Nobody tells you what it really costs to climb Everest so I added up every dollar

People ask us this more than almost anything else about Everest: what does it actually cost to climb it? The honest answer is that a guided expedition to the summit runs from about US$35,000 at the very bottom to well over US$100,000 at the top, with most climbers landing somewhere between US$45,000 and US$70,000 for the 2026 spring season. Here is where that money goes, line by line, from someone who works on the mountain that the trekkers we host walk up to.

The permit is only the entry ticket

In September 2025 Nepal raised the spring Everest permit from US$11,000 to US$15,000 per climber — the first increase in a decade. Autumn permits rose to US$7,500 and winter and monsoon permits to US$3,750. On the Nepal side every team also lodges a US$4,000 garbage deposit, refunded only if they carry their waste back down, and pays a rope-fixing and route contribution of around US$600 per person for the ladders and fixed lines through the Khumbu Icefall and up the mountain. We covered the fee rise and what it funds in our report on Nepal’s record permit revenue.

But the permit is a small slice of the total. What you are really buying is a two-month, fully supported operation at the limit of human tolerance.

Where the money actually goes

The two biggest variables are oxygen and people. Supplemental oxygen costs roughly US$550–$650 a bottle, and a summit climber typically uses six to eight, so oxygen alone is US$3,000–$4,800 before anyone carries it. The human cost is larger and more important: a high-altitude climbing Sherpa earns roughly US$5,000–$10,000 for the season, plus a summit bonus of US$1,000–$2,000. On a well-run expedition that is money going to the most skilled — and most exposed — workers on the mountain, and it is the line we least want anyone to cut.

The cheapest packages save money by thinning exactly the support that keeps people alive — fewer oxygen bottles, a shared rather than personal Sherpa, less experienced base-camp medical cover. The most expensive add private guides, extra oxygen, better food, weather forecasting and helicopter contingencies. Between those poles, most reputable operators sit around US$45,000–$70,000. None of it, at any price, removes the risk.

And the sticker price is rarely the whole bill. Specialist high-altitude insurance with helicopter evacuation and repatriation cover is essential and adds hundreds to low thousands of dollars. Personal down suits, boots, harnesses and sleeping systems can run to several thousand more. Most climbers also spend a year or more — and real money — on training climbs of smaller peaks before they are ready. Then there is the two-month commitment itself: an Everest expedition is roughly forty to sixty days on and around the mountain, so for most people the cost includes time away from work and family that no invoice ever shows.

Cover photo: Alpalfour via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).