Hiring A Guide Service
- $59,000 to $77,000 (Per person for top US-guide service on South Col Route)
- $40,000 (Per person for guided trip up North Ridge Route)
If you choose to go with a commercial guide service, here are just a few of the expenses the companies assume in order to guide their paying customers up the popular South Col route:
- Climbing permits and fees – prorated per person, $25,000 for 1 person; $56,000 for 4 people; $70,000 for 7 people, etc.
- Climbing permits and fees – prorated per person, $25,000 for 1 person; $56,000 for 4 people; $70,000 for 7 people, etc.
- Sagarmatha National Park Entrance Fee – $100 per team
- Khumbu Icefall Fee (paid to Sagarmatha Park for route maintenance) – $2,375 per team
- Satellite Phone permit (paid to Nepalese Ministry of Communications) – $2,300 per phone
- Garbage and Human Waste Disposal (A comprehensive clean-up and recycling effort is underway on Mount Everest, to counteract decades of environmental abuse. This fee is paid to Sagarmatha Park officials.) – $4,000
- Oxygen (High quality oxygen and oxygen canisters are essential to the success and safety of climbers.) – $30,000
- Lead guide – $25,000 Note: The more famous your guide, the more he or she will cost you. For instance, for $125,000, you may be able to hire Ed Viesturs, the first American to summit all fourteen 8,000 meter peaks without the use of supplemental oxygen.
- 2 Assistant guides – $10,000 to $15,000 each
- Liaison Officer (ensures that your expedition meets all local regulation requirements) – $3,000
- Doctor (Some doctors will volunteer their services in exchange for a Himalayan experience.) – $4,000
- 7 Climbing Sherpas – $5,000 each
- 3 – 4 Cooks – $3,500 each
- 3 Helicopter charters from Kathmandu to Lukla – $16,500
- 150 Yaks (transport 120 lbs. of gear each, from Lukla to Basecamp) – $7,500
- Ritual expenses. (Sherpas perform many rituals along the way, to honor and appease the mountain, which they call Sagarmatha – goddess of the sky. Donations are made to the local monastery; there are daily rituals performed; prayer flags are flown at Base Camp; and finally, a Lama leads a day-long ceremony to mark the beginning of the ascent.) – $300
- Helicopter evacuation from Base Camp (in case of emergencies) – $5,000