Drones will do some schlepping for Sherpas on Mount Everest

Kathmandu, Nepal: Help may at last be on the way for the Nepali Sherpas who carry heavy loads for foreign climbers through treacherous sections of the world's tallest peak.

When the main climbing season begins next month on Mount Everest, expedition companies will test drones that can ferry loads as heavy as 35 pounds in the high altitudes, bring back ladders used to set the climbing routes, and remove waste that is typically left behind.

Goods that would normally take seven hours to be transported by foot from Everest's base camp to Camp I can be airlifted within 15 minutes. By lightening the Sherpas' burdens, drone operators hope that the chances of fatal accidents - which have risen as climate change has accelerated snowmelt - can now be reduced.

"Sherpas bear enormous risks. The drone makes their task safer, faster and more efficient," said Tshering Sherpa, whose organization, the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, is responsible for fixing the route through the deadly Khumbu Icefall, southwest of Everest's summit.

For about a year, operators have been experimenting with two drones donated by their Chinese maker. The pilot test during this year's Everest climbing season is seen as an important opportunity to persuade expedition agencies to invest in more of the devices, which could be used to carry climbing gear and essential items like oxygen cylinders.

While the upfront cost of the drones may be high, their proponents say they will eventually reduce agencies' costs.

Among those who could benefit most are the experienced Sherpas known as "icefall doctors." Before every climbing season, they assemble at the Everest base camp for the daunting mission of establishing a route through the shifting ice.

They carry heavy loads of ladders, fix them over crevasses and lay rope to climb up the ice wall. Once the ladders and ropes are set along the Khumbu Icefall to Camp II, other Sherpas ferry oxygen bottles, medicine and various essentials to high camps. Sherpas make this dangerous climb at least 40 times a season, according to expedition organizers.

When the icefall doctors made their way to the base camp early this month, they were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the drone pilots, who were still in Kathmandu, the Nepali capital, finishing flight clearance documentation.

"They are calling us to team up early," said Milan Pandey, a drone pilot affiliated with AirLift, a startup drone company in Nepal.

The catalyst for the use of drones was the latest of the many deadly tragedies involving Sherpas on Everest. In 2023, three of the mountain guides were buried under an avalanche as they fixed rope for foreign climbers.

Their bodies could not be retrieved. Doing so could have damaged the ice block and endangered those trying to get the remains, said Mingma G. Sherpa, the managing director of Imagine Nepal, which led the expedition in which the Sherpas died.

His search for ways to improve safety drew him to Chinese expedition companies that were using drones on Muztagh Ata, a 24,757-foot peak in China near Pakistan's border. The Chinese were using the vehicles to ferry climbing gear, food and other crucial items to Camp II and bring them down.

"The Chinese cooked food at base camp and sent it to Camp II of Muztagh Ata, where climbers could eat hot food," Sherpa said. "I thought, why not use drones on Everest's south side, especially the Khumbu Icefall section?"

At his invitation, a team from Chinese drone maker DJI went to Nepal in spring 2024 to test two FlyCart 30 delivery drones.

The DJI team donated the drones to AirLift, the Nepalese startup. Since then, AirLift has been testing the limits of the drones in the most dangerous sections of Everest.

The drones' proponents hope that they can do more than carry items. Since the shape of icefall keeps changing, icefall doctors struggle to locate the previous climbing route, which complicates setting the new route each season. Drone operators believe they will be able to pinpoint old routes using geolocation.

The devices could also help make up for the declining numbers of Sherpas. More are leaving because of the safety risks and better employment opportunities abroad.

But even with all the drones can offer, their price tag has given some expedition companies pause.

A DJI drone can cost more than $70,000 after customs duties, a huge sum in a poor country like Nepal. Startups like AirLift are exploring options to assemble the drones inside Nepal, which they say could reduce their cost by more than half.

The miracle of a warm meal may ride on that cost-cutting effort.

During a trial run last year on Mount Ama Dablam, a Himalayan peak where drones were used to remove 1,300 pounds of waste, Dawa Jangbu Sherpa, a drone pilot, saw the potential of the vehicle firsthand. Food sent from base camp was still hot when it reached Camp I.

"It takes six hours if you follow the normal route to reach Camp I," Sherpa said. "But the drone served food in six minutes."