All climbers on Mount Everest will be required by Nepal to utilize tracking chips

Nepal has introduced a new rule requiring all climbers to rent and utilize tracking chips on their expedition ahead of the 2024 Mount Everest season.

“Reputed companies were already using them but now it’s been mandatory for all climbers. It will cut down search and rescue time in the event of an accident.”

Rakesh Gurung, director of Nepal’s department of tourism

He explains that the chips, which will be sewed inside the climbers’ jackets, would cost them between $10 and $15 apiece. The chip will be taken out, returned to the government, and stored for the next climber when they return.

Satellites and tracking chips exchange data via the global positioning system (GPS).

Gurung continued, “The chips were made in a European country,” but he did not say by what business or where.

Most climbers who attempt to reach the summit of 8,849 meters (29,032 feet) do so through Nepal, where the climbing permit costs $11,000 per person. It can cost up to $35,000 to climb the peak when you factor in the cost of food, gear, extra oxygen, Sherpa guides, and other expenses.

Nepal is home to eight of the ten highest peaks in the world, and mountaineering brings in a sizable amount of money for the nation from tourists.

The ascent of Mount Everest might take up to two months to finish and now all climbers on Mount Everest will be required by Nepal to utilize tracking chips. There is a very little window of time, usually in mid-May, when the weather is favorable for summiting.

Nepal issued a record 478 climbing licenses in the previous year. Five climbers are still officially missing, while twelve climbers have been verified to have died on the mountain.

Even in the best of circumstances, rescues at “the roof of the world” are dangerous.

In 2023, 30-year-old Gelje Sherpa forwent his own opportunity to reach the summit in order to perform an audacious rescue of a climber from Malaysia at the “death zone” of Mount Everest.

At the time, Bigyan Koirala, an official from the Department of Tourism, told Reuters that it was nearly impossible to rescue climbers at that altitude.