Records & People
She Climbed Everest Three Times in 13 Days. No Woman Had Ever Done It Twice.
Nepali photojournalist Purnima Shrestha set a world first on Everest in 2024 — and this May she went back up for a sixth summit altogether.
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Safety & Advisories
Trekking Nepal With Kids: Which Treks, What Ages, and When to Turn Back (2026 Guide)
The honest age and altitude limits for trekking Nepal as a family, what pediatric and mountain-medicine guidance actually says, and which real routes fit which ages.
Records & People
Two Everest Records Fell 42 Minutes Apart, on the Same Mountain, in the Same Morning
On 17 May 2026, Lhakpa Sherpa summited Everest for a record 11th time and Kami Rita Sherpa followed 42 minutes later for his 32nd — the verified story behind Everest's two most experienced living climbers.
Festivals & Events
Dashain and Tihar 2026: What Actually Happens to Nepal's Guides, Flights and Buses
Nepal's two biggest festivals send guides, porters and lodge staff home and book out domestic flights and buses for weeks — here's the real autumn 2026 logistics picture, verified against 2025's rush.
Flights & Access
Why every Everest trekker flies to Lukla from Manthali this autumn, not Kathmandu
From 25 September to 30 November 2026, Everest flights leave from Manthali, not Kathmandu. Why, what the pre-dawn drive involves, and the buffer days to add.
Trail & Weather
Which Nepal trekking regions are actually open for autumn 2026, and the three that are not
Everest, Annapurna, Kanchenjunga, Dhaulagiri and Dolpa are unaffected for autumn 2026. Langtang, Ganesh Himal and the road to the Manaslu trailhead are not, according to a 28 August trekking-route advisory.
Permits & Rules
Nepal Trekking Permit Fees for Autumn 2026, Verified — What Actually Changed (Almost Nothing)
Amid headlines about Everest's climbing costs rising, we checked the actual trekking permit fees against Nepal's official sources — ACAP, TIMS, Sagarmatha, Manaslu and Langtang are all exactly where they were last year.
Records & People
Two Climbers Got Within 45 Metres of the Summit in 1957. Nepal Has Banned Anyone From Finishing It Ever Since.
Machapuchare towers over Pokhara and watches over half our treks in the Annapurna region — and by law, nobody is allowed to stand on top of it.
Flights & Access
Nepal Domestic Flight Fares Are Up 40% in 2026 — What It Means If You're Flying to Pokhara or Lukla
Jet fuel prices nearly doubled overnight in April, domestic airlines lost over half a million passengers in a single year, and the routes trekkers use to reach the mountains were hit hardest.
Safety & Advisories
What Vaccines Do You Actually Need Before a Nepal Trek in 2026? The CDC's Official Guidance
We read the CDC's current Nepal travel-health page line by line — what's legally required, what's strongly recommended, and what you can safely skip.
Records & People
Meet the Icefall Doctors: The Nepali Team That Rebuilds Everest's Deadliest Mile Every Morning — For About $3,000 a Season
Before any client sets foot above Base Camp, a small SPCC crew re-threads ladders and rope through the shifting Khumbu Icefall — the stretch that has killed more people than any other part of the mountain.
Safety & Advisories
A Skier Fell Into a Crevasse on Monte Rosa. A Rescuer Who Went In After Him Never Came Out.
On 28 February 2026, three men ended up in the same crevasse on the Alps' second-highest massif. Two were pulled out alive. Rodolfo Franguelli, 61, was not — he fell during the effort to save the first.
Climate & Environment
A Boot Melted Out of Everest's Ice With a Name Stitched Inside. It May Solve a 100-Year Mystery.
In September 2024 a National Geographic team found a boot, a sock and a foot on Everest's Central Rongbuk Glacier — and the label read A.C. IRVINE.
Records & People
Tenzing Norgay Summited Everest in 1953. His Son Did It in 1996. His Grandson Did It in 1997 — Three Generations, One Mountain
No family has stood on the world's highest point across three generations except this one — and the middle chapter fell during the deadliest storm in Everest's history to that point.
Records & People
He Nearly Died on K2 in 2022. Two Years Later He Soloed It in Under 11 Hours, With No Oxygen
French alpinist Benjamin Védrines climbed from advance base camp to K2's 8,611-metre summit in 10 hours 59 minutes on July 28, 2024, without bottled oxygen or a partner — on the exact route where he had been found unconscious two years earlier.
Records & People
A Mountain Held His Body for 22 Years. When the Ice Let Go, His Children Got a Call They Never Expected.
Bill Stampfl was buried by an avalanche on Peru's Huascarán in 2002. In June 2024, two American climbers found his mummified remains and a passport that told them exactly who he was.
Records & People
Two Friends Vanished on a Swiss Glacier in 1994. It Took the Ice 31 Years to Give Back the Second One.
One climber was recovered from the Ober Gabelhorn in 2000. His companion stayed lost until climbers found him on 15 October 2025.
Records & People
He Summited Everest 21 Times — More Than Anyone Alive When He Stopped. Then He Moved to Utah and Started Giving Away an Education Instead.
Apa Sherpa held the world record for Everest summits for years before retiring in 2011 — today he funds Nepali children's schooling from a suburb of Salt Lake City.
Records & People
Two Climbers, One Summit, One Morning: How the Youngest Man and Youngest Woman to Climb All 14 of Earth's Highest Peaks Finished Hours Apart
On October 9, 2024, 18-year-old Nima Rinji Sherpa and 23-year-old Adriana Brownlee each completed all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre peaks on Shishapangma's summit — two separate world records, set on the same mountain, on the same morning.
Records & People
The World's Highest Marathon Starts at 17,600 Feet — and the Record Is Under 3 Hours 29 Minutes
Every 29 May, roughly 250 runners drop nearly 2,000 vertical metres down the Everest Base Camp trail to Namche Bazaar. Here's what the Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon actually involves, and who has run it fastest.
Breaking Industry & Tourism
The World's Best Luxury Hotel for 2026 Isn't in Paris or Dubai — It's a 29-Room Retreat in Nepal's Mustang Desert
Robb Report’s panel of 24 luxury specialists ranked Shinta Mani Mustang above hotels in Rwanda, Scotland, Japan and Italy, in a once-forbidden valley.
Festivals & Events
Dashain 2026 dates, tika day and the week Nepal shuts down
Dashain 2026 runs 11–25 October with tika on Wednesday 21 October. Offices close 17–24 October, then 7–12 November for Tihar. What it means if you land.
Trail & Weather
When does Nepal’s monsoon actually end in 2026, and why the official date keeps slipping
Nepal’s monsoon normally ends 2 October. In 2026 it had not withdrawn by then, and in the last four years it left on 16, 15, 12 and 10 October.
Records & People
Nine Days Apart, Two Climbers Died on the Most Photographed Mountain in the Himalaya
In late October 2025, a French climber and a South Korean climber died nine days apart on Ama Dablam, the knife-edged 6,812-metre peak that towers over Everest's most popular trekking trail.