{"id":261074,"date":"2025-03-18T04:40:07","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T04:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/18\/drones-will-do-some-schlepping-for-sherpas-on-mount-everest\/"},"modified":"2025-03-18T04:40:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T04:40:07","slug":"drones-will-do-some-schlepping-for-sherpas-on-mount-everest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/18\/drones-will-do-some-schlepping-for-sherpas-on-mount-everest\/","title":{"rendered":"Drones Will Do Some Schlepping for Sherpas on Mount Everest"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/16\/multimedia\/00int-nepal-drones-01-mbgf\/00int-nepal-drones-01-mbgf-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Drones Will Do Some Schlepping for Sherpas on Mount Everest\" title=\"Drones Will Do Some Schlepping for Sherpas on Mount Everest\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">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\u2019s tallest peak.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Goods that would normally take seven hours to be transported by foot from Everest\u2019s base camp to Camp I can be airlifted within 15 minutes. By lightening the Sherpas\u2019 burdens, drone operators hope that the chances of fatal accidents \u2014 which have risen as climate change has accelerated snowmelt \u2014 can now be reduced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSherpas bear enormous risks. The drone makes their task safer, faster and more efficient,\u201d said Tshering Sherpa, whose organization, the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, is responsible for fixing the route through the deadly Khumbu Icefall, southwest of Everest\u2019s summit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For about a year, operators have been experimenting with two drones donated by their Chinese maker. The pilot test during this year\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While the upfront cost of the drones may be high, their proponents say they will eventually reduce agencies\u2019 costs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Among those who could benefit most are the experienced Sherpas known as \u201cicefall doctors.\u201d Before every climbing season, they assemble at the Everest base camp for the daunting mission of establishing a route through the shifting ice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey are calling us to team up early,\u201d said Milan Pandey, a drone pilot affiliated with AirLift, a startup drone company in Nepal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">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\u2019s border. The Chinese were using the vehicles to ferry climbing gear, food and other crucial items to Camp II and bring them down.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe Chinese cooked food at base camp and sent it to Camp II of Muztagh Ata, where climbers could eat hot food,\u201d Mr. Sherpa said. \u201cI thought, why not use drones on Everest\u2019s south side, especially the Khumbu Icefall section?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At his invitation, a team from the Chinese drone maker DJI went to Nepal in the spring of 2024 to test two FlyCart 30 delivery drones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The drones\u2019 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The devices could also help make up for the declining numbers of Sherpas. More are <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/05\/07\/world\/asia\/sherpas-everest.html\" title=\"\">leaving because of the safety risks<\/a> and better employment opportunities abroad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But even with all the drones can offer, their price tag has given some expedition companies pause.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The miracle of a warm meal may ride on that cost-cutting effort.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt takes six hours if you follow the normal route to reach Camp I,\u201d Mr. Sherpa said. \u201cBut the drone served food in six minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/18\/world\/asia\/mount-everest-drones.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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\u2019s 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/16\/multimedia\/00int-nepal-drones-01-mbgf\/00int-nepal-drones-01-mbgf-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[201253,5138,163809,36728,24205,6638,20396,201254,201255,201256,201252,167835],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261074"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261076,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261074\/revisions\/261076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}