coster explained, climbers can increase their chances of getting altitude sickness or putting extra stress on their bodies that makes them vulnerable to other illnesses or exhaustion.

Coster said the clientele on Everest has changed over the last few decades. 鈥淯sually they are quite successful in everything they do, in business and in other sports. So they think they鈥檙e going to be good at Everest鈥攁nd that鈥檚 how they start the expedition,” he said. “They are not the traditional climbers who learned climbing the hard way.鈥�

Coster told me that this will be his 21st time guiding clients on Everest, and he has personally helped approximately 150 clients reach the top over the years. But he said that his approach as an overall expedition leader鈥攁nd not a personal guide鈥攃an be at odds with other Everest expeditions that promise hand-holding all the way to the summit.

This strategy, Coster told me, may offer a false sense of security to clients.

Instead, Seven Summit Treks teams its paying clients up with climbing Sherpas who support their clients and lead them up the mountain, but do not make key decisions for the clients like a true guide would. 鈥淚 would describe a Sherpa more as a very strong climbing partner,鈥� said Coster.

鈥淧ersonally, I don鈥檛 believe in fully-guided trips,鈥� he continued. 鈥淲hoever wants to climb Everest should have some personal responsibility. I don鈥檛 believe that people can be guided on these peaks, even if you鈥檙e with a guide one-to-one, because the guide is also struggling at 8,000 meters. There鈥檚 always that factor that the guide might not be capable of taking care of you, including Sherpas, because they鈥檙e also humans.鈥�

The briefing moved on to how best to charge your phones during the 11-day trek from Lukla to Everest Base Camp (pro tip: bring a few good power banks), Coster also gave a brief sidebar on how the high altitudes of the Himalayas impact the body, and what medications to take when it does.

The conversation began to feel to me more like a briefing at a National Park office than one for an expedition to a mountain that has killed more than 340 people. The technical elements of the ascent, I assumed, would be discussed at a later meeting, likely at Base Camp.

鈥淚 have been doing this for so long, I know that everything happens in the rhythm of the mountain.鈥� Coster told me when I asked about the laid-back presentation. 鈥淚 like to just plant the seeds in people鈥檚 minds and see how it develops. It鈥檚 natural selection, you know. If you鈥檙e really not capable of climbing Everest, you鈥檒l fall out early in the expedition.鈥�

As I sunk into the couch, listening to Coster鈥檚 relaxed descriptions of the ultra-deadly Khumbu Icefall, I found myself losing focus. Looking around, it seemed like many of the other climbers were feeling the same way.

A tall thin man in his forties wearing a Wharton Business School t-shirt stood up from the couch and wandered off. As I watched the remaining climbers, I couldn鈥檛 help but admire their sense of adventure and eagerness in the face of sparse information.

The lack of detailed instruction, I realized, was probably the entire point: this group of Everest hopefuls will spend the next month training and climbing as they prepare for Everest and gaining experience first-hand. They will ascend smaller peaks like 20,075-foot Lobuche East or 21,247-foot Mera Peak to acclimatize on their way to Base Camp, and I had a feeling that Coster will be quietly watching and analyzing every footstep.

As much of the Everest climbing industry trends toward increasingly exclusive expeditions with greater levels of personal attention and luxury, I found the scrappy group on the couch refreshing, inspiring even.

鈥淢y goal is to sell an expedition for everybody,鈥� Coster said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always expensive, but I don鈥檛 want to make it elite.鈥�

Besides, he continues, “If you refuse people based on lack of experience, they鈥檒l just go to another company. I鈥檇 rather have them with me because I鈥檝e been to Everest 21 times, and I can maybe help them succeed.鈥�

Want to stay up on 国产吃瓜黑料鈥檚 2025 Everest Season coverage? Sign up for our听.

Ben Ayers (right) is a filmmaker, journalist, and adventurer who splits his time between Vermont and Nepal. In 2016 he led an expedition to document the last harvest of wild cliff honey by 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 Kulung Rai people for National Geographic.听

The post Get to Base Camp Late! Tips We Learned at a Mount Everest Safety Briefing. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

鈥淭his book is probably not what you might expect it to be,鈥� says Melissa Arnot Reid of her new memoir Enough. Reid is the first American woman to summit Everest鈥攁nd survive the descent鈥攚ithout supplemental oxygen.

For one, she emphasizes that her book is not just another contribution to the Everest canon. In fact, until the last minute, the book鈥檚 title was actually This Is Not a Book About Everest. She wanted readers to receive this disclaimer upfront, so they wouldn鈥檛 be 鈥渨ildly disappointed.鈥�

Instead, her book is a deeply personal, seemingly no-filter account of her life鈥檚 journey. Released on April 1, Enough recounts everything from Reid鈥檚 difficult childhood and relationship with her mother, to lonely nights in the back of her truck in Montana, to many misadventures in love. Of course, she also discusses her extensive experiences climbing and guiding Everest, Rainier, and other peaks.

Filled with footnotes where Reid takes her off-the-cuff voice and honest takes to the next level, Enough is a book of our times, wherein candor, confessions, and embracing the bad along with the good seem to rule more by the moment.

鈥淚鈥檝e been really afraid of being rejected if I鈥檓 truly known,鈥� Reid told me from a hotel room in New York City, where she鈥檇 be kicking off a book tour the following day. That鈥檚 why this no-holds-barred approach to telling her story represents real bravery on par with her accomplishments in alpinism.

It takes courage to voluntarily share everything Reid includes in Enough. She reveals her most embarrassing childhood stories. She grapples with her exploitation of romantic partners to get ahead in the industry. She shares tales about named prominent alpinists that reveal tension and flaws. And she relives traumatic events and loss.

Since the scope of Enough ends in 2021, one subject Reid doesn鈥檛 explore in the book is her journey into motherhood, while continuing to work as a mountain guide. 鈥淚鈥檝e gone through this really wild personal experience of finding out that as a female athlete who works in the big mountains and becomes a mother, people sort of assume you don鈥檛 exist anymore,鈥� Reid reflects.

With a six-year-old daughter, a two-year-old son, and a fellow guide as a partner鈥攈e鈥檚 currently on a six-week stint in Alaska鈥擱eid describes her life these days as a 鈥渃razy Tetris game.鈥� Yet she also manages to run her nonprofit the , which she founded in 2012 to support the families of high-altitude workers who鈥檝e lost their lives in the mountains. Recently, the Juniper Fund also took over the work of the Khumbu Climbing Center, previously part of the . 鈥淭hat鈥檚 added a whole new layer of opportunity and work for us,鈥� she says.

While Reid acknowledges that Enough is heavy at times, she encourages readers 鈥渢o look at the darkness鈥� in order to 鈥渁ppreciate the light.鈥� She emphasizes that 鈥渋t鈥檚 important not to look away from what we鈥檙e most fearful of.鈥� Clearly, that has been, and continues to be, a guiding principle of her life. It鈥檚 the modus operandi of her book, too.

We caught up with Reid to find out the triple entendre behind the title, why releasing the book feels 鈥渞eally scary,鈥� what she thinks about technological change on Everest, and the next book project on her mind.

After the interview, we鈥檝e also included an excerpt from Enough.

This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.听

Want to catch Reid in person? She鈥檒l be speaking at the 国产吃瓜黑料 Festival in Denver, Colorado, May 31鈥揓une 1. .听

Watch an excerpt from our interview with Melissa Arnot Reid

Climbing: When did you decide you wanted to write a book? And when did it become a concrete project you were committed to?

Melissa Arnot Reid: I had been thinking about writing a book for a really long time. I had been approached really early in my Everest guiding career about writing a book because my story was a little different from some of the other Everest stories. But I knew that I 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 want to write a story about Everest and I 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 want to write a story that wasn鈥檛 complete.

I鈥檝e been a lifelong writer, which most people don鈥檛 know. During the pandemic, I actually had a minute to not be guiding and constantly on trips and I had a two-year-old. I just really decided to dedicate myself to putting all the stories that I was holding in my heart onto the page.

Climbing: Count us among those who 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 realize you鈥檝e been a lifelong writer! What kind of writing do you enjoy?

Reid: I鈥檝e been writing since I was really really young. Writing is one of the only things I鈥檝e been naturally talented at. When I was in fifth or sixth grade, I started writing a lot of poetry. I have all of it still, which is both amazing and cringey. I spend a lot of time alone and I spend a lot of time reflecting鈥攅specially as a guide, I鈥檓 a natural storyteller. So to be able to bring all that together onto the page is incredibly meaningful for me.

Climbing: A dream in the making since fifth grade. So this book contains a lot of what I imagine are stories you鈥檝e never told before鈥攁bout your childhood, past life partners, and experiences in the mountains with well-known climbers. Which of these stories were you most hesitant about putting out in the world?

Reid: Honestly, this whole book makes me really nervous because my public image has been really curated and protected by myself. I鈥檝e shared the expected story of perseverance and achievement, but I鈥檝e left out a lot of the nuance. I went there with this book. I made myself a promise when I started writing that I would write as viscerally and honestly as I could and edit backwards if I needed to. It鈥檚 so essential to have the whole story out there.

I鈥檝e had a really complicated life鈥攂oth really terrible things that were not my choice and terrible things that were my choice. I take you鈥攖he reader鈥攐n that journey with me. I鈥檝e been really afraid of being rejected if I鈥檓 truly known. So this whole book is really scary because it鈥檚 me on all my good days and really bad days, my good choices and my really bad choices. Not everybody鈥檚 going to love it. I tell some critical stories from my perspective of named people that鈥攊f you鈥檙e in the outdoor world鈥攜ou will find familiar. That doesn鈥檛 scare me because those people lived it with me. I do believe that knowing somebody else鈥檚 perspective of an experience can be really beneficial for us all.

Climbing: Are you expecting to hear from folks who you told stories about now that the book is out?

Reid: If you read the book, you鈥檙e going to be like, 鈥淕osh, I wonder what so-and-so thinks of this.鈥� If you鈥檙e thinking that, it鈥檚 very likely that I already talked to so-and-so face-to-face. I tried to give people who I speak critically about at least a head鈥檚 up that it鈥檚 not a highly refined and curated story of our perfect moments. But I don鈥檛 spare myself from that same level of critique. Somebody else鈥檚 perspective is going to be really different from mine. I don鈥檛 want to say this to be baiting, but people who are in the story that I speak critically about also know what I 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 say. And that鈥檚 quite a lot actually.

Climbing: Having read Enough, I also want to reinforce what you鈥檙e saying about critiquing yourself alongside others. It鈥檚 not like you鈥檙e painting yourself out to be the hero of the story.

Reid: No, I am not. I have made a lot of mistakes. But you can be really imperfect and make tough choices and have low character moments and still be deserving. That鈥檚 sort of the journey that I鈥檝e gone on in my life.

Climbing: Some of the experiences in the mountains that you reflect on in this book are quite tragic. Did the process of telling these stories change how you view those events? In other words, did the writing process alter your perspective on the past?

Reid: It鈥檚 been incredibly therapeutic. It鈥檚 been really interesting to see what stories continuously play in the background of my mind. The biggest thing I鈥檝e learned through the process is some things that I thought were scars from my past were actually just scabs and can bleed easily again. It鈥檚 a good place to remind yourself that it鈥檚 okay to continue healing.

Climbing: Are those scabs more from your family life or from experiences in the mountains?

Reid: I鈥檓 really exceptional at compartmentalizing. It鈥檚 made me really good in both emergency medicine and guiding. It鈥檚 allowed me to keep a really calm head, but that also doesn鈥檛 allow you to process big trauma. I was present for two back-to-back catastrophic seasons on Everest with a lot of death and trauma, while simultaneously going through a really difficult time in my personal life. It actually feels emotionally appropriate for me to revisit those things with some tenderness instead of stoicism.

Sixteen people dying is something that should affect you鈥攁nd then, of course, I had a really complicated childhood. It feels good to be able to share that side of my life. I鈥檝e always disliked when people were asking about my story, like, 鈥淵ou must have been climbing since you were little. Your parents must have been really outdoors people.鈥� It鈥檚 always graded me鈥攊f only I could tell you how that鈥檚 not been my story. And there鈥檚 never space. Now I have 304 pages to tell you all about it.

Climbing: A few months ago, you shared on Instagram that 鈥渆nough鈥濃�攚hich is the title of your book鈥攐ught to be the word of the year. That feels pretty on-point right now. Have your thoughts on 鈥渆nough鈥� as the word of 2025 evolved at all now that we鈥檙e three months into the year?

Reid: 鈥滶nough鈥� is this incredibly beautiful word because it means so many things. It could mean that you are enough. It could mean that you鈥檝e done enough. Or it could mean that you鈥檝e had enough. In my case, it is truly all three.

When I think about 鈥渆nough鈥� being the theme of the year, it鈥檚 really all three of those things. I am enough: I don鈥檛 need to be anything other than what I am. So are all of us. I have done enough and I also can do more. But I鈥檝e definitely had enough. When you鈥檝e had enough, you get pretty activated to see change. That鈥檚 sort of where I鈥檓 at right now.

Climbing: As we enter the 2025 Everest season, the mountain has become more commercial than ever. We鈥檙e also seeing the , and drones are becoming more of a presence on the mountain. How has your view of Everest changed since your first climb? And as a longtime guide, what are your thoughts on where Everest is headed?

Reid: My first season on Everest was 2008. As we were trekking through Khumbu into basecamp, the porters were starting to use Nokia flip phones and there were cell towers. The conversation was: 鈥淭echnology is going to ruin adventure.鈥� This is pre-smartphones. I remember feeling like it was such a silly thing. Fast forward quite a long time, and technology has evolved the adventure that is Everest in myriad ways. How people choose to climb and how the commercial operations run is a huge part of that.

Climbing: What鈥檚 happened since you were last on Everest?

Reid: My last season working on Everest was 2016. In the last nine years, there has been so much change that it鈥檚 hard to even articulate. I鈥檓 still very involved in the industry鈥擨 run the Juniper Fund so we鈥檙e incredibly involved in what鈥檚 happening. A lot of the commercial guiding has shifted to really big Nepali outfitters, so foreign operators like [Lukas] Furtenbach have to continue to be competitive in the ways that are meaningful to them. They also have to answer to what people want.

My personal opinions on truncating an adventure into achievement alone probably aren鈥檛 really welcome in that commercial environment. Something that I鈥檝e always thought was really wonderful about adventure is it separates you from the ways that we distract ourselves in our daily life. If you don鈥檛 allow yourself that separation, it鈥檚 not to say you can鈥檛 have a tremendous adventure, you鈥檙e just having a different one.

I鈥檓 generally accepting that things are going to change and we have to witness it and act individually as responsibly as we can. But for the armchair Everest community, which is vast and vocal, this is an interesting time.

Climbing: Does it make you wish you were still guiding on Everest to bear witness firsthand to all the changes unfolding?

Reid: Through the Juniper Fund, I鈥檓 really involved in the worst side of the industry because we get involved as soon as there鈥檚 been a tragedy and we stay really involved with those families鈥� lives really forever. I get to be really up close and I can be very honest and tell you I haven鈥檛 really had a single season pass where I鈥檝e thought, 鈥淚 just wish I were guiding on Everest right now.鈥�

That鈥檚 not to say that I won鈥檛 go back. When I was guiding on Everest my first year, I was 24. I remember looking around and thinking, 鈥淚鈥檓 by 20 years the youngest guide here.鈥� So, I could take a whole 10-plus year break and come back and just be the normal age range of other guides. It would have to be really specific clients and a really specific situation for me. But I feel as involved as I want to be in it.

Climbing: Let鈥檚 talk more about your work with the Juniper Fund. What changes have you noticed since you founded this nonprofit? Have you observed any improvements or changes in the working conditions or risk level for Sherpas and other high-altitude workers?

Reid: Decline in risk is really interesting. So many of the families we serve are [impacted by] absolutely objective hazard situations鈥攁n ice fall, rock fall, a big avalanche. We are in the areas where those things occur. We have seen a huge shift in training for high-altitude workers with an emphasis on prevention from local outfitters. So, they鈥檙e training their workers to prevent the preventable things, which is excellent and is making a difference. We always have a hard time measuring, for example, the deaths that don鈥檛 occur because of preventative measures. And the numbers don鈥檛 actually tell that story very well because of the nature of accidental death.

But the conversations and the employment structures have changed a lot. It used to be foreign operators were the biggest employers of high-altitude workers, through a local agency. The largest employers [now] are local agencies who are running the entire guide service. I think the local agencies have a really close conversation with what the needs of the workers are. I can鈥檛 say that it鈥檚 better at this moment, but I do think that these conversations and the visibility have shifted a little bit.

Climbing: Talk more about the shift in how these high-altitude workers are perceived.

Reid: We collectively used to think of Sherpa as uneducated, untrained laborers just carrying loads and it鈥檚 eminently clear now that that is just not the case. There are Nepali-born, high-altitude mountain guides who are of equal skillset to any foreign guide鈥攚orkers who have chosen this as their vocation and even have higher education, and this is where they want to be. Our landscape of understanding has changed. In supporting families with the Juniper Fund, we鈥檙e always listening to the families and grow our actions based on what they tell us: How do you feel supported? What more would you like?听

Climbing: This work you鈥檙e doing relates to the ending of the book, which I loved: the epilogue with Lhakpa Tenzing Sherpa, the son of a Sherpa who died in the mountains on a climb with you. Has Lhakpa continued climbing since your summit together in the Cascades? What has he been up to since the book ended in 2021?

Reid: He lives in Seattle and works in finance. He鈥檚 generally an adventurous guy, not specifically to climbing. I can鈥檛 speak on his behalf, but I can imagine he has a really conflicting relationship with the mountains because of his experience as a child and losing his dad when he was really young. But anybody who knows him loves him, because he鈥檚 just an exceptional, bright person and a wonderful human to have in the world.

Climbing: Does this make you want to write another book at some point? Or do you have any other big goal that you鈥檙e shifting your focus to next?

Reid: I鈥檓 interested to see how the book is received, because it isn鈥檛 going to be the book people think it鈥檚 going to be. How it鈥檚 received doesn鈥檛 really impact what it means to me because it鈥檚 so important to me.

But yes, I have another book that I am working on already. In 2016, right after I summited Everest without oxygen, I did a trip with Maddie Miller, a girl who I was mentoring. We climbed the high points of all the states, so the 50 high points in 41 days, 16 hours, and 10 minutes. And Maddie set the speed record at that time. We documented it, but we have a lot of stories from that experience. And it鈥檚 really like Maddie鈥檚 coming-of-age story as a 21-year-old in her last year of college. I鈥檓 really hoping to be able to bring that story out to the world because comparatively to Enough, it鈥檚 a fun adventure challenge.

Excerpt from Enough听by Melissa Arnot Reid

Excerpted from ENOUGH: Climbing Toward a True Self on Mount Everest by Melissa Arnot Reid. Copyright 漏 2025 by Melissa Arnot Reid LLC. Published in the United States by Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

You can purchase Enough or wherever books are sold.

Obama and the Dalai Lama and Americans wouldn鈥檛 be given any more visas that season.

I exhaled with grateful relief. A change in plans I could deal with. 鈥淒on鈥檛 say it鈥檚 bad news unless someone died!鈥� I joked.

The change meant that climbing from Tibet was out, so Pasang and I decided we would climb the route in front of us, on the south side of Everest. We were here and that was all that we could do, so we might as well enjoy it.

That night, I fell into a restless high-altitude sleep. I woke up every hour, hoping that when I opened my eyes the first light of dawn would have arrived. When it finally did, it came with the distant clamor of voices on the radio. I peeked out of my tent to see Dawa waving his hands and frantically motioning me to come up to his tent. I put on my down jacket and boots and headed up, unsure what the urgency was about.

鈥淢eli, there was an accident. A big one. All Sherpas.鈥� He paused and I watched his Adam鈥檚 apple bob as he attempted to swallow. 鈥淢any are dead.鈥� The words hung in space until he loudly exhaled. 鈥淐an you go up? They need help.鈥�

I took a breath to calm the flood of adrenaline that rose within me. Of course I would go. I assumed the familiar role of responder that I had practiced in my medical work, calm and intentional with my movement. I hastily departed to get dressed, planning to climb up to the accident site and help however I could. I 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 have a harness or crampons, so I borrowed them from another climber and went straight to the helipad at the edge of camp, where all the rescuers had assembled. Since I had significant medical training and experience, it was quickly decided that I would fly up first with medical equipment. No one was totally sure what had happened at the accident site, but what little news we had was grim. A large number of local workers had been climbing together when the avalanche came swiftly down on top of them. Some were dead.

Some were missing. And some were injured and desperate for care.

I boarded the helicopter, and a moment later we left solid ground and headed into something unimaginable. Tragedy was not new, nor was my facing it. Nearly every season that I had worked on Everest had included some sort of rescue or an up-close view of a tragic accidental death. That was part of the deal with the biggest mountains in the world. But I had never seen, nor even imagined, death on this scale. I had no time to wonder what it would be like鈥擨 just went in, closing my heart to the truth of what was in front of me and doing the job I was asked to do. Like so many times before, I knew I needed to seal off my emotions and do the task at hand. I could sort through the tragedy of it all later, and I would.

April 18, 2014

The air feels whisper thin and unoccupied. I stop, holding my own breath to see what I can hear. Nothing. Not a crack, nor a creak. Not even the sound of stillness. Here, everything is gone. Life is gone. It is as though something or someone has pressed pause on this moment in time and I am somehow allowed to look around and feel the absence of everything. Newton said that energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transferred or changed from one form to another. I have felt that transfer many times, something turning into something else with the flip of a switch. But I wonder if Newton ever dreamed of something like this, a place where the earth opens and absorbs all the energy, leaving no trace of it behind.

The borrowed crampons on my feet are heavy and unfamiliar. But they talk to the glacier ice in the same familiar conversation of crunching and piercing, offering some comfort. I am at almost 20,000 feet and my lungs are burning like structure fires, telling me to slow down. The sound of my breath and the booming of blood flow is filling my ears now like the white noise of an ocean

in chaos. It is not rhythmic. It is not peaceful. I move quickly, following the chucks of broken ice and the splashes of red blood that are smattered about. A backpack rests near a crimson stain in the snow. I don鈥檛 know who it belongs to. I wonder if he lived or died. I keep moving, up and then down, covering every inch of the area in search of something missed. I am both eager to find something and dreading what it will be. And then, I see him. Upside down, suspended by the rope and the universe. Stopped right there and buried partially under hundreds of pounds of ice; entombed. I stop, allowing my breath to ease enough to speak. Keying the mic on the radio, I relay the news that I have found another one. We need to go check it out. The other rescuers rush from behind me, climbing up the slight incline around giant crevasses and blocks of ice, and continue to the broken battlefield ahead. I stay where I am, watching over them. I feel the weight of what might happen next pulling at us all. It feels like the mountain has only partially exhaled, and there is more to come. I do not want to be caught in her breath or see another life absorbed into her flanks. I will my soul to communicate with hers as I scour the slopes for any sign of movement. A helicopter lands below me and I see another body wrapped tightly, small and life- less. It is loaded in and flown away. It is wrong to be seeing death on this scale. Stacks of bodies, ponds of blood, wails of loss. This is the stuff of war. This is for people who signed up for the pos- sibility of carnage and had a moment to decide how they would handle it. But as that thought floats through, another comes to rest. Carnage is about the element of surprise. It is about accept- ing small losses over and over until one day you are faced with a loss you cannot ignore. A loss of size and scale you could not have even imagined.

Within a few hours, the final body has been freed from its icy tomb and wrapped and laid next to the others, waiting its turn to be loaded into the helicopter. We climb in and for a moment I feel a small sprig of gratitude that we are alive. Then I feel guilty and selfish for feeling anything good.

As we reintroduce ourselves to the rest of Base Camp, we cannot be understood. We are new people now. The others want to know what we saw. They want to feel grateful, too, that it was not them. But what can be said about death on this scale?

The Tibetans believe that a goddess lives inside every mountain. The one inside Everest is called Myosangmalangma, and she is extraordinary. She is fierce and powerful, riding on top of a wild white tiger that she has tamed. She is generous, holding a mongoose that spits gold coins and a basket of fruit that she willingly shares. She is different from the goddess that they believe resides in K2, Takar Dolsangma. That goddess is angry and has the taste for human flesh, which she will take to satiate her hunger. But not Myosangmalangma. If she takes a life, it is not for hunger, it is to teach you something. I wonder if I will learn the lesson she is offering. I wonder if I even can.

As night falls on the end of this horrific day, I look up at her moonlit flanks. She has taken so much, but she is quiet now. I do not feel anger toward her. I wonder what she is trying to say. I can feel her protective qualities, casting out over us all again, even amidst this great loss. I can sense her generosity still dormant under the veneer of terror she has cast. I silently make her a promise that I will listen. I am paying attention. With a settling crack, the icefall adjusts its position once more. I feel the vibration under my feet, and I feel her exhale in my soul. I breathe a deep breath, letting the air absorb into my body and exhaling gratitude back to her.

* * *

The details of the accident became more and more tragic as we pieced them back together. The Sherpas had been climbing up in the early

hours of the previous morning when they arrived at one of the metal ladders that were placed to help cross the gaping crevasses. It was broken, making the route impassable, and they shed their loads to wait for the icefall doctors to come fix it.* They pulled out their thermoses and cigarettes and snacks and huddled together in a sort of dogpile to stay warm. A thunderous crack ripped through the sky. Two thousand feet above, an ice block the size of a suburban house calved off the cliff and careened down, breaking apart and spewing destruction in every direc- tion. The men were buried. Those who tried to run were hit by ice chunks or knocked into crevasses hundreds of feet deep. The seven men who stayed huddled were crushed under the ice and under one another and mostly suffocated.

It was a tragedy that would affect every village in some way and bring the climbing season to a halt. Workers demanded a better safety net for their families if they were going to do such a dangerous job. Women in villages threatened to bring all the children and leave them at Base Camp if their husbands climbed. I sat with Pasang as we both cried. She had lost an uncle and knew almost every one of the sixteen who died. I knew six of them well after years of working alongside them on this very mountain. One was Ang Tshering, the Camp Two cook who had so tenderly helped me after Chhewang died.

I wondered how things might have been different for us if Pasang and I had our climbing gear. Would we have been caught too? I chose not to dwell on this what-if and instead decided to return home.

I stayed in Nepal for a week after we returned from the mountains to Kathmandu. I cried every day and felt empty and helpless. My sleep was interrupted by images of the ice splattered with blood. I would wake up wanting to flee from myself but with nowhere to go. By the time I got home to Idaho, I had placed all my feelings on a shelf with a label.

鈥淭hings No One Can Understand鈥� and met everyone with quietness. I had spent a huge part of my adult life facing traumas on the ambulance and in the mountains, but this was on a scale that was much harder to wrestle down in my mind and soul. With Jon, I was icy, distant. I 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 even attempt to let him close. His best friend was getting married that May and he was excited that I could join him at the wedding now that I was back early. I resented his excitement and looked at him with disgust that he could find a bright side to something so horrific.

Truthfully, he 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 know what to do. Who would? He offered me all the space I needed but I greedily took more, wanting to be surrounded by only my own thoughts. I decided to ride my bike alone across Montana instead of going to the wedding, replacing one discomfort for another in the rhythm of survival that had brought me here. I started to seriously wonder if here was where I even wanted to be. How long would I be able to avoid the truth that was crashing down around me, a serac of its own?

*The icefall doctors are a group of Sherpas who are paid by every team to set the ropes and ladders in the icefall only. They don鈥檛 go above Camp Two but instead work to keep the ever-changing route passable.

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Where do Mount Everest climbers buy gear in Kathmandu?

It鈥檚 no secret that most Everest hopefuls arrive in Nepal with jackets, boots, harnesses, sleeping bags, and other mountaineering items. But even the most prepared climber sometimes forgets an important product at home, or buys the wrong thing.

Luckily for these climbers, there’s the Astrek Complex, a collection of stores that specializes in hiking gear, mountaineering hardware, outdoor apparel, and other outdoor products. The shops and cafes sit adjacent to an outdoor climbing wall and bouldering structure, where local climbers can test their strength. The climbing wall was the first to be built in central Kathmandu.

Our Dispatches from Everest reporter Ben Ayers recently toured Astrek to check out the stores and the climbing wall. He met with Nepali IMFG guide Vinayak Jaya Malla to talk about gear, safety, and the allure of the world’s highest peak.

Want to stay up on 国产吃瓜黑料鈥檚 2025 Everest Season coverage? Sign up for our听.

The post Here鈥檚 Where Mount Everest Climbers Gear Up in Kathmandu appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

When I heard that the famed Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila was back in Kathmandu this spring, I texted her to see if she was interested in connecting for an interview. Harila, 39, rose to fame within the global mountaineering scene in 2023, when she and Nepali climber Tenjen 鈥淟ama鈥� Sherpa successfully climbed the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 meters in just 92 days. The expedition still stands as a world record.

“I almost don’t do interviews anymore,” Harila told me. “It’s just written wrong all the time, even in the smallest outdoor magazines in Norway, they just write to get headlines.”

I met with Harila听in the crowded breakfast hall of the Aloft Hotel, towering above the beating heart of Kathmandu鈥檚 Thamel tourist district. Harila was dressed in a patchwork hoodie and was already working her way through an omelet and toast. The room buzzed with Indian tourists on holiday and conspicuous trekkers sporting听bright polypro shirts and pants that zip off at the knee.

Perhaps nobody in the mountaineering world has experienced such emotional highs and lows as Harila over the past two years. Criticism about her record-chasing expedition popped up as she was still climbing peaks. Within days of her July 27, 2023 ascent of K2, murmurs spread within the climbing scene that she and Lama had charged past a dying mountain worker on their way to the summit. Harila has about the incident and provided proof that she and Lama spent several hours trying to save the man

Then, in October 2023, disaster struck: Lama died in an avalanche on 26,335-foot Shishapangma in Tibet. He had been guiding American climber Gina Marie Rzucidlo, who was seeking to become the first American woman to complete all 14 8,000 meter peaks. Minutes after the deadly slide, another avalanche claimed the lives of Anna Gutu, another American, and her guide Mingmar Sherpa. The deaths had a major impact on Harila.

鈥淚 haven鈥檛 had any solace since K2 and since Lama passed away,” she said. “I鈥檓 trying to find my way back to the mountains in some way, but I don鈥檛 know if I鈥檒l ever be able to. I鈥檓 hoping to have a nice time now, but let鈥檚 see how it goes.鈥�

Harila is back in Nepal this year attempting to secure permits to return to Tibet to look for Lama and Rzucidlo, who are still buried somewhere on Shishapangma. She first plans to trek into the Everest region alongside Lama鈥檚 oldest son to acclimatize while she waits. If she has time, she said, she would do something casual like听climb Nuptse or run the Everest Marathon.

“I wanted to search for Lama again, but I was sure that it’s my last. I will do shorter trips, but not two months,” she told me. “I am done with long expeditions.”

This trip to Tibet is Harila’s second attempt to locate Lama and Rzucidlo, after an unsuccessful one last October. In May, 2024, climber Nirmal “Nims” Purja and his Elite Exped guides located the bodies of Gutu and Mingmar. For her 2025 search Harila is hoping to bring a helicopter, a French rescue pilot, and an RECCO听scanner that could ping signals off the reflectors in jackets worn by Lama and Rzucidlo.

The outfitter that helped Harila achieve her record, Seven Summits Treks, is currently working on the complex logistics and permitting of Harila’s mission.

鈥淭here is no one else that has any interest in finding them, other than me, Seven Summits, and Lama and Gina鈥檚 family. I鈥檓 paying for it all myself鈥� Harila told me. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 really care about money.鈥�

As we talked, Harila barely ate. She spoke quickly and emphatically. 鈥淔or everyone it would be good to get them home,” she said. “And if we鈥檙e not successful I鈥檒l probably try to come back in the autumn and try again. I鈥檓 trying to say it鈥檚 the last time now, but I know it will be hard if there鈥檚 an expedition to say 鈥業鈥檓 not coming.鈥欌��

I asked Harila if she felt that her own record-setting expedition in 2023 fueled the culture that led to the Shishapangma disaster.

鈥淚 can only say that I wasn鈥檛 there,” she answered. “That鈥檚 a lesson I learned from K2. The only people that can say what happened on Shishapangma, are dead. The four of them. So I cannot say anything for them, and none of them are here to defend themselves.”

Harila then added: 鈥淚 never thought it would end this way. If I knew, I never would have done it. A lot of these accidents that happened shouldn鈥檛 have happened.鈥�

Our conversation meandered, and as Harila stood up to get a coffee, a middle-aged British trekker in a neon-green running shirt leaned over to me and asked: 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry to bother, but is that鈥︹�� He 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 mention her name, only raising his eyebrows in awe. I confirmed it was her. 鈥淲ow,鈥� he said. 鈥淛ust, wow.鈥�

Harila recounted her 2024 trip to Tibet to try and locate the missing climbers. Her fears that the bodies are located in one of two yawning crevasses were diminished by her own investigation: a climbing sherpa had survived the slide intact, and others found Lama鈥檚 backpack and Rzucidlo’s pants and shoes.

These days Harila is financially supporting Lama鈥檚 two sons, aged 15 and 18, and trying to get them to Norway to attend school. She told me about the charitable foundation she established in Norway, called the Lama Sherpa Foundation, which strives to create safety guidelines for mountain workers in Nepal. Harila hopes to someday create a third-party certification program for expedition companies, climbers, and high-altitude workers. 鈥淲e just need to do it safer, and in a better way,” she said.

She shared her dreams of having a farm in Norway and trying out other sports, like running and triathlon.

I felt somewhat awkward as I listened to Harila share her future hopes and dreams. Like many people in the climbing world, I had watched Harila’s life unravel over social media throughout late 2023 and 2024. The 2023 expedition made her famous, but after the K2 controversy Harila went through a painful breakup with her then-boyfriend, and that was followed by Lama鈥檚 death. Each event was personal and also public.

I asked if Harila felt her fame led to her being treated unfairly by media. 鈥淵eah, but not only because of all the people writing wrong things about me,” she said. “Of course I had like, maybe, 20,000 negative comments and hate threats on social media after K2.鈥�

She continued: 鈥淚 probably had more than 200 people write that they were coming to kill me. I have them every day, still. I still have nightmares about everything,” she said. “Today I woke up, and this is like, what comes in in social media, like every day.鈥�

She took out her phone and showed me a series of screenshots of inflammatory social media comments in Norwegian and English that proved her point. 鈥淧eople still believe the story, and this is like every day still,” she said.

But social media is a necessary evil in her life. Harila admitted that, these days, professional climbers cannot fund expeditions to 8,000-meter peaks without maintaining a healthy presence on social media sites like Instagram. Being an influencer is just part of the job鈥攁t best, Harila said, the platforms allow her to express herself directly to the world.

This final point reminded me of my first meeting with Harila鈥攊t was in the lobby of this same hotel in the summer of 2022, minutes after she had returned from her first successful ascent of 27,838-foot Makalu. At the time, Harila was sunburned, weary, and glowing, full of fire and conviction to show the world that women could climb just fast鈥攐r even faster鈥攖han men. At the time I was struck by her conviction and confidence: her expression of strength, demonstrated wholly, one cramponed foot step听at a time.

Less than three years later, the mountains appear to be a different force in Harila’s life: a place of mourning and vitriol; somewhere to acclimatize on the way to recover the bodies of close friends.

As we parted, Harila walked me into the polished marble lobby of the hotel where that British trekker in the green shirt waited. He told us about his upcoming hike to Everest Base Camp, a lifelong dream, and asked if he could take a selfie. I offered to take a few photos of them together. Posing against a plate-glass window, Harlia and the man beamed. He thanked her profusely, heaping her with praise. In that moment, I saw her light again.

鈥淪ee,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ome people still appreciate me.鈥�

Want to stay up on 国产吃瓜黑料鈥檚 2025 Everest Season coverage? Sign up for our听.

Ben Ayers has covered Mount Everest climbing season for听国产吃瓜黑料 since 2021. He is a filmmaker, journalist, and adventurer who splits his time between Vermont and Nepal. In 2016 he led an expedition to document the last harvest of wild cliff honey by Nepal’s Kulung Rai people for National Geographic.听

The post Kristin Harila Is Searching the Himalayas for Tenjen Sherpa鈥攁nd Solace appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

It’s spring, which means the mountaineering world is once again focused on 29,032-foot Mount Everest. This year 国产吃瓜黑料听will be among the hundreds of climbers, guides, and mountain workers stationed in Base Camp. Veteran reporter Ben Ayers, who has lived in Nepal for 25 years, is taking our Everest coverage to new heights with our new project 国产吃瓜黑料: Dispatches from Everest. Throughout April and May, Ayers will travel from Kathmandu to the town of Lukla in the Himalayan foothills, where he will start the 11-day trek to Everest Base Camp. Throughout his journey, Ayers will write about the climbers, guides, industry dynamics, and controversies on Everest, while covering all of the expedition news from the foot of the mountain. He will also post daily videos to show us what life is like in Base Camp. Stay tuned to 国产吃瓜黑料’s听Everest Season 2025 coverage, and sign up for the听听newsletter to read the latest developments from the world’s highest peak.

Helicopter Pilots in the Himalayas Risk their Lives to Save Climbers

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Drones, Drama, Speed Records, and Danger: Here are Four 2025 Everest Stories We鈥檙e Already Following.

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Everest reporter Ben Ayers sits down with the Norwegian mountaineer in Kathmandu to discuss her ongoing search for the bodies of Tenjen 鈥淟ama鈥� Sherpa and Gina Rzucidlo, her mixed feelings on speed records on the 14 peaks, and the darker side of Internet fame.

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The 2025 climbing season on Mount Everest is off to a busy start this week, with听expedition groups departing for the village of Lukla, at the foot of the Himalayas, to begin acclimatization hikes and climbs on their way to Base Camp.

All signs point to another extremely crowded year on the mountain. While most expedition companies will finalize their permits in the coming weeks, officials with 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 Department of Tourism believe that this year could break the record set in 2023, when 478 paying clients climbed Everest from the Nepal side. Last year, the numbers dipped slightly to 421.

鈥淲e are well ahead of the numbers we saw at this time last year,鈥� Rakesh Gurung, Director of the Nepal Department of Tourism, told 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淚 expect that the total number will cross 500 this year.鈥�

The uptick in permits again raises concerns about safety on the mountain, since gridlock on the fixed ropes can create hazards and slow down rescue attempts. In addition to being the busiest year on Everest, 2023 was one of the deadliest, with 18 recorded fatalities.

When asked about managing the increased crowds of summit-seekers and ensuring safety on the mountain, Aarati Neupane, director general of the tourism department said that it was up to the climbers to police themselves.

鈥淕ood mountaineers practice mountaineering ethics,鈥� she told 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淎s a developing country we don鈥檛 have the resources to create a rescue team or to enforce all the rules on the mountain. We hope that skilled climbers come with experience, climb safely with our Sherpa teams, and respect the environment.鈥�

Crowds, safety, and permits are some of the biggest storylines to follow on the roof of the world in 2025. But there are other dynamics within the industry of Everest mountaineering, and notable planned ascents, that are also attention-grabbing. And for 2025, 国产吃瓜黑料 will have a front-row seat for for these stories and others: I will be headed to Everest Base Camp in late April to report on the climbing season.

Here are some of the storylines that I will be following on the world’s highest peak.

Flying Drones Get the Green Light

Nepali rules will again require climbers and expedition operators to carry their own feces down from the mountain in biodegradable bags. But Nepali officials in 2025 are also rolling out new infrastructure aimed at reducing waste.

The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, the non-governmental organization that focuses on Everest鈥檚 environmental health, is planning to use heavy-lift drones to move garbage down from Camp I to collection centers in Base Camp. This move comes one year after the SPCC tested a FlyCart 30, a cargo drone made by Chinese firm DJI, on the peak.

鈥淚t鈥檚 always been a major challenge to bring the waste down off the mountains.鈥� says Tsering Sherpa, CEO of the SPCC. 鈥淭he drones are for safety, but also to help us use modern technology to bring waste down off the mountain in the most cost effective way possible.鈥�

The drones can carry about 35 pounds of gear at high altitude, and while that may not sound like much, the speed at which they can transport it could be a game changer. It often听takes a porter several hours to ascend from Base Camp at 17,500 feet elevation through the Khumbu Icefall to Camp I at 19,900 feet.

A flying drone, meanwhile, can complete the journey in just 15 minutes, .

Tsering Sherpa told 国产吃瓜黑料 that the drones may also be used to shuttle oxygen cylinders up to the higher camp. This strategy could reduce the number of trips high-altitude workers need to take through the Khumbu Icefall, improving safety by trimming down on the number of trips a porter will make.

A Dry Winter Increases the Danger

After an unusually dry winter, numerous wildfires have blanketed Nepal in a thick haze which has and led to on the planet.

These dry conditions have also impacted climbing conditions. Without any new snow to shore up dangerous features in the mountains, rope-fixing teams are facing increased risk of being hit by falling rock and ice.

Expeditions on nearby Annapurna, typically the first 8,000-meter peak to see climbers summit听each year, aborted their initial ascent due to exposed crevasses and dangerous conditions.

On the second summit bid, the team succeeded without using fixed ropes on the last section. Veteran expedition leader Mingma G, who led the rope-fixing team to the summit, wrote on : 鈥淒ry conditions, more crevasses, hanging seracs made it more difficult. The deathly avalanche between Camp 2 and Camp 3听always scared me. So today I made my final Goodbye to this beautiful mountain. I won鈥檛 be leading any expedition on it in future. This mountain is just too risky. Annapurna鈥檚 beauty always attracted me but I can鈥榯 risk my life here anymore.鈥�

Unfortunately, Mingma G鈥檚 words were prophetic: on Monday, April 7, two experienced climbing sherpas were swept down Annapurna by an avalanche. The two climbers, Ngima Tashi Sherpa and Renge Sherpa are still missing as of publication.

Tsering Sherpa told 国产吃瓜黑料 that these conditions are already impacting the speed of rope fixing teams on Everest. The dry conditions could create more danger for climbers heading through the Khumbu Icefall on their way to Camp I.

鈥淚t鈥檚 much more dangerous this year. Without any snow, the ice is much less stable and more likely to collapse,鈥� he said.

The SPCC鈥檚 team of elite 鈥業cefall Doctors鈥� have chosen a route through the icefall similar to the one used in 2023 to avoid some of these dangers, but progress remains slow. 鈥淩ockfall and high winds have slowed the Icefall Doctors,鈥� Tsering Sherpa said. 鈥淏ut we don鈥檛 have any other options – we鈥檙e taking the safest route based on their judgement and experience.鈥�

Ultrarunners Target Everest Speed Records

This year鈥檚 significant record attempts seem to be focused on speed.听After spending three months at altitude in Quito, Ecuador, American ultrarunner Tyler Andrews has moved his training to Khumbu in the lead-up to his attempt to break the record for the Fastest Known Time (FKT) from 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 Base Camp to the summit of Everest without using supplementary oxygen.

That ascent takes in 11,434 vertical feet. Currently, the speed record for this climb is 20 hours and 24 minutes was set by Kaji Sherpa in 1998. Andrews thinks he can make the climb in under 20 hours.

鈥淚 can confidently say that I am in the best shape of my life,鈥� Andrews told 国产吃瓜黑料 in an email. 鈥淚’m super stoked to be able to get back into the rhythm of regular training in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.鈥�

Andrews also mentioned that he met with Kaji Sherpa and previous speed record holder, French alpinist Marc Batard, in Kathmandu. Andrews said that both men will be present at Base Camp to send him off on his attempt.

But Andrews isn鈥檛 the only ultrarunner targeting the Everest FKT. Swiss-Equadorian mountain athlete Karl Egloff, who previously set an FKT on Denali, has come to Nepal on the tail of setting a new chasing his goal to set speed records on the tallest peaks of all seven continents.

Like Andrews, Egloff will be climbing without oxygen鈥攂ut his record attempt is from Base Camp to the summit and back. According to Explorersweb, Egloff will climb with his partner, Nico Miranda, who will carry emergency oxygen in order to maintain compliance with 狈别辫补濒鈥檚 ban on solo expeditions.

All Eyes on the Xenon Expedition

In March, 国产吃瓜黑料 wrote about an expedition led by Austrian guide Lukas Furtenbach that will bring four clients from the U.K. to the top of Everest and back in just one week. All four are undergoing an experimental treatment using xenon gas prior to the ascent to help them acclimatize to the altitude.

In recent weeks the four climbers have also revealed additional details of the trip. All four are elite British Army veterans, and they are calling the trip 鈥淢ission: Everest.鈥� All four are raising cash for veterans鈥� charities with the climb.

鈥淚’ve got a really busy job, as do the other people on the expedition.鈥� Mission: Everest team member Al Carns told 国产吃瓜黑料 when asked about the climb. 鈥淏eing able to do it at this speed opens up Everest whole other sectors of society. This is how we push forward in science.鈥�

The use of xenon prior to the trip has generated headlines across the globe. In addition to other benefits, xenon is shown to boost the body鈥檚 production of erythropoietin, or EPO, which increases the body’s production of red blood cells. Xenon has not been tested for use at altitude in a clinical trial and is a banned substance for Olympic competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation has also issued a statement against the use of xenon, claiming that 鈥渢here is no evidence that breathing in xenon improves performance in the mountains, and inappropriate use can be dangerous.鈥�

But the Mission: Everest mountaineers have argued that the treatment is safe. And they say their rapid ascent will diminish some of the drawbacks of traditional Everest climbs.

In a statement to 国产吃瓜黑料, expedition leader Garth Miller, who is an airline pilot, wrote: 鈥淭he criticism from armchair mountaineers, or those with little experience of the realities of climbing 8,000-meter peaks doesn鈥檛 deter us, and we accept that what we are setting out to do and why has been poorly communicated to the public.鈥�

鈥淚t is all part of the evolution of the sport,鈥� he added.

国产吃瓜黑料 in Base Camp

I leave Kathmandu on April 25th for Lukla, and just like the Everest climbers, I鈥檒l be completing the ten-day hike to Everest Base Camp before spending the next three weeks at the foot of the world鈥檚 highest peak.

I鈥檒l be filing daily content: written stories, online journal entries, and video posts about Everest. My plan is to take you on an inside tour of the biggest stories of the 2025 climbing season鈥攊ncluding the ones I mentioned here, and many others. I鈥檝e lived in Nepal for over 25 years, including many years in the Khumbu valley, and it鈥檚 important to me to share with you the incredible cultural and historic places I visit along the way, and bring you exclusive interviews with the most compelling and influential climbers, expedition operators, and Nepali officials who are impacting life on Everest.

It鈥檚 not going to be an easy assignment, but it鈥檚 going to be an incredible one! So follow along on 国产吃瓜黑料Online and on our social media handles.

Ben Ayers is a journalist, filmmaker, and humanitarian worker who splits his time between Vermont and Nepal. Ben has overseen our coverage of Mount Everest climbing season since 2021. In 2025 his documentary film听Snow Leopard Sisters will be released.

The post 国产吃瓜黑料 Is Headed to Mount Everest this Year. Here Are the Stories We鈥檙e Following. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.