How much does it cost to climb Everest?

JonKelleher

Just out of complete and utter curiosity, approximately how much would an Everest expedition cost?

Halloween Jack

I've heard the figure of 50,000 dollars bandied about, not sure how accurate that is.

I think most of the guided people up there are successful people in their own fields who desire a challenge etc.

The Dagda

A google search gives access to actual prices from actual guiding companies;

https://www.google.ie/#q=guided%20expeditions%20to%20mount%20everest

You should try Google sometime, it's very handy...

JonKelleher

The Dagda wrote: »

A google search gives access to actual prices from actual guiding companies;

https://www.google.ie/#q=guided%20expeditions%20to%20mount%20everest

You should try Google sometime, it's very handy...

There is obviously going to be ancillary costs e.g. flights, gear, pre-training courses and there is also a massive variation in what is provided by the companies. Ergo, why I was offering out the question.

Thanks for your insight though, very constructive.

a148pro

Some of the lads will give you one maybe two sherpas, lots of oxygen, will have teams with experienced sherpas and western guides and pay extra for high end weather forecasts

Others will just more or less get you a permit and a couple of tents on the mountain and its up to you

A lot of the lads who die tend to be on the latter outfits

Either way the entire thing has turned into a circus, the amount of human ****e and bodies on the mountain now. It isn't a great feat to climb everest any more, it hasn't been for a long time. Its more a reflection of having a lot of money, reasonable fitness and determination. And for what exactly? If you could be up there alone or in a small group it would be amazing. But if you have to stagger around with a bunch of tourists stepping over bodies and queuing to get to the top I don't think its really worth it.

Here is a good breakdown...

http://www.outsideonline.com/blog/outdoor-adventure/is-everest-solo-cheaper-than-an-expedition.html

They suggest between 35 and 60k US dollars.

Personally, once a 13 year old did it because he saw a picture of it in school, I think the penny dropped for everyone that the first requirement clearly doesn't seem to be experience or expertise...but money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Romero

The Dagda

JonKelleher wrote: »

There is obviously going to be ancillary costs e.g. flights, gear, pre-training courses and there is also a massive variation in what is provided by the companies. Ergo, why I was offering out the question.

Thanks for your insight though, very constructive.

So despite only asking the question out of "curiosity" you actually want "ancillary" costs?

The google search I provided to satiate your idle curiosity was for all inclusive expeditions. If you'd bothered to read them rather then defend your laziness you'd know that...

JonKelleher

The Dagda wrote: »

So despite only asking the question out of "curiosity" you actually want "ancillary" costs?

The google search I provided to satiate your idle curiosity was for all inclusive expeditions. If you'd bothered to read them rather then defend your laziness you'd know that...

I'm glad you've taken such an interest in my idle curiosity, and that my lazy has irked you so.

JonKelleher

Deleted User wrote: »

Here is a good breakdown...

http://www.outsideonline.com/blog/outdoor-adventure/is-everest-solo-cheaper-than-an-expedition.html

They suggest between 35 and 60k US dollars.

Personally, once a 13 year old did it because he saw a picture of it in school, I think the penny dropped for everyone that the first requirement clearly doesn't seem to be experience or expertise...but money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Romero

Great breakdown, thanks a million.

The Dagda

JonKelleher wrote: »

Great breakdown, thanks a million.

That page was on the search I provided too.

And it's not the laziness that irks me, it's the denial...

JonKelleher

JonKelleher wrote: »

Great breakdown, thanks a million.

No problem.

Looking back on my post above I sound a bit cynical, I mean I'd love to do it if I had bottomless pockets, I just think on any cost benefit analysis I'd rather spend it on other adventures. Surely a grand would get one to the foot of the Eiger's North Face for starters. For a kid to pick it out like a trip to Disneyworld just suggests that if one pays enough for guides and the like, how dangerous can it really be.

Pat Mustard

Mod:

There was some bickering. I wouldn't like to see that again on this thread.

Tokyo

a148pro wrote: »

Either way the entire thing has turned into a circus, the amount of human ****e and bodies on the mountain now. It isn't a great feat to climb everest any more, it hasn't been for a long time. Its more a reflection of having a lot of money, reasonable fitness and determination. And for what exactly? If you could be up there alone or in a small group it would be amazing. But if you have to stagger around with a bunch of tourists stepping over bodies and queuing to get to the top I don't think its really worth it.

I've been to Everest twice (Base Camps I and II) and I couldn't agree more. The actual percentage of climbers that have earned the right to be there through climbing progressively more difficult summits is minimal - too many of the people there now are successful businessmen who have reached midlife and want something to show for it, and can afford to throw money at it to make it happen. As a result a lot of the challenge aspect is gone - one of the sherpas who owns one of the huts at BC I hauls up aluminium ladders at the start of each climbing season and anchors them into place to form bridges, or to get past difficult sections in order to make it a bit easier for the masses that can afford the climb - while the dangers when the weather turns bad have increased because there are so many inexperienced climbers now that don't know what to do if they become separated from their party, or someone suffers an injury. It's worth spending a week or two at BC I at the start of the season just to watch the circus unfold - a lot of the time it's like watching a car crash that's about to happen, sad to say.

It has always been a hope of mine to summit, and when I looked into the costs around 2010, the permits alone from the Nepalese government were around $60,000 for a team of up to six climbers, plus another $11,000 for each climber after that. Couple that with equipment, oxygen, guide and sherpas, along with other fees such as tip (a few thousand dollars if you manage to summit), you're talking somewhere north of $60,000. And you don't get that back if you don't get to the summit.

I was lucky enough to get to base camp II in 2010 without having to be part of an expedition - the only reason I got that far was that I befriended a weather surveying team that are based below base camp, who had to install weather analysis equipment at BC II and invited me along.

loobylou

Curious Mike_ie, where do you distinguish between basecamp 1 and 2? I know theres an ABC on the Tibetan side, but Nepal? Do you mean Gorak Shep as basecamp 1?

Tokyo

Apologies - that should have read as BC (Gorak Shep) and BC II, although obviously we passed through I to get to II.

BC II was as far as I was allowed to go, and is at around the 6500m mark on the Khumbu glacier. At the time I was living for a short while in Nepal, and doing a lot of trekking and climbing, and was lucky enough to become good friends with one of the meteorologists that work in "the Pyramid" - a permanent meteorological station at around 5300m. At the time they were tasked with installing meteorological equipment on the South Col for the Nepalese and Italian governments, so were relaying gear and supplies between the various camps at the start of the season, and I was lucky enough to get to go on one of the equipment runs. 5 of the their team continued onwards to the South Col to install the equipment, and three of them actually took the time out to summit, and didn't think twice about it, which was pretty amazing.

I think that was one of the most eye opening things in my time there - we put those that summit Everest on pedestals at home, but quite often you'd meet a sherpa there only to find out over a cup of tea that he might have summited Everest five or six times, as part of his working life.

Sugar Free

I think Ed Viesturs in his book about K2 echoes sentiments expressed here.

Paraphrasing but if he finds himself sitting around talking shop with other mountaineers, people don't bat an eye-lid if they mention they've summitted Everest. However, if he mentions he reached the summit of K2, silence descends on the group until someone leans forward and says 'Tell us about it'.

All that said, from a personal perspective of someone who's barely been above 2000m, it still takes a lot of dedication and training to drag your body up to those altitudes, even if for many it's with oxygen, fixed ropes the entire way and a sherpa kicking you up the arse!

Tokyo

Sugar Free wrote: »

I think Ed Viesturs in his book about K2 echoes sentiments expressed here.

Paraphrasing but if he finds himself sitting around talking shop with other mountaineers, people don't bat an eye-lid if they mention they've summitted Everest. However, if he mentions he reached the summit of K2, silence descends on the group until someone leans forward and says 'Tell us about it'.

Not surprising. By pure coincidence I happened to be in Pakistan in 2008, a few miles away from K2 when eleven climbers, including Ireland's Ger McDonnell were killed on it. There's a completely different atmosphere even around the mountain than you'll see at Everest - much more serious, no bull****, everyone knows that there's a distinct possibility they'll be hurt or killed. Even looking up at the mountain, which is all I was remotely qualified to do, you're just filled with foreboding. In terms of sheer difficulty, K2 beats most mountains hands down.

All that said, from a personal perspective of someone who's barely been above 2000m, it still takes a lot of dedication and training to drag your body up to those altitudes, even if for many it's with oxygen, fixed ropes the entire way and a sherpa kicking you up the arse!

To a point. But to give one example that sadly doesn't distinguish itself - when I was there, I met a businessman from Spain who had paid to summit, and was coming up from Lukla to Base Camp to meet up with the rest of his party. I'm not exaggerating when I say that he was probably one of the most unfit people I have ever seen on a mountain; overweight, zero climbing experience, had not done any preparation, the hike alone up to base camp was killing him. The sherpas that were with him were all too aware that he shouldn't be there, but they didn't get a say in it. He'd paid top dollar to get to the top, and if they had to carry him up on their backs, that's how it was going to be. We actually ended up following behind him fearing that he would collapse, that was the level of our concern for the man.

By the time he'd made it to Base Camp, he had decided that maybe this mountaineering lark wasn't for him after all (thankfully), at which case he took to a bunk, and demanded that a helicopter be sent for him. Somehow he got his wish (I assume by throwing money at it), and abandoned everyone that had helped him make it that far, including the extra guys he'd hired along the way to carry his gear, and headed off back to Kathmandu... :rolleyes:

That's obviously the worst case scenario, but there are plenty there that have no cause being anywhere near a mountain, particularly one of that magnitude. And that's the hardest part to accept - I know plenty of people, myself included, who would jump at the opportunity from the sheer lifelong love of the challenge, but we'll probably never get the chance. But if I have the money to throw at it because I want to have a summit photo to hang on the boardroom wall, then no problem.


<edit>Apologies for the long winded post - this is something that's a pet peeve of mine