Nepal is set to pass a law to grant permits to climb Mount Everest only to those who have previously scaled at least one 7,000-metre peak within the country, marking a major shift for the tourism-dependent country amid concerns over overcrowding and ecological imbalance on the world’s highest mountain.
The Integrated Tourism Bill proposed in Nepal’s upper house of Parliament on 18 April aims to address the issue of overcrowding, enhance climber safety, and mitigate ecological concerns on Everest, which has faced mounting issues like pollution and dangerous bottlenecks.
Nepal, the Himalayan country home to the world’s tallest peak, has been criticised for overly commercialising Everest by issuing permits to too many and sometimes inexperienced climbers.
Income from the permits that cost £12,000 and other spending by foreign climbers each year is the main source of revenue for the country which enjoys its unique feature of having eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains.
More tourists to the dangerous slopes have meant more garbage, human waste, and environmental damage on Everest. Rescue missions at extreme altitudes are extremely risky and expensive.
The proposed law will be debated and is expected to be passed in the National Assembly, where the ruling alliance holds a majority required to pass the bill.
The bill would require climbers to submit a certificate of climbing at least one peak above 7,000m in Nepal before applying for an Everest permit. This aims to ensure climbers have adequate high-altitude experience to handle the challenges of Everest, reducing risks associated with inexperience.
Mount Everest stands at 8,848.86m (29,031.7ft) above sea level, as confirmed by a 2020 joint survey by Nepal and China, and the route includes deadly glacier travel, ice climbing, and fixed-rope sections. The Khumbu Icefall and Hillary Step zones are considered particularly dangerous and referred to as death zones.
The head of local staff, called the sardar, and the mountain guide accompanying climbers must also be Nepali citizens, under the new proposed law.
However, International expedition operators have raised objection to the Nepal government only allowing climbers with certificates from of 7,000m peak from within the country and not from anywhere else in the world.
“That wouldn’t make any sense. And I would also add mountains that are close to 7,000 metres to that list and that are widely used as preparation, like Ama Dablam, Aconcagua, Denali and others,” Lukas Furtenbach of Austria-based expedition organiser, Furtenbach Adventures, told Reuters.
Medical check-ups of the climbers will also be mandatory. The climbers will need to give a certificate from a government-approved medical institution, issued within the past month.
Everest applicants would also be required to declare in advance if they are attempting a record, according to the Kathmandu Post.
Climbers will not be allowed to transfer their paid permits to others, and if their expedition is halted due to unforeseen events such as disasters, war, or circumstances beyond their control, the permit fee will not be refunded but will remain valid for two years.
Mr Furtenbach, currently leading an expedition on Everest, said mountain guides from other countries must also be allowed to work on Everest, as there are not enough qualified Nepali mountain guides.
“It is important that mountain guides have a qualification like IFMGA (International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations), no matter what nationality they are. We do also welcome Nepali IFMGA guides to work in the Alps in Europe,” he told Reuters.
The 2025 Everest climbing season began in April, and Nepal has already issued 402 climbing permits. The number is expected to rise over 500 in the coming days with the main window for summit attempts opening in May.
It comes as Nepal announced a hike in permit fee by 36 per cent, rising from £8,249 to £11,248, marking the first price hike for the world’s highest peak in nearly a decade.
