Mount Everest

Nirmal Purja's iconic Everest 'traffic jam' image foreshadowed a growing Himalayan crisis of overcrowding, environmental degradation and mounting safety risks

China has established a drone research and development centre near Mount Everest in Tibet to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for operations in high-altitude areas to bolster border patrols, security, logistics and transport. Tibet, often referred to as the roof of the world, is over 4,000 metres high. The cold high-altitude plateau is also low on Oxygen. With rugged terrain and rapidly changing weather, it is regarded as an ideal ground for developing drone technology, according to Chinese engineers. The Plateau Drone R&D Application Centre was launched at Xizang (Tibet) University onJuly 3, marking the official launch of China's first professional platform dedicated entirely to the research, development and practical deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in high-altitude plateau environments, state-run Xinhua news agency reported earlier from provincial capital Lhasa. The high-altitude centre is expected to provide an advantage for China in its ongoing competition .

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Two Indian mountaineers who summited Everest have died while descending, an official said on Friday. The climbers have been identified as Arun Kumar Tiwari and Sandeep Are. It appears that Are summited on Wednesday and Tiwari on Thursday around 5.30 pm, said Rishi Bhandari, secretary general of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal. The guides "worked really hard" but were not able to save them, he told PTI. Are died on Thursday and it is not clear when Tiwari passed away. Further details are awaited.

Celebrated mountaineer Jim Whittaker, the first American to summit Mount Everest, has died. He was 97. Whittaker, who also served as the first full-time employee of the outdoor retailer REI and later as its president and CEO, died Tuesday at his home in Port Townsend, Washington, according to a statement from his family. "Whether at home, in the mountains, or at sea, he sought to share adventure, joy, and optimism with those around him," said the statement, which was emailed by Leif Whittaker, one of his sons. "His warmth, humility, and belief in the power of nature to bring people together left an enduring legacy of care for our planet and for one another." Whittaker's 1963 ascent of Everest alongside Nawang Gombu came 10 years after the pioneering climb of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. The feat helped spawn interest and an industry in mountaineering in the US, and it made the once-shy, rangy climber an instant celebrity. He was featured on magazine covers and in deman

Over 850 hikers, guides and porters who were stranded for three days in a severe blizzard on the Tibetan slopes of Mount Everest have been evacuated by hundreds of villagers and rescue teams, according to Chinese official media. All the hikers and local service personnel trapped by heavy snowfall in Dingri County at Xigaze City in southwest Tibet Autonomous Region have reached safety, the local government said late Tuesday night. A total of 580 hikers and over 300 personnel, including local guides and yak herders, have safely reached Qudeng Township and nearby areas, where officials are arranging their return journeys, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Xinhua had earlier reported on Monday that one hiker was killed in the snowstorm, which caught more than 1,000 holiday trekkers off guard on the Tibetan side of Mount Everest. Thousands of holidaymakers had flocked to Tibet during the eight-day holiday in China from October 1 to celebrate the National Day and Mid-Autumn ...

Hundreds of hikers who were caught in a deadly blizzard on the Tibetan slopes of Mount Everest since Saturday have reached safety, local officials said on Tuesday. Earlier official media reports said one hiker died. All hikers and local hiking service personnel stranded by heavy snowfall in Dingri County, Xigaze City in southwest Tibet Autonomous Region, have reached safety, according to the local government. A total of 580 hikers and more than 300 personnel, including local guides and yak herders, have arrived safely in Qudeng Township and nearby areas, where local staff are organising their return journeys in an orderly manner, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted local government statement. About a dozen hikers were escorted to a meeting point with the help of local teams carrying food, medicine, heating and oxygen supplies, the Xinhua report said. Heavy snowfall began to hit Dingri on Saturday evening, affecting the hikers along mountain trails near Qudeng. The county governmen

A dramatic rescue operation is underway on the Tibetan slopes of Mount Everest. A powerful snowstorm stranded hundreds of trekkers high in the Himalayas.

Mount Everest Breweries has acquired Cheers Breweries in Mysuru for Rs 300 crore, boosting capacity by 75 per cent and marking its entry into Karnataka's beer market

Herzog has recorded his adventures in a very popular book titled "Annapurna: First Conquest of an 8,000-metre Peak"

Famed Nepalese Sherpa guide Kami Rita has scaled Mount Everest for the 31st time, breaking his own record for the most successful ascents of the world's highest peak. The 55-year-old climber leading stood atop the 8,849-meter summit at around 4 am on Tuesday under stable weather conditions, according to Mingma Sherpa, chairman of Seven Summit Treks, the expedition organiser. He was guiding a team of the Indian Army Adventure Wing Everest Expedition, led by Lieutenant Colonel Manoj Joshi. This new feat cements his status as the record holder for the highest number of ascents to the top of the world a record that no one else has come close to, the Kathmandu Post newspaper quoted Mingma as saying. Kami Rita is safe and stable after his summit. He has started his descent and is on his way back to base camp, he added. As always, Kami has demonstrated his unmatched skills and professionalism on the mountain. We are immensely proud of his achievement and the legacy he continues to build.

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav met Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli to discuss cooperation on clean energy, biodiversity, and climate action during the Sagarmatha Sambaad in Kathmandu

Subrata Ghosh, 45, dies descending Mount Everest near the Hillary Step in the death zone marking the first Indian fatality of the 2025 spring climbing season

For the first time, drones will be used on Mount Everest to carry gear and clean up, helping Sherpas and improving safety

Snow cover atop Mount Everest retreated by 150 metres, indicating a lack of snow accumulation during the winter season of 2024-2025, researchers have noted. Analysing NASA satellite images from October 2023 till early January 2025, trends illustrated "a rise in snow line through January in both 2024 and 2025", glaciologist Mauri Pelto, a professor of environmental science at Nichols College, US, wrote in a blog post on February 2. At 8,849 metres above sea level, Mount Everest is the tallest point on Earth. The Himalayan peak is located between Nepal and Tibet. 'Snow line' refers to the boundary or elevation at which snow permanently stays on a mountain. A 'rising snow line' -- in which snow melts at lower heights, forcing the snow line boundary up a mountainside -- is suggestive of a warming climate. Pelto said that warmer and drier conditions have been prevailing in recent winters, including those of 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025, which are driving a reduced snow cover, higher snow .

Nepal has increased the permit price after nearly a decade by 36 per cent from $11000 (about Rs 9L) to $15000 (about Rs 13L). Nepal issues around 300 permits every year

Nepal has sharply increased permit fees for climbing Mount Everest by 36 per cent and also introduced a slew of measures aimed at controlling garbage pollution on the world's tallest peak, officials said. Under the revised mountaineering regulations, the royalty fee for foreigners climbing Everest from the normal south route in the spring season (March-May) has been raised to USD 15,000 from the current USD 11,000 per person. The autumn season (September-November) climbing fee has increased from USD 5,500 to USD 7,500. At the same time, the permit cost per individual for the winter (December-February) and monsoon (June-August) seasons has risen from USD 2,750 to USD 3,750. A Cabinet decision to this effect has already been made, though the official announcement is yet to come, said Arati Neupane, Director of the Tourism Board. The new fees for climbing the 8848.86-metre peak will come into effect from September 1, 2025, she added. The revised regulations, approved by the Cabinet w

China has begun an observation experiment on land-atmosphere interactions in the Mount Everest Region in Tibet to study the interaction between the land surface and the atmosphere, a crucial component of ecological and climate systems. A research team from the Aerospace Information Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences will conduct the observational experiment using unmanned aerial platforms at a site on the northern side of Mount Everest, called Qomolangma in Tibet, situated at an average altitude of approximately 4,200 metres (15,960 feet). In the Mount Qomolangma region, land-atmosphere interactions not only affect the climate of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and its surrounding areas but also have the potential to influence the global climate through complex climate feedback mechanisms and atmospheric circulation, said Jia Li, a researcher at the Institute. Studying the Tibetan Plateau becomes imperative given the exponentially changing climatic conditions leadin

International Everest Day is observed on 29 May in Nepal and New Zealand to remember the first successful summit of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953

This is his second ascent of the season, after his first on May 12