Conquering Mount Everest will cost climbers an extra $4,000 (£3,270) after Nepal hiked up fees for the first time in almost a decade.
Nepal’s government has announced a 36% increase in permit fees, meaning they will go from $11,000 (£8,930) to $15,000 (£12,200) from September.
Income from permit fees and other spending by foreign climbers is a key source of revenue and employment for the cash-strapped nation, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest.
The new $15,000 fee will apply for the popular April-May climbing season along the standard South East Ridge, or South Col route.
Fees for the less popular September-November season and the rarely climbed December-February season will also increase by 36%, to $7,500 (£6,090) and $3,750 (£3,040) respectively.
Narayan Prasad Regmi, director general of the Department of Tourism, said: “The royalty [permit fees] had not been reviewed for a long time. We have updated them now.”
About 300 permits are issued each year for Everest.
“We expected this hike in permit fees,” said Lukas Furtenbach of Austria-based expedition organiser Furtenbach Adventures.
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He said it was an “understandable step” from the government of Nepal.
“I am sure the additional funds will be somehow used to protect the environment and improve safety on Everest,” Mr Furtenbach said.
Hundreds of climbers try to scale Mount Everest and several other Himalayan peaks every year.
Nepal is often criticised by mountaineering experts for allowing too many people on Everest and doing little to keep it clean or to ensure climbers’ safety.
Climbers returning from Everest say the mountain is becoming increasingly dry and rocky with less snow or other precipitation, which experts say could be due to global warming or other environmental changes.
The government has not commented on what the extra funds will go towards, but Mr Regmi said cleaning campaigns had been organised to collect rubbish and that rope fixing and other safety measures were undertaken regularly.