Everest

democratize the climb to Everest

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a drone DJI Mavic 3 Pro Equipped with a Hasselblad camera, he has managed to capture something that until recently seemed impossible: the complete ascent of Mount Everest from base camp to the summit in a single continuous flight. For 43 minutes, the aircraft traveled 3,500 meters of altitude, crossing the Khumbu icefall, the South Col and the final walls until reaching 8,848 meters of altitude. The images reveal the normal route of ascent in all its magnitude, including the characteristic queues of mountaineers who each season try to crown the roof of the world. The challenge. At that altitude, the air contains barely a third of the oxygen available at sea level, temperatures can drop to -30°C and winds reach speeds that would make the flight of any conventional drone impossible. The team used the Mavic 3 Pro with a four-thirds CMOS sensor, a combination that allowed stability and image quality to be maintained in extreme conditions. Beyond the visual spectacle, this flight is part of a more ambitious project by DJI: to demonstrate that drones can save lives on the highest mountain on the planet. Drones in high mountains. The tests of DJI on Everest respond to a clear commercial strategy: convert their drones into rescue and logistics tools in extreme environments. The Chinese company seeks to demonstrate that these aircraft can transport medicines, locate missing mountaineers and facilitate emergency operations at altitudes where thin air complicates any human intervention. The best-known precedent occurred in 2018, when Scottish mountaineer Rick Allen was located on Broad Peak after 36 hours lost at more than 7,000 meters of altitude. thanks to a DJI Mavic drone. That rescue, coordinated by Bartek Bargiel, brother of the skier Andrzej Bargiel, who we will now talk about again, marked a turning point in the perception of drones as high mountain safety instruments. Qualitative leap. In 2025, the Nepalese company Airlift Technology began providing drone logistics services between Everest Base Camp and Camp One, separated by approximately 2.9 kilometers in a straight line but by a 700-meter difference in altitude and the dangerous Khumbu Icefall. What takes the Sherpas between six and seven hours of crossing, a drone completes it in six or seven minutes. Milan Pandey, the company’s drone pilot, explains that during the 2025 climbing season they transported ladders, ropes and oxygen cylinders following radio instructions from the Sherpas who install the fixed routes. Safer. The impact on the job security of these high mountain workers is significant. The so-called “icefall doctors” (Sherpas specialized in preparing and maintaining the passage through the Khumbu glacier) traditionally had to go up and down dozens of times each season carrying heavy equipment through unstable terrain where Almost 50 people have died since 1953. They can now request additional material without having to descend to base camp, which dramatically reduces risk. The key case. On September 22, 2025, Polish mountain skier Andrzej Bargiel completed a feat that combines extreme mountaineering with technological innovation: Ascended Everest without supplemental oxygen and skied down to base camp without removing skis. After almost 16 hours climbing in the so-called “death zone” above 8,000 meters, Bargiel began the descent along the South Col route. What was innovative was the role of drones in this expedition: his brother Bartek piloted one from base camp to guide him through the Khumbu Icefall, the most dangerous section of the descent. All this is seen in the full 31 minute documentary which records the adventure using cameras mounted on Bargiel’s helmet and aerial shots captured by drones. The footage reveals a extremely technical descent: ice, almost vertical walls, traversing exposed ledges and, in the final stretch of the Khumbu waterfall, slow maneuvers avoiding deep cracks and blocks of ice the size of buildings. The assistance of the drone was critical precisely in this sector: Bartek flew in real time over the glacier, identifying stable snow bridges, marking dead ends and choosing safe slopes. Visual democratization. Videos like these are part of a broader phenomenon. YouTube hosts thousands of recordings documenting mountain climbs, cave explorations, glacier traverses, and cliff flyovers that until a decade ago could only be captured by helicopters or million-dollar productions. An example is that of the Chinese photographer Ma Chunlin, who spent five years obtaining the necessary permits and carrying out test flights before achieving a definitive recording of the ascent of Everest. in one shot. Technically possible. This type of content responds to a technological evolution that has made accessible tools previously reserved for professionals. Models like the DJI Mavic Mini, which weighs 249 grams, allow users without prior experience to capture stabilized aerial shots in resolutions higher than Full HD. Portability is key: Foldable drones that fit in a backpack during long hikes have removed the logistical barriers that previously limited aerial photography to specialized equipment. The doubts. The proliferation of drones in natural spaces has generated debates about their impact. Regulations vary significantly between countries and regions: some National Parks prohibit its use entirely, while others allow flights with prior authorization. The balance between visual access to nature and the preservation of these environments (including the protection of wildlife that may be disturbed by the noise and presence of these devices) remains an open question. In Xataka | China doesn’t know what to do with so many drones. Their solution: create lower airspace

Nepal imposed a $4,000 bail on tourists to clean Everest. Now you have more garbage and a problem

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If we talk about remote, isolated and inaccessible regions, few places reach the level of Everest. The highest mountain of the planet (at least if we take sea level as a reference) is not within everyone’s reach. Crowning it requires years of preparation, acclimatization and in-depth knowledge of mountaineering, in addition to spending a few tens of thousands of dollars in tickets, equipment, fees and Sherpas. Despite that, despite all its rigors, Everest has become a monster touristified full of tons and tons of garbage. In Nepal they just checked that this problem, that of the accumulation of waste in the mountains, cannot be solved even with the threat of paying thousands of dollars. Hence, the Government is already considering tougher measures. What has happened? That Nepal has realized that the threat of sanctions is not enough to prevent Everest from becoming a gigantic landfill frozen. More than a decade ago, its authorities adopted a measure with which they intended to clean the mountain: each climber who wanted to ascend to the roof of the world must first deposit $4,000, a kind of deposit that would only be recovered if he returned from his expedition with eight kilos of waste. The objective was clear: for the mountaineers to collect their garbage. If they did, they got their $4,000 back. If not, they lost the deposit. The idea looked good on paper, but it has turned out to be a fiasco. Over the past few years, mountaineers have returned from their climbs with backpacks full of debris to unlock their bails, but that hasn’t improved Everest. On the contrary. Why’s that? Very simple. Because (paraphrasing the Spanish proverb) ‘the law is made, the trap is made’. Tourists who have set out to conquer Everest have spent the last few years returning with rubbish to claim a refund of their money, but what at first sounds so positive has actually meant a problem for the mountains. The reason? The origin of these wastes. Climbers collect waste, true, but in lower altitude camps. Things change if we talk about the highest bases, where loading and eliminating waste is more difficult, expensive and even dangerous. Hence, the waste problem continues to be worrying and has even worsened in the most sensitive areas: the camps located closer to the summit. “From the highest bases people tend to return only with oxygen bottles,” explains to the BBC Tshering Sherpa, executive director of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee. “Other items like tents, cans and boxes of packaged food and beverages are left there, mostly abandoned. That’s why we see so much trash piling up.” What has been the result? A fiasco. The Sherpas themselves recognize that the pollution problem has worsened in the camps closest to the summit. After all… Why descend loaded with garbage from the top of the mountain if 8 kg can then be collected in the lower camps? As if that were not enough, managing the $4,000 deposits has resulted in more paperwork for Nepalese officials. Although the problem of dirt has not been solved, the majority of mountaineers recover their deposits, which translates into an “administrative burden” for the nation. Does it work that badly? In the country there are those who speak directly of a “defective norm” that fails in several key points. The main one, surveillance. “From the checkpoint above the Khumbu Icefall there is no supervision over what the climbers do,” comments Sherpa. Hence, it is not a problem for tourists to leave their garbage at the top of the mountain and then cover the quota with waste from lower camps. There is also another important handicap. The rule requires climbers to return with 8 kg of waste, but there are studies that warn that a climber produces much more waste during his stay on the mountain, at least if the weeks of acclimatization are taken into account. To be precise, we are talking about 12 kg. Is the problem that serious? Yes. The figures speak for themselves. Estimates may vary from one study to another, but they generally show that after years of tourism, Everest has become a large landfill in which dozens of tons of waste accumulate. And that includes everything from packaging, store remains, ropes… and even kilos and kilos of feces. It is not at all surprising if you take into account the great popularity that the mountain has been gaining over the last few decades. Although the expeditions are not affordable for everyone (some estimate that they cost between 40,000 and 60,000 dollars) every year hundreds of climbers land on Everest. The Telepragh esteem that around 600 mountaineers try to climb the mountain every year, which represents a huge flow of climbers who arrive accompanied by equipment and Sherpas. There are many, but the figure falls short when compared to the activity that was recorded in the area before the pandemic. Statista calculates For example, in 2023, 656 successful promotions were recorded, a figure that exceeded 800 before the health crisis. And now what? After assuming that their previous bailout plan “did not show tangible results,” the Nepalese authorities want to toughen their conditions to tackle the pollution problem. They have a new plan on the table that includes a cleaning fee that It would be around $4,000.although with an important nuance: in this case would not be refundable. The idea is that this flow of thousands of dollars will serve to finance the conservation of the mountain. “With the new plan we will deploy qualified rangers paid for by the cleaning fee collected from climbers,” comments Himal Gautamfrom the Department of Tourism. If the measure goes ahead, it will join others that in recent years have sought to improve the preservation of Everest, such as the increase in rates administrative or even the norm which since 2024 requires mountaineers to carry bags to collect their excrement. Images | Akunamatata (Flickr), Mari Partyka (Unsplash) In Xataka | When a storm hit Everest, a … Read more

To decongest Everest, Nepal allows you to access another 97 free peaks. The problem is that nobody wants to upload them

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Although some contender seeks to remove the crownEverest remains the mountaineer Grand Prix. Hundreds of people die every year During the journey to the top and arriving, it ensures personal glory and a certificate. So important is that There are those who lie about their feat. It is evident that Everest is a tourism monsterand that has led Nepal to take a radical solution: let out other peaks of the Himalayas free of charge. It won’t be so easy. Pressure. Getting to the top of Everest is not simple. Sample of difficulty are the bodies that accumulate In its corners, but mountaineering, and specifically Activity at Everestremains one of the heavyweights of the Nepali economy. It is estimated that, in 2024, of the 5.9 million dollars that the country obtained directly from the climbing permits to its peaks, more than 75% were thanks to Everest. And we would have to add expenses such as stays, food and other activities related to that activity. The problem is that it is saturatedwhich led the government to touch prices. The rates to undertake the adventure will rise 36%, from $ 11,000 to 15,000 to upload the mountain in the busiest months. And, from September to November and from December to February, when the influx is lower, the rates will be placed at $ 7,500 and $ 3,750, starting from September 1 of this year. The Himalayas opens from par. Money is not the only thing that will need those who want to crown the top: there is also debate about the need to have made a mountain of more than 7,000 meters from the country itself before climbing Everest. And there the measure that adopted from Katmandú a few weeks ago comes into play. On July 17, and during the next two climbing seasons, Nepal opened For the doors of almost a hundred mountains. Specifically97 located in the westernmost regions of the country. 77 Cumbres are in the province of Karnali and the remaining 20 in Sudurpaschim, and are not negligible picos because, after all, Nepal has eight of the ten highest mountains in the world: Saipal – 7,030 meters. API West – 7,076 meters. API – 7,132 meters Tourists, welcome (please). If we look at the figures, this measure makes all the meaning of the world for two reasons. The first and most obvious, decongesting Everest, being a huge logistics challenge to have to manage that number of visitors. The second, distribute a little tourism that, currently, are concentrated both in Everest and other central summits. The Government wants to arouse interest in little visited tops or even virgins. And if before we talked about more than 75% of the money that the climbing permits leave in Nepal come from activities at Everest, we must specify something more: in 2024 421 permits were issued to climb Everest, but there were only 68 mountaineers that They tried Go up at 97 summits that will now be free. Challenges beyond the mountain. Giving that incentive for the adventurers to explore other areas of the country, they will not only decongest their great peak, but also give an oxygen ball to more remote areas, but with equally impressive peaks. Now, the great challenge will be to convince climbers to go to those areas. Karnali and Sudurpaschim are precisely the poorest and least developed regions of Nepal. The services are limited, the scarce infrastructure and are not the most prepared areas to manage tourists efficiently, something that also moves those possible visitors away. And the big problem is that, as they point out in BBCit is not clear how local communities would face the avalanche of climbers or, even, if the authorities have plans to improve infrastructure or connection with these more remote areas. Because climbing those 7,000 -meter peaks can be free now, but if arriving is an adventure even greater than crowning the top, the climbers will continue to go to the area that is prepared: that of Everest. Image | Sebastian Pena Lambarri In Xataka | During confinement we abandon mass mountaineering. It’s time to try to get back

The owner of a Tesla Model and set out to come to Everest with his electric car. And he had a great idea called gasoline

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There is an obvious reason that continues to wear the sale of electric cars in Spain: the alleged lack of loaders. In Xataka We have already tried that it is not so much a lack of loaders as a evident invisibility of them and one lack of trust in your reliabilitywhich causes doubts that they have thought or might think of making the leap. On our trip From Berlin to Madrid aboard a Tesla Model 3 We verify that Europe is very nourished by chargers of all kinds, from rapids that allow recharging while you eat to the slow ones to use while you make night, passing through the ultra -graphs that on the service roads put the car in tune in a few minutes. But, as much as we want, we talk about Europe and not all places have the same facilities. You just have to look at the United States where recharge network It is much more scarce and unreliable than in our continent, which is delaying the adoption of technology. So, can we travel anywhere in the world with an electric car? Could we match the trip that this influencer is making for Carry your Fiat Marea to Japan from Spain? Could we, for example, go to Everest by electric car? Common sense tells us no. But it’s just that, common sense. A tesla, a generator and the roof of the world Common sense, beyond the manida phrase that it is the least common of the senses, is also fluctuating. What for some may seem an impossible mission, for others, simply, it is as easy as taking appropriate measures and adapting to each situation. That is why the owner of a Tesla Moder and did not see any problem in taking his car and putting Rumbo to Everest. If on the road I could find the electricity assortment, it was the least, it would manufacture it. As? Obviously, with an electric generator moved by gasoline. The story is told in Carnewschina where it is explained that the owner of the electric car created its own version of “extended autonomy.” To do this, he installed an 8 kW gasoline generator at the rear of the car. With him underway, he could fill the Tesla Model battery and a power similar to that of a domestic plug, specifically 3 kW. In the middle they point out that at that rate The Tesla recovered 19 kilometers Of autonomy every hour and that, full of the tank, the cargo of the car could be sustained for nine and a half hours. That is, at full capacity the generator could deliver about 180 kilometers of autonomy to the car during, for example, a plugged night. Only in this way has Lhatse County, Tibet region very close to Everest that is already 5,300 meters high. The adventure and its result can be seen in this video where the car owner tells his experience and shows how the system works. Although it is understood why this can be called Tesla Model and a “extended range” car or “extended autonomy”, we must bear in mind that it does not work as a vehicle that implements this technology to use. Simply use the electricity generator as a mobile plug that has to be fed by a fossil fuel. An extended rank electric car is one that is mostly used as an electric and takes advantage of gasoline in a very punctual way. This works, for example, a Mazda MX-30. In this case, it is the car itself that functions as an electricity generating station. The gasoline engine generates electricity that is sent to the battery and nourishes the electric motors that are the ones that move the car. When operating in a concrete regime of revolutions per minute, the gasoline engine always works in its most efficient range and, such as electric motors that move the wheels, although the combustion engine is in operation the touch of the car is still very similar to that of an electric. These types of cars are widely used in China because extended rank electric are considered New energy vehicles (NEV) and are classified at the same level as electric cars even though, in the background, it is plug -in hybrids and can emit CO2 and any other contaminating particle typical of a gasoline engine. In Spain, these cars also have zero dgt emissions sticker as electric since their autonomy is greater than 45 kilometers. But, in addition, they can receive the same aids as MOVES III PLAN that an electric car as long as they exceed 90 km of completely electric autonomy. Photo | @xiamo In Xataka | We have traveled 2,500 kilometers with an electric car and we have learned something: diesel is still the king

Some mountaineers want to climb Everest from London in seven days. There is controversy because there is “trick”: Xenon gas

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Although it has become a monster touristifiedwith Hundreds of promotions every year and a large amount of garbageEverest remains a mountain within reach of a minority. Crown her It is not cheapit demands a good physical form and a considerable time investment to acclimatize at its altitude. Mountaineers usually pass several weeks in the base camp and move through the mountain and the neighboring peaks to prepare their bodies before entering The “Zone of Death”more than 8,000 m, named for its low levels of oxygen. Now a group of British has proposed to complete an entire expedition in just seven days thanks to the help of a gas that is usually used as anesthetic. And that is generating A considerable stir In the world of mountaineering. A “walk” from London to Everest. The itinerary is so surprising that it sounds like science fiction or the script of the new movie of the saga ‘Mission Impossible’. What have proposed to Carns and three other colleagues, all ex -military, is to go and return to Everest from London in a week. With summit included, of course. Its roadmap plays to a plane in London, fly around 7,5400 kilometers to Katmandu, in Nepal, then complete the journey to the Everest base camp aboard a helicopter and finally ascend to the top of the world in just a few days. In total around 168 hours. Nothing to do with the weeks of acclimatization that EVrest usually demands. Click on the image to go to Tweet. Three days of upload, two of descent. “Time begins to count when we leave Heathrow and stops when he returns,” I commented carns Recently a The Washington Post. “We probably thought of a travel day, then three days of upload, two of descent and the last day of travel.” The goal It is ambitious: to fulfill a journey to Everest of seven days “door to door” from London and, incidentally, “redefine what is possible in mountaineering at great altitude.” The mission is called “7 Days Mission Everest”he planned to start from London on Friday 16 (his updated advance can be followed Through its website) and its objective, beyond marking a milestone in the history of Everest, is to raise money for charity organizations dedicated to supporting war veterans and their families. “I always say that we have a 30% chance to get this in seven days, and about 70% of doing so in less than 21 days,” Comment Carns. Even if in the end that last goal, the team would be achieved considerably the duration of traditional expeditions and get a national record. The fastest expedition from London to date lasted 21 days. And how are they going to do it? That is the key. Carns and his companions are ex -military in good shape and throughout the last months have undergone a demanding training. Not just that. For several months the four sleep in hypoxic campaign stores Installed in their homes, spaces that reproduce oxygen levels that will be found at high altitudes and those that mountaineers usually resort to mitigate the symptoms of high high evil. However, neither training nor acclimatization are nothing new nor explain how the carns team intends to raise and lower the mountain in a matter of five days, a ridiculous time if compared to the weeks and weeks of acclimatization to which the mountaineers who travel to Everest usually submit. The key to your mission is another: The xenon. That is what explains that they aspire to finish the expedition in seven days instead of the Between six and seven weeks that usually last the normal missions. And what is the xenon for? Xenon is a noble gas discovered in the nineteenth century and was used for decades as a powerful anesthetic in medicine. The British team has noticed it, however, for another reason: its supposed usefulness to increase the production of red blood cells and accelerate high altitudes acclimatization. In other words, prepare them for the conditions that will be found in the most dangerous area of ​​Everest, after 8,000 meters high. With that purpose the four ex -military inhaled a “Subanesthetic concentration” of xenon gas mixed with oxygen, a single one -hour dose they received under medical supervision. According to Explain to The Washington Post The doctor responsible for the protocol, the treatment shows its most intense effects between 10 and 14 days. They received their dose on May 5, about a week and a half before they got on the plane that took them to Nepal. The advantages of xenon. Behind the idea is Lukas Furtenbach, a veteran mountaineer at the head of a company that organizes expeditions and that years ago already managed to reduce the duration of the climbs to Everest thanks precisely to the use of hypoxic stores. Together with an anesthesiology expert, he explored the use of gas for acclimatization, a use that Furtbanch has already tried in his own meats. The key would be in the usefulness of the xenon to increase the production of erythropoietin, or EPO, a hormone generated by the kidneys to stimulate the generation of red blood cells in the body. “One of the side effects is that it triggers the production of EPO and that produces an increase in red blood cells in the blood. It is the same effect that occurs to acclimatize to a real altitude,” Furtenbach points out. The idea, insists, is not to improve the performance of mountaineers who undergo treatment, but to protect their tissues. The debate, served. The idea has generated expectation, but also an interesting debate in the world of mountaineering. Furtenbach defends that less days at Everest also translate into less hazards, Less waste generation and lower environmental impact for the mountain. Expeditions like Carns’s are not cheap in addition (their cost is around $ 170,000), so they are not likely to end up replacing traditional campaigns. “When oxygen first appeared in mountaineering, it was considered a taboo. Now everyone … Read more

Everest has become a tourist monster. Someone believes that drones are the solution

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Yeah Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay The cold slopes of Everest are assumed today in the most likely to stay ice cream. And not for temperatures. Since Hillary and Norgay crowned the top in their historic ascent of 1953, Everest has ceased to be an inhospitable place to become a kind of monster touristified. Every year they visit it hundreds and hundreds of mountaineers who leave in their path a millionaire business and a long wasting waftment. That does not mean that crowning Everest is today a simple task. Neither safe. It was not in times of Sir Hillary and Norgay and it is not now, although technical advances make the experience more bearable. Good proof is that in 2023 they disappeared Three Sherpas professionals in the Khumbu ice waterfall. The repeated attempts to recover their bodies served little. Their names have passed to Get the list of dead and missing On the mountain. Now both the work of the sherpas and the experience of the mountaineers and the conservation of the mountain have found a valuable ally: the drones. An ally on heights The disappearance Of the three 2023 Sherpas left its mark on the company that led the expedition, Imagine Nepal, so after the tragedy its responsible began to look for new ways to improve security in Everest. That effort led her to look at what her Chinese colleagues were already doing in Muztagh ata peak of 7,500 near the border between China and Pakistan where companies turn to drones for transport hot food Between camps. “I told myself: why not use drones on the southern face of Everest, especially in the Khumbu ice waterfall section,” remember The director of Imagine Nepal in a recent interview with The New York Times. He was not the only one to think about the possibilities of drones on the roof of the world. A similar idea was responsible for those responsible for Airliftcompany interested in mapping Everest with drones. The theory did not take long to practice and in 2024 there was already a team of the Chinese manufacturer in Nepal DJI testing its cast drones in the area. The devices ended in Airlift olees, which hasn’t taken them to use them. Since then they have demonstrated their Mountain potential. Despite the initial misgivings on how drones would respond in Everest, under conditions of high altitude, cold temperatures, low visibility and wind gusts, the company has already achieved some interesting results. For example, during a cleaning campaign on the mountain they managed to move about 500 kilos of waste from camp one to the base camp. The task required 40 flights from a drone, The CNN requiresbut it could have been finished in much less time. Although the apparatus that the company used is capable of transporting 66 pounds of weight (about 30 kilos), preferred to stay in a little less than 20 kg for security reasons. It is not a bad balance if one takes into account that the accumulation of garbage and feces begins to be A serious problem In Everest, which has even led to local authorities to demand from the mountaineers that They collect their excrements in biodegradable bags. Graph prepared by statista. Drones serve however, for much more than clean the slopes and camps of Everest. In addition to loading trash can transport stairs, ropes, oxygen bottles and other tools that serve the sherpas and the so -called ‘Icefall Doctors’veterans who are in charge of opening (and maintaining) a route in the Khumbu glacier so that mountaineers can cross it. For decades the most experienced sherpas have been in charge of that work, but … what if their knowledge could be combined with the technical advantages of drones? After all, a guide has experience and skill, but it takes between six or seven hours in covering the distance between the base camp, located at 5,464 m of altitude, and camp one, 6,065 m. A drone travels 2.9 km away from aerial distance between them in muco less time: Six and seven minutes. Recent Milan Pandey, from Airlift, assured the CNN that your goal is that the company Help sherpas Already in the 2025 season. Its mission will consist of transporting equipment to the coordinates indicated by the guides and collecting garbage. Without counting that, in addition to stairs or strings, drones can also load with sanitary material (from oxygen bottles to medicines) or even help during geolocation work and rescue missions. The arrival of drones generates expectation for several reasons. The first, because (except during the stop of the pandemic or specific restrictions like the one that followed the Nepal earthquake of 2015) the influx of climbers at Everest has not stopped growing Since the 90s. Now hundreds and hundreds are the successful promotions that are computed every year. The second is that drones can make Sherpa’s job more attractive and recover professionals who have been abandoned to emigrate. Of course not everything is advantages and facilities in the future of Everest drones. The service has a key challenge: money. A single drone can cost More than $ 70,000to which the fuel bill is added to load the batteries, labor, accommodation and logistics challenges. Images | IEWEK GNOS (UNSPLASH), Guillaume Baviere (Flickr), Mário Simoes (Flickr) and Statista In Xataka | Everest grows faster than we thought because a river stole water to another 90,000 years ago

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