For the first time in over a year, the sounds of yak bells and foreigners鈥櫶齠ootsteps are filling the听foothills of Mount Everest. As the coronavirus spread last spring, Nepal locked down its borders听on March 24, 2020. The country stayed closed until this month, when it听fully opened its听mountains to climbers who pass a COVID-19听protocol. According to Nepal鈥檚 Department of Immigration, nearly 15,000 trekkers and tourists arrived in the country in March, over half of them coming from nearby India. (In normal years, that number is usually closer to听150,000 for the same time frame.)
As of mid-April, Nepal had issued 338 permits for Everest climbers, spread across 36听teams. But more听climbers are still arriving, and听the count is expected to听approach the 2019 record of 382 permits. Including Sherpas and other support staff, Everest Base Camp will grow into a small city of over听700 people in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, China has chosen to extend听its 2020 closure听and听plans to keep听the听Tibet side of the mountain off-limits to all foreigners this spring. Chinese national teams are allowed, however, and one is already at base camp on the Tibet side.听
Several commercial operators chose to sit out this season. Adrian Ballinger, cofounder of the California-based Alpenglow Expeditions, said, 鈥淎s we were planning Everest 2021 on the Tibet side, the lack of information caused us to question if we could run an expedition safely. In the end, we decided not to put our clients and staff at risk, given the unknowns. We never considered the Nepal side, because of the dangers in the Khumbu Icefall.鈥澨鼼uy Cotter, managing director of New Zealand鈥揵ased 国产吃瓜黑料 Consultants, said, 鈥淵es, we are all suffering due to the loss of income and the potential collapse of our businesses, but at what cost would we sacrifice others by introducing the virus to the Khumbu and other regions?鈥 Cotter recently announced he would suspend his company鈥檚听operations until the pandemic allows business to return to normal.
On April 13, the Nepal Ministry of Health reported听a total of 280,984 COVID-19 cases听and 3,058 resulting deaths throughout a population of 29 million. The majority of the cases have been听in the capital city of Kathmandu and along Nepal鈥檚 southern border with India, and not in the northern part of the country, where the Himalayas are located.
Many foreign operators have sold out the available slots on their teams, similar to a typical season. Austrian Lukas Furtenbach, the owner of Furtenbach 国产吃瓜黑料s, touts the use of technology, including several thousand virus test kits and a trained expedition doctor, as steps they鈥檙e taking to manage any outbreak. 鈥淲e will have a tight self-contained bubble, allowing no visitors, and strict protocols throughout the expedition,鈥澨鼺urtenbach told me. Ryan Waters of听Mountain Professionals feels similarly.听鈥淥ur local Nepali staff is eager for us to return,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 feel that we can stay pretty contained as a group.鈥
Nepal鈥檚 guidance for visitors has been confusing over the past several months and only became apparent as climbers made their way听to Nepal. They will need a negative PCR test no more than 72 hours before arriving in Nepal and another test once there. According to Nepal鈥檚 , once the test results are negative, they will be allowed to continue their trip; otherwise, they will be required to听quarantine in a hotel for seven days. However, many climbers told me that they spent as little as two days in Kathmandu, and that enforcement of Nepal鈥檚 rules was virtually nonexistant.
With limited climbing across the globe in 2020, there was significant pent-up demand for it this听season. Many climbers applied last year鈥檚 deposits or payments to this year鈥檚 climbs. Overall prices stayed steady, but Nepalese听guide companies hurt badly by the pandemic offered deep discounts to make up for last year鈥檚 losses. Early reports suggest that tourism has a long way to go to recover, with many tea houses closed or almost empty primarily due to few people trekking this spring.
In 2021, women climbers represented 21 percent of the current permit holders, up from 11 percent historically.听
A few climbers are seeking to add to their celebrity status with an Everest summit. Singer Mike Posner听wants to use the mountain听to advance his social agendas. Former NFL player seeks to finish his attempt on Everest, but he鈥檚 added Lhotse immediately after to separate himself from former NFL player Craig Hanneman, who听summited Everest in 2012, becoming听the first former major-league athlete听to summit the tallest peak on earth. (Hanneman finished his Seven Summits climb in 2019).
Climbers from the Middle East are climbing much more often in the Himalayas. A 16-person team from Bahrain led by Sheikh Mohamed Hamad Mohamed al-Khalifa and supported by Seven Summits Treks is on Everest. That group听summited the 8,000-meter听Manaslu听last autumn. Also, Qatari Sheikha Asma Al Thani wants to be the first woman from her country to top out on Everest. The youngest on the mountain this season is 19-year-old from Pakistan.
Still others are eager to set records. Kami Rita Sherpa will be going for a record 25th summit.听Briton will attempt to match the record for most Everest summits by a non-Sherpa, currently set at 15 by American Dave Hahn.
Perhaps taking advantage of a slower-than-usual season, Nepal鈥檚 army will conduct a trash collection听at the base camps of Everest, Lhotse, Pumori, Ama Dablam, Makalu, and Dhaulagiri.