Climbing season at Mount Everest kicks off in full force next month, but Sherpas won't be the only ones helping mountaineers try for the summit. The New York Times reports that companies running expeditions up the world's highest peak have been testing out drones that will be able to deliver up to 35 pounds of supplies—gear, oxygen canisters, meds, etc.—along treacherous climbing routes, as well as remove waste left by human interlopers. Business Insider notes the drones could also potentially be used to set up ladders, ropes, and other climbing apparatus in place of the Sherpas.
The Times notes that a delivery of goods from base camp to Camp I that would usually take seven hours of humans trudging up the mountainside takes just 15 minutes airlifted by a drone. Advocates hope the drones can help cut down on fatal accidents on Everest, which has seen an increasing amount of them as climate change causes snow to melt faster. "Sherpas bear enormous risks," says Tshering Sherpa, who runs the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee that maintains one of Everest's riskiest routes. "The drone makes their task safer, faster, and more efficient."
The drones were deployed after a string of Sherpa deaths on the mountain, including three Sherpas buried in a 2023 avalanche while adjusting ropes for other climbers. Mingma G. Sherpa, who headed that deadly expedition, knew about China using drones on expeditions on their own peaks, so he jump-started the concept for Everest, inviting Chinese drone maker Da Jiang Innovations, or DJI, to test two of its FlyCart 30 drones in Nepal last spring.
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During that test run, the drones not only delivered oxygen to climbers, but also brought 33 pounds of trash down the mountain—just a portion of the 50 metric tons of waste that's been left on "the world's highest garbage dump" over the years, per Business Insider. One of the drones was able to airlift more than 500 pounds of trash per hour between base camp and Camp I, which the Kathmandu Post notes would normally take more than a dozen porters six hours to do. One drawback to the drones: They each cost up to $70,000 from soup to nuts, including customs duties to bring them to Nepal, but some hope they'll eventually be assembled inside Nepal to cut down on a good portion of that cost, per the Times. (More drones stories.)
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